Parting Is Sweet Sorrow (Natalie's Part)

art work by Natalie

I was taking with Natalie Abrams on Facebook about this one day and she is one of the artists I talked about who find it hard to let go of their work. I also asked her to write a few words about it so you folks can hear both sides and not just mine. The following is from Natalie:

"It starts with one to two days of mixing the base paint, the background colour which will be maintained through the entire painting. then there’s a day of prep’ing the board, one to two weeks of putting down the layers of alternating wax and oils. longer if i’m leveling the layers as i go. then comes the long haul of anywhere from one to six months of carving and digging the pattern out again. sometimes tedious, sometimes thrilling; like a kid opening up Christmas presents, you never know what you’re going to find.

a quick piece takes a month. the average piece can take two or three. during that time, i get to know every gassy spot in the board, every burn mark, each layer of colour, every defect which adds character or gives me a headache. i see pinholes as a sign of sloppy work, and will take hours of cautious fusing to remove them. I’ll uncover gorgeous veins of oil in the wrong place. they must be sacrificed for the overall piece to work, but it takes an act of courage. what if another band like that doesn’t come along? will the viewer even notice if it’s left?

in the month or more this painting is on my table, i become intimately acquainted with it. every nuance, every feature, every defect. i know what was in a way no one else can ever know. I’ve tried to document the carving, but i don’t think anyone can really see what i’m seeing looking so closely.

and there are the psychological stages as well. i love it, i hate it, it’s awful and i think i’ll scrap it, then it’s not so bad, then it’s really bad and i should really go back to work because I’m just sitting here wasting time and i could be actually making real money to support myself. then, it’s done and it’s stunning.

when looking upon what I’ve created which no one else could have done, when it has personal meaning and beauty and significance; separating is like saying goodbye forever to a family member or close friend. i think for most people, when so much time and effort is extended toward the act of creation, it can be difficult to emotionally divest oneself from the piece. i know I’ve had to work hard at it, and feeling all the while those pieces suffer for that emotional distance.

there is something really special experiencing the joy a buyer goes through when picking up or purchasing a new piece. some are reserved and with some there is a lot of crying and hugging. getting the opportunity to share in that other person’s excitement and happiness makes it easier. knowing it’s going to a good home where it will be cherished and knowing it won’t eventually end up in a closet or storage room somewhere, neglected and forgotten."

There you go folks, two accounts from two very different kinds of artists, which one are you and how do you think about letting go of all your hard work?

Parting Is Just Sweet Hold The Sorrow (nemo part 1)

Someone once asked me “How am I able to part with so much art?” and “Don’t you ever want to keep them all?” and it has come to my attention that many of the newbie artists out there have this problem. When I started out painting I did many abstract pieces which I would spend anywhere from hours to months on. I painted on nights and weekends. I was an architectural draftsman and I needed to do something that wasn’t lines and boxes. I was only doing it for fun, I had no idea it could take me to so many different places and that I would meet so many great people. For about the first 100 or so paintings I didn’t even think I was any good. I had sold a few and was doing little shows here and there. I also had many friends and family members buying my pieces and telling me they were great but I still didn’t really like them. I just needed that release. I was glad people found some joy in looking at them and wanted them in their homes.

Now that making art has become the biggest part of my life and everything takes a back seat to it, I still feel like that guy just trying to release some thing inside me. Right now, and as its been for the 8 to 9 years I have been an artist, I am still only interested in the making of my art. I haven’t got a care about the final product, I know it sounds bad, but its true. I’m in love with the process of making art. Even tho I complain about it I really do love sitting here drawing circle after circle the way I did in grade school. To me that’s the best feeling. Drawing is what gives me the high. And when I’m done with a piece I don’t think twice about it and I get started on another, chasing another high.

Don’t get me wrong, I can still enjoy a brand new show of mine like the “CircleScapes” I just did. Walking around a room filled with your art in a beautiful gallery is a very satisfying feeling. Knowing that people from all over the city are going to see all your hard work is an amazing feeling, but in the back of my mind I really just wish I was back in my van drawing.

I guess it's cuz I never set out to make a painting, I only set out to play with color. I never set out to make a piece of art, I only set out to have a little fun and to do something different. These days it’s a little more complicated cuz there’s so much more I need to think about but I really don't set out to make a master piece, I’m only drawing the same circles I drew while I was a kid and having fun, and what’s wrong if people like them and want to buy them? And that, my friends, is a better feeling than thinking I want to keep a piece. To some artists art is like a baby that they can’t part with, to me its like a litter of puppies I need to find homes for.

