How do you Purchase Art?

Abide Studio

Several years ago I was at a dinner in a home in the “old money” section of Nashville.  The home was beautiful and the walls were adorned with “named” artists of the area.  I asked the homeowner about one of the paintings,  hoping to engage in conversation.  The response was on the order of “I don’t know, my decorator picked it out.”   Really?  Sadly there are buyers, even collectors out there that only purchase what someone else has told them to buy, or “who” someone else has told them to invest in.  I call this buying with ears rather than eyes.

Within the week a friend told me that my art was all warm tones with too much red and orange and wouldn’t fit in her home.  Now I know this woman’s decor and I knew that there were several pieces in my inventory at that time that would suit her style and palette beautifully.  She was however stuck in the mindset that art needed to perfectly match what she narrowly defined as her “style”.  We in the art world call this matching the sofa.  Buying by sight, yes, but…

Shortly after these two occasions a customer came into the studio, took the time to study several pieces, engaged  in a conversation with me about the stories behind the work that spoke to her heart.  She selected the one that she “had to have”, purchased it, and went home delighted with her new acquisition.  She represents those customers who appreciate art for its story, for its emotional value, for the workmanship and personal touch of the artist.  These are people who engage with the art as well as the artist. This woman bought through the eyes of her heart.  Bingo!

All bring cash to the table.

All help pay the bills.

All are buyers and even collectors.

But art should engage the buyer and subsequently the owner as they view it on their wall.  It is created to be enjoyed not ignored.  Those who are touched by what I have labored to create open themselves up to the transcendent power and mystery within the painting.  It is my heart on that canvas.  Deep calls to deep; the song of my heart is heard and received when my work is purchased by one who engages with it.

That’s my heart’s desire. 

That’s my art’s desire.

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What’s Your Art Done for You Lately?

“Lifted Higher” 18×24

Is your art just a pretty face on a dull wall?  Contrary to popular belief, whatever you put on your wall should be more than a splash of color to brighten your room.  Art in whatever media and form should speak to you and your guests.  More than paint or pastel, photography or pottery, art’s job is to transport.  I am not suggesting that everyone’s art should look the same.  Or be liked by everybody.   Just as one person’s music is another person’s noise, art collections are as unique as the individual collecting them.

What I am saying is that when you buy art you are purchasing more than color, line, texture, and composition.

Visual art is a change catalyst.

Visual art changes atmospheres.  A gloomy room becomes lighter and more vibrant when a painting full of bold, bright colors  is added to the environment.

Visual art changes moods.  One look at an uplifting painting can shift a depressed spirit to one full of hope.

Visual art transports.  Look at a painting of a waterfall painted in cool tones of deep green and blue on a hot day, and suddenly the day is not as stifling.

Visual art that speaks to the heart and soul is not necessarily found in the pages of a Pottery Barn catalog or on the walls of Restoration Hardware.  It’s not even found in Anthropologie or IKEA.  Just because a print, poster, or piece of original art “goes with” a certain vignette featured in any of the above does not make it the right choice for you, the end user.

Want to make a difference in your own life?  Pick wall jewelry that uplifts, transports, and inspires you.  What you spend matters not.  A $5.00 note card that makes you smile is as valuable as a $5000 painting that does the same.

Want to make a difference in your life?  Make a difference in your art.  You will thank me in the end.

 

Hours, Weeks, Decades

On any given Sunday afternoon you will find me in front of the television perusing HGTV, the Cooking Channel, or the Food Network.  Ever watch “Chopped?”  One of my favorites:  four professional chefs, each successful in their own right, compete with unusual (surprise) ingredients, limited time (30 minutes each course), over three courses.  With each course, one of the chefs is “chopped”, and sent home by the panel of expert judges.  I have often watched this show sitting in wonder as these gods of the kitchen create masterpieces out of funky ingredients (leg of goat and trail mix…really?).  How do they create on the spot?  How do they know which ingredients to grab?  How do you know how to make a chocolate cake without a recipe???

This past Sunday however, I decided I sort of know how they do it.  Years and years of training and experience are behind every minute they spend in the kitchen.  “How long does it take you to paint a painting?”  is perhaps the most commonly asked question I hear.  I think most artists would agree it is also one of the most frustrating questions to answer.  The truth is that the best answer will sound sarcastic:  whatever the age of the artist.

