Abstract Art Blog

The Art of Investing in Art

It's a great topic, investing in art, or at least it used to be.  Now the news is bad for wealthy art collectors just as it is for the rest of us.  Do even modest art investors need to be worried that their collections will lose value?

Not if they've purchased art they love.  The true reward of investing in art is that it enriches your life every day. Your 401K may tank, but the art will still be there for you.

I've invested a lot of my money in art supplies so that I could make art.  I don't believe in skimping on canvas, paint and brushes, no matter what the economy is doing.  But I'll be drinking less champagne and eating eggplant parmigiana instead of Maryland crab cakes for awhile.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the USA, and I'll be cooking for eight.  If you're celebrating this holiday, have a good one and be safe on the roads!

Another Art Trail Weekend:

Because our October art trail open studio weekends were so successful, about fifteen of us will be having our studios open this last weekend in November as well.  We have no idea if we'll get a crowd or not, but maybe we'll make it an annual event.  A lot of visitors come to Ithaca at this time to visit their children at Cornell or Ithaca College.  

It's another chance to clean up the studio and offer some special prices on selected pieces.  If you're in the neighborhood and think you can make it, find a map to studios at the Greater Ithaca Art Trail Website.

Art Trail Drawings

When my studio was open to the public during Art Trail weekends in October, I did some drawing in between talking to visitors:

   Art Trail Drawing #1

   Art Trail Drawing #2

Art Trail Drawing #3

  Art Trail Drawing #4

I find it relaxes me to draw while people are looking around the studio, and that way I'm not hovering over them.  Yet I'm in the middle of things and can easily stop to talk when necessary.  The second open-studio weekend was pretty busy, so I didn't get that much time to draw.  Which is fine by me.

Getting the best digital files of your art

When you have your artwork photographed, especially for use in making giclee prints, does your photographer give you the right kind of digital files?  It's important for artists to document their work properly, because once an original is sold, it's too late. 

Quality slides and color transparencies were the preferred documentation method some years ago, but in this digital age, there is a different standard.  As an artist, I didn't pay a lot of attention to this issue.  I took my own digital photos which were good enough for my website, but not much else.  Once I started having giclee prints made of my work, my printmaker did the photography (and sometimes scanning) to create the high-resolution file necessary for large prints.

Recently my new printmaker Jim Kirsner, who I must disclose is also my brother-in-law, pointed out that the format of  a digital file is critical to historical documentation.  Here he is in his own words:

"When your printer gives you a CD with the image, are they giving you the original capture files (usually TIFF or Raw) or are you getting JPGs?

"Are you getting clean files (unedited) as well as the optimized print file (mostly only of value to your Printer's printer)?

"Not important, you say.  Well it is if you, say, move out of the area and have to start up again with a new Giclee printer.  Or, what do you do if your current printer ceases operation? Can you recover with less than pristine digital files?  Of course you can, eventually and at considerable editing expense.  Why risk it?  Simply request copies of the original captures from whoever is doing them for you, they are your property!

"I can not emphasize too strongly the importance of possessing the original, unedited, un-color corrected file, the negative, if you will.  There are many of you who have a considerable Giclee business.  That high quality, unedited file (no JPGs, only TIFFs or RAW files) is the raw material of your Giclee business, especially when you've sold the original.  No file, no Giclee.  Questionable file, more expense, maybe not the same quality Giclee."

Jim has been making my Giclee prints for the last few months, as well as working with other area artists.  For more information, check out his website at fineartprintbyjim.com.

Art Trail A Success

This past two weekends I had my studio open to visitors, as did 53 other artists in the greater Ithaca, New York region.  We had perfect weather, which brought people in from Canada, New York City, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut, as well as from our local communities.

I sold several prints of my most popular painting, Culmination:

Culmination is the image I put in the Art Trail brochure, and many visitors commented on it.

I wasn't sure how sales would be, since the country (and the world) are facing scary economic times,  but I had my best Art Trail season ever.

