Dancing Flowers

I've been trying to get a decent picture of these pieces for a while and have been rather unsucessful. This one has a good bit of flash washing out the center of the piece, but does show you the basics of how I finished the flowers. I used a bit of the glass micro bead acrylic gel on the edge of the flower petals as well to give an effect you can only see from certain angles and with the right light. When I get a better picture I'll replace this one.



















Here's a closeup:

The Difficult Job

Ah, now here's a taboo topic!

One of the more difficult parts of professional art is pricing your work. You are told to add up your materials cost and factor in a dollar per hour fee or to use a price per square inch scale or to price all your pieces of one size the same amount or... there are a lot of formulas. So far I haven't really been pricing my work at a living wage by any means. In fact I'm barely recuperating costs. But then there's the issue of "price at what the market will bear." I've mostly sold via personal connections and haven't through a business venue. I assume that galleries and dealers could get a bit more for my work (but will charge me the normal 50% or more to do so), because they have direct connections with art collectors. I've been selling my work for almost 2 years now mostly to family, friends, and their acquaintances. At first I was just happy that people wanted my work. I still am thrilled about that factor, but it doesn't pay for me to pursue making more art.

There is also the myth out there that artists should just create their work and never think about money. Hence the starving artists out there. Many people feel that art shouldn't be worth anything until the artist is dead. There are many current ideas about how artists "should" and "should not" be that are derived from nineteenth century art critic Theophile Gautier (written by Tom Wolfe): "[W]ith Gautier's own red vests, black scarves, crazy hats, outrageous pronouncements, huge thirsts, and ravenous groin... the modern picture of The Artist began to form: the poor but free spirit, plebian but aspiring only to be classless, to cut himself forever free from the bonds of the greedy and hypocritical bouqeoisie, to be whatever the fat burghers feared most, to cross the line wherever they drew it, to look at the world in a way they couldn't see, to be high, live low, stay young forever - in short, to be the bohemian."

There are things about that quote that I agree with. We all want to ride on the excitement the artist experiences when their work is created and to imagine the rush it must surely give them with every stroke. Watching Chihuly work and live very much demonstrates this experience. It's thrilling just to see. But Chihuly is not exactly a starving artist (though he may have been 30 years ago). And not all artists fit the Gautier mold.

In the art world the vast majority of the funds are accrued by galleries, curators, dealers, etc. Artists as a category make the least in the food chain. It is to be recognized that the galleries often make it possible for most artists to exist. It is also often too common for artists to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous business deals. Part of the reason that happens is that there are so many variables in the industry, with each 'product' being unique in entirity. Also because the work of creating art itself is rather consuming, it is difficult to also be abreast of legal, tax, business, marketing, and other issues that affect artists.

There are many in the general public that are either intimidated by art and it's often high prices, or look at artists as undisciplined adolescents who don't deserve to make a living because their work "should be payment in and of itself." I've had plenty of people drop the, "Wow, but that's so great that you get to do what you LOVE." It's true. I do love it. I would do it regardless of pay.

Transitioning from the world of 'hobbyist' to 'professional' is not an easy one. Many full-time artists spend any where from 50-80% of their time 'conducting business'. Preparing presentations to galleries, press releases, and lots of other activities that increase the dollar value of their body of work (sold and future), is considerably energy and time consuming. But to be able to have the time to create art, those activities are necessary. Being able to guarantee that the value of their collection will increase because the artist is pursing greater recognition, is one of the driving forces behind collectors. Collectors make the world of art possible. They want to know that what they buy today will be worth more in a few years because the artist will be working the system actively to increase their value (kind of the opposite of the bohemian role we're supposed to also fulfill). There are a few rare individuals who have a wealthy benefactor who pay for them to do whatever they like and actually play the 'role of the artist' that we've all heard about since grade school. But most artists don't fit into the box we've all imagined they live in.

I'm going to keep my prices low probably for the remainder of the summer. I'm planning on taking some time off from painting new pieces to refocus and sketch. Late summer/early fall I will begin working on larger series of works. I am going to move toward a more cohesive body of work that will be based upon the things I have previously done, but will be done in larger series and with a more connected feel among all my pieces. I'm moving toward a more personal style that reflects more of my love for color and the graceful way that it combines. I'll do series of 5-15 pieces at a time when I restart. At that point I will have to decide if I want to go through galleries only and cease from selling directly to the public on my own, or not. I'll have to really reconsider the pricing of my work because I will put 4 months of planning into the work I'll be doing, as well as the actual work creating them. I may just sell prints from my website and paintings through galleries... I don't know. I have a stack of books on art business sitting next to my stack on art history that I'm pouring through. Hopefully I'll read something that will answer all of my questions, but probably not.

