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Oil Painting

In Memory of John Stobart OPAM

Oil Painters of America · May 22, 2023 · 7 Comments

For today’s OPA Blog, we are sharing a short history of John Stobart OPAM provided by Rehs Gallery of NYC. John’s life speaks of a lifelong dedication to developing a tremendously successful path in Art that transcends generations, and whose career has had a positive impact upon so many of the artists of today and tomorrow.

We admire his spirit and celebrate his legacy.

John Stobart OPAM Bio

1929-2023

John Stobart’s start in life was quite unexpected. His mother died when she was seven months pregnant, making her unborn child’s chance of survival uncertain. Nonetheless, the baby lived, and soon joined his older brother George and his father in their modest home in Allestree, an attractive village north of the county town of Derby, England. 

The Stobart brothers were very close. Although only eighteen months older than John, George was a willing guide to all the intriguing wonders of the area around their home. They even ventured to Kedleston Hall, home to the aristocratic Curzon family, whose residence in Derbyshire dates back to the 1150s. To the twentieth-century Stobart brothers, Kedleston Hall must have seemed like a vision out of a storybook. In later years, John would return often to paint the breathtaking setting and elegant stately home.

It was not until 1938, when Stobart was eight years old, that he first met his mother’s family. Meeting his grandmother, who lived in suburban Roby, also marked a turning point in his young life. The tram that stopped at the end of her street traveled directly to the Pier Head in Liverpool. By the time he was twelve, Stobart was allowed to board the tram on his own and get off when he reached the end of the line. His first trip to the docks left him in awe of the vast number, sizes and types of ships that he could see. In talking about that magical day now, he recognizes it as “a life-changing day”.

The happy days in Liverpool and Weston Underwood would soon be interrupted however. News of Hitler’s invasion of Poland arrived in early September 1939. “And then all hell broke loose.” John and George were soon evacuated to Amber Valley Camp to keep them safe from harm. Amber Valley Camp was largely rural and very appealing for young boys. Stobart spent his spare time drawing as he had from a young age, and gradually began to expand his repertoire to include the design of three-dimensional objects during breaks from school.


By late summer of 1945, Stobart had completed his studies at Derby School and was pleased to learn that he was admitted to Derby College of Art without even being required to take an entrance exam. This was perhaps the first of many “strokes of luck” as Stobart calls them—an unexpected opportunity that would subsequently shape his career as an artist. He began studying with the painter Alfred Bladen. The curriculum at the College was based on the traditional academic program of studying drawing first, then painting, and finally painting from a live model. Stobart was thoroughly enjoying himself; rather than struggling with his studies, he was now in his element. Coursework was supplemented with visits to museums and galleries in Birmingham, and it was there that Stobart was inspired by the work of John Constable. The years at Derby College of Art provided a solid foundation for the young artist’s career.

San Francisco The Gold Rush Harbor By Moonlight in 1851 by John Stobart OPAM
30″ x 50″

Stobart finished his studies at the College of Art in 1950 and left for London to pursue his art education at the Royal Academy Schools that fall. After two years of studying, Stobart left to fulfill his compulsory National Service as a radar specialist with the Royal Air Force. By 1955, he was back in London finishing his studies at the Royal Academy Schools.

Not far from the school was the Burlington Arcade, a center for luxury shops and, more importantly, the J. A. Tooth Gallery. Tooth specialized in equestrian paintings, but he and Stobart had become friends when the artist became a regular visitor to the gallery. Eventually, Stobart brought Tooth a few of his paintings to review, and on one occasion he left two of them in the gallery. The next day, the RA school’s porter interrupted him during life drawing class to say that Tooth wanted him to come to the gallery immediately. One of Tooth’s clients had taken an interest in his painting of a tugboat on the Thames and wanted to purchase it. That client was John Meadows Marsh, Q.C. of Toronto, who was in town for only a short time; despite the briefness of their encounter, the two men formed a bond that would eventually lead Stobart to Canada and the beginnings of his professional career. 

South Street New York in 1875 by John Stobart OPAM
18″ x 24″

During Stobart’s years at school in London, his father had made a major change in his own life, marrying again and moving to Bulawayo in southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He informed his son of these developments, inviting him to visit and sending a ticket for the trip. Stobart set out for his first ocean voyage. In addition to seeing much of Africa and many seas, the voyage provided Stobart with a detailed understanding of how ships function on a daily basis. He returned with a plethora of oil sketches from the numerous ports he had visited on his voyage.