I have been painting for 6 years.  I have been a professional artist for 27 years.  I have been artistically expressing myself my whole life.  All of life’s experiences import to my memory base (whether I remember it or not) and will mix with my technical skills, my media, and my current style to export on the canvas. In the case of last week’s adventure at the county fair, it is easy to say “She painted this in one hour!”  However as you my readers are aware, I spent three days preparing for that one hour.  (Believe me my catch up list has been long!) To finish it back at the studio (to my standards of completion) took another 2 hours. However, in reality, it took over 5 decades to complete as all combined for one hour on stage.

The finished painting?  “Take me out to the Fair”  30×24, acrylic on canvas.  It will be auctioned through The Arts Council of Williamson County with 100% of proceeds benefiting the organization.  It is after all the organization that offered me the “experience of a lifetime”.

Ready, Set, GO!

Today’s assignment was putting together the plan for tonight’s live painting event.  Or from my point of view, painting off site.  I hope I am always alive when I paint!

An hour and a half is not a long time to paint a 30″x24″ painting.  My layer upon layer process usually requires me to put the painting aside, work on another and come back to add the next layer.  For instance I will lay the sky in on a canvas and let it dry often until the next day before I add the background, mid-ground, and foreground.  Each might take at least an overnight before I move to the next design area.

Not so tonight.  So I have written a map of sorts, a sequence of areas to paint, hopefully allowing the background time to dry before adding the next design element.  I have also pre-mixed my paints with the medium I use for my first layer of color.

People often ask how long a painting takes to complete.  The hidden time is amazing:  pondering design elements, process, and specific paint colors can take a relatively huge amount of time.  The perfect color in the perfect spot is after all what makes a great piece of art.  Then there’s the time consumed in selection (as in where exactly is that tube of paint?) and mixing of the first layer, making sure I have the right tools in hand, the easel at the right height, the lighting correct, etc.  All before the first knife of paint has danced across the canvas.

Usually I paint the first layer before I select the detail palette and prepare my tray of paints for finishing.  Not so today.  Anticipating the details is what it’s been about as I have prepared my tray of over 30 hues to develop tonight’s masterpiece.  I am as ready as I can be.  Master plan in writing in case my mind forgets, enough paint to finish at least two pieces I’m sure (don’t want to run out!), palettes prepared, supplies boxed.  I am set.

Now it’s time to GO!

Prototypes and Ferris Wheels

   The assignment:  a painting with a county fair theme to be done on stage in an hour and a half.  What you see here is the prototype and is really just a section of the larger piece I will paint tomorrow night.

The solution:  combining images of our fair with images of our county.  With a little help from a friend who served as a great sounding board and offered the wonderful idea of using the flags from the fair’s logo, I worked out a sketch.

The problem: working through the color scheme and placement enough to be able to simply stand at the easel and paint.  Thus the prototype.  I often use these to work through a color palette or design idea for a commission piece.  Yesterday I contacted the president of the Arts Council who will be auctioning this painting as a fundraiser to approve the sketch.   Having the prototype (which in this case is just about a third of the actual painting) helped to share my vision.  This is another step I often do with my commission clients so that everyone is comfortable with the page I’m working from.

The result:  I discovered the perfect solution for the background behind the Ferris wheel, with a bit of brighter color and a swish of the palette knife the feeling of movement and the excitement of the Midway surfaced. And my “customer” was more than thrilled.  Having stretched my creative envelop, I am more comfortable with the whole idea of creating a painting within the given time.

Tomorrow’s assignment:  The PLAN

 

What if?

Saturdays seem to offer great fodder for blog material.  This past Saturday was no exception as I had several visitors in the studio.  The question of the week came from a gentleman who asked “Where do you get your ideas?”  Good question.  Although I have used a photo or two through the years, I generally paint from my own memory, vision, spirit.

Throughout my 25 years of artistic experience one question has been faithful to inspire.  “What if?”  What if I changed that sky from cool to warm?  What if I used that flower, but blew it out of proportion?  What if I took that small slice of that painting and created a large abstract piece from it?  And the list goes on.