One of the original paintings I sold was a floral design on paper:

I also offer this image, Abstract Flower Six,  in limited edition giclee prints on canvas.

Some things I learned from this year's Art Trail:  

• Always mark items clearly with pricing so visitors don't have to ask.
• Offer inexpensive items such as cards, calendars and prints, as well as original art, so that everyone can afford to purchase something.
• Introduce yourself to everyone who comes and ask them something about themselves.
• Be sure to have biographical material about yourself available for those who want to view it.
• Provide a mailing-list sign-up sheet.
• Offer a simple snack like cookies or chocolate.
• Have help if possible.  At times I was a bit overwhelmed handling everything by myself.  Luckily my daughter arrived just as I was trying to wrap two original paintings I'd sold.

All in all, I am very pleased.  In addition to sales and possible new clients, I also got to meet other artists and was invited to participate in a group show next year. 

 

Greater Ithaca Art Trail Open Studio Weekends

Check out the Greater Ithaca Art Trail  for  maps and information on 54 artists showing their work in 49 studios which will be open this weekend and next (October 18 and 19) from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  I worked like crazy last week vacuuming, moving furniture, and organizing my art in order to get ready for it. 

The Art Trail open studios are a once-a-year event in the fall when the leaves are turning and the weather is still beautiful here (depending on the weekend--this one is great).  I like them because I get to talk to people about my work face-to-face, which I don't get a chance to do when I sell from my website or galleries.

Preparing my studio for the art trail also gives me a chance to stop and reflect on what I have accomplished during the year.  I have so many new paintings to show for my efforts, and that feels good.  But stopping my work flow in order to have a passably neat studio for two weekends also gives me a chance to think about what direction I want to go in next year. 

With the economy in its crazy free-fall, maybe I should just hunker down and conserve what I have, but I am an optimist, so I will continue to take on new projects and to think of my life as expanding rather than contracting.

The last painting I completed before getting ready for the trail was the second of two canvases for a commission I received recently:

  Matrix 2, 56" x 42"

Now I will put out some chocolate candy and get ready for the crowd!

Painting an Abstract Commission

   Commissioned Abstract Painting

Recently I was talking to some artist friends about painting commissions.  One friend was complaining that her client wanted a painting of their house which listed all kinds of very specific criteria that had to be included.  Another also complained about clients "talking too long" about what they wanted and said she felt like charging them more for the longer they talked.

I mentioned that I also was working on a commission, but since I make non-representational abstract paintings, I didn't really have this problem of the client asking for too many specifics.  "I need to get the colors right," I said, "and to express a feeling, mood or idea."   

Is that easier or harder than having a specific subject matter to paint?  I think it is just "different," and that each kind of project depends on the artist's particular expertise and talent. 

One thing that makes it easier for me to paint commissions is that I always paint two canvases instead of just one.  That frees me up so that I can be more spontaneous.  If I mess up one, I still have the other.  It also allows me to paint one canvas in a narrow interpretation of the client's desires, and the other in a freer, looser style.  And then they get to choose. 

The image above is my first attempt, almost complete.  Below is the beginning of my second attempt:

Abstract Art Calendar

  Earth Songs Three, 60" x 60"

This is the painting I selected for the front cover of my new 2009 Abstract Art Calendar.  It's always difficult to choose which 14 images I should use for my calendar each year.  I try to give a sense of new work, and a variety of styles and colors.   I included a drawing this year as well, though it was very hard selecting one:

  Abstract Pen Drawing #46

Horizontal images work best on the calendar, since the shape is horizontal, but most of my paintings are square.  Nothing I can do about that.  I prefer working on square canvases for non-objective paintings.

I'm using a new printer this year, and they gave me a calendar template with some holidays I'd never heard of, such as "the sweetest day."  Well, I'm not going to knock it.  We could all use a sweet day.