During his time in Africa, it occurred to him that British shipping companies might be interested in paintings that portrayed their ships in exotic port cities. Back in London, he put this idea into action, obtaining a set of plans for the ship Braemar Castle, and one month later, presenting the finished painting of the vessel in the harbor of Mombasa to the Union Castle Line. Within days he had a sale. This strategy would serve Stobart well for many years; he painted for several British and Canadian shipping companies, first on speculation, but soon on commission.

During these early years of his career, Stobart also made his first trip to Canada, where he stayed with John Meadows Marsh, Q.C., the collector who had purchased his painting at J. A. Tooth’s Gallery. While in Toronto, Stobart also contacted the Maritime Museum in the hope of learning more about sailing ships from earlier eras. Alan Howard, curator of the museum, was familiar with the artist’s work and the two men soon became close friends. Howard introduced Stobart to the history of clipper ships and other sailing vessels, and taught him how the intricate rigging of each type of ship was used under variable weather conditions. His research confirmed his own sense that it was time for a new direction in his work. Turning to the sailing vessels of earlier centuries gave him more scope for his work.

Sugar Importers by John Stobart OPAM
20″ x 30″

In 1966 Howard recommended that Stobart make a trip to New York where there were abundant galleries and a much larger art market. On his train ride down the Hudson, he was joined by a commuter who clearly did not want to talk, so Stobart began to review his black & white photographs of the paintings that he wanted to show the art dealers in New York. At that point, his companion took an interest and the men began a conversation about galleries in New York. By the time the train arrived at Grand Central Station, Stobart had recommendations to visit four galleries that might be interested in his work. When he looked at the business card that his traveling companion handed him, he realized that he had been talking with Donald Holden, the editor of American Artist magazine. This surprising “stroke of luck” would introduce Stobart to the New York art world with a recommendation from one of its central figures.

Following Holden’s advice, Stobart headed directly to the Kennedy Galleries. The gallerist working that day was interested enough in his work to suggest showing it to Rudy Wunderlich, the owner of the gallery. Wunderlich was equally impressed. Although he specialized in Western art Wunderlich also dealt in maritime paintings and Stobart’s pieces appealed to him. He asked if Stobart could create twenty-five paintings in time for an exhibition in six months; naturally, the answer was yes.
His exhibition at Kennedy Galleries opened right on schedule and his career as a maritime painter was securely launched in the US.

Eight months after arriving in New York on the train from Toronto, Stobart returned to London where he continued to develop his knowledge of sailing history as well as his reputation as a maritime painter. Not surprisingly, he found himself drawn to the Thames waterfront but also to the architecture that lined its banks. Stobart realized that there was an opportunity to take on the task of painting American ports based on whatever archival etchings, lithographs of photographs were available; and in the late 1960s, he “challenged himself to recreate faithful impressions of specific ports at specific times.” 

Hannibal, View From Mark Twain’s Boyhood Home by John Stobart OPAM
24″ x 36″

By 1970, Stobart moved to the US. Shortly thereafter, he developed a problem with his eyes and was hospitalized briefly. Stobart explains that this unfortunate event introduced him to a fellow patient named Bob Gregory, who became a close friend and informal advisor on settling in the US. Gregory asked him to house-sit his 13-bedroom mansion in Long Neck Point, Connecticut during the winter months when he typically lived in warmer locations. Having the security of a rent-free—and quite glamourous—place to live gave Stobart time to get his green card and begin to settle into the arts community in New York City; in particular, the Salmagundi Club in Greenwich Village. During this period, he also began to make regular trips to Mystic Seaport.  The working shipyard there not only provided an opportunity to study the construction of historical vessels, but also the techniques employed by related trades such as barrel-making and rope-making. Stobart described it as a “sensational” education in all of the components of building a sailing ship.

Stobart’s reputation as a maritime painter grew steadily during the 1970s and 1980s. He explored new historical subjects such as whaling ships and also began to paint the harbors of smaller port cities such as Darien. Eventually, he broadened his scope of subjects even further, including the port cities along the great rivers of the US and the Great Lakes. It was at this juncture that his friend Bert Wright, a British marine artist, invited Stobart to join him in painting outdoors, following the example of John Constable’s practice of making oil sketches on site. Smaller in scale and more spontaneous than the carefully planned canvases of sailing ships, these plein air paintings have become a mainstay of Stobart’s work since then.

