|
Just got back from my 3rd plein air event this summer. This one was in Castine, Maine....WAY up north...a 10-12 hour drive for me depending on traffic. Two and a half days to do up to 6 paintings. My goal was to do 6 and I did accomplish that! I always start one of the events by cruising around and taking lots of pictures. I pour over these in the evening and come up with a plan on where to start and which subjects I definitely want to paint. So...day one painting looked like this...      It was surprisingly hot and humid in Maine. My original tactic was to paint from 7am to 2-3 and then enjoy exploring and hanging out. The heat changed my plans since it was miserable to paint between 11:30 and 2 or so. I ended up taking a break during that time...lunch and a quick nap .... and then going out to paint in late afternoon/early evening. Day 2 was only 2 paintings.... and looked like this....        I spent the evening of Day 2 framing up what I had done so the next days delivery of paintings to sale would go smoothly. Before I knew it 2 days were gone. I planned to do my 6th and last painting on Saturday morning when it was cool. Not sure exactly what I was going to paint but knew I'd figure it out. Sometime in the night it came to me...Paint People. Castine is not a working fishing village so early in the morning people are not out and about but I did find my victim...Another painter!    Thanks to Diane Dubreuil from Milford, CT for being such a wonderful and willing subject! Now it was time to frame this one and deliver my paintings to the sale venue. This event sale is only 2 hours. Shortest plein air sale I think I've ever been to! Many folks came out and many had wonderful comments. Unfortunately, I had no sales. This is the brutal side of the art biz. You plan your trip, what paints you'll need, what size canvas/panels, which frames to bring. You bring your framing supplies, paint clothes, regular clothes. You bring snacks and food because eating out every meal is not good for your waist or your wallet. You get to this town where you know no one...maybe a couple of the artists ...then you work hard to do good work.... you hope it's good. You think it's good or you wouldn't show it BUT there are NO guarantees. And you never know why the artist 2 tables over sold 3 paintings and you didn't even sell 1! The cold hard truth is more paintings DON'T sell than do. Approx 180 paintings were created in Castine and about 50 sold. Odds are against you, but you know that and you just keep on painting! Off to Floyd Virginia in 2 weeks to do it ALL AGAIN! WooHoo! All paintings shown here are for sale on website home page...unless already sold.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |