Saturday, January 3, 2015

Painting in 2015


Alright...Now that we're three days into 2015, I guess I need to start thinking about what I'm gonna paint this year.

I wish I didn't have to be concerned with making money at art. But I need to. My Social Security doesn't bring in enough, and we don't have enough $$$ in our IRA accounts to last very long -- a few years at the most.

And the fact is -- while traditional/classical landscapes DO sell, My research shows they don't sell really well. Nowadays, art in general isn't selling, let alone for a relatively unknown artist-dude like me.

Not being negative here -- I'm facing the facts and being real. Sometimes in business, one must re-evaluate what it takes to make it all work.

This is a painting by Czechoslovakian artist Alphonse Maria Mucha. The style (Art Nouveau) is a little too dated for me, but it's colorful, playful, I (think I) could do similar work, and maybe it would sell better than what I do now. And I believe I could be happy doing it, so it's not like I'd be "selling out" or "not following my passion."

Alphonse Maria Mucha,Art Nouveau,painting
Fruit, Alphonse Maria Mucha, 1897
Another possibility might be a much more dramatic, but realistic, version of landscapes, similar to what one might see as a background in a sci-fi video game or movie. I can't show examples of what I have in mind do to copyright violation issues, but if I ever make some images in this genre, you're see them here.

Finally, I need to find a way to produce scenes that are less expensive -- the simpler style of Mucha would help with that -- less time spent on painting details -- and I may need to give up on the labor-intensive use of transparent glazes, which is a bit like doing the same painting over and over and over again because I paint in multiple layers when I use glazes. I love the stained-glass look of glazes, but I have to ask more $$$ for my paintings because they take much longer to do.

Prints would be another option -- I just need to find a way to make high-resolution, but inexpensive, digital files of the paintings, something I don't have the means to do now.

Well, in any case, 2015 is gonna hafta be the year I sell art -- more of it for less with a different look -- either a little or a lot different. meanwhile, I'll continue to paint the traditional work as a hobby -- works I'll be proud to hang on my own walls!


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