Varsity Basketball and Art

My youngest son is just finishing up his senior varsity season of basketball. He's a good player and made the commitment to basketball, giving up baseball his freshman year. This is bittersweet for all of us; we've watched him play and grow over the years, went to all his games, watched him do his laundry and tried to help him manage practice and school work, but not help too much. Mostly we've seen a little kid from second grade hucking up the basketball in the front yard hoop grow into a man of 6' 3" who can really play the game of basketball at a high level. Not very many kids get to play varsity basketball for three years. 

I've learned from him. Making a physical and mental commitment over such a long period of time is huge. Making art is this same long term endeavor. You don't just become an artist in a year or two. It takes time and growth and depth of character. It takes meaningful practice, both mental and physical. Mostly it takes staying the course. Mileage, Mileage, Mileage. Gosh I wish it wasn't true, but it is......

Selling: Getting Ready

Ok, I'm about two and a half weeks from heading out on my trip to the Scottsdale Arts Festival, then a new show in Winterpark, Florida. Mike will drive, I will fly! Family will hold the fort.

So, I feel great about all the work I have for both shows; lots of new pastels and oils. The studio is all a flurry in the process of framing some smaller works and taking larger pieces to my framer for fitting. I decided this time to have Todd at Framing Resource fit a bunch of work so I could keep painting oils until the last minute possible.  I took several pieces to Pixel Point Artistry to have shot for possible giclees later in the season. The oils are drying and getting black edging. I'm signing them, although I need to go to the art supply store to buy a smaller brush to sign the oils. I sign them in red with a mark that is not my legal signature, but looks better. It's more "designed". The pastels are getting their coat of spray; very light and at the end. I'm signing each of those with a sharp grey Carb Othello pastel pencil.

Lots of time is being spent on the computer getting all the work photographed and in inventory. I recently bought "eartist" which seems to be really great. It's a filemaker based program which I was already familiar with. Each piece will have a label on the back and a show label. We will have our computers with us and a printer in case we need to print more or make a change.

All the equipment needs organizing since this is the first set of booth shows for the season. This is a little frustrating since at the end of the season in September of 2010, we didn't do a good job of carefully organizing the gear. We just threw it in the garage and the Sprinter. I get why we did that, but regret it all the same! I have a comprehensive check list of all the equipment, from the booth and canopy, right down to the sunscreen and the Advil.

Next is making sure all the paperwork and tax forms are in place for both states that we'll be doing business in. Just like an athelete, we have to file sales tax forms in each state we do business. Scottsdale has both a city and state fee. Bummer. I don't so much mind the fee as the paperwork involved. Hard to keep track of it all.

Sending out an email notice to collectors and students is another item on the agenda. This is really important and almost takes precedence over a mailed card these days. We are working on an email that highlights a drawing to win a framed pastel later in the year. We're hoping contacts will encourage friends to sign up, to spread the word about my work.

Scottsdale 2010

Then we have to decide on a booth layout. Scottsdale is not too hard as we have the same great space as last year, but we do want to change it up a bit since I have a better variety of work. We actually have a foam core model of the booth panels that we set up. (Thanks to Mike). I wouldn't do this, but admit that it helps. We have Propanels which are light weight and easy to set up, but everyone has them, so our booth looks kind of like everybody's!! We do a few things to make it a little different.

Mike's Genius!!

All the work will be loaded into the Sprinter on the 6th of March. This is always fun if the weather cooperates. Not so much if it doesn't since the truck doesn't fit in the garage!! Most of the work will be loaded into the crates we have. Larger works will be slotted into a space behind the cab. Lots of consideration goes into the loading, so nothing gets damaged in transit from the movement of the truck. The pastels are especially tricky. The oils need a certain kind of care so the edges don't get scuffed.

Last years load in que! I have no house!

Last but not least are the wardrobe considerations. After all, this is the first show of the season, a warm
locale, a city with lots of great opportunity to dine and step out and I get to shed my painting cloths for a change. I'll need cloths for the set-up, cloths for selling and cloths for going out with Mike. I won't have time to shop, but I think I've got it handled already!! Most important are the shoes....and the boots.....Ha,ha!!

Not what I wear in the studio!!

A Strong Finish!

