Goin' Down a Side Canyon

Goin' down a side canyon. Wow -- ah reckin' that sounds all western 'n' such -- something a desert/western landscape artist would do.

No -- in this case, it's about developing alternative ways of selling art-related items.

Does this look like impressionism to you? I hope it's close. Impressionism seems to be the favorite art style in southern California, along with abstract and all kinds of avant garde stuff. Frankly, sales of traditional landscapes just don't happen around here.

So I'll continue to paint desert and western scenes as time allows, but I've been thinking: I've got literally thousands of 35mm slides and color negatives of places we've visited over the years. I don't have a high-quality film scanner, so I would not be able to achieve high-resolution digital images to make into posters.

But I do have software called PhotoPlus (from serif.com), similar to Adobe PhotoShop. It has many features I've rarely used -- maybe I need to start!

As in the above image. It's my painting, A Place of Wonder, that I turned into an impressionistic artwork by the mere click on a button.

I figure I can mask the relatively poor resolution of the scan of a slide using the effects and then make it large enough to produce a print -- which I would do via print-on-demand services such as FineArtAmerica.com and deviantArt.com (no link directly to my work at this time). And this way, I can offer low-cost alternatives to original pieces that maybe are too realistic and detailed for some folks, anyway.

I have a number of effects and alterations available to me besides the "impressionistic" one you see above. The "Watercolor" option gives a blurry, dreamy effect that I like -- but probably not for desert scenes. But a redwood forest...o-o-h-h, yes!

And if this works beyond my wildest dreams, I know of software I can buy at a discount (being a P/T college professor and all) that would expand my horizons even more! But first things first.

I already have the slides and computer tools I need to do this -- good, since we're pretty low on $$$ right now. Wish me luck on this side canyon excursion.

The Holidays Are Comin', the Holidays Are Comin'!

Sometimes, when it gets to be around mid-September, I start to wonder if I'm part bird or something. I can't say I have a migratory instinct, but an excitement over the time of year seems to well up within me. Autumn (even if autumnal equinox hasn't hit yet) tends to put me in high gear. Just the thought of fall colors, Jack O' Lanterns, pumpkins, turkeys and Christmas flood my mind, and I get images of the beauty of this time. And it makes me want to paint artwork that shows what's in my head.

You may remember I essentially gave up hope of ever deriving a steady income from the sale of paintings. They just ain't being snatched up for whatever reason. But I have had the idea of developing an end-of-the-year holidays book -- possibly an e-book -- illustrated by me, painted during the height of the appropriate holiday when I'm feeling the most excited about those days.

So -- definitely Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. No New Years -- I tend to go into a funk after Christmas, and New Years finalizes the season too much. Hanukkah -- maybe. I'm not Jewish, but I've had SO-O many Jewish friends over the years (and even some Jewish girlfriends) and had been invited to Hanukkah parties and stuff -- I may include this celebration in the book as well. As for Kwanzaa -- I'm considering it, but I have absolutely no childhood memories or associations of Kwanzaa, so it would be hard for me to develop meaningful images of this time. It might increase my audience, but ... I dunno... I think I'm done painting for the market anymore.

Admittedly, the "holidays book," as I call it for now, has been in my head for years, and progress toward it has been slow. I don't know if I'm just old, out of shape, not exercising enough, or what -- but I just don't have the energy I used to have to do things like this. Maybe I'm just tired of art, period -- let's face it, I've had more negative than positive experiences with the art world, and it's possible I'm just fed up. Lost interest. Long-term depression (which I do struggle with). Utterly discouraged -- can't quite put my finger on the problem.

Well, let's hope I'll be able to get some work done on this project, although I don't think I'd ever make much money on an e-book like this, and painting isn't fun enough anymore to be a reward in itself. But let's hope, anyway.

A Season of Gold

A Season of Gold -- that's an apt description of the Colorado mountains when autumn hits! It's also the title of my latest painting, which I started months ago but had to set aside because of my summer teaching schedule.

A Season of Gold, 16" x 20"

The view is of Mt. Sneffels as seen from the Dallas Divide. This region lies between Ridgeway and Telluride, Colorado. (Ralph Lauren has a place somewhere out here -- the Double RL Ranch).

Those reddish shrubs out there could be a bright red, but for whatever reason, whenever I paint them that way, the red seems to kill the paintings. I'm gonna have to play with that some day so that I can put in all the fall color that this magical place produces.

