A WASTE OF TIME AND ENERGY?

 

It’s been a difficult week since the opening of my exhibition in Launceston. Sales to this point in time have been very disappointing. Comments from all who have seen my work have been extremely positive and I believe that the work on display is well executed and beautifully presented. Where are the buyers?

 

I can identify to a certain extent with artists who depend on their art for a living. What happens when sales are poor? How do they handle this type of situation? How do they deal with it?

 

I’m fortunate in that I don’t depend on my art for an income. Sales and prizes keep me going to the extent that my art pays for itself. That doesn’t stop me from being depressed when I go to such an extraordinary extent as has been the case in preparing for this exhibition, only to find that hardly anyone is interested in buying my work. How do you deal with that?

 

Once I had ‘let go’ of the anger and disappointment I felt (about 2 days), I got straight back into more artwork. By Thursday I had completed 2 abstracts that I consider ‘keepers’. Today’ I have embarked on totally new work for a fresh approach.

 

I have always been interested in ‘light’, especially those images that are to a certain extent imaginative and abstract. Before I commence new work however, I intend to complete 2 paintings of ‘light’ that have been in one of my folders for several years.

 

Art is great therapy. It keeps you ‘busy’ and entertained. Its process is wonderful for healing especially in times of depression.

 

Was holding this exhibition a waste of time and energy? No, because of the following reasons.

 

1. It was a celebration and account of a wonderful 12 month holiday.

 

2. I derived a great deal of personal satisfaction from the process of creating all 30 paintings.

 

3. I made a self-imposed deadline.

 

4. I am pleased with the standard of my work.

 

5. The exhibition realised a new theme, ‘Bricks’, that has already realised success.

 

6. I have ‘grown’ due to the whole experience.

 

Would I do it again? My next one-man show will be at the Brave Art Gallery, Longford, in March next year.

 

Time to get back to painting!

Richard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXHIBITION UPDATE

 

Well it’s all up and finally open and what a lovely opening it was with a great performance by my youngest daughter Shannon, who read a poem by local artists and great friend, Margaret Baker, followed by a wonderful opening speech by dear friend, Mary Machen. I’m pleased with the exhibition both in content and display. Only one sale at the opening, but enough interest to encourage me to think that there will be more sales before the exhibition closes on April 3.

 

Below is the article that was published in Saturday’s edition of our local paper, The Examiner.

 

Later in the week I’ll post photos of the artwork on display.

 

Richard

 

 

 

 

ART EXHIBITION

Next Sunday sees the opening of my one-man show in Launceston, (my home town) Tasmania, Australia. It has been almost 12 months since my wife and I returned from our 12 month trip to the Australian mainland. 23, 000 klms of travelling will be revealed in 30 paintings, not of spectacular scenery, but of rocks that caught my interest.

My initial plan was to feature one painting per place that we visited, but it has ended up as a series of paintings whose subject matter gave me the most inspiration. Some places like Hervey Bay for example, has resulted in 5 paintings.

I could have painted many, many more, but there came a time when I had to stop and head in new directions.

One-person shows are always risky and they cost a great deal of time and money. The economic climate especially in Tasmania, is not good. People don’t buy as much art as they used to. There is a lot of competition between artists. People don’t seem as interested in art as they once were. Sounds bad, doesn’t it? What the heck!

This exhibition will give me ‘closure’ on what was both a brilliant trip, but also a time when I struggled with being away from my home for so long. Some paintings illustrate my feelings at certain times, while others ignited my passion for abstraction.

All the paintings have been superbly framed by my framer, John Crook, so the exhibition will be presented well and I hope it will be visually appealing.

I can but only try, the rest is now up to the viewing public.

I have no doubt that holding one’s own exhibition is the most stressful task that an artist can seek to do, so why do it? There is no guarantee of sales or even a positive response from one’s peers or art patrons. This is a dangerous task! One must have a degree of self-belief, confidence, bravery, luck and timing. And of course there is the ‘elephant in the room’ – money. One needs money to make money. This is probably why so many artists struggle and are forced to seek ‘another job’ to fund their passion.

Since I retired from full-time art teaching at the end of 2005, I have preferred to exhibit my work with various groups. I did however, have a one-man show in Hobart in 2010. Group exhibitions are more “economical”, less stress and are (usually) an excellent opportunity for exposure to the art market. But now it’s time to be brave again (that’s maybe the reason I joined the Brave Art Gallery in Longford) and ‘face the music’.

Next week I will post a report of the exhibition opening and reveal the paintings on display.

Richard

GOALS FOR 2013

Putting on a Brave Face

60 x 40 cm    Prismacolors on pastel board

This is the first of 2 paintings for an exhibition in my home town of Launceston to be held next May. The theme of my work is ‘natural healing’.

