THINKING AHEAD

Artists are preoccupied with being in the NOW, they have to be, any break in concentration and the image they have labored over for so long goes up if not in smoke at least in smudged colors and muddy pigment.

But by being so focused we forget that planning can make our lives as artists richer and (take the children from the room, I’m going to use the I-word), income!

That’s right, income, a thing no artist should be without. How, you ask, can thinking ahead make me money? My art does that and besides I wouldn’t compromise my gift by trying to become commercial. Why should you?

You work hard and do the best job you cam you take classes and attend workshops and spend endless hours in the studio perfecting your craft so why should you change what you are doing?

You shouldn’t, but you should take a second and maybe even a third look. If the work you have done is as good as you think it is then why wouldn’t someone want to buy it? There are many reasons, but one of them might be space. There’s never enough space in any house for all of the treasures one can collect over a lifetime. Just last weekend a lady viewing the Expressions West show at the Coos Art Museum sighed and said to herself, “if I only had the house for this I’d but half of them.”

What you don’t want to buy a patron a house? Why not give them what they want, but in a smaller package? Oh sure, should I run the canvas through the washer on hot? No, you should have, by now, gotten a Giclee made of all of your work, remember I suggested that back in March? So if you did, now’s the time to put it to work. Make up cards for the holidays!

I never plan that far ahead. But you should, the coming months are full of seasonal occasions when a card is just the right thing to remind a pal that you are thinking of them. Just look at the two big ones, Christmas and Halloween.

What you think New England has a lock on the holidays? Just because Currier and Ives has made a fortune out of sleds and snow, who says West Coast artists have to go into hiding when the leaves start to fall. If you’re a humorous sort then put Santa of the beach, surfboard or in a wetsuit. If you’re serious we West Coasties have leaves when the New Englanders have nothing but sticks. But you are an artist and have all sorts of creative ideas, put them to work and while you’re at it take a look at what you’ve done, maybe there’s a holiday scene to be had if you just think about it.

When the tourists go home and the winds howl are you going to be locked in your studio pining for warmer days or out in a gallery selling to the holiday trade?