A Tough Couple of Weeks
A New York Times article about selling art online caught my interest because the site, UGallery has a location in San Francisco. I used to sell my work on the Williams-Sonoma website through a local intermediary and while I thought it was strange that people bought art online, I was thrilled that I sold a couple of paintings during a relatively short period of time. The intermediary left that position and that ended my relationship with Williams-Sonoma.
Then I read the article about UGallery and thought I would try sending in work from my Sawako series. I am showing 3 our of the 5 oil and beeswax paintings, 12 in x 12 in on board.
The process was simple: send the images and $5 and they will let you know within a week if they will accept your work. I sent in my images Friday afternoon and I heard back the following Monday and they weren't interested. Disappointed, I decided to rework the pieces and that is what I am doing now. I might revisit UGallery and send in work from my Hawaii series which was the series that sold on the Williams-Sonoma site.
I then applied to a couple of different opportunities. One was to paint utility boxes in Mountain View. When I read the call, I was going to write and give them a piece of my mind because I thought they wanted artists to do the work for free. There was once a similar call in South San Francisco but it wasn't a paying gig. South San Francisco is the home to Genentech and several other large biotech companies, many hotels and other businesses. The tax the city collects couldn't even pay for materials? I was angry and wrote about it in this blog post.
However, the Mountain View call was a paying gig and I thought one of my trees posing on a utility box would be appropriate. And since I have experience with public art and know how long a large painting would take, I thought I had a good chance. But no, they weren't interested in my ideas. Disappointment #2.
The other call was for the theme "After Nature" sponsored by Art Works Downtown, located in San Rafael. I read the description, thought the following work, again from the Sawako series would fit nicely into the theme.
Again, they were not interested in the work. Disappointment #3. I didn't read the book by Jedediah Purdy that was referenced in the description so maybe I was really off base with my submission.
One of the reasons I chose the Sawako series is because they sold particularly well at the last Open Studios. So well that I am able to stay in my studio for at least through July 2018.
And THEN....the rent for my studio went up $100.
I've been feeling a little bruised after all this. But, painting is what I do so off I go to the studio every day.
I am reworking the 12 in X 12 in paintings and will try selling them on Etsy or Ebay.
Then I read the article about UGallery and thought I would try sending in work from my Sawako series. I am showing 3 our of the 5 oil and beeswax paintings, 12 in x 12 in on board.
I then applied to a couple of different opportunities. One was to paint utility boxes in Mountain View. When I read the call, I was going to write and give them a piece of my mind because I thought they wanted artists to do the work for free. There was once a similar call in South San Francisco but it wasn't a paying gig. South San Francisco is the home to Genentech and several other large biotech companies, many hotels and other businesses. The tax the city collects couldn't even pay for materials? I was angry and wrote about it in this blog post.
However, the Mountain View call was a paying gig and I thought one of my trees posing on a utility box would be appropriate. And since I have experience with public art and know how long a large painting would take, I thought I had a good chance. But no, they weren't interested in my ideas. Disappointment #2.
The other call was for the theme "After Nature" sponsored by Art Works Downtown, located in San Rafael. I read the description, thought the following work, again from the Sawako series would fit nicely into the theme.
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| 12 in X 12 in |
 |
| 24 in X 30 in |
 |
| 36 in X 48 in |
Again, they were not interested in the work. Disappointment #3. I didn't read the book by Jedediah Purdy that was referenced in the description so maybe I was really off base with my submission.
One of the reasons I chose the Sawako series is because they sold particularly well at the last Open Studios. So well that I am able to stay in my studio for at least through July 2018.
And THEN....the rent for my studio went up $100.
I've been feeling a little bruised after all this. But, painting is what I do so off I go to the studio every day.
I am reworking the 12 in X 12 in paintings and will try selling them on Etsy or Ebay.
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