Sunday, March 29, 2015

Restful Weekend





Read more about Cyclorama buildings

Art and Design Show Boston
My friend, Ed, and I did our annual visit to the AD show on Saturday.  I think Ed is buying designer side tables and coffee table for over $2000.  He has a wonderful urban inn in the south end of Boston.  We started at the BeeHive Restaurant with brunch, it's close by Cyclorama and it was snowing and sleeting.  The great majority of time that I go in to see something at the Cyclorama, its raining.  Luckily there is a parking garage just behind it and the elevator door opens practically next to the front doorwary.  The show this year didn't have a good attendance, so I hope it continues.  After the long winter we have had, people may be staying in.
I love this building, and one of the most wonderful experiences I've had on my European travels was to visit the cyclorama building in Lucerne.  The history of these buildings is very interesting but the painting (The Bourbaki Panorama) on the walls of the building in Lucerne is mind-blowing.
Live Jazz playing here at the BeeHive

The BeeHive
Local TV channel
I'll be doing an interview on the local TV channel and selectman Laura Dillingham Mailman on Thursday, April 9th.  I am no public speaker and have a small voice and lots of lapses of memory and never could remember people's names, so this could be a catastrophe.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so off I go again, jumping off the proverbial cliff.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Taking it easy

Meeting friends at my show
Paula and Ralph, my good friends who have just returned from Canada, met me at the People Painting People - The Merrimacians show at the Merrimac Library today and then we had a great lunch at the Rhythm Cafe.  Lots of talk about art as Paula is an artist.

Should I put my shovels away?  It was warm today.




Thursday, March 26, 2015

Nice drive to Rockport

Brought 'Garden Pathways-After the Rain' to Rockport
On my first day of wearing a sweater instead of a winter jacket, I got to take a nice drive to Rockport to deliver my painting for the next show (2 hours of driving), reception is this Sunday from 2 to 4, free and open to the public.
Local TV channel interview
I was invited by Carol Trainer to do an interview along with Selectman Laura Dillingham Mailman.
2 Commissions
A woman who owns a local farm phoned me and came to visit.  She would like portraits of her two grandchildren painted.
Next project-plein air house portraits
Her farm would be a good one to include in my next project (for this summer).  Here is a little nonsense she was up to, picture taken from newspaper story.
Boston Red Sox

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Frame complete

Frame for the Garden Painting
This frame was a bit tricky.  I have a strip that is the gutter and it's painted brick red.  Then I have another strip that would generally be the outer strip and the edge would be flush with the surface of the painting, but I'm attaching another strip of actual picture frame molding to that one.  The tricky part is that I cut the first two strips to have a butt joint and I want the picture frame molding to have a mitered corner joint.  I also want to attach the picture frame molding to the strip molding to make it one piece before attaching it to the first strip (gutter strip).  I had the picture frame molding that was given to me years ago by an art association when they were cleaning out their basement, and the rest of the lumber, etc. cost me $55. Well, it all worked out OK.  Here's a photo of the corner of my floater frame.
back view showing butt joint and miter joint

front view showing brick colored gutter



straight on view

side view of outer edge, my stain was a good match
Countdown complete
I'm delivering it to Rockport on Wednesday for their Associate Members Show.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Preparation for framing

Framing the Garden
I painted the gutter strip brick red and stained the outer strip that the picture frame molding will be attached to.

What's Next?
I'll go back to working on the 'door' and make some adjustments before tackling the lower section of the open door and it's cast shadows.

Student Resuming
My student will be resuming her studies with me starting early April.  She's excited to get outdoors and paint the landscape.

Camera Lesson
I was going to return my camera because I couldn't figure out how to learn about the color settings, but a friend came over and helped me to understand some of the settings and download the big manual, so I guess I'll be ok once I have the time to study the 214 pages.  Another good thing about this is that I have a BIG camera, that I've had for probably more than 5 years, and I never used it for this same reason--there are lots of manual settings that I couldn't understand.  That camera is a lot better than a point-and-shoot and it would take much better photos of my finished paintings.


Monday, March 23, 2015

Garden Pathways-ready to frame

The Garden Pathways After the Rain
I repainted the paths several more times, can't get the effect I wanted.  I'm finished for now.
After the Rain, 30x40" acrylic on stretched canvas
Maybe my studio lights are also giving me troubles.
I am afraid that when it's hung at Rockport it will look different again.
Framing
I decided on a rather plain wood frame and will attach it to the strip frame I'll make and stain the same color and add a reveal or gutter.  The wood compliments the greens.