So the main reason I can let go of my work is because I feel the more I can sell the more I will have to do what I love and make more. What a shame right, having to do more of the stuff you love. As for individual pieces, there have been a few that when I’m done I just know it’s a good one but I feel the need to put it out there so the world can see it and hopefully someone wants to take it home with them.

CircleScapes At Art SA

if you dont know who this guy is you're reading the wrong blog

7 states in 7 months with 12k miles on the van and tons of memories to last a life time. This show included Colorado which we started in back in September. We came down through Kansas and Oklahoma and had a show in Oklahoma, then made our way back home to Texas. Most of our time was spent out in the hill country in Texas with 3 to 5 week sprints over to New Mexico, Arizona and California. On the road we spent most of the time in Arizona with 7 back to back shows and only did 1 to 3 in the other states. In Texas we did the bulk of the shows in San Antonio, if you stay away from your home city too long everyone wants a piece of you when you get back.

 

the gallery looked beautiful as always

We knew that having a show between Good Friday and Easter was sort of a gamble since most people might have had plans since last year or even traditions that span decades, but it was the only weekend we had available. It was a bit slower than we would have wanted it to be but at times the gallery was packed. We did sell a handful of originals and some other products. We have been working with this gallery for about 7 or 8 years so it was good to meet a lot of the clients that have had art of mine since the beginning and it was good to show them that I’m still here still doing it and in the eyes of many doing it damn well.

dont ask how long it took to do this

For those of you in San Antonio we are planning another show here in a few months when I return again with even more drawings from the road and more drawings based on Texas and San Antonio, I hear Mission themed pieces and Riverwalks will soon be hitting my drawing board.

food

3 more Texas shows and we are right back where we started doing the Downtown Denver show which only gives us 34 shows since we picked back up doing tent shows, oh well here’s to a another 7 states and another 7 months.

some vintage nemo

 

P.S - A day after promised, but here is the winner of the postcard drawing: Valerie. So, Valerie, if you are reading, please message me or email me so I can get your shipping address. Thanks!

CircleScapes: 7 States in 7 Months

Here is a sneak peak at our solo exhibition coming up this Saturday at Art SA Gallery in San Antonio, TX. Click here for details - we would love to meet you if you are in the area!

 





"Mountains, Farmed Fresh" (COLRADO)



 



"Flowers of the Sun" (KANSAS)





"Amber Waves" (OKLAHOMA)



 



"The Country Lives in the Hills" (TEXAS)







'Lets Take Flight" (NEW MEXICO)







"Saguaro Canyon" (ARIZONA)









"O Joshua Tree, O Joshua Tree!"
(CALIFORNIA)



King William Fair (Fiesta)

Great to be back in SA; we did this show a few years ago before we left for Denver. It was good then and it was good now, we came prepared with enough necklaces to choke a small horse and some really great prints. It did start off slow cuz of the parade, and with all the scrambling around trying to get the best seats most of the vendors were forgotten about, but as soon as it was over like a tidal wave they came. Once we got talking it didn’t stop, we didn’t have any time to chat with our fellow artists and I didn’t even have time to draw anything, which was alright with me. The amount of people I spoke with at this show could easily out weigh way the amount of people I spoke with all year.

When we were setting up the day before we meet a nice guy who had just moved into the area and so happened to live right in back of where we set up. He said he was having a party and that we should stop by. Turns out the dude was really cool and kept bringing us beers and margaritas all day and kept asking us and 2 other artists that were next to us if we needed anything. Talk about having the Fiesta spirit. When I told him we were done and that he could have his neighborhood back, he laughed and said it was great to have us out there. This world would a much better place if there were more people like him, thank you my friend.

Talking about new friends, you might have read in a few of my blogs about another artist couple out here on the road whom we almost always see at the shows who drive a big ole school bus. Well at a slow show in California we were across from them and we chatted a lot with them and became pretty close. We invited them to stay at the ranch with us and we got to hang out with them all week which was really cool. I haven’t had much time to pick the brains of artists who are out here week in and week out doing it. They are basically us in 30 years, we are both living in motor homes both have about 40 to 50 shows a years, we both live off it and are happy as can be. Most times when I meet artists they want info from me or they wanna talk about how they use to do it. So its refreshing to speak to other artists out there living the dream like us. Oh and turns out they had a great show here too.

