My roommates offered to let me pay rent in paintings. I guess this blog is all about what it's like to try to live an artful and sustainable life, so paying rent factors in. But I have to tell a secret here: It makes me really sad to give paintings away, and it only hurts a little less to sell them. I don't like the idea that even if my paintings do well and people enjoy them, I could end up not owning any of my own work. Also, people always ask me to give them paintings — they always have some reason why they deserve it, and it's usually very compelling — and I would LOVE to do this, but I can barely afford materials as it is.
I'm thinking maybe selling the originals is not the way to start out, anyway. What I'd love to do is get into children's book illustration. The originals would be paintings, with the images printed in the book. That way, it's artistic, collaborative, and reaches many people, yet the originals are still with me.
As far as the New York show goes, it's going really well! Starbucks is great. I wish they would consider me a part-time employee and give me benefits. I still own the originals of all the paintings in the show, and these comprise almost all the works in this latest stylistic series, so I feel pretty good about it. Right now the show reminds me of what my parents say every holiday season: Any time my four sisters and I are all back in D.C. for the end of December, my parents insist on taking pictures and video ad nauseum because, as they say, "This may be the last time we're all together!" Aside from being slightly disturbing, this proclamation gets more tiresome every year, because every year, there we all are, together, posing for the last picture we'll all be in together. But as far as paintings go, the minute I sell one, that's the last time that painting will ever be together with the rest of the collection. I know big artists get to have shows where their works are flown in from private collections, but I don't see that happening any time soon. So for now, I'm trying desperately to keep the family together; but resigning to the fact that if I don't find a commercial outlet for the images, I may have to let the chickies fly from the nest.
I'm thinking maybe selling the originals is not the way to start out, anyway. What I'd love to do is get into children's book illustration. The originals would be paintings, with the images printed in the book. That way, it's artistic, collaborative, and reaches many people, yet the originals are still with me.
As far as the New York show goes, it's going really well! Starbucks is great. I wish they would consider me a part-time employee and give me benefits. I still own the originals of all the paintings in the show, and these comprise almost all the works in this latest stylistic series, so I feel pretty good about it. Right now the show reminds me of what my parents say every holiday season: Any time my four sisters and I are all back in D.C. for the end of December, my parents insist on taking pictures and video ad nauseum because, as they say, "This may be the last time we're all together!" Aside from being slightly disturbing, this proclamation gets more tiresome every year, because every year, there we all are, together, posing for the last picture we'll all be in together. But as far as paintings go, the minute I sell one, that's the last time that painting will ever be together with the rest of the collection. I know big artists get to have shows where their works are flown in from private collections, but I don't see that happening any time soon. So for now, I'm trying desperately to keep the family together; but resigning to the fact that if I don't find a commercial outlet for the images, I may have to let the chickies fly from the nest.
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