I have recently been working with a fabulous creative coach (which I will say more about later when she gets her website competed). One of the things we are working on is setting my goals & figuring out -step by step- how I will accomplish them. I have read many books on art & art marketing- some that have been very helpful to me are Alyson B. Stanfield’s book “I’d Rather Be in My Studio”,  and the articles in “Art Calendar”. Besides the obvious: that my art work needs to have appeal to an audience in order for them to buy it, how does one make the leap from small town artist to the “Big Time”? Is it through entering shows juried by a “big” name & getting some recognition that way? is it through connections (on a recent trip to Santa Fe I found that about 50% of the artists in the galleries where I talked to management know the owner or director of that gallery or another artist in the gallery or a friend of management & that is how they got their foot in the door) or is it through sending out portfolios & finding a gallery that will take on an emerging artist? Is art a product like any other product that needs to have really good marketing to create a desire for it and exposure to the buyer? (Jeff Koons & Damien Hirst being prime examples) Are getting fellowships important? grants? Teaching? Any ideas? I read a lot about social networking on the net and that seems incredibly time consuming to me- does it really pay off? The art sites I visit have 1000’s of artists and I wonder why a potential customer would randomly click on a name & find a piece of art that they want to buy. It also seems like once you get over a certain price range that the buyer would want to be able to see the piece. Comments- your experiences?

Anyway…back to the Flea Market. Just outside Santa Fe there is the wonderful Tesuque Pueblo Flea Market  with  beautiful panoramic views of the area & an array of awesome treasures- including 2 artists that I visited with in November. Outsider artist Kelly Moore has turned his flea market space into a giant studio and if you look at his website you’ll see that he is selling very well.

The other artist is Lisa Chun- she offers a variety of her soulful mixed media art work as reproductions - I don’t think I saw any originals there- and she also seems to be doing well. (that makes me so happy- I love to see artists doing well!!) Is the art work in the Canyon Road Galleries better than the Flea Market Art? … some are, some aren’t.  Are the Canyon Road artists making a better (more money) living? some are, some aren’t. I am curious about the buyers- are the people buying art at the Flea Market more comfortable with buying art that they love/want with out the guidance of a gallery?  There is no right or wrong answer here just one more choice of paths to take in the process of being an artist.

With my dreamscape paintings sometimes it is hard to know when they are done- for example with “Planting the Seed” I thought it was done BEFORE I added the swans- but one day as I walked through my studio & glanced at it I thought “That painting needs some flying swans”. Why swans? …who knows- but later when the painting was done I realized they were the perfect choice- the painting is about planting the seed of an idea, nuturing the seedling & letting the idea “take off” (and then it will come to fruition). Swans are the vehicle for the Goddess Saraswati, who is the goddess of creative endeavors- so they are the perfect symbolic vehicle for the idea of ideas taking off! (meaning shapes seeing) I love it when images pop up for me from the subconscious!!

Another painting that I just added more images to AFTER I had it displayed on my website as a FINISHED painting was “She Made Her Bed, Now She is Lying In It”. I had a little feeling that was kind of bugging me about the painting, saying that it wasn’t done but I couldn’t figure out what it needed. One day I was looking through Sister Wendy’s book “1000 Masterpieces” and I noticed that in many of the paintings from the 15th & 16th century that when the rooms are cut away to create the primary focal point that there are also buildings on the outside of the cut away room to indicate the perspective of the house or building that the cut away room resides in. That idea intrigued me and I felt like I wanted to carry the idea of the stone columns that rise up and out of the postcard into one of those periphery buildings. So, I added it & now will post the changed painting on my website.

One of the things I love about painting is that each one offers me the opportunity for both creative problem solving and intuitive expression- am I saying what I want to say with the “right” colors, images, techniques? Is the painting done when I feel like I’ve accomplished my vision or are they never really done because there are always a million different & perhaps better ways to express the same vision?  When I am painting I think- “Oh! I could try this other color or make the colors stronger or lighter or what about adding  “X” image? or taking away “X” image?”  What about you- how do you know when your work is done? Is it a gut feeling? or do you just know it when it says what you want it to say? or do you think “I am  done enough & ready to move on to the next one” ?

It was a fun evening last night at the opening with beautiful art & beautiful people!! I’m standing with my dad, Bud Hampton & good friend and artist, Janice Whitmore in front of 2 of my paintings: “Road Trip!” and “Winter Dreams”.  It was kind of interesting and I admit a bit disturbing too-because CACEP had holiday music played by our local bell ringers group- it just so happened that they set up their tables with the bells in such a way that it completely blocked off my paintings- you could only see them if we squeezed between the table & the wall- and after a few times of showing interested parties my art work the bell ringer music director BLOCKED OFF the entrance with his chair- I guess it was kind of ironic that at an ART opening it was impossible to show people my art- have you ever had an experience like that? Ahhh well sh*t happens and I had fun anyway!!

More art next week at the Artist’s Nook in Bellevue, Colorado- see you there~!!

OOPs- I just did what EVERYONE says is a major no-no. I lowered my prices- oooooh I’m BAD!!!

I’ve been painting seriously (versus not being as committed to the journey in the past) for 3 years now and in 2008 I finally have a body of work in a style- way of expressing myself- that I am happy with. So, this year I had a website made by the wonderful Tracey Kazimir-Cree of eeep! productions. When the web went live I had to have my work priced out- up until then I had primarily been selling my work via the Estes Park Open Studios Tour (which next year-2009- will be held on Sept. 19 & 20- mark your calendars:) ) At the Open Studios Tour the commission is 15% for the Estes Park Cultural Arts Council & 85% for the artist- AND I wanted the prices on my website to be the retail prices that a gallery would charge- and their commission is usually 50/50 or 40/60. As part of my art process I did some serious research this past month and I realized that the prices on the website were too high for comparable paintings -so I lowered them- the website should reflect that change after this weekend.     P.S. I also know that galleries do not want their artists to undercut them so those will be my prices no matter where I sell my art work….comments?

Wow- what a beautiful fall day today!! I walk along a mountain stream, past aspen groves, through spruce stands with goregeous mountain views almost every day and have for the past 8 years when I am at work during my lunch break-that is,UNLESS the wind is roaring so hard that I am afraid a tree might fall on me- in the winter that could be once a week!! Anyway, TODAY was a beautiful fall day and I decided to do something I rarely do & walk the loop going counterclockwise instead of clockwise. I was surprised around every bend at the new views, trees, flowers, rock formations that I discovered!! As usual, I started thinking about the paintings I am working on & I wondered how can I do virtually the same thing with my paintings? go around backwards to make new & exciting discoveries? What approach would be different? Any ideas?

 Hmm…one thought would be to start the base of the painting the same (as in the walk is the same) but then use different approaches to reach the same end result- the end result expressing what I am trying to say/convey. I think I’ll try that with my proverb painting “Be Where Your Hands Are”. So, now I have two paintings with similar backgrounds- one has a resin layer on it with oil pastel on top of that & lines etched into the pastel on the dark hand that relate to Palmistry. I discovered with this one that when I poured a second layer of resin on top of the oil pastel that it doesn’t stick to the pastel- so there are sort of pock marks. Today when I did my walk at lunch, I thought about filling the cavities with something that could float in there- I have to admit that I do love glitter- & pouring a high gloss medium on top and then resin? Hmm… is that a new insight? or because the resin didn’t stick to the oil pastel is the best course of action is to step back and
relinquish control. In doing so,  will I see everything from a different point of
view?

The other painting has iridescent paint on the dark hand & will be painted in my more traditional way- adding stamped hands & maybe a figure?