My to-do list of getting started as a 'legitimate' artist gets longer every day but the more I read the better I feel that I can do this. The learning curve is huge but if there's anything I love, it's taking on something with a bit of impossibility to it and learning something new and difficult. When I was 17 I got hired by a web designer and was given a key to his downtown office and access to a library of 4" thick books on html and photoshop. I rarely ever saw the guy who was supposed to mentor me, and he still owes me several paychecks, but the job did a lot for me. I had to teach myself everything but just having access to the material was all I needed. That was my internship in web and graphic design and I made a living off those skills for the next 9 years.

I've had a lot of other opportunities to learn a variety of technical and other business skills that I'm finding myself drawing on heavily as I attempt to start a a career. There is an incredible weight of things to accomplish to get this thing off the ground. At times I get a bit depressed as I realize how much further away the next mile stone really is, but a lot of times that just makes me run harder. I may run myself into the ground (Ryan's seen me do that I lot of times in our 6 years we've been together). But I always do get myself back up and find my pace again.

So, here's to the horizon I'm chasing:

through the glass

I've been experimenting with a glass micro-bead acrylic texture gel that I've been using in several of my pieces. It's an element of the pieces that you can only see from certain angles but when it catches the light - it's so lovely.

Flowers

I've gotten a few flowers on the stems in the red and gold painting. I'm hoping to finish it in the next few days here.

Also the cafepress sale 20% off sale I listed in a previous post will be wrapping up Tuesday by 9 pm so be sure to let me know if you want me to add anything to the rest of the orders I've gotten.

Home Art Shows

I'm going to be starting in-home art shows after April 21. For more info click here. I've got frames being made. Prints being printed. New artwork near completion. It's going to be a smashing good time!

Little Sale

Cafepress has given shop keepers a 20% discount on all their merchandise ending March 21. I've had a number of people mention they would like to get a few things so I thought I'd take this opportunity to pass the savings along. You'll have to place your order through me (check or cash - I have to be the one to place the order to get the discount) before the 21st, but for those who have expressed interest, let me know what items you want and I'll place the order. I have 2 stores: my main store (connected to my website) and my private collection items (connected to my art blog).

On the Easel

I've been painting up a storm lately. None of the following pieces are complete. Some are further along than others. I rotate them out as painting involves deep concentration at times and one can only concentrate on one thing for so many hours before you get a headache. So I work on one for a day and another the next. The red and gold pieces will have multi-colored flowers on them. The framed print is my first archival giclee test print which I recolored for my sister- in- law.

Your Favorite D.C. Scenes?

I'm wanting to do a series on the architecture in D.C. and the scenes of the city. In your opinion, what is your favorite thing to look at in D.C. ? What is paint-worthy to you? What do you rest your eyes on for an extended period of time perhaps as you pass it on your commute or walk?

road trip - well sort of

I'm driving to Berryville tommorrow to register for the Millwood Art Show. I could have saved myself the 2 hours of driving if I would have gotten all the info sooner but it looks like it will be worth it. Now I just have to cross my fingers and hope that I get into the show.

End of the Show

The end of the show went well. I met the sculpter Aaron Brophy who had not been there for the earlier show. His work was rather stunning to look at. I really enjoyed getting to know James Green, Heather Levy, and Robert Lindsay a little more last night. I also really enjoyed Eileen T. Wold's art quite a bit. Last night we also had an amazing bassist, Allan von Schenkel that Ryan and I really enjoyed listening to. His work was written especially for him by some European composers and it was very moving work. Watching him play was as enjoyable as listening because he felt the music in such a physically expressed way. It was very beautiful.

Saturday's Closing Show

Saturday 7pm - late you're invited to come to the show closing at the Nowuno gallery. Music, drink, and lots to feast the eyes on.

Prints

I've been painting a lot this past week. Several of my sister-in-laws have mentioned they want to host home shows (a cross between a Pampered-Chef party and a gallery show lol). So I'm trying to build up my volume a bit. I've also figured out the world of giclee (pronounced zee-clay) prints, which are what those fancy art prints you see in galleries are. I've found a place to order smaller runs of them which is great for me, wanting to start small and all. So now my quest is, to decide what to order prints of. So, what say you my fine and all knowing art critic friends? Which pieces do you think I should have prints made of?

I'll post pictures of the pieces I'm working on tommorrow maybe.

Closing Show Saturday

Check back in soon because I'm going to have details about the Nowuno Show closing that will be taking place this Saturday night.

