Useful Link-Memphis Brooks Museum of Art

No paintings this week. Still dealing with creative block and low energy! My solution this week has been to paint something other than a canvas. Therefore, I freshened up the paint on my walls. I experimented with black on some smaller accent walls. That was fun and felt a little daring. Lots more painting to do too.

Some art items that may be of interest to you from ArtDaily.org:

"MEMPHIS, TN.-The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art celebrates Art Today with an exhibition highlighting the founders and some of the important gifts they made to the museum. Art Today, a support group of the Brooks, initiated the acquisition of contemporary art for the museum's collection.

When Art Today was founded in 1953 by Nancy Glazer, Mildred Hudson, Adele Lemm, Marjorie Liebman, and Dorothy Sturm, their goal was to promote "that which is historically significant in our time." These exceptional women were guided by their experiences as accomplished artists, teachers, and arts administrators. They worked towards educating the public about contemporary art, bringing the finest examples to Memphis through exhibitions, and acquiring important works for the museum's collection." Read full article. The photo with the article is an encaustic painting by Nancy Graves. To see a sampling of her art, click Nancy Graves.

Maybe I will have a painting to post next week...

Scroll down one entry to this week's earlier post on differentiating between folk art and outsider art. (art brut)

Useful Links: The Different Forms of Folk Art

Folk art painting is generally described as art with an almost childlike quality by artists with no formal training. It is usually free of ideas of what "should be". Therefore one might find a bird with four legs, a house that is placed or colored in a non-traditional way, much as a child might paint. It also often has a particular spirit of freedom or spontaneity and is not bound by rules of art. Many definitions of Art Brut, also known as Outsider art fit this description. However, this genre seems very often to possess a raw, psychological, chaotic quality too. And some people would say that this is an important element of Outsider art. I have also read, that in its purist form, the outsider artist is not at all concerned about selling the art or about making anything that appeals to others. Here are some links to art typically categorized as Folk Art and Art Brut (Outsider Art). See whether you see differences and similarities.

Ginger Young Gallery
Petullo Art Collection

September 11-Remembering - Not available

Click image to enlarge. Bidding has ended.
Size: 36" x 36" x 1.5"



In response to a note from artist Steven Givler yesterday, (featured in blog post 29) in which he hoped I had overcome my creative block in time for today's blog, I replied: "The painting...is a complete departure. What a struggle this one was. It seemed to have an idea of its own and was not about to let me impose. Ironically, or not, I painted it on Sept. 11 and the memory of September 11 is what it is about to me. That was entirely unplanned. The painting is so raw and unlike what I normally paint. I think I like it, [It is so different though, that I am not sure] but I am not sure anyone else will. That's the scary part of posting on a public blog and auctions. It makes one feel so vulnerable."

The exercises I chose to use to work through the creative block were to paint anyway and to make a sketch of my idea and work from that. The painting barely resembles the sketch and I don't know whether I am passed the creative block. What I learned: Sometimes I need to let something happen; something that seems contrary to my style; something that may not sell; something that goes in an entirely different direction, whether or not it works out.

Also, beginning September 11, Artist Justin Clayton began painting his way down the coast of California. You can travel with him painting by painting on his blog at beachpaintings.net

Scroll down to the previous post to read about creative block and ways to overcome it.

Useful link: overcoming creative blocks

The painting I was working on for this week's post turned out to be a big (36" x 36" x 1.5") disappointment. After carefully applying the under layers until they looked almost too good to paint over, I proceeded to paint an entirely unpresentable piece over them. So I painted over the canvas again to prepare it for another attempt. And found I had no ideas. No inspiration. Even the art of great masters is leaving me bored!

I tried making some sketches but don't know how they will translate into paintings. I cannot tell whether they work or are boring. Furthermore, now I have only a few days to produce something new for the Thursday blog! After searching online for suggestions on overcoming a creative block, I came across these ideas at About.com that have worked for other artists to overcome a block. Click here to see what they did to usher in INSPIRATION

I guess we will know by Thursday whether these ideas help me! Let me know what has worked for you in the past.