Camera
Still can't figure out this camera, and now I set something so the screen is black and you have to look through the viewfinder.  The colors looked dusty and not very green.  Using the enhancer in the smart mode in the post processor (Elements-Photoshop) gives me more accurate color.

3 days left
I stopped today at Home Depot and got the strips and stain to make the frame tomorrow.

Click here to see another of my palm trees in today's DPW auction entry.

Interesting story in today's Globe about avant-guard art.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Playing in the purple mud

Painting the Garden
I've strolled down those garden paths quite a few times, trying to find the right color and value to portray the mud in the paths and I haven't even started on the puddles.  Finally, I had scrap the purple idea, it needed more light and the cool color wasn't working.  I worked with the puddles too for a while and scrapped them as well.

Molding
I did check my inventory of moldings and have a half dozen that will work, so when it's finished I'll take it downstairs to my carpentry shop and see which one works best.

Acrylic
I'm really getting fond of these acrylic paints.  It seems that I can work closer to my own speed with them.  When you want to rework an area, it only takes a few minutes and you can go back into it and the colors stay as intense as you mix them.

Today's post to DPW's auction, click to bid.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Getting out of the woods

Out of the woods
I worked on the upper left section of the canvas today and still have a few adjustments to make there, and tomorrow I'll move to the section just below.  I brightened up the bush in the bottom left corner.

Countdown to delivery=5 days.

Molding
I found some decorative picture moldings that I forgot I had and will see if using that in conjunction to strip framing will work for this piece since I don't have enough of the nicer bigger molding.

Camera
Read the booklet, but there are still lots of questions I can't figure out.

George's day of beauty  
We had the foot doctor come and give him a pedicure, the shave girl came and shaved him, and then his barber came and cut his hair.  He loves the way the barber cuts his hair.  He's feeling good. (p.s.  my husband is in hospice with Pulmonary Fibrosis and can only stay in an area of 6 sq. ft.  When I paint in my studio I have him on a baby monitor and can talk to him when he wakes up, then I go down and make him tea and whatever else he needs.)

My right foot
When the foot doctor came he also did my feet and I have a callus that I've had all my life on my second toe of my right foot, and he said surgery could help with that, so maybe some day.  I would have had this done years ago if I had known.


Friday, March 20, 2015

Time Management-not the best

In this blog:
   Time Management-show countdown
   Bad Pictures Colorwise-new camera
   The Business End-50%?
   Getting Out of the House-necessities
   Would You Believe?

Time Management
A bunch of things that took up too much time today and I didn't paint on the garden painting and since everything is going south, I better wait until tomorrow or I'll make mistakes.  The countdown to deliver this painting is 6 days from now.  I guess that is one advantage of painting with acrylics.

Bad Pictures Colorwise
I decided to add 5 palm tree paintings to my DPW page and couldn't locate those files on my computer so I tried to take new photos with my new camera.  The colors are way off, and this camera should be taking better pictures than my old one.  So I really need to read up on this new camera.
After uploading one photo, I decided to wait and see if I could get a better picture and then load the palm tree paintings up one day at a time. I never put them up before for the same reason, the colors just are nowhere like the paintings.
I did try to fix it with the post processing but couldn't get anywhere.
For example, the sky is pink and purple and it feels like a hot day.

The Business End
I also had to work on my inventory sheets and did a little other administrative stuff.  The artists on the talk radio shows and in magazines who are asked what percentage of their time they spend on actual painting usually say close to 50% because of all the other things that have to be attended to.
A couple of weeks ago, I made a booklet on Word and today went in to work on it again.  I'm new at Word and couldn't figure it out.  Wow, what a test of my patience.  I was good at WordPerfect and would like to make the change to Word.

Getting Out of the House
I didn't get to the grocery store either, so tomorrow first thing-- I'll grocery shop - and go to the post office to send off the small paintings that have found a home.

Would You Believe?
Then, it was cold in the house when the afternoon came around and upon investigation found that I had run out of oil.   So I had to pay the extra money to have a same day and after hours delivery and have the system restarted.

So now you can see why I should quit while I'm ahead today (or behind, whichever!).


