Translations

As an oil painter for over 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that the novices on the show circuit do not realize that customers actually speak a different language. In the beginning, this language barrier caused me no end of confusion until I learned to translate correctly. With that in mind, I have prepared a brief listing of the most popular customer phrases with their correct translation. (Thanks to fellow painter Virginia Peake for her contributions.)

Your work is lovely.
Translation: I’ve finished looking. I’m leaving now.

I’ll be back.
Translation: Good-bye. Have a nice life.

I want to talk this over with my husband / wife.
Translation: See above.

These colors don’t match my decor.
Translation: These prices don’t match my wallet.

I love your frames / roof with skylight / table cloths.
Translation: Don’t get up--I’m a fellow artist.

Is that the best you can do?
Translation: Can I talk you into a pay cut?

Hrrrmmmfff. (spoken by man with arms folded across chest standing outside booth in response to wife’s question--”what do you think, dear?”)
Translation: No sale

Is this a watercolor? (spoken while pointing to an oil)
or
Is this an oil? (spoken while pointing to a watercolor.)
Translation: I only came for the crafts.

So, how long did it take you to paint this?
Translation: What are you getting, $300 an hour?

Where’s the crochet lady who was in this spot last year?
Translation: Have they replaced the best thing in the show with you????

Oh dear, everybody’s an art critic.
Translation: My dog just wizzed on your display.

It's always the weather

Old Lyme was quite an adventure. I was about to head down to set up Friday evening when it started to drizzle a bit. I checked the weather forecast and it said some raining clearing out about midnight. I much prefer to set up the tent and display on Friday night for a weekend show if I can. It's less exhausting than setting up everything early Saturday morning and then start the show.

Anyway, I made the (fateful) decision to go down and set up. There were a few tents already set up and I quickly set mine up with the display panels (not the paintings) and headed home. Old Lyme is a little over a half hour from my home. The sky was already starting to clear up a little.

When I got home, I checked the weather radar and lo and behold a line of vicious thunderstorms was in New York and Pennsylvania and heading this way. They hit about 1 am, and slammed into Old Lyme about a half hour later. I was up all night watching the radar and wondering what was happening to my tent. I went down there the next am, full of trepidation. When I got there, there were dozens of artists setting up but I COULDN'T SEE MY TENT! Even though I had staked it down, it had blown over and all the panels were in a jumble in the parking lot. Believe it or not, the only broken things were two L-stiffeners from my display, which were supposed to be 90 degrees and were bent to 120 degrees. (Thank you, ProPanels!) I was setup and running by the opening of the show. A miracle! The locals said that the wind gusts that had come through that evening were around 40 mph. A few other tents had blown over or disintegrated.

Lesson to be learned: NEVER leave your work in your tent if there is even the slightest chance of thunderstorms. This is the first time in 16 years of doing shows that my tent went over, and I was lucky--nothing destroyed, no work inside. It's not thieves and vandals that you have to watch out for, it's Mother Nature.

Old Saybrook

Old Saybrook was another good show. Unbelilevably hot and humid but we survived. And again I think the show gods are watching out for us, because just 20 minutes north of the show Saturday evening was an enormously powerful band of thunderstorms, so intense that cars were pulling off the highway because they couldn't see in the blinding rain. It missed Old Saybrook. If that had hit the show, there would have been serious damage to tents, artwork left in them, etc.

The crowds were very good and I sold "Naptime in the Bleachers" to a couple from Darien, which incidently was where the initial pictures of the dog were taken.

On to Old Saybrook

Again, it looks like we'll be battling inclement weather this weekend. We've had threats of rain almost every show, and have pretty much dodged a bullet. We may not be so lucky this time.

This is my first time doing Old Saybrook Art Show. It's on the town green, much like Glastonbury's show, and I've heard some pretty good reports about it. It all depends on who walks by. As with any show that I'm not familiar with, I bring a lot of giclees so there is something for everyone. I haven't been as productive as I should have been. There is a frequent discrepency between what I want to paint and what people want to put on their walls. I paint puddles, they want pears.

