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.

Toddler Room

I finally put together my daughter's room (a renovated walk in closet) a few weeks ago. She's moved out of the crib and is sleeping in her room. We're picking up a bed from my sister in law today so she'll be off the floor soon. Here's some pics of the decor. Some items were from her old room in TN and a few I made for this new room. The painting is of her and her 2 favorite stuffed animals, Lamby and Hedgehog, who go everywhere with her. I did the alphabet painting because almost all kids materials have capital letters but in order to learn to read, kids mostly need to learn lowercase. The name painting was from her old room but I painted over the letters with red this time. I had made the bulletin board for her old nursery as well. I painted the 4 flowers and her name blocks as well to match the new space. I still need to weave the lights into the grapevine that acts as a border going around the entire room by her ceiling in a whimsical line. When she saw the new room the first thing she did was go climb in her bed and lay down and announce she was going to sleep there.

Ahead

So I didn't go to the show tonight due to the snow and babysitting issues. The gallery owner told me he'd tell me how it went. I think there's something next weekend so I'll go to that one.

I talked to my brother the other day and he is going to make me some sculpted metal frames for my art and he's working on some sculptures I'll include in my store as well soon. My uncle who is a fine furniture maker is making me some frames this week as well and I'll be using those with my landscapes I think. I'm going to use my brother's frames probably with my abstracts more since that's more his style.

I'm hoping both of them will be interested in doing sculptures. My uncle has done quite a few that have gathered dust in his basement and attic and some eventually been chopped up for firewood. Beautiful mahogany and metal. Some are/were giant - 4' by 12' wall hanging pieces. I saw some things still intact covered in dust last time I was at their house when Sophie was 6 weeks old.

I was reading through art blogs and stumbled across this article that kind of had me depressed but the comments left me with some small scrap of hope about making art in the future.

Nowuno Gallery

Again this Saturday we'll be having an event at the Nowuno gallery as a part of the show. It will begin at 7pm and go til late. There will be music, finger food and alcohol :) and art of course. It's at 403 Constitution Ave several blocks from the capital (just after the split with Maryland Ave.) I've added another piece to the show.

On the easel today

I decided to go up a level in paint quality. That means my paint is going to cost 5-8x as much but the better materials are easier to work with and last much longer in colorfastness. There is another level up from where I am now that is another 5x jump in cost but we'll wait until I want my stuff to last 400 years without any color change. I'm not there yet. So I got started with the sky and background on a new piece. Here's the beginning (I'm having fun - looove the new paint!)

posts

I moved a bunch of my posts to 'draft' for review.

Show!

I think we had about 70 people come and go through the gallery while we were there. It was very crowded at times. I met a lot of great artists and art buyers. Ryan and I both enjoyed the evening.








Liz and Elizabeth came out to see me. I think they ended up having to hike a ways and eventually got a cab on the recommendation of a guard at the capital. I feel really bad that they went through all that but it was wonderful to see some faces I knew. I really appreciate them coming! Elizabeth was a little doll!












One of the band members of the group that was supposed to play was sick so they didn't come but there was a very talented guitarist/mandolin player/ukelele player who entertained us and the gallery owner played a little as well. About the *ahem* painting over the musician's shoulder, thankfully little Elizabeth said, "I can't tell what that is a painting of." And all the mothers breathed a sigh of relief.











The gallery owner told me he wants me to add another piece so I'll be doing that this week. I am also going to call my wood sculpting/fine furniture maker uncle and see if he'll make some frames for me. That would really be great if I can get him to. Now I just have to figure out how to bribe him.













The miracle of the night happened when we put Sophie in Grandma's car and she cheerfully said goodbye, happy as a lark. As they pulled away we could see her little hand stuck up over the seat waving goodbye. I wish I could have a picture of that. It was rather comical. If you know Sophie you know cheerfully leaving mom and dad is a bonified miracle. She had a great time at grandma's that night.

portrait in progress

I attempted to do a self-portrait and discovered that I don't know the 'rules' about how you're supposed to do that. So some of the proportions are a bit off and after doing this I decided to go and get a book so that I can do portraits that not only look human but also look like the person they'r a portrait of. The other issue I'm having with this one is that the expression is a bit harsh or maybe just strong. I need to complete the shadowing on the left shoulder and possibly add some more femininity - a hair clip or comb or a necklace or something - maybe a ribbon? And i need a little shadowing in the left part of the eye you can see. The nose is off and the eyes are a bit too forward to be me and the lips are wrong too but I think the jawline is right and the ear and probably the neck and shoulderline. Guess I have to start somewhere and it's a little late to move the eyes. Next time I'll do it the way my book tells me you should position that stuff.

Gallery Show

It's this Saturday night starting at 7!

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