Heaven and Earth - SOLD

Click Image to enlarge. Click Title for more information or to purchase.
Size: 22w"x 28h" x 3/4d"



Free art prints: Would you like a free art print?

All art images on my blog are available for you as free art prints. Print as many as you wish. Frame them, give them as gifts or make greeting cards. There are no watermarks or other symbols to mar the images. Please note, copies are not to be sold, but are for personal use only.

Printing suggestions: Resolution will allow a print up to 8" x 10" which will print on your own home computer.
1. Choose the image: Simply click on the image of the art you would like to print to create a separate, larger image.
2. Paper: I recommend using matte white brochure/flyer paper in bright white.
3. Printer Options: I recommend selecting the "borderless" option in your printer's software; the "premium plus" paper option, and "best" print quality option.
4. Print and enjoy.

Flowers of the Cliff-SOLD

Click Image to Enlarge.
Size: 40"h x 30"w x 1.5"d





Two paintings this week plus a Useful Link from EmptyEasel.com about selling art online. Both paintings posted this weak were painted over earlier pieces. You may be able to see remnants of Urban within the composition of Flowers of the Cliff. But no trace of Wild Tomato is visible in Olives.

Olives. Homage to Reyes

Sorry, bidding has ended. For more information or to purchase at Yessy Gallery site, click title.
Size: 24"x 30" x1.25"

Useful Link-Selling Art Online

I found an article on Emptyeasel.com about selling your art online. The article does not mention eBay, which I think is an obvious oversight, but other sites are mentioned and rated by traffic and compared by features and price. This is only part of the picture though. The more important statistic is how much of this traffic results in a sale. But these statistics are more difficult to come by. EBay makes some of this information available and if one is studius, a good amount may be learned. In my own experience, I still sell more from eBay than from Yessy. Although Yessy provides excellent detailed statistics about where the people are who are viewing my art and it really is fun when the people are from countries around the world. But they do not usually purchase from that site. In time, it may be that at some point eBay no longer dominates the online market. (Some of these other sites are much easier to work with than eBay.) But for now, it seems that eBay still holds the cards.

Evening - SOLD

Click image to enlarge has ended.
Size: 24" x 36" x 1.5"


August marks my one year anniversary of painting and listing art on eBay auctions! It seems more like a few months. To summarize the year: I am selling about half of my listings within 1-2 weeks on eBay auctions. That's about average, according to eBay statistics. To conserve space and funds, I paint over many of the pieces that are not purchased during that time period. The others are moved to the more expensive Yessy gallery site. So why not bypass eBay and go straight to Yessy? Because eBay has the traffic and an abundance of serious buyers. Over the year, the average selling price for my pieces has risen by about 65%, and are more likely to sell. I also confirmed that the larger the piece, the better for eBay shoppers and that abstracts do the better than other styles for me.

I may experiment with painting on large, rolled canvases soon. Some artists do this successfully on eBay, leaving the framing to the the buyer, who saves considerably on shipping but must still pay for framing. I rather imagine that buyers would prefer buying something that does not need to be framed and may only opt for the other when the artist is known, or they really must have a giant piece. But it is worth looking into. The largest pre-stretched canvases I use are 36 x 36 x 1.5 or 30 x 40 x 1.5. Even with my UPS discount these are expensive to ship and heavy and difficult to wield about while painting.

This week, rather than including a Useful Link, I am listing 2 paintings. Please scroll down to the previous post for Retro Fruit. It will be fun to see what changes take place in the coming year. Happy Anniversary!

Retro Fruit Still Life - SOLD

Click on Image to Enlarge. Click on Title to view at Yessy Gallery.
Size: 24" x 24" 1.5"



Painting #2 of 2 for this week.