Westport

It was a good show, not a great show, but a good show, and there was a lot of foot traffic and the weather was in our favor. Some artists started packing up a half hour early on Sunday because there were threatening thunderstorms in the area. Luckily they all went north of us. Sorry to keep harping about the weather but there is nothing more frightening to be outdoors in a metal tent in a thunderstorm, especially when all of your life's work is inside! Not to mention your personal safety.

On another note here are the finished pieces that I posted earlier.

And sometimes you're the windshield...

I got one of the most exciting e-mails I've ever received today. Actually it was in my spam folder and I luckily gave the contents a quick glance before I emptied it. It was from American Artist Magazine informing me that one of my oil paintings that I submitted to their 70th Anniversary Art Competition was a semifinalist. It's this one, "Morning Light."


This is really unbelievable because they get thousands if not tens of thousands of entries. They will either publish it in their December issue or on their web site.

Maybe I should bring a few more prints of it to Westport!

On to Westport

Next show up is Westport. This is the only outdoor show I do in the western part of the state. The Westport people are a lot like the West Hartford people--they really support their downtown and they always show up at the events. I have been at Westport show when it was over 100 degrees and their were still plenty of people walking the show.

It is a tough show to do for several reasons. First there are only around 135 spots and its tough to get in on a regular basis. I was lucky this year. Set up starts at 5:00 am on Saturday, the show starts at 10 am and goes till 7 in the evening. Sunday it's 10-6, two very long days. Main Street is closed off for the event. Loading and unloading is quite a hassle and requires tremendous patience. However the weather seems to be going to cooperate--both days forecast in the low 80s.

Sometimes you're the bug....

The set up at Wickford wasn't too bad. We had a little rain but nothing unbearable. No flooding. We had decent weather and lots of people but I only sold one small painting. Some fellow artists didn't do so hot either. I don't think the one next to me sold anything and a couple of others only sold 1. We aren't allowed to bring prints of our work at Wickford so we are at a disadvantage when we're up against the photographers. They can bring as many prints as the like and since they are so much cheaper than original artwork, they look like a bargain. Especially when they are printed on canvas and "enhanced" with an acrylic gel to look like brush strokes. It's a sore spot among artists and it doesn't seem fair.

Oh well, sometimes you're the bug and sometimes you're the windshield.

On to Westport.

Yellow paint

It always happens.

I'm running around like a crazy person trying to get everything packed and done for the show. I decided to photograph this painting of a dog sleeping and after I finished, I noticed that the color on his head was a little off. No problem, I thought, just a quickie touch up. Five minutes max. No need to even put on a smock. Big mistake. The touch up went smoothly and then I looked down and I had yellow paint all over my arm and all over my light blue, bargain Chico's pants. I have no idea how it got there. It's a proven fact that all oil painters are magnetically charged to attract all paint. It's absolutely amazing how it works.

Countdown to Wickford

I just checked the weather forecast and it looks like the weekend will be gorgeous. However, there will be rain on Thursday and Friday (hopefully not during Friday setup) so some flooding in our booth spaces may be possible. I have to make sure to bring the battery operated bilge pump and hose!

People who don't do outdoor shows don't think about the weather much, but when you are doing them, it can make or break you, not to mention be downright dangerous. Thunderstorms and high winds come to mind. There's nothing more miserable than trying to pack up in the pouring rain.

Anyway, I have almost finished "Secret Garden." I don't think I'll do a garden again. Too much work and looking at this painting, I think it's just one thatched roof away from Kincade.

More works in progress

Here is another painting still in the grisaille stage. It's"Secret Garden." I hope to have it finished by the Wickford show this weekend.

