Saturday Resin Casting

Now that I'm all set up in my new place, I'm challenging my production layout by resin casting today. I'm afraid I have put this project off to the very last minute and now I'm working on Saturday. I had a new mold made this week, and today I'm making a casting of clear resin with rocks. It's part of the 17 pc 3d installation for a Houston hotel.

I've also got a couple of print jobs running, in response to two new purchase orders this week.

Business has not slowed down for me, and that's a good thing since I'm paying rent for the first time in my 11 year career.

The luxury hotel business remains strong, with projects that have been in place for a long time. Presumably they can't cancel new construction that's incomplete. There has been some scaling back of original art, but that doesn't really affect me, either, since I'm capable of producing giclees of my own work.

I went to a popular art show last night, and business was brisk. Indeed I spent a little money of my own on hand blown glass tumblers. I love to surround myself with handmade items, and these sparkly glasses were just the ticket.

It's All About Relationships

In my "business of art", art consultants are notoriously protective of their clients identity. There is an obvious inclination for designers to go directly to the artist and leave out the agent in the middle. Having worked as both an art consultant and an artist I understand the delicate balance of the relationships.

So I never was surprised when I would create a mockup or artwork concept for a project, deliver them to the art consultant, and some days later would hear back with comments from the designer. As in the transfer of any information between people, the comments were influenced by the agents' ideas. Over the years (many!) I have apparently finally earned the trust of my clients, and they now allow me to interact directly with the designers (both with and without them being present). This has resulted in a much more efficient process. Case in point, meeting yesterday with my agent, and a hotel designer on two very different projects. We had done some preliminary culling of ideas, so I was able to print and bring the designs that showed the most promise.

The three of us mixed and matched the artwork by holding it up to the fabrics and other samples of finishes in the room, and put together two different schemes for each room. The designer gave me fabrics to take home, so that now I can tone the paintings and photography to the colors in the room. Truly "match the sofa"! We accomplished all this in less than an hour. The old way of leaving me out of the face to face would have taken a week at least.

I am convinced that one of the reasons that my work is chosen so often for projects is that I am willing to adjust any artwork to fit the project. What you see is NOT what you get from me. Too many artists find their work so precious that they refuse to change it. That's fine if you have another source of income. For me, the process is more important than the finished product. I am in love with the process.

Fun Funky Project

Here's the second mockup for the painting for lululemon, a new yoga athletic store in the Dallas Galleria. It seems that all the stores are a bit different, with local managers having the last say on decor. Fun and colorful, both these images have been approved by the store manager. The moment I met her and saw the under-construction interior, I knew what the paintings looked like. Obviously this is not something I would have done on my own. I got it from the vibe of the store, the manifesto (philosophy) of the company, and by the energy of the manager. Deposit is now being processed, and I'll start painting tomorrow. Will be a rush job since she wants them in the store for Black Friday. Have to finish by then anyway, since I'm off to Berkeley on the 24th.

Nancy and I are trying to work in a trip to Yosemite before the housesitting gig actually starts. So today I'm going to do some research beyond mapping the trip -- with just a short time I want to see the most scenic and photographically inspiring areas.

I spent all day yesterday on a photo shoot of boots, only to be told, no, it's not right. Jeez!

Tomorrow I'm going to the local elementary schools PTA meeting where the kids whose art competition I judged will get ribbons awarded. Should be fun!

Catch Up

The headache went away. I remember waking up in the middle of the night without that oppressive squeezing, saying "thank you thank you" out loud into the darkness. I got up early to rejoice in my recovered health.

Then I did a little work. Set up the photo shoot for the very cool cowboy boots delivered to me by my client. Didn't like the light in any area, have set it up again for today.

Worked up a mockup for the store in the Galleria - that's the image, above. There will be two canvases, 36 x 48. I wondered how she found me, and she said "googled local artists, saw your website and didn't look any further". I consider that a compliment on many levels. One, for my website that gave her such confidence, two, for me, since she made a decision based on work I've already done, and three, that she didn't ask prices, just moved ahead with the discussion of the commission.

Did I mention that I have a new blog? Yes. Daily Travel Photos
Only photos, no commentary. As if I needed something else to keep up with!

Going to see my dad next weekend. Thank goodness AA had a fare sale. Prices have gone up so much it's a financial struggle to get down to S. Texas anymore. And an eight hour drive is just too much. Probably too expensive to do that, too, with gas nuzzling $3.00 here in Dallas.

Using What You Got

I'm in my last phase of printing images for Texas Clinic. Instead of starting over from scratch developing new photography to combine with paintings for digital constructions, I am using photography that I already created for a different job. Why reinvent the wheel, right? I am creating these the same way that I do digital mockups, cutting and pasting, really.

It's good to be working on something that doesn't have the level of anxiety of the carving. I took photos of the final piece before I delivered it to the mold makers yesterday. This is a nerve-wracking process. First I have never worked in that medium before (foam carving). Second, I've never had this company make a mold, and third, we have a Nov 1 install date. Yikes! Even my client called me last night (after work hours) for reassurance that it's all going to be good. How the heck do I know? We're all doing our best and trusting in a good finale.

