Four Things Nobody Tells You about Buying Art

So, it's time once again for Saint Paul Art Crawl! As a participating artist, I talk to a ton of people during Crawl, and I notice that there's a short list of things basically nobody knows about buying original art. What follows are the Big Four:

 1. You can afford original art.

At my two shows this weekend, I will have originals ranging from $1500 to $20. I own several under-$100 pieces by other artists. Drawings, hand-pulled prints (if you're not sure, ask the artist if they're hand-printed or reproductions; see Item #2), small paintings, pieces of fine pottery -- there are plenty of options, and events like Art Crawl are a great way to see what's out there.

Art Crawl is the only time I create "on the spot" animal sketches, like this 8 x 10", for $20 to $40 (depending how long you ask me to spend on the piece). If you've never bought art before, this is a fun way to start, because you can watch the whole process.

2. Your questions are perfectly good questions. 

Somehow, people get the idea that there's a yardstick: YOU MUST BE THIS EDUCATED TO RIDE -- and most folks feel they don't measure up, so they leave their "dumb" questions unasked. Such a barrier, if it really existed, would result in a world full of sad, lonely artists who all had to find other jobs.

So what you want to know is super basic? It's okay. The level of art knowledge most artists expect from non-artists, is about the same as the level of chinchilla-breeding expertise we expect from ourselves (Sample question from artist to chinchilla breeder: "But how do you tell which one is the boy?").

 3. Artists (and many galleries) offer layaway. 

I am trying to remember if I've ever met a professional artist who would not happily arrange a layaway plan so that someone who loved their art could afford that piece they really wanted.

... nope, so far I don't believe I have. And I know that a lot of galleries will do the same. It's just good business sense. Asking about it falls under Item #2: perfectly good question.

4. We'll take commissions (as seen in yesterday's post, "I Didn't Know You Could DO That!")

As long as it's in our basic style and medium, most of us are glad to work with you if you need "Something like that, but in this other size" or "That kind of pot, but with a deep red glaze instead of the green that'll clash with my house," or whatever it is. It's also possible we already have exactly what you need, but it's at home, or there wasn't room to display it.

I hope this will put you a bit more at ease before Art Crawl, or that outdoor fair, or when you're standing in front of that little gallery and wondering whether to step inside.  There's plenty I didn't cover here, of course, so if there's something you're wondering ... remember Item #2.

~*~

Here's where and when to find me at Fall Art Crawl 2013. Please note that on Saturday I will be at My Kingdom for a Horse at Stillwater Art Guild Gallery from 4 to 9 -- an unavoidable overlap, so if you have an animal you want drawn that day, arrive right at noon! I'll be leaving for Stillwater at 3.

Workshop in Door County, WI, July 8 - 10

When I'm not painting in oil, I work in mixed media by default. This began in 2008 when I wanted to improve my painting, so I went back to drawing, using dramatic light and shadow to sharpen my sense of composition.

The problem was, I hated shading in all those shadows. So I started toning my paper with acrylic matte medium and some paint, and then working over that in charcoal, pastels, chalk, whatever I had on hand. The results were magical, and I've been happily mixing up media ever since. Acrylic and Prismacolor pencils? Sure! Watercolors, pencils and pastel? Absolutely; that's what the horse in this post is.

These techniques have attracted some attention. The Peninsula School of Art in Door County, WI, invited me to put on a three-day workshop there. I am honored and very excited. Click the link above for their site, where you can find more information and register.

If you're feeling stuck or bored, mixed media can break you out of that and make art fun again.

If you've been drawing, and wondering how to transition into painting, the light/dark layering approach I use is a very good bridge to help you get there.

If you're still learning to draw, that same approach can help build your confidence in a way that will surprise you.

Learn-to-Draw Tool: How to Use a Grid

After a bit of searching online, I found a good video on how to draw using a grid. This is a method I use a lot in order to enlarge photos or prep sketches, such as this one, which had to go from 7 x 6 inches, to 7 x 6 feet:

This tutorial shows how the small drawing above becomes the wall you see below. The painter in the video uses a 1:1 scale, since he's creating a small portrait, but the principle is the same.

If you want to try drawing and don't know where to start, using your snapshots and a grid can help. It's a good confidence-builder because it lets you draw in small, manageable bits, instead of plunging in over your head.

I still use this method when I need super-accuracy in an animal portrait or when I need to enlarge a source image.

Fixing a Stretchy-Faced Horse

This is a really common thing in horse photos: the dreaded Lens Distortion. This is Honey, the Christmas Pony I'm working on today. I love her expression in the reference photo at top, but I could tell the camera had made her nose too long! I have to correct that, and here's how I do it. 

 I printed two photos of her and measured both, from the poll behind the ears to the bottom point of her eye, and then from that point to the top edge of her nostril. Those distances were close to identical in the side (un-distorted) view, but in the close-up they differed by 50%!