I wanna go back there again. And stay there throughout the peak color time -- from mid-late September. (It doesn't last long in Colorado, but often, more color can be found simply by going lower in elevation).

Some day!

School Is Out, School Is Out

...the teacher let the monkeys out,
No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks.

Well, I don't think it was THAT bad for my microbiology students at the local community college! In fact, many of them shuck hands with me after turning in their final exams, and one gal even gave me a thank you card. She said she was never a big participant in her previous classes, but apparently I encouraged her to speak up and answer my questions in class. (She was good at it, too -- almost always right). She felt I had helped her develop skills that will be with her for the rest of her life. (A few other students had told me some of their instructors made them feel stupid in class, which is sad).

So at least in a few cases, I guess I made a difference in the students' lives. I'm glad they let me know -- that really is a good feeling, and I know teachers live for those moments. Maybe teaching is my calling, not art which has been terribly frustrating to think of as anything resembling an income source.

As far as art goes, I now consider it a hobby with a possibility of making SOME money at it. But as far as putting lots of energy into trying to sell my artwork, well, the energy seems to be gone. I'm just out of gas. I have some paintings in a gallery/gift shop in Palm Springs, I have a print available on Fine Art America, and that may be it for selling efforts. As I often say nowadays -- "we'll see."

Meanwhile, I can't say when the next teaching opportunity will present itself, but hopefully it won't be another three years before I'm needed again.

 

Step One

I'm essentially over my cold, although I'm still coughing a lot and I feel tired all the time. Sigh... Maybe it's all part of getting old.

But I did take an important (to me) step in the art biz (such as it is) today...

I sent off a 4" x 5"/5cm x 7.5cm transparency of the painting, A Place of Wonder to have a digital scan made of it. The next step: having prints made!

I already have an account set up with Fine Art America, an outfit that makes prints to order. I may go through them, or I might look into alternative options -- I haven't quite figured out the best approach yet. Much will depend on whether or not Fine Art America can meet my needs as far as sizes and quality go.

We'll have to see how this image goes before I try any more. Prints/mass production seem to be the trend for marketing art today, but I'll still want to see how well it sells before I put a lot of $$$ into additional offerings.

We'll see...

TOO-O-O-O Busy!!!

Yikes! It sure got busy lately; sadly, too busy to make art!

First, I started teaching again, for the first time in almost three years, at the local community college. General Microbiology. Most of the students in my class are future nursing school students, which I like: I always get a nice bunch of people.

Class started two weeks ago. But then, ONE week ago, I came down with a (mostly) chest cold. Good grief!! You'd think a microbiologist would be able to avoid getting sick, but not necessarily. I didn't even go out or have contact with people at the time I would have contracted the virus! So I have no idea where I got it.

So, between teaching, preparing for class, grading papers and then being sick (and being just plain tired), I haven't been able to paint much. I hope that changes soon, but it may not until the semester is over -- six more weeks. (Summer Semester uses a compressed schedule, so it isn't as long as a "real" semester otta be).

Meanwhile, I'll keep fighting off this cold, enjoy getting an actual paycheck for awhile, and get back to painting ASAP. Be back soon!

A Cold Virus

"The Year's at the Spring..."

My latest painting is not my usual image of the southwestern desert. Although I want to continue produce scenes of the arid country I love, I sometimes feel that I need to have other types of landscapes, too (since -- believe it or not -- there ARE people who don't like the desert!!)

The Year's at the Spring -- All's Right with the World

I...uh, "borrowed" the title from a work by 19th century artist Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema who, in turn, may have adapted some lines from Robert Browning's Pippa Passes. It's springtime in the rolling hills north of San Luis Obispo, California -- specifically, this is the scenery of Buellton, Atascadero and Paso Robles in early April. In this ranch country, it's not unusual to see grazing horses (like these) or cattle. California valley quail are more elusive, but they're there -- if you don't see them, you'll hear them!

I'm producing paintings that will not be put up for sale for a while. I want to make sure I have a good collection of pieces to enter in art shows, and I also want to have high-quality digital images made so I can make giclée prints. That's an important angle of the art market I never really pursued.

And since I'll be teaching microbiology at the local community college this summer, I hope to be able to finance some of these art projects.

I think the painting above would look good as a print -- what do you think?