What Do You Think?

If you're reading this blog, and you have kind of followed along with the posts and the paintings I've posted you might be thinking:"What is wrong with this woman? Why can't she stick with one subject matter and just sell that? Why is she painting people, animals, still lifes and now landscapes????"
I can't really answer that question other than to say that I love a challenge and I cherish variety. I've noticed a huge improvement in my painting in the last six months since I quit my job and decided to try to make it as an artist. I know you can't build a career on eBay, but it is a starting point and I have paintings hanging all over the United States and in Australia and Canada, which is more than I could have said six months ago. Sure, the people who purchased them got bargains, but isn't that what we're all looking for when we buy on eBay?
I can't say with confidence that I'll still be selling on eBay this time next year. If I sign with a gallery or two they might have a clause prohibiting it. I enjoy the connections you make with people who buy your art and I would truly miss that if I sold only in a gallery. I've heard from so many people who were thrilled when they got their painting and couldn't believe how lucky they were to win it. And that's always nice to hear.
As for why I paint so many different and varied subjects? That's simple: Because I can!
I don't know many artists who are able to cross the genres like this and I think it's great practice and I am always being challenged and learning.
Please shoot me when I decide I need to paint huge abstracts that look arty when you hang them over a sofa... please...

And now for something totally different

I'm not the best landscape painter but I was inspired by this sunset. It's a pretty large painting at 18 x 24. I really love it so if it doesn't sell I am going to frame it and hang it at home. I.m not sure WHERE because all my walls are covered with paintings now-- it's starting to look like a museum here.

American Indian Theme continued...

Chief Hollow Horn Bear, oil on linen and She Who Walks Fast, oil on linen too. Listed on eBay this week. I can sell these locally if they don't sell.

Tiny Painting of Scott

Just for fun, I painted this little painting of my husband last week.

More Paintings Listed

After Child of Faith (see previous post) sold so quickly, I decided to paint some more people, because that is what I'm best at. In keeping with the American Indian theme for March, I painted Wedding Gifts #1 and #2. Painting #1 sold on the first listing and I just listed #2 Wednesday so I have high hopes for this one as well.

Left is a detail from Wedding Gifts #2.

Below is the painting Wedding Gifts #1

"CHILD OF FAITH" Painting

Sometimes I wiull revisit a paintign I have already done. I painted this in 2001 in pastel and I liked how it turned out, but I have always loved the photo and I didn't really do a GREAT job on it, so I thought I would try again in oils. I like this one much better. I have even included some hidden objects to reinforce the Christian theme. There is a cross int he window if you look closely, there is an image of Christ in the curtains and the color PURPLE represents the Passion.

Everything is Selling!

It seems as if most of the stuff I list to sell on eBay is selling but it's selling at a really low price. They raised their fees again last week to 3% for the most comon selling prices: $25-1,000. Well, they did lower the cost to list items under a dollar. Instead of 25 cents it's now 20 cents. WOW. They made quite a big deal about how generous they thought they were being by lowering this tier. Let's face it- if you are listing something for under a $1.00 and it is costing you 20 or 25 cents to sell it plus 35 cents to put a picture in there- you need to list 50 of them in order to make a profit. I am starting to see why so many of the artists who list their call it GREEDbay. Raising prices without addressing the listing problems that occur frequently since they have adjusted the way searching is done is just not helpful to all the self-representing artists who fork over their hard earned money to eBay each month.
Enough on that subject-- it is enough to raise my blood pressure just thinkiong about it. I am working on another very large painting but I won't be listing this one on eBay unless I start it at $200. It is just turning out too good. It's another large one- 24 x 30 and the subjects are a pair of Native Americans. I am working on the background- there are some interesting possibilities I want to explore and I might not just leave it blank.
Last week I pulled out an old project I began a few years ago: a painting of my cat, Nikki in front of the fireplace at our old house. This painting was a complete failure. I think I started it in 2002, the year we moved here. I could not get the cat to look right. After I pulled it out, I found the old photo reference of the chair and fireplace and another picture of my cat. I had it finished in less than two hours. I am happy to say that I can really see progress in my painting ability. It seems like everything started to click in 2004, which is when I started winning a lot of awards too. This is the cat picture as it looks now.