Julie T. Chapman - ArtBlog

Art is the highest form of play (according to me). I’ve actually said this in some of my workshops, when I can remember to between the booze and cracking the whip on the hapless participants.

Here’s someone who has figured that out - this is the “Where the hell is Matt” viral video from YouTube. This obviously is more in the category of performance art - but it is still wonderful, creative play.

So. Are you playing enough?

I’m headed off to summer workshop in a couple days, but before I go: here’s a topic inspired by an email from a fellow artist who had been contacted by Art-Exchange - they were offering to ‘jury’ her website and then list her work, market it to hunting lodges, etc. Since I made the mistake of falling for their spiel many years ago - and paying them a fee at the time - a couple of my prints are listed on their site (for astronomically high prices…I’m pretty sure I didn’t set those prices, but I frankly can’t remember). My cynical side suspects that this outfit is making most of its money from artist fees, not from actually marketing and selling work. They have gazillions of artists listed.

If an art-selling outfit (whether gallery or website) is going to make money, it ought to be from commissions - this gives them incentive to market the work.

Has anyone had any GOOD experiences with art-selling websites? For instance, I’m hearing from crafters that Etsy is starting to work well for them. There must be a fine-art site somewhere that juries for quality art and then actually works to market and sell it…

…so: how many of you receive inquiries from other artists asking to exchange website links? how do you respond?

I get these fairly regularly, and I dutifully go check out the requestor’s site. Mostly, the requestor’s artwork is unimpressive or worse (in fact, I’m pretty sure I could qualify this as “always”, not “mostly”). While incoming links help a site rank higher in Google’s search algorithm, I’m reluctant to give an imprimatur of approval by trading links with artists whose work I don’t care for.

Or am I just old-fashioned? You know - grab marketing wherever you can, regardless of the source…?

I love drawing, and I think at times that can actually get in the way of my paintings - I get caught up in clean, precise edges and other type-A (stands for “anal retentive”) fussiness. Yet I thoroughly admire the passion in Nicolai Fechin’s paintings - as his modern doppelganger, Jeffrey Watts, says of Fechin’s work: “the perfect blend of chaos and control”. And I am intrigued by the paint and surface textures in Oleg Stavrowsky’s work.

So I took a chance on my latest piece and textured the hell out of the panel, thinking that might free me from having to “color inside the lines”. The entire work can be seen on my website homepage, but below is a small area - about 8″ x 8″ on the actual painting - showing the results. I’m pretty damn pleased.

I was recently contacted by someone who contributes articles to blogs, and after I told her who tends to hang out here she sent me the following guest-written piece. Comments?

Tips for Creating Art Outdoors

Whether you’re painting a grand landscape or capturing the majesty of wildlife in a sketch, working outdoors can be a great way to really get a feel for your subject. Of course, while working outdoors offers many benefits, it also poses a range of challenges. Here are some ways that you can make getting creative en plein air a little easier and more productive.

Scout locations in advance. If you already know where you’re headed you won’t have to spend precious painting time finding a place to set up. When looking for scenic spots, choose somewhere that won’t leave you ravaged by sun or wind as that will make it hard to concentrate on working.
Check the weather. It may sound like a no-brainer but there are certain days where the sun is shining beautifully in the morning and by afternoon a raging storm has rolled in. Make sure you check the forecast to avoid getting caught in some unpleasant weather.
Learn to cope with lighting changes. Unlike in the studio, you won’t be able to control lighting when working outside. Whether you pick up the pace, adapt to changing light or only paint for a few hours each day, figure out a way that works best for you to ensure you won’t have an oddly lit work.
Work quickly. During your time outside its best to work more quickly than you would indoors because of changing weather and lighting conditions.
Get portable. No one wants to lug tons of equipment up a mountainside, so make sure the materials and hardware that you’re bringing along are designed to be moved. You may also want to limit the things you bring along to just those that you’re sure you’ll need.
Respect the environment. Many artistic materials can be highly toxic and you should do your best to ensure that none of yours get left behind or discarded in the wild.
Be safe. If you’re working in an area where large, wild animals reside use common sense and be cautious. Even the most apparently docile herbivores can get pretty angry if you’re infringing on their territory, so always put the needs of the wildlife over the requirements of your work.

Perhaps the biggest tip of all, however, is to just have fun and enjoy the beautiful natural world that surrounds you.

This post was contributed by Kathleen Baker, who writes about online degrees. She welcomes your feedback at KathleenBaker3212 at gmail.com.

I have the good fortune to count Kate Davis, founder and director of Raptors of the Rockies, among my friends. Kate is a hoot (literally - she can imitate owls well enough to fool other owls), a fellow artist, and passionate about the raptors in her care. I’ve had the privilege of visiting her “Raptor Ranch” several times and photographing and sketching some of the magnificent birds there. Kate now has a blog going as well. If you enjoy raptors - watching them, painting them - I encourage you to visit Kate’s website and blog. She has photos and bios of all the birds, plus plenty of entertaining tidbits on her blog.

The painting shown here - “Ruffled” - was based on one of Kate’s golden eagles; the piece is now in the collection of the Lookout Mountain Nature Center in Golden, CO.