Can’t wait till next year “Happy Fiesta!!!”

Two More Shows

Two more shows are on the books, they were some small things I got into right at the last minute. We would rather spend our time doing more art fair type shows that bring in more of a crowd but we had a few free weekends and jumped aboard these two. Cuz as you know I’m trying to do as many shows as I can this year and if I only do one a week that only gets me 52.

One was a “Fiesta” type show, we really had no business being there since my work doesn’t scream fiesta. But when in San Antonio, right? We were able to market our solo show a bit since it was at the same gallery and a lot of interest was made so hopefully some people come back. Plus I just love being a part of anything going on here and the people are great and there’s always good food. We did get to meet a few people who have been following our journey via newsletter. Its always good when you find out all your hard work is being noted.

The other one was done mostly because it was easy. We stay in a really small town in Texas, one of those places where everyone knows your name and their all glad you came type thing. We hung up a few pieces to see what would happen since we knew the owners and everyone was telling us we needed to show there. Right away the only feedback we got is that our prices were too high, being that they are only $190 we felt this isn’t a good place for us to be. But we showed up to one of the city's events, it was slow all evening but lucky for us we showed up during lunch time which helped us out. But once it hit about 3 pm everyone was gone.

So all in all we didn’t really have to do these shows but hey, they were free and we had nothing else to do. We did sell a few necklaces and talked to some great people and I think we even might come out in the paper too. You just never know how these things will go. Now its time to get ready for a big art fair where we could easily chat with thousands of people in a few hours. Cant wait to report on this one.

What Would You Ask If You Could?

In my attempt to always be bettering myself as an artist (and as a person) and to always share with you folks that journey, I have come up with a question and answer type thing. As most of you artists out there already know, most people who aren’t artists have no idea what we do and you non-artists out there who read my blog know I am here to answer all the questions to our inner workings (well at least mine) and know that I encourage more questions from you. Also I want my artist followers to chime in on the comments and add your valuable information.

Most people think artists are a special breed of person, somehow blessed with a gift to be openly creative with all we do. That we see things most people can't, that we are able to invision all types of things regular folks cant. Some people even think we posess super human powers which make us gods among mere mortals. Ok this all may not be true, but that last part definitely is, I mean a lot of us go down in history and your kid’s kids will have to study about us in school. Ok nemo step down off that high horse of yours………..

Being an artist, and meeting a whole hell of a lot of people, I find I get asked the same questions over and over and I wanted to share a few of them with you every now and then. I want to share some of the crazy things I overhear and maybe even get another artist in on the game here and there.

First up is the biggest one. I get this one almost every show, almost every day. I never really know how to answer it and I really have no idea about it. Inspiration? What inspires me and where does my inspiration come from are the two most asked questions (well right after “how do you draw those circles“ I don’t feel like I need to answer that one, do I?). I always joke about how making money is my inspiration and how I only make art to make money but that’s an easy way out. A gallery owner of mine really wants an answer to this one and im going to try to give one.

My main inspiration is my strong desire to get up and work. I have no problem working sun up to sun down just like my daddy taught me. All my life I have been a very hard worker, from being on the construction site as a youngun to my office days in the cubicle. I showed up, did my job to the best of my ability, on time and always with a smile. So now being an artist to me is no different, I get up and come into work and work everyday sun up to sun down. I don’t think of “being an artist” as something different than “being a janitor” or “being a truck driver”. They all have to go in and put in their time and so do I.

Subject wise I mostly draw things my mom would like. We also keep an eye on whats popular at art festivals, we read a lot of art magazines and talk to tons of artists and gallery owners. We just pay attention to what people are saying and most importantly what people are buying. Take our desert run a few months back. Southwestern art is huge out there - cowboys, cacti and rocks in all the shades of a beautiful sun set. I was also looking online about top selling art and artists and found landscapes to always be at the top of all the lists. Also I have been checking out a lot of shows where artists have gone to another city and come back with art inspirited from the places they'd been. So natullray not wanting to be left behind I quickly jumped on the bandwagon to kicked out my own landscapes and such.

I know its not really the answer I should be giving, and make no mistake, all the some passion and love for art is there. I just listen to the market a little more and produce work that says "look I can do what you can do but can you do what I can do" type of thing.