Webster Art

I have 5 paintings in State of the Arts Gallery in Olympia.  I went to the artist reception Friday night for the show that will last about a month. Here is my window on 5th avenue.

my window

Five friends stopped by to see the show. I also met the Barbara Newton, who was the featured artist. Her work is stunning, and made me feel very humble. She has an understanding of color that I have not yet acheived. While I stood by my window of unsold paintings, she sold a $1100 painting to a collector who already has 8 of her previous paintings.

It was cool to watch, and I was happy for her. She was very kind to me and offered a number of great suggestions. She reccommended that I copy one of my existing pastel landscapes as 6×8 inch painting and sell it on dailypainter.com. She sells half a dozen paintings there some months for very economical prices hovering around $60 to $100. They are unframed, which keeps the costs down.

I’m thinking that this winter, I could copy some of my unsold paintings down to 6×8’s, and use oil as the medium. I started in oil back when I was a teenager, and still have that box of paints. I would love to experiment with palette knife painting.

My paintings will be there for a little over a month. As I watched people walk by my window, I kept reminding myself that I’ve really just started painting again this Summer. I’m coming out of retirement, and can’t expect to be as good as a full time professional artist. Even if my paintings don’t sell, I’m going to keep at it. After all, Van Gogh sold one painting in his entire life. He had the passion to keep going even when the art community ignored him.

I’ve already sold over 60 paintings, and that is as a weekend painter. I should be able to improve considerably over the winter. Perhaps I will even get good at oil paints. I love the way they look. They can be loose, or as tight as anything. They are cheaper to frame…often hanging with no frame at all. They are also cheaper to use, and simpler from a materials stand point. I’ve often wanted to work on larger paintings, but pastel is so expensive to use, while oil can be very economical. It’s going to be a bit of a learning curve…but I’d far rather spend it learning to do something I love, instead of learning another programming language like C+, or Java, or Python. I mean jeez, give me a break. I love web design…but only as a job, it’s not a consuming passion anymore, and I certainly don’t want to do it full time.

Still, with my reduced hours at work, and no paintings selling right now…my visa card is rapidly becoming a monster. We had a wheel bearing hub go out, and a fridge. The bills keep coming in. But I guess that is life. I have a painting to work on in the studio, I’m out of here.