Thursday, March 19, 2015

Stuck in the bushes

Garden Pathways
The upper right corner (bushes and trees) of the garden painting got my attention all day today.  Puddles are still waiting to be done and I'm thinking about how to do them all the time.  Usually I work all over the painting, but this time I'm tackling the sections that are calling out to me, I think in order to keep the relationships working together.  Perhaps this is because I'm new to working in acrylics.  I want it to be finished in only a few more days so I can make the frame and bring it on Wednesday for receiving in Rockport.  Do you think I'll make it?

It seems a little dreary, but it is a rainy day.  I want the paths to brighten it up.  Notice the rose bushes?

Here's a gift
Take a peek at the beautiful work of Clyde Aspevig!

More good news
Sold three more paintings!  I had started to make a small booklet to include with my shipped paintings and this week I don't have time to finish it in order to enclose it with these works.  Maybe I can make up a few abbreviated versions.

Small painting frame options
I like to put the small paintings on easels on tables, shelves, etc., but they look really fabulous in a frame for hanging on your walls.  I especially like some of the frames at King of Frame, mostly the floating versions.  For approx. $40 you can have a very professional, well made, beautifully finished frame, and their floating frames look like your typical frame but you set the painting into it from the front with a couple of spots of glue on the back of the painting.  That frame comes beautifully finished on the backside with paper and wire hangers already attached.

I'll be varnishing this today and it will darken the background--in real life, it's not this purple.
  There is nice juicy paint on the onion.




Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Planting flowers and painting brick walls

Another stroll in the garden

For about 4 hours I worked on Garden Pathways.  It's not as lose as I'd like.  In my old age, I'm getting more and more neat and organized in my daily life and it's translating to my art work.
This is to show you how I hung my reference nearby so I could see it.  This
acrylic painting business uses both hands and then some so far anyway.

Now that I see it photographed this way, I see that perhaps I should chop off
the bottom part.  Painting is like eating, I save the best part for last.
So the wet paths with maybe a puddle or two, will come at the end.

Picking up art work

By 1 p.m. I had to stop and get ready to go do a few things and pick up my paintings from the 3-day weekend show at 50 Island Street Studios in Lawrence.  My friend, Liz Peck, has a beautiful studio there and let me use the hallway leading to it which comes off the main hallway.  Today there was quite a to-do because she wants to move to another studio, a very nice big one with big north windows, but there is some disagreement over who was first in line for it.

Excerpt from today in ArtAcademy.comby Michael Britton

Steadfastly crossing deserts of disappointing painting contributes significantly to the development of an artist's voice that is honest and, hand in hand with sure technique, powerful. 
A successful passage to constructing an honest voice is fully incumbent on two pillars: first, having faith in yourself. Lacking resolve and commitment to your art guarantees that you will perish in the desert. The second pillar is a sound foundation in the craft of painting.
The craft of painting is comprised of four elements: foremost is color and composition. Painting, at base, is the arrangement of colored shape. This is as true for realist works as it is for abstract and non-objective paintings. Your first, and most important shape is the canvas: the pictorial surface.
Color and composition is followed by drawing. Edwin Dickinson epitomized drawing as assessing how wide by how high and getting the angles. Whether painting a premier coup (a first strike) oil sketch or drawing a portrait correctly establishing the overall shape is critical.
Drawing also denotes rhythm. I refer to drawing the overall shape as striking the arabesque. Terminology implies intent. Contour is static, Arabesque infers movement and velocity, hence rhythm.
The fourth element is the abstract structural patina of the paint surface. This is the expressive autographic brushwork.
A brilliant painting is the result of a wholly correspondent union of these four elements. Dickenson's Providence, Long Island, 1935, as with Adams 1923 journey, was the near instantaneous culmination of a painful slog of several months through a barren wasteland.
The reward of these difficult journeys is that singular painting that is the spark that ignites a profound body of work upon which a career is built.


Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Experimenting with acrylics

Broke the Record - Weather Report worth reporting!
Yesterday, Sunday, March 15th, we broke the snow record!  Read article here.   Read it in the paper and see other events of the day.  

Painted in the Garden
I spent another 4 hours or so on the Garden Paths painting.  I want to find a way to get interesting texture and marks on it.  I used my knife a little and I'm not really a knife painter.  From a box of sample mediums I used some gritty stuff, now I'm not so glad about that because when you look at the painting from the side you see this stuff that makes it's own pattern--like when your oil painting has shiny and dull areas.  Oh well, we'll see what happens today.


