Monday, March 18, 2013

An after thought.....

It's funny how we go through these mind changes. Doubt creeps in and causes this disturbance of our value.
I'm not sure when exactly, while lying in bed, maybe just as I was waking most likely.. that time when we get these epiphanies... and my thought was "hey, there is that belief again about artist's.. I put in a lot of time with  my paintings and I should get paid.. and NOT a minimum wage either.  I had a plumber come in for 15 minutes and charged me 96.00! WTF!!! They are in a position to get it - we as artists have a commodity that is not a need (which could be debatable).  I understand art is not in the same category as food, rent, clothing... but it IS something that brings joy.. peace.. beauty.. even healing.
So, doubt be gone.
I do not want to play with you anymore.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

To bid or not to bid...

We went to an auction last night. One special thing about it was that we were in it. Both me and John. He had the red haired girl.  I didn't know what to expect and went with an open mind.  I wasn't even sure I'd be in it until the last minute when the owner of the event came to take it off the wall of our gallery.
So, here I was observing. I wasn't bidding because I didn't want to spend money that I really didn't have.
It was quiet with the bidding, not a lot of people bidding, and it took a while for the first person to bid and get the ball rolling.  Many pieces were just passed with no bids at all. John's piece came before mine with out a bid.
It made me start to think seriously about my price.. thinking it was too high. There were Dali's prints without any bids for god's sake and lower in price!!!  Other "serious" artists without bids.. and many with lower prices, so some serious pondering was going on inside this brain. "It wasn't in the same league as these others"... Did I even SIGN it??!!... I should add more detail.. Lower the price... on and on.. and then that moment of truth.. not a bid..  Because of the placement of the painting and it being close to last, I was OK with it because there were so many that were bid-less. I kind of expected it.
It was a good experience. I did some soul searching.  I will add to this painting because the thought had occurred to me before the auction anyway.  It is the hardest thing for me to put a value on my art. When I am attached to it, I tend to price it higher and when it is time to let go, lowering it or not .. it goes on it's own. I'll have to play around with the pricing for a bit, find a formula that works better.  Sometimes I know that it will not leave until it goes to the "rightful" owner... who wasn't there last night..