Beyond Forgetting

So I had the installation for my first ever one-woman show yesterday. Since I'm not an artist who shows work regularly I made a list of everything I had to do to prepare. All the work was done in advance. The framing was planned and completed early. One of the last things I remembered to do was create a price list, which I did late the night before.

Yesterday, right on time, I picked up the paintings from the framer, and they loaded my car. It was full! About halfway through the three hour drive, I thought about the camera. Didn't bring one. Not only did I not forget it, I didn't even think about it.

Here's the link for the show, although there's no pictures.

So you'll have to rely on me to tell you that the show looks great. Very colorful. To my eye at least, it also looks like at least three artists are showing, because of the range of work on the walls. The gallery director asked me to bring an assortment, so I sure did. The only thing that holds it all together is color. The art got lots of attention, that's for sure! She wasn't kidding about the number of people who walk through this area.

This morning I'm back at work, creating digital mockups for the next project.

Getting My Hands Dirty

In preparation for attacking this big white canvas I had to clear the studio of all the digital printing I've been doing for days. Once again I lost track of how many of each I printed, and came up short by 22. Those are printing right now. The rest are in a safe place.

It's a good thing because my first step in painting one of the grid series is throwing paint. Yes, literally. My preferred background color has always been quinacridone gold, and I'm using the very last little bit of it on this painting. The color is not being made anymore, and my stash is depleted. Nothing else (including Nickel Azo) I've found has come close to the color and staining abilities. Ah well.

An important lesson I learned earlier this year is to cover myself with liquid gloves. Really does a good job in protecting my skin from the paint that inevitably makes it way to anything uncovered. Yes, I should cover my hair, but I don't. I do lay newspaper down on the floor though, and that helps a lot with drips....because after the paint throwing comes the spray bottle!

Then I use water soluble crayons to write on the canvas. Sometimes prayers, sometimes things about the painting itself, sometimes numbers, just whatever comes into my head. I always say my mantra at this point, and often it goes on the canvas, too.

I'm happy to be painting. I've spent too many hours at this computer doing mockups for hotel rooms, and all this digital printing that's still going on. At least I'm down to one printer now, which frees up the other one to print photography for Texas Clinic. I hate to jinx it by saying this out loud, but I think I'm on schedule to meet all foreseeable deadlines!

Cooking in All Rooms in the House

I started a new painting today, 36 x 48 canvas in the Glorieta series. It's for Texas Clinic, and to tell the truth, I thought I had painted it already. Pretty crazy!

While the first layer was drying I washed a couple loads of clothes with my brand new washer and dryer. I love that set.

Then a couple pounds of fresh shrimp showed up at my house, and I spent most of the afternoon slicing and dicing ingredients for Cajun shrimp gumbo. After a big bowl of that I'm feeling a little lethargic, and may not make it back to the studio.

I'm way behind on artwork. I haven't finished the second in a pair of digital paintings for a golf resort, and I haven't done the mockups for the next set of commissioned paintings.

Inspiration of the Day: Enjoying the Process

Daylong Decision-Making

I got another commission today, for fifteen small paintings. Almost abstract line drawings, really, on a painted background. I was told they will all be framed with tiny black frames and hung side by side in a three row grid over a kingsize bed in an elaborate residential setting. I was asked to do mockups for each one, which I will do digitally, but not today.

Today I've concentrated on Texas Clinic, what goes in, what doesn't. What goes where so that it looks fabulous and all flows appropriately from one space to the next. The mixed media painting above will go over a double water fountain in a niche. I'm almost done placing everything, my challenge now is to design the originals that will grace the main entry on the first floor. There will be three large paintings in addition to the large Texas grid painting that I posted a few days ago. There's also a large painting to design for the second floor elevator lobby. So out of eighty pieces (actually I've added a few to that) I only have about six left that I haven't visualized yet. Still, I have less than two months to go, so time is of the essence!

Another Manifestation

I've mentioned this occurrence so many times it shouldn't continue to surprise me, but here I am, surprised.

I've just spent 10 days photographing the most beautiful seascapes and waterfalls in Oregon. Today in a business meeting about the Texas Clinic project, a fabulously contemporary space, the owner confided to me that his original idea for the building was to call it "Cascades" and use a waterfall theme. Perfect for me, since when we walked the space this morning he added at least 20 more images, which he would like to be photography. He mentioned the waterfalls in Oregon, and in the ten minutes I've been back from the meeting I've already sent him a photograph I took just days ago.

So is this a form of manifestation? I haven't read "The Secret", but I'm pretty sure I'm living it.

My studio is full of projects! Before I get paint on me I'm going to sit here and do some digital mockups for the Ritz-Carlton. I want to be sure to wow them the first time.

