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."

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!