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Monday, June 18, 2012

Quit Pressing My Buttons Kid!

Morning Coffee on The Deck, 2012, 4 1/4" x 8"

Yesterday's pastel cropped. Ah ha! A method of making small paintings finally mastered thanks to JD pressing buttons he should never have touched on the TV remote. He lost the picture.He whined. He complained he can't fall asleep unless he's watching TV. The only way to get his cartoons back was to find the remote that came with the set.

 I went through every drawer and every shelf in the room.  Point of first use is my storage motto. The remote was no where near the set. It was just gone.  All that I found in my design  file drawers was the split mat I use for cropping. I took it and applied it to yesterday's spontaneous, but rather rambling  pastel and voila! A little painting 5" x 8"matted for an overall size of 9" x 12"". $65 bucks double matted at Etsy's!

Making little paintings from big, not particularly successful endeavors, is perfect for me who finds working small claustrophobic. We all know there are successful passages in overall unsuccessful pieces .  There's always something to save.  Split mat corners help find it. Every studio should have a a couple of sets.


13 comments:

  1. I'm not ignoring you, Linda. we're in the middle of another assignment (aaaggghhhhh!!) - normal service will be resumed eventually. Glad you're enjoying the family etc .... stay out of the water!

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    1. I am John. I hope Pat is feeling better. Ellis is working more--maybe because the kids are here:-) I'm thrilled. I wish I was back to designing full time,but that doesn't look like it's going to happen again in this lifetime. So a fine artist I will be.

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  2. Didn't realize at first that it was the same painting, but I thought it worked a lot better than the first one. I have done some cropping in my days, harder now when I work on pannels/canvas hardboard.
    It is fun how it feel more structured now, I like it.

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    1. This is for works on paper only--like small pastels and watercolors, Tombow markers etc., which I've noticed comprise most of the artwork for sale for reasonable prices in people's Etsy stores and their online galleries. I think being able to produce small paintings that can be mailed relatively inexpensively--no fancy packaging, no heavy weights, no oversized works--is what is sold online. That's why I was interested in tiny and banging my head against the wall with failure after failure.

      Volume sales of small works is what pays for art supplies and maybe more? Of course, no one who is doing it, it going to tell you just how much they make from online sales--and if they did, I would take what they said with a grain of salt.

      This particular drawing is really no great shakes. It's colorful, it has decorative possibilities, it was quick. No big time spent, I could afford to mat it elegantly: Same color double mat with acid free backing gives a nice architectural and important look that people love. When they get it, it's ready for framing.

      I am determined to get into the art business. This is one avenue. PLUS: it's an excellent way to turnover all the warm up and preparatory sketches I do.

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  3. Glad JD lost the remote, The result of it all is your pastel looks fabulous cropped!

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    1. It's still not the greatest, but it's okay and the price is adjustable accordingly. I'm getting serious about this (art business) Kathryn.
      A keyboard and a couple of iPads don't grow on trees--not to mention art supplies. Children always did move me to action.

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  4. Replies
    1. Thank you, but not really Katherine. It's poor work--as was my drawings of Erin. I don't seem to have it together while the family is visiting. It has something to do with working on the kitchen table, out of water, albeit studio.

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  5. You intensified the colors, didn't you...or is it just the light ? Either way...super !

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    1. No. Same picture, just cropped. I try to duplicate the colors of a work exactly, sometimes that will happen with just a "quick fix" click. Other times, I might have to put it through "adjustment" several times.

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  6. Great story--and result.

    Did you all ever find the remote?

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  7. About the selling on etsy. I've been thinking about using it to sell very small works. One thing I did as research was to order such a work from an artist I admire, to see what I got. I learned a lot from this--and have a really good watercolor that I matted and framed in a jif and now admire every time I pass it.

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  8. Nice work, lots of energy. Very much your style.

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