Nature had long served to both inspire and educate Stobart in his work, and his return to plein air painting reminded him of the importance of studying on site. To encourage young artists in this endeavor, he established the Stobart Foundation in 1988. The statement of purpose for the Foundation is very clear. “The Foundation realizes the seminal step for an artist to move from student to professional occurs when each artist learns to use passion and sensitivity to shape the technical skills mastered as a student into a mature and independent visual language recognizable as one’s own. This imperative step is unfortunately most frequently encountered just after leaving the protective environment of the program, and before the artist has a body of work able to be self-supporting in the professional art world. During this time of transition, with the least time and energy available to the fledgling artist to give the required focused attention on this important development, many deserving young artists turn to other methods and opportunities in order to make ends meet.”] To date, the Foundation has provided over 100 fellowships.

Venice Bridge of Sighs by John Stobart OPAM
16″ x 12″

Stobart’s plein air work also gave rise to his involvement with the Public Broadcasting System’s Worldscape series in 1992. The premise was that Stobart and some of his fellow artists would demonstrate plein air techniques in the hope of encouraging people to paint landscapes. There were thirteen programs per year, each one lasting two hours. 

At the same time, Stobart continued to create large canvases depicting sailing ships in the harbors of the world. Occasionally, he would select a specific historical incident as the subject—San Francisco, The Gold Rush Harbor by Moonlight, 1851 is one example. The scene captures the intensity of 781 vessels jockeying for a position in Yerba Buena Cove during the height of the California Gold Rush. The moonlight on the sails and water is both elegant and romantic, but the painting also hints at the absurdity of so many ships crammed together like cars in a parking lot during a holiday sale. In fact, it captures the spirit of the Gold Rush succinctly.

Although the demand for Stobart’s paintings has grown consistently over the decades, he also recognized that limited edition prints of similar scenes would allow more people to collect his work. With that in mind, Stobart developed a series of prints and eventually opened his own gallery in Salem, Massachusetts. As with the paintings, there is a range of subjects from historical harbor scenes to contemporary landscapes and cityscapes. Likewise, Stobart began to publish large format art books featuring his work.

Over the years, Stobart was able to purchase several residences that were well-suited to his painting. It was in Boston that he met Anne Fletcher at an “exercise place” in 1984. The story he told is that her yellow dress caught his eye, but the dozen roses he sent her the next day suggests that he was fascinated by more than the color of her dress. The couple were married in 2020 and lived in Westport, Massachusetts.

Busy Day In The East River by John Stobart OPAM
26″ x 42″

Stobart continued to paint into his 90s, but he also focused on another publication as well as providing educational opportunities through his Foundation. In a letter to a relative in England, he explained his profound commitment to the work of the Foundation, particularly his belief that setting an example for young artists offers encouragement and wisdom about the process of building a career. “New projects arise out of my special mission to explain my pathway to success, which has been somewhat unbelievable but needs explanation. What I need to leave behind is a pathway to success which would be advantageous, informative, and encouraging to students who find themselves in a similar position to the one I was able to get through. And to demonstrate how they can enjoy every minute of the process. In other words, I hope to build their confidence.” Stobart’s optimism and his faith in the “strokes of luck” that came his way belied the reality that his gift for recognizing opportunity and his curiosity about the world were at least equally important to his long and successful career. John Stobart died on March 2, 2023, at the age of ninety-three.

Article written by Howard Rehs of Rehs Galleries, Inc.

OPA National Panel Discussion

Carol Arnold OPA · May 8, 2023 · Leave a Comment

Returning home from another incredible OPA National Convention, filled with inspiration and excited to get back at the easel! I’m so grateful for all the hard work that was put into this event by the board and staff, along with the sponsors and the presenters who love to share their knowledge and expertise. 

Scott Jones, Jason Stone and Rick Reinert Panel Discussion

One of the many events was a panel discussion including Scott Jones of Coleman Gallery, Rick Reinert and Jason Stone of Reinert Fine Art Gallery, with Jane Hunt as moderator.

