Getting all D&M here for a while on art – good or bad – and what it means to me.
Art is an experience
To me, this quote from Robert Motherwell sums it up nicely. The making of the art is what moves me, what really gets me excited. The processes of layering, drawing, scratching, collage. The exploration and the experience. The finished piece is simply an artifact of the art.
The viewer of that artifact will have an entirely different experience than I did in the making. In fact, no two viewers will have the same experience, because we are all unique, and while we may share many things in common, we do not experience them in the same way. And again, it is the viewer’s experience of the artwork that is important to them (putting aside those strange people who buy art as an investment and store it in a vault somewhere – they don’t value the experience, and in that regard I would argue they don’t value the art at all).
Art is a verb
Once you get your head around the fact that this concept redefines art as a verb, you need to consider what makes art “good” or “bad”.
I contend, in this context, that there is no bad art. Since the art is the experience of making and/or viewing, my experience of making the art and the viewer’s experience are both valuable. And most importantly, considering the experience of multiple viewers, some may consider the final artifact of my experience good, and others may consider it bad. As the saying goes, “You can’t please everyone all the time”.
Many artists are afraid to show works in progress or unfinished pieces. I would like to say that is limited to beginning and naturally timid artists, but it is not. Even well established artists may suffer from this. Sadly, they may also be afraid to show finished artwork that they consider “bad”. It is really irrelevant.
Rather than hearing “here’s my new painting I’m so proud”, I would enjoy hearing from an artist that says “I worked really hard on this painting, and it hasn’t turned out the way I expected, but along the way I learned something really great.” And then they can follow up with that great finished piece that incorporates the learning and say “I’m so glad I made that bad painting – look at what it taught me. The experience was so valuable.”
"Toffeelicious" - and Taffy!
In the spirit of sharing, regardless of whether you might think this is good or bad, here is Toffeelicious.
This is a mixed media painting I completed 2 years ago. At the time I thought it was quite good – now, not so much. But I can tell you that I had so much fun making it, and I also learned some valuable lessons about collage and how to keep my papers from warping too much in the process. The art of making taught me, and for that reason I have no desire to hide this, or pretend it isn’t mine, or destroy it or anything like that.
What I have done is use that painting to create some really cool designs in my wearable art line – introducing my new collection “Taffy”. Now tell me that’s not a fun experience for someone!
So please, artists, I implore you – share your artwork, share your processes, don’t be afraid to “fail” – because if you are “arting” (it’s a verb now remember) you are going to have ups and downs – but if you embrace the process you are doing exactly what you are supposed to do, and that is a total success.
And dear viewers…. please know, that if you are looking at someone’s painting, or sculpture or anything that they have crafted, know that it was made with their heart and soul. That the experience they had was so wonderful, and resulted in this artifact that someone may enjoy. Whether you feel the artifact is “good” or “bad”, the art of making was good, and your experience and acknowledgment of that goodness will help that artist grow and thrive.
Sustainability and waste reduction is my goal. Pretty is irrelevant.
Everyone’s had the experience – ordering a tiny article from Amazon or elsewhere, and receiving it in an enormous oversized box with a ton of bubble wrap, or those bags of air. This makes me cringe.
Recently I watched a reel by an artist showing how she packs her prints. It all looked very pretty, but it was so over the top that it made my head reel. There were stickers and cards and sleeves and tissue and multiple shipping tubes and …. all of it brand new stock. And she went on about how important it is to her to source environmentally friendly packaging.
Reality check chick – if you are constantly buying new packaging and throwing out the packaging you get from suppliers etc. or wherever you can source used materials, and putting on stickers just because they are pretty and another sticker just to say “Open” on the end of the tube – you are not being environmentally friendly! (And who the heck doesn’t know how to take the plastic cap off a mailing tube anyway? Who actually needed that sticker???)
A small part of my stash of bubble wrap – waiting to be re-used.
I understand how nice it is to receive pretty things – but should receiving the art not be enough? Does the appearance of the outer box and padding materials really make your experience that much better? Sustainable packaging just makes sense. As long as it is safely and securely packed, as far as I’m concerned, the rest is irrelevant – a waste of materials and money. And for the buyer, that means their money – because all of that is just going to increase my costs. Believe me dear collector, if it costs me an extra $10 or $20 to make a package over-the-top pretty, you are going to be the one paying for it!
