detail of Turquoise Dandelion Socks (48x24 Acrylic on panel) I've been working away in my studio on a few new pieces in my Dandelion/Allium series. Things are getting close. It's a lot of tiny little brush strokes and lots of dots. Next to come on this one are the socks...stay tuned.
I've been working on this particular series because I received a lot of wonderful feedback and sales from the pieces I showed in my February show Harmony & Socks and I have been urged to generate a full series.
For the past few months I've been taking a free online artist's course through Xanadu Gallery called "Starving" to Successful. In the course I'm learning about what it takes to get my artwork into galleries and sell more art...so we'll see, right...
Part of the course discusses creating consistency and recognition in one's work...
I get such varied, and very separated, praise for a few different directions in my current portfolio. The Xanadu course urges us to look at our "Best 10" and consider how they fit together and how they identify me as the artist.
At the opening reception for show back in February my photographer, who happens to be my husband, decided to do a little theme of ‘take a photo with your favorite piece.” There were a definitely a few standout pieces, which were/are coincidentally my current series, and the culmination of a serious exploration in technique. My show, as it came together, became the story of “welcome to my garden.”
Everything is distilled from nature, from the geometry of nature and the dimensionality of nature, but the three standout pieces are fairly different in style. My “Dandelion Socks” series star sold right away and easily half of the guests stood by this series. The second star was a floral landscape called Aloe & Aeonium with a very textural/3-Dimensional approach (which is also developed in the Dandelion series). The third star, with some wonderful critical shout-outs, is the most out-there member of the show as ‘Jelly Stars” with, again, the very textural/3D treatment, but (almost) totally different subject. This one people either LOVE exclusively or “think its cool but I really love the Dandelions!”
As it happens the Dandelion/Allium is really what I am loving right now, so I am excited to focus on this for the next year (per the e-course) if I continue to get good response to it. I am really enjoying them and the possibilities do seem infinite. I am not sure how they scale to large pieces which I really love to do, but that seems like a fun challenge to take on.
It is hard to abandon my fields of flowers and my Jelly Stars because the people who loved those ones, really really loved them…though didn’t love quite enough to purchase...hmm, pricing? Ugh.
Finally, last bit on the subject (and I kinda know how I feel already) is the recent commissioned piece that I finished (I am waiting to post the pro-photos until my client sees the piece), and the resulting series of test panels. This one utilizes all of the techniques that I employ in all of my pieces, but harkens back to a piece I did way way back before I decided to quit my business career and become a full-time artist. This is an all red abstract piece. Lots of depth and cool stuff happening, but almost a total departure of what I am doing now. I took the commission not knowing how painful the process would be for me. I am a relative infant as an artist and so I didn’t realize how deeply it would challenge me to pull myself back to that piece…but NOW PEOPLE LOVE IT! They have always loved that first piece and always offer to buy it and…I could probably make a lot of money on this as a series...but, if I look inward honestly, what is really exciting to me right now is the repetition, geometry and color of all the flowers exploding in the world these days…but people love the red pieces, really love them...Alas, what to do? What to do?
I thought you might be interested in the course - registration is free. Learn about the course and sign up here: Xanadu Gallery's Free "Starving" to Successful E-Course | Learn how to Get into Galleries and Sell More Art. Xanadu Gallery owner, Jason Horejs, created the e-course to help artists better understand the gallery business and present their artwork to galleries and collectors in a professional manner.
I've been working on this particular series because I received a lot of wonderful feedback and sales from the pieces I showed in my February show Harmony & Socks and I have been urged to generate a full series.
For the past few months I've been taking a free online artist's course through Xanadu Gallery called "Starving" to Successful. In the course I'm learning about what it takes to get my artwork into galleries and sell more art...so we'll see, right...
Part of the course discusses creating consistency and recognition in one's work...
I get such varied, and very separated, praise for a few different directions in my current portfolio. The Xanadu course urges us to look at our "Best 10" and consider how they fit together and how they identify me as the artist.
At the opening reception for show back in February my photographer, who happens to be my husband, decided to do a little theme of ‘take a photo with your favorite piece.” There were a definitely a few standout pieces, which were/are coincidentally my current series, and the culmination of a serious exploration in technique. My show, as it came together, became the story of “welcome to my garden.”
Everything is distilled from nature, from the geometry of nature and the dimensionality of nature, but the three standout pieces are fairly different in style. My “Dandelion Socks” series star sold right away and easily half of the guests stood by this series. The second star was a floral landscape called Aloe & Aeonium with a very textural/3-Dimensional approach (which is also developed in the Dandelion series). The third star, with some wonderful critical shout-outs, is the most out-there member of the show as ‘Jelly Stars” with, again, the very textural/3D treatment, but (almost) totally different subject. This one people either LOVE exclusively or “think its cool but I really love the Dandelions!”
As it happens the Dandelion/Allium is really what I am loving right now, so I am excited to focus on this for the next year (per the e-course) if I continue to get good response to it. I am really enjoying them and the possibilities do seem infinite. I am not sure how they scale to large pieces which I really love to do, but that seems like a fun challenge to take on.
It is hard to abandon my fields of flowers and my Jelly Stars because the people who loved those ones, really really loved them…though didn’t love quite enough to purchase...hmm, pricing? Ugh.
Finally, last bit on the subject (and I kinda know how I feel already) is the recent commissioned piece that I finished (I am waiting to post the pro-photos until my client sees the piece), and the resulting series of test panels. This one utilizes all of the techniques that I employ in all of my pieces, but harkens back to a piece I did way way back before I decided to quit my business career and become a full-time artist. This is an all red abstract piece. Lots of depth and cool stuff happening, but almost a total departure of what I am doing now. I took the commission not knowing how painful the process would be for me. I am a relative infant as an artist and so I didn’t realize how deeply it would challenge me to pull myself back to that piece…but NOW PEOPLE LOVE IT! They have always loved that first piece and always offer to buy it and…I could probably make a lot of money on this as a series...but, if I look inward honestly, what is really exciting to me right now is the repetition, geometry and color of all the flowers exploding in the world these days…but people love the red pieces, really love them...Alas, what to do? What to do?
I thought you might be interested in the course - registration is free. Learn about the course and sign up here: Xanadu Gallery's Free "Starving" to Successful E-Course | Learn how to Get into Galleries and Sell More Art. Xanadu Gallery owner, Jason Horejs, created the e-course to help artists better understand the gallery business and present their artwork to galleries and collectors in a professional manner.
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