A bit of quick math: 1.45 divided by 1.25, from the side print, gave me 1.16. On my distorted print, the ear-to-eye length is 2", and 2 x 1.16 was 2.32. I have to guess a little here, but I made the dark line at around 2 and 1/3" -- that's where the top of the nostril would be if the lens hadn't distorted Honey's face.

I measure other things, often less precisely; I will also have to account for her muzzle being too wide, for example, and pare that down as I create the sketch.  The side view won't help a lot with that, but I'm experienced enough to figure it out. 

I already did a post of simple tips for better amateur dog photos, and all of those apply to horses, but if I can find a horse-photography tutorial I'll link it here.

Friendly Stuff for Beginner Artists

 

This is one of my favorite books for beginners. I use it in my classes a lot.  Most of the exercises and principles are the same ones you'd get out of a book like Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain (another favorite of mine), but I've found this one easier reading and more confidence-building for a lot of my students, with a very welcoming and soothing quality. 

If you've always wondered whether you could learn to draw, this book believably shows how you can. Highly recommended. It's on Amazon here.

5 Steps for Dog Photos that Don't Suck

Common occurrence in the life of an animal portrait artist:

Someone emails me a couple images of their beloved dog who has passed away, and wistfully asks if I can make a portrait from these snapshots, because it's all they have. And the snapshots are ... not great. The colors are all blue, the lighting is too dim or too harsh, the image is small and the details of the dog's face can't be seen very well.

Usually, my answer is yes, I can work with what they have; you'd be amazed what I can do with some pretty dismal photos. But it does take longer and I never feel the results are as good as they would be if my reference shots were better. And I'm saddened for the owners, who always wish they had taken better pictures while they still could. Pictures like these of Fozzie, above and below, which I took in a few minutes on a random Wednesday afternoon.

These are not professional-grade photos, but they're good (and for art-making purposes, excellent), and what's more, any yahoo with a digital camera can get the same results. No special training or equipment needed. Here's how:

1. TURN OFF YOUR FLASH.  See all that pretty sunlight, the soft shadows, and the warm color of Fozzie's coat? If you use a flash, all that goes away, replaced by a harsh blue floodlight effect. This is especially true if you're photographing indoors, which I don't recommend unless you have a nice sunlit window (ideal for cat owners!).

2. GET OUTSIDE. If you possibly can, photograph outdoors, preferably in early morning or late afternoon/early evening sunlight. Natural light is bright enough so that you don't need to use the flash to get a sharp picture. Early or late sunlight is perfect -- slanting and golden, it brings out the animal's natural beauty. If your dog is black and shiny, shooting right at sunset or on an overcast or hazy day may work better, so keep the camera around and keep playing.

3. GET CLOSE (and get help from a friend). For dogs, you'll likely need someone to distract them or hold the leash, or else they'll be dogs: "Hey! Whatchya doin'? What is that? Izzit a toy? Huh huh?" If you have a dog, you probably already have the Lens Full of Doggie Nose pictures that result. You just need to be close enough so the head and shoulders fill the frame and you can see all the expressive details.  It will help a lot to be on the dog's eye level, if you can.

4. LEARN TO USE YOUR WHITE BALANCE SETTING. This is in the menu of any digital camera, even the one on my cheap little flip-phone. The symbols for it are "WB" or a little sun, cloud, light bulb, or house casting a shadow for "shade." If you're photographing outside or in that sunny window, set your camera for sunlight. This will keep that warm golden tone in your pictures. If you don't set your camera for sun, your colors may look weirdly blue, like a poster that's been hanging in a shop window too long.

5. TAKE A TON OF SHOTS. This is digital; it's not like you're going to waste film. Have fun! If you've got 20 pictures and only one is good, you still have a good picture.

Oh, one last thing: Once you've got some nice pictures, back them up on a thumb drive, DVD, or somewhere else so that you don't lose your memories if your hard drive conks out.

Happy snapping to all my fellow amateur camera-hounds!

Phlox

Little Phlox, 7 x 5" oil on panel

This was today at Derek Davis' class. A little experiment in loosening up and in leaving some areas really thinly painted.

I'm having such a good time.

What I Did In School Today

I do not, as a rule, paint portraits. All the same, when I had a chance to take a one-day portrait painting workshop with Mark Balma, I jumped.

Morning was Mark's demonstration, and then after lunch we had a model and three hours in which to work. This was what I did, and I'm very pleased with it. Perfect? Nope. But nice enough for me to want to continue.

One of the things I love about living here is that it's so easy to go be a student, when I'm not teaching classes myself. I have access to some outstanding artists and that's worth so much.

My brain hurts!

In this case, though, the pain is a good thing.

I've been attending a three-day workshop in pastel portraiture, taught by the amazingly skilled Greg Biolchini. Today was day two.

I'm a total newbie when it comes to pastels. It's a medium I've always loved to look at, but never tried to work in until now.

Sometimes I feel like my brain is going to melt and leak out my ears. That's how I know I'm getting my money's worth; the learning curve is steep. It's quite enjoyable, though, and as skilled as Greg is, he's a lot of fun and very genuinely a nice guy.