Art Centers

At our last local artists' meeting, someone brought up the topic of having an art center in town.  The Ithaca, New York regional area is home to many visual artists (as well as musicians and writers), yet there are very few places to exhibit locally.  We do have a couple of not-for-profit spaces that show art, but one is tiny and hardly ever open, and the other, which isn't much better, will be lost soon due to the sale of the building it is housed in.  We don't have much in the way of for-profit galleries, either. 

My response to this issue has always been to ignore Ithaca as a place to sell art.  It's lovely living here and making art, but not a good place for marketing.  When the tourists come through, they are looking for a photo or painting of a waterfall or gorge, certainly not my non-representational abstracts.  The artists who cater to this market have a better chance to sell.

Establishing an art center takes money, and it's unclear where we would get the funding.  There is an art center at Corning, New York, which is supported by Corning Glass.  Check out 171 Cedar Arts.  They offer classes as well as exhibitions. 

We have Cornell University in Ithaca, but they have put their money for the arts into the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.  They occasionally show a few Ithaca artists' work in a summer exhibition.

Taking a look at art centers on the internet, I came across the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, which opened in 1956 as a non-profit visual arts organization in Winston-Salem, NC.  When an industrialist willed his 32-acre estate to the gallery, they increased their scope to 11 southeastern states.

Most non-profit organizations function due to the sweat of many volunteers.  It takes that plus gifts and grants to make a success.  Artists usually do not have the money or the time to fill these slots.  What we need is a wealthy art lover to get such a project off the ground. 

It's true that artists often start and manage co-op galleries with group funds and energy, but how many actually make a profit for their artists? 

For now, I'll pass on putting my time and energy into starting an art center in Ithaca. 

 

Naming an Abstract Painting

  Abstract Canvas #46 48" x 48"

After completing this painting recently, I needed to find a name for it.  Some artists may have a name in mind when they begin a painting, but I never do.  It's not until I photograph it after it's finished, usually, that I come up with a name.  At that point, some images suggest a name immediately, like this one:

Splash, 44" x 44"

With canvas #46, however, no name immediately came to mind.  But I was listening to a Leonard Cohen album, and the words "what they meant" struck me.  This phrase is abstract enough that it works as a title for abstract art.  Here's the painting on my website:  What They Meant.

Do titles of abstract paintings really matter?  When I was young, I refused to name my paintings because I didn't want to influence what the viewer saw in them.  Some non-objective  (non-representational) painters  give their canvases numbers rather than titles for this reason. 

But it is unwieldy to use numbers, and I believe my clients would prefer to have a painting with an actual title rather than a number.  In fact, sometimes the name is a big influence in the sale.  Someone purchased a print of my painting, "Laughing Lotus" because of the name.  It was a gift for the owner of a yoga center.  I'm sure the buyer also liked the painting, but they found it by searching for the word "lotus" on the internet.  Here it is:

Laughing Lotus 48" x 48"

Since I am bipolar, and sometimes depressed when I paint, there were times when I would give a painting a name with a negative connotation.  I did a series of "death paintings" for example, in which the word "death"  appeared subtly in each canvas.  I titled them "Death Painting One . . . Two . . ." and so forth.  Now that is an extreme example of how not to name your art if you want to sell it.

Death Painting One

Starving Artists

Every so often I hear from an artist who is struggling to make a living, struggling to find time to paint, and struggling to market their art.  Most artists in the United States do not make a living by selling their art.  Some find commercial ways to use their talents--in advertising, business web design, interior design, etc.  Some get MFA degrees and teach.  Others work at anything they can find to put food on the table, making art evenings, weekends, or in the early morning. 

I heard from a young artist today who is struggling simply to put food on the table, with little time for her art or the marketing of it.  My heart goes out to her, for I spent much of my life dealing with the same struggle. 

Our art requires much of us, and what it gives us in return is often unrelated to financial success.  Yet we are bound to pursue it.  I always felt much worse when I wasn't making art, no matter what else was going on in my life. 

Here are two canvases I've been working on, one complete and one not:

  Canvas #44  60" x 60"

  Canvas #46  48" x 48"