Jane had some great questions for the panel relating to what drew them to this line of work, gallery representation for the artists and their relationships with the artists, how much pedigree matters, tips on getting into galleries, what are the galleries looking for and, of course, advertising. When Jane asked what drew the panelists to this line of work everyone had stories to relate. Jason’s response was that it’s a fun celebration with every purchase and everyone wins, it brings joy to the collector and is meaningful to them in some way. Rick Reinert is a painter as well as a gallery owner. He started a co-op gallery and worked his way up to opening his own gallery. Scott told a story of the first art galleries trading saddles and bridles for art. He also told of a man who traded a Mercedes Benz for a painting! He loves art and the artists.

When asked if pedigree matters, the response was that sometimes pedigree does matter, and who you hang with makes a big difference, but when it comes down to it, it’s the art that really matters. There’s not a lot of looking at masters degrees. They expressed the importance of artists building on their resume and keeping it updated. Collectors will look at it if they’re considering a purchase. Some people just love the art and when they get that connection with a piece, there’s nothing you can do to talk them out of it! It’s good to have a variety of art and a variety of price points. 

The question of how to get into galleries and get your name out there was asked. Scott told a story of someone who he found through a woman who suggested he look up an artist. He was dumbfounded by her great art! She had an incredible body of work and she had enough out there. Every one of us is an entrepreneur, it’s a business and we all have to self-check. If Rick Reinert or Scott Jones looks you up, what are they going to see? Make sure you’re happy with that. 

Some galleries carry 50-60 artists. Find one that fits with you. Artists are passionate about their art and when you do find the right gallery, you build a trust and develop relationships with them. Putting a “buy it now” button on your website is competing with your gallery. Don’t undercut them, they work hard and earn every penny of their commissions. Galleries have their differences but in the end, the hope is the gallery helps connect the collector with a piece that speaks to them, sparks a memory, or just brings them joy. The gallery gains a new collector and makes a connection maybe with a new artist. Social media is an incredible branding tool! Mention your gallery in your Instagram and Facebook posts. Don’t try to make a sale online for 1/2 price, channel through the gallery.

One of the panelists suggested that artists have a specific trend to their work, have a consistent body of work, and know where you’re going. Another disagreed and suggested we should challenge ourselves to do something different. There’s a business side and an artistic side. How far can an artist go before they fail? You have to fail to succeed. Paint what you know, be passionate about what you paint, and be true to yourself!

The panel discussion wrapped up with discussing advertising and the importance of getting new customers. Post on Instagram and Facebook, build excitement! Some collectors like to see their artists in print, but it can be pretty expensive. If you are in a magazine, have it in the gallery ready for clients to see. Market yourself by figuring out where you want to go and figure out how to do it!

Notes:

Have a variety of sizes available for sale. 

Some people buy paintings because of nostalgia. 

Sales drive painting prices. 

Frames are critical. The panel suggested keeping the frames simple.

Pay attention to sales in your area.

Thank you to Scott Jones, Rick Reinert, and Jason Stone for their dedication to art and artists and for their time helping navigate the galleries and the promotion of our art.  

With gratitude,

Carol Arnold OPA

Convention You Shouldn’t Miss

Stephen Puttrich · Apr 24, 2023 · 3 Comments

As a first time attendee of the Oil Painters of America National conference, I cannot stress enough the incredible value of being a part of such an inspiring community of artists. The conference provides a platform for artists of all levels to come together, learn from one another and share their experiences, techniques and insights.

Christine Lashley OPA Demo

One of the biggest advantages of attending an OPA conference is the opportunity to network with other artists. Meeting people from all over the world who share a similar passion for painting is not only motivating but also helps to build lasting connections that can be extremely valuable in the future. By attending the conference, I was able to learn new techniques, gather insights and gain inspiration from some of the best artists in the field.

Jill Basham Demo

The conference also provides a retreat-like atmosphere where one can focus on future goals and plans. This is especially valuable for all artists looking to improve their craft and take their work to the next level. By being in the company of other artists, I was able to see how others see and create, which in turn helped me to broaden my own perspective and approach to painting.

One of the most exciting aspects of attending the conference is seeing new products and innovative solutions to create art. The exhibitors showcased some of the latest products, tools, techniques and learning opportunities that can help artists create their best work. It was amazing to see all the new ideas that are constantly being developed in the world of oil painting.

Kathie Odom OPA Demo

The OPA conference also features the top, most unique 200 oil paintings in North America this year, all hung in one gallery. This gives attendees the opportunity to study and understand which paintings are attracting them. And by asking myself good questions as to why this painting? How did the artist achieve this effect with shape, form, line, color, value, edge and texture? Which principles of design are most important to me at this moment, such as harmony, contrast, high key, vs. low key, subject matter, etc? All this is giving me deep insight and affirmations as to my own style and subjects I love to paint.