Lately the question has led me to a new technique of spraying the wash of a piece, layering medium over it, and then developing what’s on the canvas.  This painting, “Canyon Whispers”  combined several ‘What if?”s…  What if I took that comment from a rejection notice and pursued what it suggested.  What if I used the colors of the southwest in a contemporary, abstract manor?  What if I simply developed what resulted from the spray and drips rather than cover them?  What if I tinted the medium just a touch to add color and textural depth?

The result is a painting that I am most pleased with.  This one was created for a specific space in our home.  Perhaps that is why I allowed myself the freedom to truly explore and push my own boundaries.  I loved the process as much as I love the finished product.   I am already asking myself “What if….”

Is it oil or acrylic?

Recently I picked up my art from a local exhibit (sponsored by an art organization no less)  where the title blocks of my work listed “Oil Painting” as the medium.  WRONG!  I paint with acrylic paint.  This is a common misunderstanding with my work due to the high relief texture that I am known for.  So, today let’s discuss a few of the differences.  My disclaimer here is that I have studied oil paint and talked with oil painters, but have never actually used them.

When I began to paint I chose acrylic for the same reason I prefer latex paint for my home:  easy clean up.  Therein lies the first point of difference.  Oil paints clean up with mineral spirits;  Acrylic paints clean with water.  That said, acrylic brushes need to be cleaned quickly after use (or during use) because of the quick drying time that acrylics have.  In other words, water clean up does not always equal easy.

Second point of difference:  Oil paints take much longer (days, weeks, months,) to dry;  acrylic paints dry in a matter of minutes or hours.  This is perhaps the most significant reason I continue to use acrylic paint.  My technique is founded upon applications of  layers upon layers, wet (paint) over dry (canvas).  In any given inch or so of a painting I work on, I have gone back to the canvas perhaps 10-12 times to create the overall effect of a given hue.  Upon closer examination the viewer will see that in fact several layers of different colors have combined to form that effect.  Many a student has complained to me that their oil paintings “turn to mud”.  This is because of the longer drying period of oils which cause them to blend rather than layer.

Which leads to the third point of difference:  Oil paints blend under the brush, on the canvas better than acrylic paints.  Actually this difference is a result of the drying time.  Oil paint blends better; acrylic paint layers better.  I often tell students that if they want the perfectly blended flesh toned cheek on a portrait, oil is the paint of choice.

There are questions out there regarding the toxicity of oils vs acrylics.  Personally I think it’s a draw.  Yes, oil paints have the fumes, etc.  However acrylics use titanium, cadmium, iron oxide, etc.  So there is care to be taken with each medium in that regard.

Another debate is longevity.  There are those that insist that oil paints will stand the test of time better than acrylic paint.  I would suggest that we simply don’t know what the future will bring.   Artist quality acrylic paints are a relatively new medium.  Although they have not been time tested we don’t know how they will hold pigment, shape, etc.

Personally,  I paint for today and today’s client.  I am less interested in how many hundreds of years my paintings hold up than I am in creating a piece of art that will enhance today’s homes, offices, and lives.  Therefore I select the medium that works best for my artistic purposes.  For me, I choose acrylic.

Today’s Painting:  Natural Beauty, first in progress and then all layered and finished.  It is 36×24 and is available at the studio for $950.

Treasures of the Heart

Encouragement comes in many shapes, sizes, and faces.  Working in an open studio has brought comments of all kinds over the years.  Not all encouraging to say the least.  I’ve learned to filter the negative (“Susie your work is better than this!”{Susie is a child}), chuckle at the off the wall (“These sure are ‘purty’ pictures.  Are you blind?  I always thought Monet must have been blind.”), and savor the sweetness of a well intended comment in whatever form it comes in.

Saturday was one of those interesting days at the studio.  First thing in the morning, as I chased cyber spooks on the internet,  a little girl walked by the studio, looked at my collection of work  and exclaimed, “Now that’s what I’m talking about!”  Unfortunately I was too preoccupied with the computer to actually hear the comment, but a colleague who was walking by filled me in.  My heart sang.