Equipment Malfunction

With only one day left in the Oregon trip I was standing in a creek with water rushing all around me, and I got an error message on my camera. A call to my camera store in Dallas told me it was something that I couldn't fix. Since Nancy and I have similar equipment we shared that one last day. The bad part is that I've just come from the repair store, and my D2X has been sent back to Nikon for repair. I have separation anxiety! And if that weren't enough, the flash on my Canon point and shoot quit working and it's been sent off too. Ouch!

In the good news department, I've just previewed the model room at the Dallas Ritz Carlton, and will spend the rest of today doing mockups for the additional piece they want to add to the room. Whoopee! It's a gorgeous place (of course) and very luxurious.

And after a long meeting, I have a list of new commissions to get started on, and several things to quote, so it's a good thing I came home when I did.

Process of Commissions

Work comes to me in any number of ways, almost always commissioned. In response to a comment from yesterday's blog, I will outline the process of the Mercury Grill project.

The restaurant owner has a design staff. The designer met with my client, the gallery owner. They did a presentation with an assortment of art, narrowing down the "look" the designer is going for. When the final artwork was decided on, the gallery contacted me for pricing of specific sizes.

When the pricing is approved by the restaurant owner, via the designer, the gallery contacts me again and sends me the imagery that the designer responded to. In this case, they were small etchings. My challenge at that point is to create artwork that evokes the same feel as the the samples, yet are completely different. That's difficult, because I first have to determine what it is about the sample art that they were drawn to. Was it color, shape, line quality, contrast, composition? In this case it's a combination of those things.

I then created a mockup. Comparing my mockup to the originals, there was a certain similarity of line, although the composition and color was different. That mockup wasn't exactly right in my eyes, and I tried an entirely different process on the second mockup. I submitted both to the designer. As expected, the owner chose the design of the first, and the process of the second.

No purchase order for this project, but due to a short turnaround time, I started immediately. All twelve paintings are due on Monday, but I notified the gallery that I will not be able to make that deadline. These paintings have turned out to be very labor intensive.

You might be wondering why I am commissioned to create art that originated with another artist. In this case, the etchings were small, and came from France. Not only was there no way to commission the original artist, but an etching of this size (18" x 66") would hardly be possible.

In other cases, the gallery always contacts the original artist first, if it's not my work.

More Artist's Conversations

I love when I can meet up with artist's friends to talk about our favorite subjects, painting, techniques, galleries, you name it. We covered a lot of that tonight when I had dinner with Nita Leland and Cheryl McClure. We couldn't stop talking, one topic quickly leading to the next. Nita is in town giving a workshop at Artist's Showplace, where I was once part owner. I still don't regret walking away from that (too much work kept me out of the studio) but I do miss the community of friends. It's not far from my house, and I really have no good reason that I haven't kept up with anyone, except that if I'm in town, I'm working.

I did get approval from the mockups I delivered on Tuesday, so that's a go for four 18" x 66" paintings, and eight 18" x 15". They will be installed in sets of three, a small one, the long one, then another small one, to create a long horizontal. And they'll be hung in Mercury Grill, a high end restaurant in North Dallas.

Also got color approval for the 20 small paintings for a spa in San Diego, they will be framed in floater frames and hung together in a grid. A nice periwinkle blue. So that's also a go. Both of these projects have short turn around times, so all of a sudden I'm really busy.

Meetings and Mockups

My client and I always argue (amicably) when I deliver mockups for a project. She likes to analyze each piece according to some esoteric notions. I am more pragmatic, and paint not for her, but for the designer who's making the decision. Yesterday my client couldn't make the meeting with the designer, so I went instead. I always like to meet directly with designers, it's much easier for me to figure out what they want if we're face to face. This was no exception, although it went much better than I hoped. No changes! Today I should receive the purchase order for 12 new paintings. These are for a local restaurant, very high end. I've never been there, but after the paintings are installed maybe I should go for appetizers and take some installation shots.

Underwhelmed

Dolly, today's studio helper. She's naturally nosy and came to see what I was doing with the power sander.

Now that I'm back in the studio with too many projects I realized that in my funk I had forgotten one of the most important things about my paintings. My mantra! The chant that I perform before adding paint to canvas. Sometimes I write it on the canvas itself. I can't believe I forgot!

"God in me is my ability to prosper and to do good. And so it is."

I change it from time to time, but the message stays the same. When I thought of it this morning it was good to hear myself laugh. Then with confidence I added the stroke of paint that would make or break the painting. I have sent off an image of it for approval, so we'll see.

I've worked on four mockups today, for a nine foot square painting. I'm not really happy (underwhelmed) with any of them, but again, I've sent off images to my client.

I did one more important thing today -- go get fake fingernails. I had acrylic nails for many years. Last March when I was ready to go to France for the month long residency, I had them removed. Ever since then I have had thin brittle nails that continually split into the nailbed. They hurt and looked terrible. So I went back to see Henry today, and now have nice strong nails. Nothing fancy, just normal.

This afternoon I am sorting through my camera equipment in preparation for the weekend in Washington. There's a fine line between taking too much and not taking what you need. I never can figure it out, but I'm getting better. I bought two new 4gb cards so memory won't be an issue this trip.