Also, what are some ideas I want to explore and experiment with this year? What are good finishes and framing solutions? This kind of insight can help artists improve their work by learning from the best in the field and take years, if not decades, off the learning curve.

As an instructor myself, I’m also interested in learning new ideas and approaches I can share with my students. All really good stuff.

Steven Walker OPA Demo

In the end, the goal of any artist is to expose him/herself to opportunities to grow, and the OPA conference is one of the best places to do so. Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out, attending the conference can be an invaluable experience. It is a great way to connect with other artists, learn new techniques, gain inspiration and exposure to new products and innovative solutions. I highly recommend attending the next national or regional OPA conference and being a part of this incredible community of artists.

Included in this blog are four shots of the last day of the conference where, for two hours, four of the top artists in the nation were all painting demos at the same time. A beautiful example of the abundant, giving, serving spirits of artists / instructors and the people who make up this wonderful organization.

Palms Living with Grace by Stephen Puttrich
20″x12″ – Oil

Here’s a haiku poem I wrote from this inspiring scene.

Green fronds sway and dance,
Alive and full of energy,
Palms living with grace.

But as time passes,
The leaves turn brown and life fades, 
Dying, withered palms.

Yet even in death,
Palms leave interesting shapes,
Connecting us all.

Wet or dry, they stand,
A symbol of courage and strength,
Inspiring us all.

The Elephant in the Studio…

Thomas Kitts · Apr 10, 2023 · 19 Comments

Michelangelo Riding an Elephant

[Ed. note: Illustrations will consist of AI generated images of well-known historical painters riding an elephant in their painting style.]

Artificial Intelligence + Art. 

Is it intelligent? Is it art?…

Cheap, fast, evocative imagery has been the goal of many painters for decades, if not centuries. But if you haven’t been paying attention to the recent advances in Artificial Intelligence (a term I will shorten to AI) and how it is being applied these days, I have some news for you.

AI image generators are now here and they are being used to produce artwork for little to no cost. While most of what you see today may seem amusing or weird you need to know technology of AI is still in its infancy. AI art will continue to quickly evolve and disrupt the world of fine art soon. It is already creating turmoil in the fields of photography, illustration, gaming, animation & film. So believe me when I tell you AI will start disrupting your world too.

But what is AI art? And why should you care? In simple terms, AI art is produced by entering text descriptor into an online AI engine and waiting for the engine to return a digital image assembled from similar images scraped on the internet. There is little to no skill required, just a brief description of what you want combined with a seed image to style the result.

All the illustrations included in this article have been generated by me using three AI engines with a similar prompt: “[Name of famous painter] Riding an Elephant”. Each engine appears to have its own quirks and specialties.

Van Gogh Riding an Elephant

So if you are a professional artist, or have aspirations to become one, there are several things you want to monitor: specifically, how fast AI technology is advancing. The glitches and oddities we see today will be gone within 6 to 12 months, making it difficult for everyone to differentiate between a photo of painting and an AI generated image pretending to be a painting.

AI can produce an image that may appear at first glance incredibly realistic. That is until you look more closely at the image and realize it is a digital pastiche gone horribly wrong. Hands with six to twelve fingers, heads with mis-aligned eye sockets, odd-looking pupils, too many arms & legs sprouting out of a torso or head. (For examples, see some of the elephants in this article.) The realistic veneer AI can produce feels simultaneously authentic and creepy – a perfect example of what the animation industry has long called falling into the Uncanny Valley – a phrase coined to express what was once considered a paradox: the closer a computer gets to replicating reality, the more humans are creeped out by the remaining gap between CGI and reality. But the Uncanny Valley shrinks everytime CGI software is updated and eventually that gap will close completely and you will never know if an image is real or not.

So now you know what AI art is. But more important, how will it impact you and your art? Unless you make your living producing surreal or fantasy art, probably not much yet.

Yet.  –  I predict AI technology will fundamentally change how the world views and values art. Why? Because soon there will be so much AI art produced that the sheer volume of it will alter our cultural tastes and unless new laws are drafted and implemented quickly the technology will run rough-shod over existing copyright law and change our idea of what it means to control our own work.