Why I don't do reproductions/ knock offs

Fairly often people tell me that they think I should do knock-off art. They know that like most artists I'm not really making anything so in order to meet the bottom line they suggest I do Georgia O'Keefe style stuff or golf course paintings or whatever. Here's why I don't do that even though it might mean I'd be able to afford all my art expenses.

Once you get known for doing certain styles of art, you basically get pegged. The industry wants to be able to count on artists to produce the same style, reinvented over and over again. Collectors in general want their collections of one artist to look right when hung in the same room. We all can see a Van Gogh and know immediately what makes it a Van Gogh for the most part. It's his unique style.

Although most of my art fits easily into the 'home decor' category, there is only so vanilla I want to be. I've done a few pieces that are a bit too much in the trendy category as it is. I know impressionist landscapes have been done before but for me that is who I really am. I actually took an art quiz on the BBC and it confirmed that my personality type/ age/ gender naturally likes the kind of art I do. I may do my own take on O Keefe one of these days because I do love her art, but I want to make it my own, not peg myself as an O Keefe mimic.

The other thing is that very cheap copies of most famous paintings are readily available from underpaid workers in china so it's not a market I want to compete with. I get fliers in the mail for $99 'Original Oil Paintings' and these are probably what they are. For one thing $99 doesn't even cover my supplies most of the time (depending on the size of the work), let alone labor. It's not a market I'd ever be able to be competative in. There just isn't a lot of profit in it, let alone enjoyment.

So while I continue to draw inspiration from many of the masters as well as new and even unheard of artists, to me it is very important that to stay unique and true to my own style as well. I do always appreciate input and ideas and requests to paint things I've never done before, but copying other's work (even the stuff in eminent domain) is just really not for me. Thank God it's illegal to copy liscensed characters. That saves me from having to do murals I'd deplore and never put in my portfolio.

obnoxious post

I'm burying this a little down in my blog so it doesn't come up too high and hopefully most won't read it (sheepish grin) but I am putting this list in here to help with my google issues. They only are listing my old URL and not the new one but they do list my blog so I'm going to add pertinent key words to my work here in the hopes that when people type in my name or other information they might search for me, they might find me. There are a number of combinations of my name that do not get links to my site at all. Hopefully it will just bring them to my blog and not to the specific post but if it does they can always click on the gallery link or the top link to get to the main pages.

So here goes:

Rebecca Tiffany, Becky Chapman, Becky Tiffany-Chapman, Rebecca Tiffany Chapman, Becky Tiffany, Rebecca Chapman, Rebekah Tiffany, Rebekah Chapman, Becki Tiffany, Becki Chapman, Bekki Tiffany, Bekki Chapman, Centreville, Virginia, VA, Washington D.C. DC, Northern Virginia, Centerburg, Ohio, OH, Knoxville, Tennessee, TN, Artist, Acrylic, Muralist, Dan Tiffany, Wayne Tiffany, Bill Tiffany, David Tiffany, Jan Tiffany, Ryan Chapman, Janet Chapman, Ralph Chapman, Landscape, Abstract, Scenery, Impressionist, Waxham, Murphey, Fredonia, New York, NY, Gallery Exhibited, Professional Artist, murals, RCC, RCI, WCBI, FMI, Westerville, Ohio, OH, Collected artist, clients, original works, giclee prints, gallery wrapped, Centerburg High School and for added emphasis: Rebecca Tiffany, Becky Chapman, Becky Tiffany-Chapman, Rebecca Tiffany Chapman, Becky Tiffany, Rebecca Chapman, Rebekah Tiffany, Rebekah Chapman, Becki Tiffany, Becki Chapman, Bekki Tiffany, Bekki Chapman, Centreville, Virginia, VA, Washington D.C. DC, Northern Virginia, Centerburg, Ohio, OH, Knoxville, Tennessee, TN, Artist, Acrylic, Muralist, and again: Rebecca Tiffany, Becky Chapman, Becky Tiffany-Chapman, Rebecca Tiffany Chapman, Becky Tiffany, Rebecca Chapman, Rebekah Tiffany, Rebekah Chapman, Becki Tiffany, Becki Chapman, Bekki Tiffany, Bekki Chapman, Centreville, Virginia, VA, Washington D.C. DC, Northern Virginia, Centerburg, Ohio, OH, Knoxville, Tennessee, TN, artist, acrylic, muralist.

I hope that's not against any of the rules about web ranking - you can post anything in your actual text I believe. It's the tags and mirror page stuff that gets you in trouble.

Please pardon my having to post that but I'm not easy to find on the web right now and am hoping that will help a little. Ahh, perhaps that wasn't so painful afterall. I hope that it will help those who might search for my name to find me.