Monday, March 16, 2015

Painting with acrylics is working out

Camera stuff
It took a while but I finally got the photos off my memory card from the broken camera.  It was a project, the solution was simple, but getting there wasn't.  I took a couple of photos with the new camera, but I haven't set it up yet or read the book.  There is always a new learning curve, isn't there?

Using acrylics
Watched some videos, looking for ways to organize myself while doing acrylic paintings.  I painted for probably 6 hours and I'm liking working with acrylics so far.  My hold back right now is being afraid to ruin brushes.  Everyone says acrylics are so hard on brushes, so I'm only using old brushes that are already ruined somewhat.  I'm getting better at not making such a mess of myself and the surrounding area.

Weather report
It is snowing today and we definitely got the 2" they say we need to break the all-time record but I haven't turned on the TV to find out.


Sunday, March 15, 2015

A Day of Rest

Garden Paths perspective


Show this weekend at Lawrence Studios
(where the painting kept falling off the wall)
Carnival - the painting on the wall on the right. 
The hallway by Liz Peck's Studio.  The biggest one on the right kept falling down.
I make my frames, have the molding made at a mill, that one is hard maple but
it's toast now.  I can salvage some of it and make a smaller frame.
I liked this artwork and had my friend and artist, Georgia Renfroe, stand there for size reference.
Famous Artist
If you want to try to be a famous artist, all you have to do it this.  Spend about 5 years at the Angel Academy in Florence.  If you want to see what you would be in for, check this out.  It's 3 years for the fundamental course and 2 years each for 2 post grad programs.  Now I wish I could live to be 100, then I could attend here and still have a few years left to paint!
 
Paint Palette tip
I like this tip from Tom Brown.
Usually I just leave my paint on the glass palette in my pochade box.  Then when I get home, I just take it out and start painting again, but this would be cleaner, we'll see.

Lately in the studio I've gone back to using my old fashioned hand held palette.  I think because it's light weight and I can hold it and myself closer to my work for those subtle adjustments, all the while using the 20 foot brush!

My Favorite Teacher
Heard from my very favorite art teacher on Friday the 13th.  It meant a lot to me.  He is an amazing teacher.  I ordered a book that was written on him, and here is a link to his web site (note the size of his paintings).

Camera
Also dropped my camera, one of my best friends.  Friday the 13th is usually a good day for me, so we'll just suppose that dropping the camera was a good thing?

I have a new friend...Went to Best Buy and got a new camera, Canon PowerShot G16.  I like a small, lightweight camera BUT this one is bigger and heavier :(   The good thing factor?  It has some features that might help me, I'll have to report after I try it out.

Magazine Day
Then when I got home, the mailbox was full of art magazines!  I'm in heaven.  They all came on the same day.  Now, to paint or not to paint, that is the question.  



Saturday, March 14, 2015

More trouble with perspective.

Cameras and keystoning
I went back to my photo montage where I cut and pasted to make the idea for this painting.  I made a photocopy of it to draw out the perspective lines and they don't come out right on the photo either, no wonder I'm having trouble.  I don't think the trouble is with the paste up I made, but I think the camera makes changes, for example, when you take a picture of a NY street scene, the buildings keystone which is leaning more than it would if you were actually looking at it with your eyes, the camera makes this adjustment.  See here.
I wanted to post my garden path subject here but dropped the camera and it won't work.  I'll post it later.

Friday, March 13, 2015

Thursday

I started with emails and somehow got involved with posting about a thousand pictures to my Pinterest page for skating.  The rink website will be converting to a new one, and so all these wonderful memories of the past will be able to live in cyberspace through this Pinterest page.  It's 4 o'clock in the afternoon now, and I've been doing it all day long.

Kind of late to be starting painting for the day, but I went up and made some corrections on the perspective without much success I might add.  I tried a lot of things and it's not right yet.  I'm taking my time and working out some other aspects of the composition.


Thursday, March 12, 2015

Beautiful weather today!

Big break in the weather, YAY!

I sanded the area on the door painting where there was a split in the canvas, sort of looked like a tear but not all the way through but had rough edges, and it did smooth out very well, and I think when I paint over that section which is not finished yet anyway, it won't be noticeable.

Had to do some inventory, posting, and other administrative work, then I worked on the acrylic painting.  It is going to be a challenge to pull it together.  I do love working with acrylic so far and think that I need to wear a raincoat in order to keep myself clean.  Who says oil is messier?