I have a close friend who is a well-known, painterly illustrator. He is litigant in a class-action lawsuit with three AI engines that have scraped his work more than 200,000 times. His work was not only scraped for his imagery and style, his name has been illegally attached to some of the AI output, which is what his lawsuit is about. (An image, AI or not, is not considered a forgery until someone attributes it to an artist who did not produce it.) The fact that my friend is so well-known and popular, and works at such a high level in the industry, makes his work a prime target for AI engines. 

Monet Riding an Elephant

The definition of art forgery can be reduced to this: You and I have the right to copy an artist’s style and content as much as we wish, be they well-known or not, but the moment you or I assert the work we’ve created was produced by the artist we copied we are committing fraud. Fraud does not occur when someone makes an image. It occurs when they lie about who made the image.

In rough numbers, 3 to 5 billion images are uploaded to the internet every day and that number will keep rising. If you don’t believe this factoid, google it. This means at the top end 57,246 images are uploaded every second! All the paintings you and I have posted online are now being scraped by AI bots seeking to appropriate them for someone else’s purpose and profit – and therein lies the problem.

Under the revised 1977 US Copyright Laws, as soon as the work is completed, a copyright is created and owned by the creator. No other action is required to generate a copyright.

However, if AI bots are able to scrape every image online and reassemble bits and pieces of them all into a “new” image for someone else’s benefit, you won’t know when, how, or where your work was scraped. Or how it is being used. (My friend was able to determine the extent to which he had been scraped by checking with www.HaveIBeenScraped.com – a site that is no longer online.)

So the AI legal questions become: Can a bot be creative? Can it produce an “original” work of art by combining images from other artists’ oeuvre? Is creativity an act limited to humans or can a bot produce an original as well? And when it becomes impossible to differentiate between images produced by a human and a bot (which will happen soon) will such distinctions matter? Remember, AI can appropriate your time, effort, expertise, and yes, even years of sacrifice without offering you compensation.

I am not talking about the future. The future is now.

Like many painters today, I started out as a designer, art director, & illustrator. I spent 30 years in the biz, both as an employee and later as the principal of my own firm. I was good at what I did and enjoyed every minute. I made good money until I decide to shut it all down and become an artist. (Which is story for another time.)

Picasso Riding an Elephant

During the same period, I invested a lot of time and resources into learning how to paint at a professional level. I produced work to sell in galleries and exhibit in museums and built up a personal collector base. Not an easy thing to do when you are holding down a 60 hr/wk job or running a design practice. And if that wasn’t enough, I also chaired a four-year BFA program for ten years where I was responsible for developing curriculum, hiring and firing, maintaining national accreditation, and yes, teaching undergrads on a daily basis throughout the week.

AI can do most, if not all of these tasks now. Or it will be able to soon. Both in the commercial and academic sectors.

I have always visualized mass culture as a gigantic amorphous swamp in which competing trends and topics burp and bubble their way to the surface, often without logic or apparent cause and effect. But now, due to the massive amount of information collected from you and I as we consume everything from food to media – the Big Info/Service/Entertainment Complex has become a cultural behemoth loosely synchronized by the sale and exchange of our information. For example, consider how pop music and block-buster movies are engineered today: Not written. Not filmed. Not scripted or directed via artistic intuition. Instead, engineered, verified, and market-tested before being released to the public. These industries use your data to anticipate or shape social trends in the hope that such granular knowledge of you and I will guarantee a return on their money. AI will be applied to every artistic discipline because it reduces corporate risk. In effect, AI will homogenize the content you and I experience.

Here is another prediction from me. (aka Mr. Plein Air Nostradamus). AI will pervade our society to the point that high-end art collectors will start seeking out what they believe is the authentic; meaning, what verifiably comes from a human. Art that expresses the human voice and condition. And if that voice resonates with them, those collectors will be happy to pay a premium for it.

Sorolla Riding an Elephant

If you have read this far then you are probably a painter. If you aspire to make a living from your work then focus on putting your own voice in your work – not in the giclee prints you produce, or the merchandise you hope to license. Put your voice into your originals because that will be what will makes your work meaningful to others. If you produce only originals, one-offs, then the demand for your voice will become stronger, because if there is only one of something, it is the original, and collectors like originals.

So with regards to AI, what can you do? Think about what makes your voice resonate. It may feel narcissistic to frame your motivation this way, but what you and I do is inherently narcissistic so cop to this fact and move on. After all, we artist must become a little self-focused if we are to survive the oncoming uncertainties of our chosen calling.

