Winter painting sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Snow creates a whole new world of light and shadow, with soft pillowy edges and sparkling highlights. But acrylics start behaving strangely below freezing temperatures. Too cold and acrylic paint gets chunky and can form a cottage-cheese like consistency. Gross. And hard to paint with. So what can you do?
Continue reading Winter Plein Air Painting with Acrylics
A lot of stuff has moved online lately, and galleries are no exception! Many brick-and-mortar galleries have added an online store to their website, but there is a new trend too – galleries and shows that are completely online!
Continue reading Online shows and galleries – are they worth it?
First off, a warning! Using a sliding scale isn’t recommended for your polished studio work. Most artists price by square inch or linear inch and maintain consistent pricing for their original work. So an 8×10 painting would be the same price, whether it is for sale through a gallery partner or your own website. It is rare for artists and galleries to discount polished original work, as most collectors hope their pieces go up in value over time.
But you can do creative pricing with your studies and sketches! And a sliding scale has advantages for both you and your new collectors.
Continue reading How to run your own Sliding Scale Study Sale
Studies are small, quick, rough paintings. They are typically done on thin panels or bits of paper. They are little explorations, often slap-dash and haphazard. They might be scribbled out in the middle of the night or hiked down from the high alpine. And they aren’t usually worthy of the gallery wall. So why bother?
Artists have to face a choice: do we paint to sell or do we paint to explore?
Continue reading Why I spent 30 days painting small studies.