So here’s my view. We moved internationally 2.5 years ago – I have an enormous supply of heavy duty boxes and bubble wrap. Add to that the fact that we’re in a rural area and so much of my shopping is done online – I’m swimming in packaging materials. There’s no way I’m going to throw all of that into a dump, and then go and spend lots of money to buy new pretty packaging. If you purchase something from me you are almost guaranteed to get recycled packaging materials. I do buy a few things, and then when I do, I try to be environmentally responsible – minimal but good quality packaging with recycled content that hopefully is also recyclable or re-usable.
Yes, the customer experience is important – of course! Anything I send will be packed securely – probably over the top securely to keep it safe – because I’ve got all this packaging material here and that is an important thing. I do spend a bit of extra time to make things “fit” without making the packaging too big. I try to trim edges and make the recycled material look a bit nicer, so there isn’t rough or dangly bits.
Safely packing a small painting All recycled materials except the tape. I’m content to use a Sharpie to write “Fragile” – no special sticker needed.
You’ll probably also get a handwritten thank you note – my writing isn’t pretty but you know it’s personal. I’m unlikely to be sending it with a special sticker that says “Thank you” (unless I use the stickers that one of my suppliers gives me for free – and then I’m still going to send a hand written note.) OR, you might get one of my 1-of-a-kind painted thank you tags. I use these at markets – they hang on the side of my (recycled content) shopping bags. Shoppers love them 🙂
When you open your artwork or clothing – the final layer of packaging, well that will be a wee bit pretty. Tissue around the clothing with some pretty washi tape to close, so everything stays nicely folded, original paintings on paper matted or at least with a rigid backing board and in an archival clear sleeve. Framed paintings might not look so pretty with cardboard corners and tape across the glass. None of this is done in excess – they protect that special item you’ve been waiting for from damage.
So, if you need extra special pretty packaging to make you feel good – I’ve got to say, you’re shopping with the wrong artist.
How much is enough
Original painting in acid free mat, with Certificate of Creation. Both of these will be slipped into a clear archival sleeve with rigid acid free backing to protect the painting. The sleeve is plastic yes, one of my few concessions. But they are Acid and Lignin Free, with 10% Recycled content – it’s important to keep your new art safe.
I put my creativity and beautiful ideas into my artwork, and I try to keep costs down and be environmentally friendly when it comes to everything else. Storing the excess materials and making things “fit” and taking the time to make sure your product is safe – all of that takes a bit of time and effort on my part, but I think you’re worth it.
Paper shopping bags of 100% recycled content and reusable cloth totes for larger paintings. All with a unique hand painted thank you card tied with a colourful bit of embroidery string to make it special. The bags are stamped – not a sticker in sight.
Slowly and carefully – the pitfalls of calls for art
One of my goals for 2024 is to get additional gallery representation – not the easiest task in the world, and I am readying myself for rounds of rejections.
Still – in order to spend more time making art, and to be able to afford to do it to begin with, I need to find people who can help me sell it. So in January, I entered 5 calls for art (for specific exhibitions – not gallery “representation”). 1 was real world, 4 online/virtual exhibitions:
Argyle Fine Art – a gallery about 5 hours from me in Halifax. The call for art for their annual Pre-Shrunk show. 2 of the 5 pieces I entered were accepted – wish it could have been all 5, but I’m new and unknown to them, so I was happy with that.
Viali Art Competition (online) – unusual, as they decided they did not receive enough entries to make the competition “real” – that is awarding prizes when there are very few entries is not any kind of acknowledgement that is worthwhile. They’ve refunded (most of) my entry fee – respect for that and for trying to advance Canadian artists (even if apparently too many of us are too lazy/cheap/ambitious enough to try)
Artstonish Magazine (online and print) – flat out rejection. Entry was free (paid if selected) so I can only imagine the competition for this was fierce.
Valentine – Gallerium Magazine (online only) – Accepted my painting “Love affair” (of course, Valentine’s Day theme and all that).
I got what I feel to be an acceptable level of acceptance vs rejection from these calls – the “real world” acceptance was the most important to me. I’m hoping that in spite of the fact that these 2 pieces have not sold (yet), the gallery might consider representing me in the future. OR, give me advice / guidance on next steps.
The last, for which my work was accepted, is slightly suspicious. You see, I’ve since received an excessive number of invitations to enter from them that I feel it can’t be real. Of course they are happy to take my $40USD each time I enter one of their calls – it’s a fabulous way to make money. I think these guys (Gallerium/Biafarin) are slipping into the realm of vanity galleries. Yes sure it gets my work online, but that’s easy. There are 49 artworks from 49 artists, and the claimed number of unique visits is … 4,949. Which doesn’t seem to be changing. So I think I have fallen prey to this one. It wasn’t a large investment of course, not like some vanity galleries which ask for hundreds of dollars in fees for the “opportunity”, but still – so many invitations – seems odd. I also note that neither of these entities is promoting the exhibition in any way! All they are doing is promoting more and more “opportunities”. The traffic online to this show is virtually nil.
