First of all I'm unemployed. My job ended a week ago Friday. Since I didn't take any time off in between my last two jobs I'm looking at this time as vacation. I should be more worried than I am but I just can't seem to bring myself to stress about it.
I'm starting school in the summer as opposed to the Fall. I can take 6 credits starting in July and get those out of the way. I'm not sure that it will help me finish my degree any sooner but it may help me finish my coursework sooner and that's always good.
I'm still not sure where I'm living in the Fall and hope to have that figured out in the next week or two. If I'm not living at Simmons I need to get on that and come up with a suitable alternative.
Things have been fabulous artwise - I have a bunch of my stuff up a gallery about 1/2 hour away and my stuff is being bought by people I don't know. What a concept! What I mean is that when you have a show and invite all of your friends your work tends to be bought by people you know....makes sense right? It's a whole different thing to have your stuff bought by strangers. I quite exciting actually. It's even more exciting when the gallery wants more of your stuff and they are handing you a check. It makes you feel like a real artist.
Another thing that makes you feel like a real artist is a commission. That's when someone pays you in advance to create something for them. Usually it's something that have specifically in mind. In my case being an abstract painter this can be very very stressful. Usually the directions are usually something like. I like green - can you do this one in green? (as they are pointing to something I've already done). Or I get a picture with a request to recreate something.
The latest commission that I am working on is a three panel (18x36) abstract which is based on something that this person saw on ebay and didn't win. He wants enough changes that I feel confident in saying it's not a copy of the piece it's more of a replica of the artist's style. That's something that is done all the time. How many people use Pollock's spatter style. Exactly - ton's.
The hardest part of a commission is that even though you tell the person paying over and over "My feelings won't be hurt if you don't like it" you can't be sure that they believe you. In my case it's totally true. Abstract art is not for everyone and just because you like one thing doesn't mean you are going to like another piece. And as I told this person - I can probably sell these at the gallery if they don't work for him.
So now I have to get this done - my plan is to get it done this week. With no job I shouldn't be driving around too much (the price of gas is ridiculous) so should just settle in and get it done.
When it's done and hung I'll post a picture for you all to see. In the meantime this is one the pieces that sold at the gallery. Apparently it sold to a therapist.
I'm also working on some abstract pastel's. As soon as I have some pictures of this I'll post them.
2 comments:
Well, hi!
Hi Victoria!
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