Works in Progress

Here's the latest piece I've been working on. It's of this antique doll that is posed on my cousin's couch. I thought the stripes were very interesting. The doll is still only roughed in (in the "grisaille" phase). It should be interesting when I add the color to it, as the doll has a very bright red sweater (which was, in fact, knitted by my cousin's mother).

Pricing and perceived value

People always ask, how do you price your work? It's a tough thing to do actually.

Some artists price by the square inch. That may work if most of your paintings are similar and take about the same amount of time per size. But to me, it just seemed that you were putting artwork in the same category as laminate flooring and wallpaper. You need to take into account the time spent on a piece and assuming that people can see the difference, you should charge accordingly. Not only that, but you have to take into account expenses--show fees, framing, materials, marketing expenses, etc. If you're not charging enough to cover expenses, the more you sell, the more money you lose.

BUT....if you charge too much, the pool of people who like your work and can afford it will shrink. BUT...if you charge too little, some people may think that your work must not be very good because it doesn't carry a hefty price tag. See the problems we have? It all comes down to perceived value. And the only people who determine the perceived value are our potential customers. It's like what real estate agents say--a house is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

I'm sometimes asked if I give discounts. The answer is yes, for multiple purchases. But I'll let you in on a little secret. Almost all artists will give a discount on some work if it is a "Number 43." What's a Number 43? It's a painting that you've dragged around to 43 shows, and quite frankly, you're sick of it! (Thanks Dale for the terminology). Every artist has at least one. It may be a very good painting but for some reason it just hasn't sold and we want it out of here! But we're not going to tell you which one it is. You've got to find it........

Always the last minute

Working like a dog because I have two shows coming up--Wickford and Westport. Of course now that I'm going nutso I wish I hadn't taken it so easy over the winter. A lot of artists are like me, we need a deadline to start working.

Anyway, I am hoping to complete 4 paintings by the end of next week plus a handful of small studies as well. One of the paintings is a large 24 x 36 intimate landscape which happens to be one of the most complicated I've ever attempted. It's called "The Secret Garden" and I'll post pictures when I get further along.

The little studies seem to sell well at shows. They're 5x7 and I sell them unframed for $50. It allows people to purchase some of my work even though they can't afford the larger pieces.

Wickford Art Festival

As I said Wickford is coming up July 7-8. Charming little hamlet of Wickford in North Kingstown, RI. An old seafaring-captain type of town, right on the water. I get to park my car at the town dock which is pretty cool and then you have a longish but very pleasant walk through the town to your assigned area . It is a very large festival, 250 or so tents with maybe 40,000 people coming through. It's usually non-stop crowds all day long.

The roads are very old and caved in and the sidewalks just as bad. If they have a heavy rainstorm, the water may take several days to drain away--and it frequently settles in somebody's tent. (Artists have to set up their booths in the street along the sidewalk) I had that happen to me one year and I was beside myself, with half a foot of water in my tent. Luckily some angel (he was with his girlfriend-artist) had a bilge pump which he hooked up to a marine battery and a hose and he pumped 90% of the water out of my tent. After that episode, I went out and bought a battery-powered bilge pump and I make sure I take it to every show.

Wickford touts itself as the premier art festival in New England. What's great about it is that you're juried in for 3 years. It's nice being able to plan ahead and not having to worry if you're going to be accepted that year. It's an all original show which means no prints, unless you're a photographer. That's a bone of contention among artists, but I'll go into that another time.

I do love seeing all my old artist-friends and their spouses at these festivals. And I do love going Friday and Saturday nights to Duffy's--that great restaurant/bar with the cheap and good seafood--lobsters, clams, etc. And of course the Marguaritas!

All we can hope for is good weather and good sales

Here we go!

Hello all--
I'm an artist, an oil painter actually and I thought people might be interested in what it's like to be an artist. I've been doing the show circuit for 16 years. I'm in the middle of show season right now and I'll keep you all posted about the upcoming shows. The next one is in Wickford, Rhode Island.