Prepping for weekend show

Tuesday the plumber installed my new water heater.
I'll have 11 large paintings at an art walk this weekend.
I chose the paintings, wrapped them, made tags for them and an inventory list for my friend, Liz who has a great studio at this event.  I had to search all around my area for those Command Hangers but got them and hung the paintings for this weekend's show. It took me three trips from the car to her location with a hand truck, luckily it wasn't windy or raining.

The general public never realizes the behind the scenes work that goes into presenting art--it's sadly not just about the act of painting.  Each artist is his or her own business from top to bottom.

I have to get to work on my inventory list and I have an idea of, yet, another way to organize it.  If I make it like a page in a catalog, each painting having it's own page, I can also use it to show all the work I have tucked away (as well as know myself what I have and where it is).  At this point, I always forget what paintings I put in what shows, and sometimes enter the same paintings again to the same venue without knowing.  I noticed that I just did that for a regional show.

Next up, I have to get to work on the acrylic painting.

My friend and I will be going to the art and design show at Cyclorama in Boston on Saturday, March 28th.  Here is a link to some information and if you have brunch next door at Beehive, you can get free tickets to the show!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Shopping and running around mostly...

Had to make a quick visit to the studio of Elizabeth Peck at her invitation to participate in an art show this weekend.  She wanted me to see the available space and commit to bringing some work to show.  She showed me her Command Strip Picture Hangers that are so easy to remove and rehang and leave no mark on the walls.  I had never seen this type of hanger and they look great, I can't wait to get some.
There are a few variations of this item, the one above, then it comes in a package of three, and there is also a larger one that holds more weight.  I had to buy all I could get since the stores don't seem to stock many of them.  I think I'll get some online in bulk and redesign my studio presentation space.  The only drawback is that you have to press and hold them for 30 seconds on each side of the sticky tape (once for the metal piece and again against the wall).  Yup, hard work. :)


I did a little work on door and I'll miss the bright stark white that I've been looking at for years, but I'm marching towards the finish line.  It will definitely be better now that I've corrected the perspective for the door.  I found my original drawing for it, imagine that.  There is a tear on the canvas but it doesn't go all the way through, so I should probably get out some sandpaper and gently try to even off those edges.




Monday, March 9, 2015

Sunday in the studio

I enjoyed working on the open door.  (How about Outside In?) I blocked in the new shapes and started to carve out the new sections.  This involves matching multi-colors of grays. Well, in a way, most colors are gray.  I'm happy again, since this darn door is the ultimate challenge.  I guess I'd better get started on the other painting due soon in a show, it's acrylic.  I'm not that happy working in two different mediums at the same time.  I'm not that experienced with acrylic and need to 'get my head around it' each time I do it.

I posted my Rose Garden 6x6" painting to the The DPW Rose Garden Challenge , and it looks pretty good there.


Sunday, March 8, 2015

Roses are hard

...and I thought rocks were hard.

After completing a little Rose painting for the Daily Paintworks Challenge, I went over to the Atkinson Country Club to see Liz Peck's paintings in a show where they paired artwork with flower arranging.  The show was excellent and especially the flower arrangements in that they were wonderfully related to the work.

I did some more studies for the door itself, remeasured, and have bit the bullet, I'll rework the open door starting today with a redraw and mass in.  I'm fairly convinced that it will be worth it.  After all is said and done, I can say that I did my best.  I should name it the never-ending landscape.

I did want to do a quick painting and took something off the challenge pages of Daily Paintworks.  I chose the rose bush challenge.  I've painted roses before and I always have a very hard time with them.  I guess I'll have to paint a lot more of them before I feel good about doing them.  The best thing about painting flowers is using wonderfully vibrant colors.  In this case, it was the grays that made it look bright and colorful.
Rose Garden, 6x6" oil on board
Click to buy on Auction with Daily Paintworks, starts at $40





Saturday, March 7, 2015

Friday night studio party?

Had a friend come over to discuss the door painting.  
Amy studied art at UMass and graduated second in her class.  

It was good to get another opinion on problem areas.  
I worked on the DPW Challenge to paint a rose.  I'm not finished with it yet.

I had the plumber out and need a new water heater.  With still about 3 feet of snow on both sides of my house, I don't know how they will get a new one into the back door.  

Here's my kitchen show, like a sidewalk show only in the kitchen!

These are floater frames for 6x6" paintings.



Friday, March 6, 2015

Behind the scenes work all day today.