Rembrandt Riding an Elephant

In the end you and I will not be able control how AI bots impact our community because there is too much money at stake. And to be fair, there is an upside to AI. It will increase efficiencies in critical service sectors such as healthcare, investment, manufacturing, travel, energy production, conservation, and more. So AI will have a positive impact on most people.

But by all means future-proof yourself by pouring your singular voice into your work. To steal a quote: “Now get out there and go do the voodoo you do so well.”* Focus on your own creativity but keep strengthening authentic relationships with your friends, peers, and collectors because they will be the people who continue to value what you do.

–––––––

* If you are of a certain age like me, you might think this quote comes from Mel Brook’s “Blazing Saddles’ but it does not. It was coined by Cole Porter in a 1929 song and later appropriated by Harvey Korman for the 1974 movie – a perfect example of the burp and bubble of our cultural swamp.

The Art of Perspective

E. Morrison · Mar 27, 2023 · 16 Comments

danse-do-coures-20-x-20
Danse do coures
by E. Melinda Morrison
24″ x 20″

Over the past few months, I worked hard at putting together 10-12 strong paintings for a two-person show at my gallery in Santa Fe. I did my best and felt proud of the work I presented all the while knowing that walking into a show right before a presidential election was unpredictable in sales outcome. While the show was well attended and many people handed out well-meaning compliments on the work, sales have been slow to come.
I suspect many artists feel embarrassed by the outcome of a poor sales show and struggle with the temptation to doubt their own artistic capability. Over the years, I discovered lack of sales does not name you as an artist. Quality does not always convert to sales. However, despite doing our best work, it is disconcerting when sales are low. Yes, it can be disappointing at first but then perspective comes to the rescue. I thought I would share some perspective I’ve gained from my process over the years for sluggish sales.

swimming-buds24x24
Swimming Buds
by E. Melinda Morrison
24″x24″

1. Don’t doubt yourself. It’s tempting to doubt your artistic capabilities when sales are slow. Many artists find themselves grappling with this. One of the buffers I have found against this is putting quality at the forefront for producing your work. Showing only quality work is a rock you can stand on and gain confidence as an artist.
2. It has happened to the best and worst of us. A well-known master painter, who is a close friend of mine, use to sell-out his one-man shows before the opening night. Years ago, when he had another solo show, a fraction of his paintings sold despite his beautiful work. While disappointed, he had great perspective and said “it happens and I did my best but the paintings will eventually sell.”  And they did, it just took a while longer than the time frame of the show.

order-ready-20x24
Order Ready
by E. Melinda Morrison
20″x24″

3. Change what is in your control. While there are things that are out of our control when selling our work, look at the things that are within your control. Having spent many years in advertising and marketing before my art career, I am well aware of the aspects of marketing that drive sales, and the hard work and effort to keep your name out in front of collectors. Staying connected to the art public means using the tools available to you: social media, print advertising, PR, email, blogs, and participation in credible regional, national and museum shows to build your brand. Lucky are those artists who do not have to do this work, but my experience is for most artists, even the most talented nowadays, it requires effort on both the part of the gallery and the artist to maintain exposure and visibility among collectors.
4. Let go of what you cannot control. Election years, stock market fluctuations, oil prices, downturn in the economy, violence in the world will always be with us in one degree or another. I’ve learned I cannot use the barometer of swaying winds in the art market to determine the outcome of who I am as an artist. I have to let that go and show up at the easel. The power of the easel can be the calm during a storm and my faith in God helps me to let go allowing the creative process to continue. Deep breathing, massages, exercise and a lot of prayer along with pep talks among artist friends helps too!

grecian-grocery-cart-12-x-12
Grecian Grocery Cart
by E. Melinda Morrison
12″x12″

5. Use a negative as a fulcrum for a positive outcome. I am that kind of person if you say I can’t do something, I set my course for figuring out how to do it, i.e. prove myself over again as an artist, taking action to sharpen my mechanics. I explore, stretch my skills and experiment in my work, scrapping lots of paintings and tackling an area in my work that needs strengthening. I find inspiration where it can be found and I dive into that, but mostly, I just keep painting!
“Be like an oak tree that weathers a storm. It may loose some limbs and leaves, but it is mostly intact to live on and grow stronger,” from an unknown wise source.
Keep painting!

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