the dance of art

Dance 24" x 24"

All work and no play makes Andrea a dull girl, and her blog reflects this.

I don't know who said that, but they were very wise. Meantime, I am one painting away from completing a series I started nearly 10 months ago, so work is all that's on my mind right now (ergo more tedium), and when painting #12 is done it's time for the real hard work: gallery submissions. I decided to do this series first before thinking about marketing, so I wouldn't be pressured by a deadline to produce, unlike my first solo show 18 months ago or the four-artist landscape show this time last year. Of course now that I have the oeuvre, what happens if I can't find the venue?+ My first line of fire is Granville Rise, the place for gallery hopping in Vancouver. Because of its high-rent reputation, the galleries on Granville Street have to field hundreds of artist submissions a month, so I'd better start thinking seriously about Plan B. As I've mentioned before, my work defies a clear-cut niche, but there are a couple of galleries that might work. The trick is to convince them. I'd rather stick needles in my eye.

Avoidance -- that's why I get obsessed with the small art/print thing -- so if denial is the order of the day, then let's get down to it, shall we? Jana responded to my last post with questions, so we'll start there:

Yes! I think they are very marketable. My only suggestion on the prints is that I think you could charge more for them and for the shipping--it seems inexpensive for what one receives. Did you have to order a large number of prints to be able to sell them for so little and still make a profit?

Ay! There's the rub! These are merely two test prints that I deliberately priced low ($18) figuring I'd get more feedback that way and therefore more idea of how to proceed in the future. I will make no actual profit on them. It was $10 just for the printing of a single one (and worth every penny) but there have been no nibbles. This is where the marketing part gets really frustrating. The critical response is great, the work is cheap and accessible, but none of that matters if there are no sales. So I guess my answer to you, Jana, is that yes, I will definitely have to price them a lot higher because I need to recoup something as they are clearly a specialty item that appeals to only a very narrow market.

Through the link you provided I also found your website portfolio and wonderful artist statement for the first time too. I don't know how I'd missed it all this time. I love all of your work and noticed that it's all in a square format, which is great. I'm curious how that came to be?

First of all, I can thank Carla for the artist statement. I am total crap at writing artist's statements but, with not much information, Carla wrote a bio/review more perfect than anything I could ever have come up with myself. As for the square format thing, my response is much like my artist statements: "I dunno" (or sometimes: "D'oh!"). I started painting square format paintings occasionally and then more frequently until I decided to make this whole series square. Does it get any more articulate than that?

I'm considering re-doing and moving my website--did you design yours yourself or use a template and where is yours hosted? Sorry for all the questions instead of just answering yours.

Are you kidding? I got a whole blog post out of them! :)

I use Homestead to host my website, and built it using their software, though I must admit that I have a real hankering to redesign the whole thing as this system really limits my ability to impose my will on my web presence. It was an easy and inexpensive way to get up and running, I can update it in seconds, and I have been able to change and expand as needed, but am finally at the point where I'll have to learn HTML properly if I want to make any major changes.

And finally, here is today's completed painting on our brand-new grown-up table and chairs. It took two decades, but we finally got tired of the chipped, peeling melamine and stained plastic to enter the world of adult furniture - just. I hug it every day.

+Re. venues: I'm only looking at commercial galleries. I love to see what's going on in public spaces as that's where the experimentation is, but (a) I'm a lousy joiner of groups and arts councils (I've been told I'm a disgrace to my gender) and (b) out of necessity, I'm an enthusiastic student of The Bottom Line.