I never got to pick up a brush.  Well, that's not entirely true--I made a small shelf out of nice step molding I have for making floating frames, painted it with blackboard paint to match my kitchen wall, and installed it to hold the little gem paintings (6x6") until they get adopted.
Kitchen Shelf
Canvas conservation
Because of concerns regarding this large canvas painting I'm working on, I did some research on preserving canvas on paintings.  There are various processes whereby paintings are relined.  I am thinking that having some sort of backing would be a good idea, but any kind of wood panels warp, there is aluminum and it is light, so that might be a good choice.  I'm becoming more concerned now with the type of canvas, preferably linen, and what type of gesso and how many coats are used.  It is surprising that cotton and linen canvases have been used for so long and some of them have held up rather well.

Another challenge
Because it takes so long sometimes to decide on what to paint, then locate a suitable photo on my computer (and all the thumb drives I have), and then get the supplies together and do the painting, or gather items for a still life, arrange them for the design and composition, etc. I find that accepting one of the Daily Paintworks Challenges is sometimes the quicker way to start your day.  So I picked a rose painting, got the board out, laid down a coat of sealer on the plywood, and now I have to wait for it to dry.  I picked the wrong one evidently because it's still wet.

Progress on the garden acrylic painting
I dug out the reference photos and set them up on my easel and tried to make some decisions regarding what plants to plant in this garden and how the beds will be designed and how to keep the wet-dirt-on-the-path look I am striving for.

Progress on the door
I spent a lot of time checking my drawing on the actual door (the open door) to decide how to get the proportions right and treat the glass inset correctly.  It got so late, I'll try for tomorrow.  Another name idea came to mind, "The Million Dollar View".

My method for blogging
In the morning after I correct the one-in-progress, I start the new one for today by giving it a title of what day it is, like Thursday, and in the body of the blog I quickly write a to-do-list and hit 'save'.   I may add or subtract things as the day goes on.  Then the following morning, during my morning email reading, etc., I edit it, give it a proper title, and post it.  This works very well for me to keep me on track, as a reminder of what I should do, and helps me realize what I have done.


Thursday, March 5, 2015

2 Auction Pics in one day! WOW

After a fulfilling day yesterday, I'm back at working on the door. I am a bit thrilled that I have finally finished painting the moulding around the door!  The next phase of the painting will be on the open door itself.  It's a white door with a big pane of glass in the middle of it.  You see glimpses of the garden greenery through that glass section and the white door will have variations of colors of white. I have a couple of hindges to paint as well.  Then the next phase will be to study how the shadows below the door would fall.  Without actually having a scene to observe, this will be difficult.  How is the naming going?  Not good.  I'm thinking about 'Inside Out".
The lights shining on it are casting a glare FYI, but you can see some of the progress.
My mind is also on a large acrylic painting I'm working on and would like to finish to submit to the Rockport Contributors Show the end of this month.
This is the under painting for the acrylic painting, 30x40"

I added another painting to the DPW site, and although I won these honors (below) I can't even find them on the auction site myself!  There are always a large number of entries every day so before the auction is over there are probably more than a thousand to pick from.  It is amazing that I occasionally get a sale from there.




Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Other artist stuff for a couple of days.

I decided to do a small booklet for the "Thank You" enclosure and learned some software and worked on a book cover for the 17 page opus.  It was a fun departure from painting.

I was thinking about doing blank note cards, but square envelopes are pretty high priced and with the cost of photo card stock and ink, it wouldn't be a good use of my time because there would only be a small profit margin.  And I didn't know this but, it costs more postage to mail a square envelope.

I was thinking about what my smallest artwork is and what is my largest:  My smallest is 4x4", not counting thumbnails, and my largest is 4feet by 7 feet.

In the art business, what is considered small?  Mostly 11x14 and under, not a rule, sometimes 8x10 or 9x12 and under.  I use the distinction for my own inventory purposes.  Some shows have their own distinctions.

I've working with digital art over the past 2 days with another day to go.  Learning more about 'Word' software, I used to be a WordPerfect only person, but now I use both.  I go to the one that will get the job done quickest.  Once I'm more familiar with 'Word', I'll probably use that one, there is a mind shift necessary to recognize the departments which are differently displayed.

I took a break from painting the door painting, and in the meantime today I painted a new small painting and re-worked two others.  They can be found for sale on Daily Paintworks.
6x6" Flower Market Auction starts at $40

6x6" German Road Auction starts at $40

Sunflowers with Stripes 6x9.25" Auction starts at $60