SO there’s the lesson – do a bit more research before entering any calls for art. I came across this call on the Café site (callforentry.org) and trusted that it was a real call. Turns out that was a mistake. Overall my experience with these calls has been positive, so I will slowly and carefully research each call. I’m also trialling out the “Pilot Art List” – which for a small monthly fee sends out researched Canadian and US calls for art. It was recommended by an art consultant on Instagram as “legit”, so we’ll see how that goes. (She also seems “legit” btw… but it’s so easy to “seem” something online isn’t it?) Anyway, 8 months of that list delivered to me is the equivalent of 1 shady call for art – seems a bargain.
Anyway, after a brief hiatus from the studio I shall venture back there today. The first thing I need to tackle is cleaning and organising, then hopefully get messy with some new paintings – I’m feeling a winter landscape coming on.
So I’m sitting here in my hotel room at 3:42 am. I’m in a hotel because I’ve just participated in a trade show 5 hours from my home, and I’m awake at 3:42 am because – well that’s just the way I work. Sleeping 4-5 hours a night is frustrating, but it’s because I wake in the middle of the night and immediately my mind shifts into high gear. What if I do this? I should do that. Remember when that happened? I should write something. Can’t stop the thinking …
I think about all the things I’ve done over the last few years, (well over my life really) the experiences I’ve had, the crazy leap of faith that I was going to quit the day job and devote myself full time to my art a few years ago. Yay! To be honest if I didn’t have savings I might have starved to death, but then again, I’m sure I would have found a way. Because my crazy brain would have come up with something. And it’s starting to pay off – I’m learning and growing, and selling more. I’ve had wonderful people stop by my display this weekend to tell me how much they like my work – hopefully some of that will pay off with some new contracts to have my prints and wearables in their shops. I think the wearables got most of the attention, which makes me a wee bit sad, but that is part of me too, and it all starts with making the art. My hope is that if I get my work in more shops it will give me more time to do what I love. If the paintings stack up and the wearables sell lots I’m ok with that. But the reality is trying to get to that stage is keeping me away from creating. I just can’t do everything everywhere all the time. I’m working my butt off with this marketing stuff and not spending nearly enough time doing what I love – just creating. Just being me.
So this crazy brain of mine that just keeps going and going and going – the only time it is really peaceful is when I’m painting. I get totally immersed in the marks and blending and and layering and the possibility. I have no fear of the blank canvas – that is filled with infinite possibilities. And I have no fear of failure or “ruining” a painting by experiment- so many people are timid and wonder “what if” and then seek advice from others. I think this is what holds an artist back “What if” almost immediately translates to “do it” for me (which is how I wound up in this hotel).
For the next few weeks I have no commitments, no shows, no classes – nothing except the need to get back to less “what if” in terms of growing my business, and more “what if” in terms of making my art. It’s really hard to separate the two, because I feel I “should” be selling more, getting to more galleries and shops (and I’m partly driven to that by a new friend who is very active in getting new shops, so I feel I should do this too. The fomo is real.) I “should” be teaching – many people ask. But do I want to? Probably not, I’m very impatient and not sure I could handle it! I “should” be making work that is more easily sale-able. But do I want to? No. I could create more realistic landscapes or still lifes or florals – art that people can more easily understand. But it’s not what I want. I want work that is me, I want work that speaks to people’s emotions, that makes them feel. I want my work to stir your imagination. I don’t want you to see my paintings, I want you to feel them. I want my work to make you think “what if…?”. I want to surround you with a sense of wonder.
Enjoy this brief process video – this is how I play and explor and become fully involved in the process of creation. The piece you’ll see in progress here is “The pond” – which went to a new home in San Diego in 2022. The prints are a crowd favourite at markets – and truly authentic as “The pond” is an expression of me – how I felt staring out at the salt marsh / pond beside my studio, trying to capture the atmosphere and peace that surrounds me. Marketing and selling is hard work. Teaching is hard work. Making art is just me being me. Work less, art more – this is my goal.
I’m trying to update my bio, and I am faced with an expression I don’t like – “self taught artist”. It’s not that I mind people knowing that I don’t have a formal art education, it’s that we all learn from others, and I certainly have. I didn’t teach myself how to extend my paints using mediums, or how to mix colour, or how to apply principles of design to create stronger work. I learned these things from other artists, as we all do.