I received the following email this morning from someone else in the fine-arts field, regarding a “Kenya Wildlife Art Field Study & Retreat” for June 2009 that Christopher Gervais is listing on his website:

“I contacted Kuki Gallmann to let them know about his [Gervais’] collecting $400 for the retreat he is sponsoring. This is the email I received back:

Thank you for this info:Wow!!

He is actually doing no Artist Retreat with us at all, although he attempted to!!Thank you again for warning us!

warm regards

Kuki Gallmann
From Kenya.”

So - as with prior posts on this topic, forewarned is forearmed.

To learn more about the Gallman Memorial Foundation and its conservation work in Kenya - as well as the fires set by poachers on the reserve two months ago - please visit www.gallmannkenya.org. (The arson story is under their “News & Events” link).

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed that there are a great many more ‘art show’ emails coming to the inbox than, say, a year ago. I’ve never heard of any of these; most seem to be based in New York or Europe, and offer some sort of themed exhibition, or gallery show in NY, or book, or whatever…for a nominal fee. I’m led to speculate that perhaps some gallery dealers or show promoters have decided that it’s darned easy to get artists hungry for exposure to pay to enter almost anything.

Here’s an example (and I’ll leave the gallery anonymous):

CALL FOR SUBMISSION

<Exhibition name deleted>

This exhibition will feature 200 artists from aroundthe world. Invitations will be sent to over 40,000 collectors, andfellow artists. Your works will also be featureon our website and for purchase online.
Idea:

Each artist will have a 40(L)x30(H) space to display their artwork of choice. Artist’s can have as many pieces as you want as long as it doesn’t go over the 40″ x 30″ space. Make sure that each piece are ready to hang and is less than 2 lbs. Also, please be sure to mail in a picture/chart of how you want your pieces to be displayed.

We will be picking one artist from this exhibition to presents a solo exhibition at our gallery. We will also be picking 10 artists to present a group exhibition as well.

All artists are guaranteed to be featured in this exhibition upon completion of registration.

AWARD: SOLO Exhibition

Entry Fee: $50

This was cut and pasted from my email - typos, grammatical errors, and all. Plus, I’m confused by “all artists guaranteed to be featured upon completion of registration”, vs the “feature 200 artists”, vs the 40,000 artist invitation.

As other recent blog entries have so amply illustrated: be very choosy about the shows you enter - check them out, talk to other artists who have been involved with the show, Google the show name…etc. For example, I’ve exhibited with a reputable show in California in which sales have been fairly poor recently, and I won’t return to it. An artist contacted me after the last time I’d been in this show to ask me about my experience; I told her my observations, and she bemoaned having already made travel reservations to attend. Clearly, the time to make that phone call is before any money is committed, not after.

Someone recently emailed to suggest that we start a discussion regarding studio lighting. Since I LOVE getting suggestions for the blog, I’m on it! First, a photo of my own setup - it’s a second-floor room with the pitched eaves from being up under the roof. I have a pair of windows at either end (here, looking east), a bank of 6 fluorescents (the other 2 are directly overhead of me in this photo), and 2 of those “solartube” thingies that are like little round skylights (again, the other is directly overhead and out of sight in the photo). This gives me a fabulous mix of natural and artificial light that is bright and also fairly shadowless.

This room was a remodel, so I was able to specify this mix; having lived and worked in this room for 6+ years now, the only things I would change would be to add another bank of fluorescents on the west side, and build in task lighting low on the eaves (it’s dark towards the side walls). And I need some shades on the windows: at certain times of the year the sun comes directly in and onto my easel/display setup.

Last week an artist emailed to ask about insuring work while in the studio, in galleries, in transit, at shows, and so on. I figured this would make a worthwhile blog post, so I’ll share what I know and do and ask everyone else to chime in.

In the studio: our home insurance is with Allstate, and I had talked specifically with them about insurance for paintings in our house. That conversation is lost in the dim mists of time, and I should probably revisit it, but I think we decided that no special rider was needed at that point, and that the general house coverage would do it. I’m not sure now that this is the right/best answer; however, I don’t generally have a lot of work here at any one time.

In transit: I used to use UPS for all my shipping needs, because it’s easy to pay extra for coverage of up to $5000 on a box (and I pack very carefully). However, I had some frustrating experiences with UPS in the last year - damage to frames on 3 different shipments within 3 months - and they gave me such a huge hassle and runaround on the frame replacement that I switched to FedEx. At least one of my galleries told me they’ve done the same thing for the same reasons. However, FedEx won’t insure past $500, so I have generally used them only for shipping smaller pieces.

I’ve recently needed to send several commissions to a collector in Canada, and used UPS for that because I felt it imperative to insure the pieces fully. Just ask me how fun it is to fill out paperwork for this (commercial invoice, NAFTA free trade forms, declarations of value, assignment of customs fees … all in triplicate). It took 45 minutes on the phone with UPS the first time to do it all correctly.

At galleries: any reputable gallery should have wall-to-wall fine art coverage. Be sure your gallery contract states this.

At shows: every exhibition with which I’ve dealt has insurance for the work while it’s there. The “Birds in Art” show even goes so far as to pay all shipping and insurance fees for the art as well; you just pack it up and put on the FedEx label they give you. Since I don’t do booth shows, though, I can’t speak to insurance at those types of events.