Minutes later  another child,  a boy of 8-9 began to interact with me while I sat before my easel developing this abstract painting.   He asked what I was painting.  I explained that as I  paint I listen  to hear what the painting wants to be.  Immediately I knew I was speaking to a young boy with an old soul.  He seemed to absorb every word and went on to ask great questions.  When his mom stepped in he explained to her that I painted with a palette knife not a brush,  that I was painting an abstract which could be whatever someone saw in it, and that a good artist paints from the heart.  Wow!  Here was  a boy who opened himself up to the experience of the studio and got it.  A line of harmony was  added to the song in my heart.

Later a conversation, a sale and the following post on Deborah Gall Art on facebook “Wonderful joy meeting you today. I am going to truly enjoy my framed piece. Looking forward to owning many more pieces of your beautiful inspirations.”

I believe that my heart collected more treasures than my bank balance did.  I’m okay with that.  I smiled all the way to a peaceful night’s sleep.

This painting is one of a new series of work I’m creating using multiple layers of medium and paint before I begin to develop the details.  It will be the subject of another blog since it was birthed out of rejection.  Hmmmm maybe I’ll title it Redemption!  It is 36×48 and will retail for $2000.

Color and Impact

It happens wherever I go.  Indoor shows, outdoor shows, or in my studio (which is open to the public), individuals or couples come in with numbers floating around in their heads.  The size of the wall, the size of the piece they are replacing, the size of art they think they need.  I commend those who  take the time to measure before shopping for art.  The size of the space is important.  It is in fact the jumping off point for selecting the perfect piece.

Many things go into finding the perfect piece for the spot;  heart response to a painting being of course the biggie.  However today I want to discuss the impact of color in a room.  A little color theory:  warm colors (think fire and sun:  red, orange, yellow) are the strongest colors in the spectrum.  It takes the least amount of yellow compared to other colors to be seen from a distance.  Cool colors (think cool mountain lake:  blue, green, purple) are the weakest colors in the spectrum.  Purple is the weakest; it takes a bigger spot of violet to be seen across a room.  Want to test this?  Next time you are in a stadium look across to the other side and squint your eyes.  You will see those yellow Cheeseheads before you see the Purple People Eaters.  But I digress.  What that means to you as an art collector is that it takes less red, orange, or yellow to have an impact on a space than blue, green, or purple.

Point is dimensions of the perfect piece can be determined by the impact of the painting.  Color is not the only element that affects the impact of a piece of art.  But for now, let’s leave it at this:   a smaller painting done in a warm palette may be just the ticket, or a larger piece in a cooler palette.  Now you’re on your way to becoming an expert!

Today’s paintings:  Warm: ” East of Eden”,  20×20, $350  Cool:  “From One to Another”, 12×12 $200

Collecting Art: listen to your heart

Are you an art snob?  Several years ago a gallery owner told me that they only represented “collectible” artists that “would be in the books someday”.  Since that day I have observed, pondered, and questioned others in the industry on this idea.  My conclusion?  Art professionals that make such claims are in fact art snobs. The dictionary defines snob as “one who affects an offensive air of superiority, as in matters of taste or intellect”.   This attitude and definition of “collectible art” does more harm than good to artists and collectors alike because it pretends to define for others what is in fact “collectible”.

The point that I want to make is that “collectible” is in the eye of the collector.  What is valuable to me as a collector may not be valuable to the general public or the art industry.  I know of a couple that has an art collection valued in the tens of thousands of dollars.  They own some of the “big names” in the art world.  Yet as you walk in their home, the first “art” you see is a mass produced print of Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son” framed and hung with honor.  Why?  Because that painting, and  Henri Nouwen’s book of the same name hold significant meaning for them.  They value the message behind the painting; we honor what we value.  I would suggest that we should all apply that same heartfelt approach to all art purchases.

What we value we also gather around ourselves in our home and work environments.  Simply put, what you value is “collectible” for you.  The freedom is yours to purchase and treasure what speaks to your life.  I encourage you to listen to your heart whenever you are considering an art purchase.  It is the only “voice” that matters.

Listening to your inner voice will bring peace of mind and will displace any anxiety about needing to “understand art” or “make an investment”.  Whenever you invest in your peace of mind, spend money on something that brings you enjoyment, or purchase art that shares your vision and voice,  you are making a sound investment with years of great returns.