Contract

Landscape Paintings

Notes From my Office

I've had some difficulties with commission work over the years. Some clients are reluctant to make final payments, some fail to communicate effectively, some take months to make decisions. With my schedule, this gets to be a big issue. I can't afford to accept months of cat and mouse behavior from clients.

I decided to ask my attorney to write a good contract for me for commission work. It is excellent of course. My attorney is a specialist in business and family law. I truly hope this will alleviate problems for me in the future. It also covers copyright issues, storage fees and interest fees for clients who are reluctant to pay final fees.

I know this will discourage some commissions from buyers who are afraid of contracts, but in the end, those may have been the very clients who would be unwilling to meet dead lines  or make payments in the first place, so it will save me months of aggravation.

You can never be sure about the best way to approach business, but I think I will have more peace of mind about commissions now.

Working on grasses

Landscape Paintings

Notes From the Pochade Box

I'n my travels I've been working on my technique with painting grasses. It is easy to get into a habit with our technique. We tend to become formulaic after awhile, comfortable with familiar methods. Many artists have the "if it aint broke don't fix it" mentality about painting. This is prevalent with experienced painters who have arrived, if you will.  I have been painting grasses for years and have a pretty easy way to paint them, but lately, I've been experimenting with more subtlety in my brushwork and different value patterns. I'm experimenting with a more subdued texture. I'll see where this goes.

This brings to mind that I had several comments from visitors to the Wekiva Paint Out. They said that they are always happy to see my work each year because it always looks new. It is different every year. This is a good sign of growth I believe. As I looked around the show I saw painters who grow and evolve and those who don't.  I confess that I found the.painters who evolve to be far more interesting and exciting than those whose works were more polished because it's easy to get very good when you always do it the same way. It's one thing to have a signature style, but replication with the same brushwork,same palette year after year gets a bit predictable.

The Wekiva Experience

Some of the Wekiva Paint Out Artists

landscape paintings

Notes From my Paint Out Journal

I'm home from the paint outs for about 10 days. I'm very tired today, so I'm catching up with computer work and want to write down my observations while they are fresh in my mind.

The Wekiva Island staff and owners were too wonderful to describe. They worked tirelessly for us, always cheerful and kind. They never played favorites and were patient with all of our individual issues and needs. We were well fed and housed. I have been there for so many years that it is like coming home again each year. I love that!! The park rangers were wonderful too.

The art was very good over all. All but one of the artists were all great team players, easy to get along with and very pleasant. I enjoyed interacting with them and the camaraderie between artists.

Sales were adequate if not wonderful. I sold three paintings so I wont complain. We were treated like royalty by the promoters and wined and dined well.

As these things go, I would put Wekiva at the top along with Canaveral Seashore. Very few politics or behind the scenes backstabbing. Always a good thing.

Tree Paintings

Notes From the Loft Studio

This will be my last post until I get back from the next paint out in Wekiva State Park.

Today I decided to ask my lawyer to draw up a contract that I can use for my commissions. I have had some problems with clients in the past about time lines and having a clear understanding about revisions and tweaks. More than once I have had to wait for months to get payed, so I think a clear legal contract is in order for the future. Taking some of the stress out of commission work will be a good thing.

I also decided to start an ad word campaign with google. Their consultant helped me to decide on Ad Word Express which is a local, low cost way to do an ad. I'll try that for awhile first and see how it goes, before I invest any real money. So far I have had 40 impressions but no clicks, so no fees yet. It has only been up for one day.

I'll be back with stories to tell and new paintings after Wekiva. Don't leave me please!!

Endless Activity

Landscape Paintings

Notes from the Loft Studio

This is my crazy time of the year, even more so than the holiday season. I'm on the road a lot and live out of my suitcase. I'm home just long enough to wash the clothes and frame a few paintings for the loft studio. Truth to tell, I miss my time in my regular routine more than I used to. I like being able to paint the subjects I like on my own schedule and to work on my marketing campaigns. I do love to travel, but I like to arrange time between travels, not cutting them so close. I think the residency project will gradually solve that problem. I will gradually replace paint outs with the residencies. I can schedule them when I choose to within reason and my patron's schedule.

This week I have been working on a few unfinished paintings and small studies, started weeks ago and abandoned for lack of time. I have so much painting ahead of me next week that I need to be leisurely at the easel now. last week I did ten paintings and will probably do about the same next week, so there is no reason to work too hard in between. I am working on a revision of a painting I did some months ago. I decided that i liked parts of it but not other parts, so I am revising it. The thing about painting is that I gradually learn stuff that I can use on a painting I have done to improve it. That is one reason I love acrylics so much. They are exceptionally good for revisions. I never put a final varnish on them until i am absolutely sure I love the painting. Instead, I put a coat of gloss glazing medium on them, which can be worked over with no worries. It protects the painting and looks like varnish, so it is just about as good as varnish.

Paint Outs and Marketing

Landscape Paintings

Notes From my Office

This week is just crazy with activities. Lots of laundry and packing, framing and painting deliveries and supplies for the next event, the paint out in Wekiva. I leave Sunday. I still need to grocery shop so I won't starve. I used to get very involved in the whole planning for paint outs, wringing my hands and trying to guess what will sell in terms of size and subjects, doing all kinds of PR in advance and wondering if I will sell. I really don't much worry about any of it anymore. As long as I show up with what I need in food, clothes and supplies, it's all good. I let the chips fall and hope for the best. This is probably my last year for paint outs. I can't say that for sure but I really do love the artist residencies so much more than the paint outs. I've been doing paint outs for a long time and perhaps they have lost some of their appeal. I can tell you that my residency paintings are far superior to the work I do at paint outs. I think it is the lack of pressure, the absense of schedule and dealing with all kinds of costs in framing and supplies. Paint Outs are literally, paint on demand, which in my opinion is the worse possible way to do good work.

Marketing

A young smart friend of mine has convinced me to try Google Ad Words as a marketing tool. I put together my first campaign tonight, so I will track it for a month and see what happens. Who knows if it is a good idea, but I'm willing to try it and see if it works.

Beaten by Technology

Landscape Paintings

Notes From the Painting Studio

I arrived home only to realize I left all of my dirty clothes at Fair Oaks. It's a good thing I have to go back to Prairie Creek Lodge tomorrow which is near. I can drop by and get them. I spent most of the day framing paintings. Tomorrow I have deliveries and then I must hurry back home to do laundry and begin to pack again. Wednesday I'm back to the rotation at the loft through Saturday and Sunday I leave for a week. Wow!! lots of travel and fun this time of year.

Somehow I have been bested by my gadgets. What I know about tech could be seen on a pinhead. :-( I used my digital camera, my smartphone and my tablet computer during my residency at Fair Oaks to take pictures. I thought I sent all of my images to me at my email. Somehow I lost a lot of them and that is disappointing. I will try to retake some of the painting images tomorrow. Some of the farm images are still with me but not all.  Thank goodness I have a massive collection of Fair Oaks references from spending the last few years painting there, but I so often see new things I want to record.