My tuition is self-directed – that is I’ve chosen to follow certain artists, learn from them, read certain books, listen to certain podcasts, take this course or that (and I’ve taken a lot of courses!), but to date I am not “self-taught”. Mostly.
I do love to experiment – and this is where I learn the most valuable things. In my studio, on my own, taking risks. What I like and what I don’t, what works and what doesn’t, what might happen if I take a sander to an area of paint I don’t like or apply one material over another in a new way, or use “new” colours (new for me – it’s all been done before). I say to my self “what if…” and then I do it. I don’t go online to ask anyone’s advice or guidance, I don’t worry about the consequences of “ruining” my art – I just do it. I fail – and I make great discoveries too.
I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the single most valuable part of my art education. It’s not about techniques or results, it’s about being truly authentic and growing as an artist. It’s about being unique because I’ve thought of something without being prompted and done it (even if it’s been done before the way I do it is different because I’m different). Experimentation and exploration is the only way that I can truly be “me” as an artist.
So, I have made a little resolution for 2024 … I’m not taking any art courses. Not a workshop, no online courses, no “guided” sessions (never have been fond of them anyway). I admit I did sign up for a January workshop just before Christmas as a way to kickstart the year, but I’ve decided to ignore it – to ignore the influence of another artist and another online course that I do not need. Don’t get me wrong – I love learning. But this year, I’m going to learn about art from me. That is something I need to do. I’m going to look inside and explore and experiment and just keep going and see where it takes me….
I’m going to make a lot of mistakes, and probably a lot of bad unfinished paintings, but I am going to learn. And at the end of this year, I think “self-taught” will feel more real to me.
In a world where social media platforms are often seen as essential tools for artists to showcase their work, it might seem counterintuitive to consider a path without them. However, achieving success as an artist without relying on social media is not only possible but can also be deeply fulfilling. This article hosted by Driftwood Gallery explores alternative strategies for artists to market and sell their creations.
Spring fever
Cultivating Personal Networks and Communities
Building a strong personal network is crucial for artists avoiding social media. Engaging with local art communities, participating in art fairs, and attending gallery openings can lead to valuable connections with fellow artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts. Personal interactions often create deeper and more meaningful connections than online ones, leading to potential collaborations, commissions, and sales.
Showcasing Art in Local Venues
Displaying your work in local venues such as cafes, libraries, and community centres can significantly increase visibility. These spaces often attract diverse audiences who might not typically visit galleries or art shows, exposing your work to potential new admirers and buyers.
Engaging with Art Collectors and Galleries
Directly reaching out to art collectors and galleries can be more effective than passive social media posting. Research galleries that align with your style and approach them with a well-prepared portfolio. Building relationships with art collectors can be done through art fairs, exhibitions, or personal introductions.
Embracing Collaborative Opportunities
Collaborating with other artists, local businesses, or community organizations can significantly amplify your reach and create new opportunities. This can involve working with another artist on a joint exhibition or art project, which not only brings together different styles and audiences but also fosters a sense of community and shared creativity. Local businesses often seek unique ways to decorate their spaces or promote their services, and here, an artist’s work can play a key role. For instance, creating custom artwork for a local café or designing a mural for a community centre not only showcases your talent to a broader audience but also embeds your work in the daily life of your community. Such collaborations can lead to increased recognition, potential sales, and the chance to engage with a diverse range of people who might not typically visit galleries or art exhibitions.
Leveraging Adobe Express for Marketing and Sales
Adobe Express offers a range of features that can be incredibly beneficial for artists looking to
showcase and sell their work. Here’s how you can leverage Adobe Express:
Creating Stunning Posters and Flyers: Adobe Express allows you to design eye-catching posters and flyers to promote exhibitions, workshops, or new art series. These can be distributed in your local community or at art-related events to attract a wider audience.
Designing Desktop Wallpapers: Creating personalized desktop wallpapers can be an innovative way to share your art. Offering these as digital downloads presents an opportunity for an additional revenue stream, allowing art enthusiasts to enjoy your work in a functional and everyday setting.
Building an Online Portfolio: Even if you avoid social media, an online presence is beneficial. Adobe Express can be used to create a professional-looking portfolio website where you can showcase your work, share your artist statement, and provide contact information for potential buyers and collaborators.
Success as an artist outside of social media is not only achievable but can also lead to more authentic and meaningful connections with your audience. By utilizing tools like Adobe Express and embracing traditional methods of networking and marketing, artists can carve out a unique space for themselves in the art world. This approach may require more effort and creativity, but it often leads to more sustainable and rewarding artistic careers.