My week was filled with a diversity of tasks, from painting,(very nice), to inventory management,(ok), to errands like going to the framer,(so,so). I felt like I'd gotten off to a slow start this week. I had a few nagging things to get past; a lingering cold and my son's lost wallet, grrrrrrr!!!!

So today, when I was able to put aside the weeks machinations and moments when life got in the way of life, I was truly happy and just a little proud of myself. Not especially because of the results of the painting, but because I was able to put my head into it fully. This is my usual challenge.

This oil painting is based on a pastel composition that I did a couple years ago. I've intended to do an oil painting from it for quite some time. I like the color palette and the softness of the foreground. I'm paying particular attention to my edges in my newest oil paintings. I think this is paying off. Although this piece is not quite finished, I think it has some of the ethereal quality that I liked in the original pastel.

I first do a thin wash of oils in really saturated color. I let this sit overnight.

I premix some colors that I know I'll need

Almost done. I'll do some final tweaking and "design" some of the shapes so they are more elegant.

Inventory Page

A couple of my blogger friends asked to see a better view of the inventory page. I tape in the images. It's a little down and dirty, but I like it as it's a quick visual of the pieces not just a number or title that is hard for me to remember. I enter each piece in a database program in addition to entering them into this book, so there is redundancy there.

 

I made the form in Quark and had the pages made into two sided copies, then I had the resulting book spiral bound at a copy center. It was about $15.00. A very worthwhile investment of time and money! Now I have one made every year or so, when I need one. Oh, each book has several blank pages in the back for notes, title ideas or whatever I might need them for. This is more of a ready reference that is not comprehensive in that it doesn't have purchasers info, framing cost and a few other details that I try to keep track of on each piece.

The Price and the Value of Artwork

It's always a difficult thing to put a price on your art. But if you want to sell it, you gotta put a price on it. So how do you go about getting "fair market value" for your work and what does that have to do with your art? I've found pricing to be a very difficult part of my job. As I've developed a sales history over the years, it's gotten easier. Still separating the business and the emotion of producing art has been essential for me.

What am I charging for:

1. The time I spend thinking up the idea, percolating it, ruminating on it, procrastinating around it
2  Going to the art supply store to buy the stuff
3. Experimenting with the stuff
4. Finally making the thing and this includes all the years experience in what came before this piece
5. Framing it
6. Marketing it, taking it to a gallery or festival or selling it online (a huge chunk of time)
7. Shipping it
8. Sending a thank you note. 

How do you come up with a formula to charge for these tasks? Well very simply, I've decided to charge a set rate per square inch. I have a price per square inch for oils, one for framed pastels and one for unframed pastels. By doing this I'm not tempted to charge more for a piece that I'm especially partial to. I think this is a bad idea, since you are in effect devaluing the other work by setting a higher price for particular pieces. It's helpful to have this standard pricing to refer to when a client or gallery asks. I deviate from the formula occasionally for special projects only such as the "100 Variations" which I've set at slightly lower pricing because there are just so dang many of them!

This standard pricing is set at a particular rate based on a past history of sales and demand for my work. If I'm selling like hotcakes at a particular pricing rate, then it's time to move it up a little. If not, then I consider making a move down if necessary.

Setting this rate is a tricky thing as I'm putting a number on my time. More than that, I'm putting a number on all the hours behind an easel or drawing board that I've ever spent. Is my time worth more or less than the plumber or the doctor?? What is the price of beauty and creativity? Hard questions that start to go to questions about what we value.  Probably better for another post!

 

So, I like to keep the pricing transparent for buyers, so they know I'm not just setting an arbitrary price for a piece. I let them know how I formulate the price and have it clearly marked. I also have an inventory book, that lists each work with pricing and other info. I had this book made at a copy center for $15. It was worth it!!

I keep my prices the same in galleries and at outdoor festivals or studio shows. By doing this, I'm not competing with myself. I make less money this way through my galleries, but if they are doing their job, and they trust me, it always works out in the end. When I have work at a gallery, they are doing all the selling and footwork, so I'm happy for them to have their percentage. When I'm doing all of the footwork at a festival, I think I'm entitled to make a bit more.

I think of the price and the value as being kind of separate ideas. The price is what I can reasonably sell the work for. The value of it may be something much, much different.