Having been an art teacher for 43 years I know the value of planning. I often makes lists, I have visual diaries and note books a plenty. It all helps ensure that each year I am productive and most importantly that I meet my set deadlines. Self-discipline is essential if one wants to achieve on a regular basis.

Lately I have been thinking about the kind of things that I would like to do and achieve next year.

1. My one-man show is in March is ready and next month I will be taking my work to my framer.

2. I aim to enter at least 9 art prizes.

3. Conduct some art workshops.

4. Develop my interest in oils and pastels.

5. Continue my love for abstract art in a distinctive style.

5. Undertake some graphite pencil drawing.

6. Write more about my art.

7. Art judging.

8. Challenge myself with coloured pencils.

9. Prepare for a one-man show in March 2014.

10. Further art adventures with my computer.

11. More photography.

12. More greeting cards and prints.

That should keep me busy!

A Happy New Year to everyone!

Richard

ROCK FACE

Today’s featured painting is actually a portrait that I’m currently working on in between bouts of oil painting.

This is the first of two entries that I’m contributing to a major exhibition in my home city of Launceston next May.

My theme is “Natural Healing” and my subjects are objects from East Beach, less than an hour’s drive from where I live.

This painting ( 60 x 40 cm) has seen me create individual grains of sand, a very painstaking process as you can imagine, but one that was necessary for the look and feel I want for the completed artwork.

I shall post a photo when it’s finished.

Richard

PAINTING 34.

Avoca Beach 6.

Prismacolors on pastel board    40 x 15.5cm

I spent a few hours in my studio yesterday working on a 4th small abstract to compliment the 2 large ones that I have included in my exhibition next March. I’m concerned with the ‘balance’ of my show and it didn’t seem ‘right’ to have 3 small abstracts displayed alongside 2 larger ones, so I completed another from my stay at Avoca Beach, near Gosford earlier in the year.

This group of 6 paintings will be as abstract as it gets, in regards to the theme of my exhibition.

‘Rocking On’ features rocks, rock patterns and rock formations that caught my eye during my 12 month holiday on the Australian mainland from March 2011 to March 2012. The exhibition will begin with a series of realistic paintings, move through a series of semi-abstracts and finally reach a series of abstract subjects.

I hope to attract a broad audience of tastes in art, hence the broad variety of subject treatment.

Richard

SAND TRIO

I have completed the third of 3 paintings featuring sand patterns for my exhibition next March.

For these paintings I employed the ‘Pointillist’ style, one that I have used before. It’s a great way to show individual grains of sand, especially when as in my case, I wanted them to represent the tiniest of rocks. After all, sand is the result of rock weathering.

I love the abstract qualities of each of these paintings and they will provide a nice balance to my exhibition.

Balance is important for me in regards to the work I will be showing. I have thought long and hard about the work I will be showing under the theme of ‘Rocks’. I have visited the gallery several times over the past few months and have decided to begin the display with realistic work and end with (almost) pure abstraction. There will be no diversion from the theme, but the way I interpreted it has resulted in a number of approaches

Richard

EXHIBITION UPDATE

My exhibition in Launceston that opens on March 3 next year is fast approaching. Over the past few days I have been reviewing the work I have completed and have decided to add a few more to my ‘collection’. I’m expecting to hang around 24 coloured pencil paintings. I may have as many as 30 to choose from depending on how creative and motivated I feel over the next few weeks.

All my work will be under the theme of ‘rocks’ and I’m featuring various aspects of rocks from very tiny to rather huge examples from a number of places I visited during last year and earlier this year. Darwin, The Daintree, Cairns, Hervey Bay, Chillagoe and Malacoota, are among the many places that provided me with inspiration.

Both realism and abstraction are prominent with my love of natural patterns being a feature.

Today’s image is of a section of shoreline at Etta Beach, near Innisfail. I aim to complete this painting over the weekend.

Richard

DECORATIVE ROCKS

 

Now and then I like to ‘play’ with some of my art subjects.

 

Recently I have been involved with my exhibition in March next year. I have so far painted 25 compositions involving rocks, but today’s image is a small (20 cm sq) ‘play piece’ with a more decorative look.

 

Being a square, I thought it would be good to include 4 possible views. I prefer the top left.

Richard

 

 

 

30 MINUTE MAKEOVER

The week before I left for Uluru, I spent some time completing 7 small (A3 – size) drawings in preparation for an art exhibition that I’m curating and showing in towards the end of October.

Today’s featured photo is of one of the drawings that I spent 30 minutes on in order to ‘tidy it up’, ready for framing.

Tomorrow Val and I are heading back to the Australian mainland. We fly to Sydney for a night, then to Uluru and Alice Springs for a week and finally, 3 days in Melbourne.

I am looking forward to seeing the world’s largest rock!

In the meantime my blog posts will continue to appear as per normal.

Richard