I will be participating in an art show called "Art in the yard" at a delightful coffee house called The Mighty Cup and Spoon. The Mighty Cup is in a wonderful old Craftsman style home in old town Glendale, AZ. It is a Father's Day event and I'm bringing all of my diesel engine paintings. The smaller ones will have a low price in the hopes that people will want to dress up their work shop or garage for a dad or a husband who is a 'gear head', a mechanic, or whatnot. It is a long shot, but I have to get myself out there. I have said in the past that I wasn't going to do anymore one night shows because it is a lot of work for me setting it all up then taking it all down a few hours later….especially at 11pm….past my bedtime. However, this coffee house has hung two of my larger pieces inside and they will stay, for a while anyway. It's supposed to be 106 today so I'm glad I chose the 6pm to 11pm time slot. I would not want to be standing outside all day in the sun with the 10 to 4 group. Wish me luck.
thesnakeandiandthebutterfly 
this sounds like an exciting moment. good luck. i love coffee shops. the mighty cup and spoon… nice. i hope you sell a few.i'm not doing it anymore but when i was a venice beach 'boadwalk artist', i came with a pile of paintings and equipment and set up each day. i remember i used to dread packing everything back into my 'truck', jeep cherokee with a 'turtle'.your place sounds like it might have more buying action.anyway, enjoy yourself and stay cool. :heart: 😎
Ya know what… I adore these engine paintings. Maybe you should be a engineer also. I wish you the best of results in your show.
Thanks Scott and Clance, unfortunately it was so hot yesterday that there was hardly any foot traffic at all. Plus there wasn't anything going on in downtown Glendale either. In February, there is a chocolate and wine festival which I plan on getting into next year. More than likely I'll show at the same coffee house because a booth at the actual festival would cost money….$300 or something like that. No one sold anything last night and we were all hot and irritable and glad when 10pm came when we closed up shop.:irked: I will continue to look for other venues.
disappointing to say the least. it's a hard business, art.i once had a one man show at a gallery in new york where i invited over fifty aquaintances and friends. i was very excited. then only two couples came to the opening. haven't tried anything since. except the free venice beach boardwalk. and my own gallery for 20 days in washington state. i called it the 'bluebird gallery' nothing sold.i think people are just all tired out looking at things.
You're probably right….at least for my large paintings. I could probably build a small hut with them and live in the back alley somewhere but, more than likely, my children will have to find my body in an avalanche of paintings inside my house. I did, however, sell a small monoprint for $25 a week ago. I took myself out for a steak dinner and a glass of wine.
I think that you have to die before you can sell a painting.
When VanGogh died, they found over 3000 paintings in his home. He couldn't give them away while he was alive.
I gotta have some meat! Nice potato too. My ancestors are from north of the Artic circle. There aren't any vegetables up there to speak of. I eat some vegtables, but I gotta have some meat. What kind of wine was it?
that's the spirit. "I did, however, sell a small monoprint for $25 a week ago. I took myself out for a steak dinner and a glass of wine."
Maybe the wine is too acidic?
I usually order the house chardonnay or pinot grigio. I know red goes with steak but for some reason red wine does not agree with me anymore. Last time I had it, I got a horrible headache after one glass. Then the next time I tried it, I took one sip and it made me naseous. Can't figure that out. And, yes, I had a baked potato too but sometimes order their garlic mashed potatoes instead.
Not sure. I've had Merlot before but that time I took a sip, it literally made me shudder and I wanted to throw up. Many years ago, I remember breaking out in hives after two glasses of some kind of white wine….never got that brand again…but now don't remember what it was. So now I just stick to a couple different whites or a mixed drink every now and again.
In a case like this, probably the safest thing to do.
I just realized the pictue (Painting?) is a six banger gas engine. In fact, I think it is a Ford. How are things up in the desert?
:)Yes, it's a 36" x 48" oil painting and, as you can see, I like to exaggerate the colors a bit…..or a lot. I should show you all the engine paintings to find out what kind they are. This particular engine came out of a huge septic truck and had a metal plack on it that said "detroit diesel". It blew a piston and they lifted it out by crane and were taking parts off. It was HUGE and I thought it looked interesting so I brought my camera to work the next day and took a bunch of pics. They thought I was nuts, of course. I didn't drive one of the trucks….was sort of a gopher…girl friday…whatever. They needed someone temporarily to enter stuff into their database and to make runs to city offices for permits and such.What does 'six banger' mean?As to the desert…..I think it's about 110 right now. It is expected to get to 115 again today.
Just checked the temp and it's 104….111 expected….better than 115.
Six banger = 6 cylinders. Detroit diesel eh. You rendered it well.Most mornings I have to wear a jacket around here. (Grand Rapids, MI)
Are you painting in a studio sometimes?
After my computer crashed a month ago, I now hand write all my poetry first so I have a hard copy, then type it. Most everything was retreived but I lost a couple of newer poems. I'm writing lines down as I remember them but may never be able to get them down the way they were. Oh well.
Yes, I had my carport enclosed to be my studio. It's 10 x 18. Then just recently had a carpenter build me some custom shelving for storing canvases, paint, paper, etc. It really made a difference.
Yes it is good to have a professional work area, it helps you think. Right now I do not have such a space for my writting, and guess what? I haven't put anything on paper since I moved up here. I am going to change that this weekend. I don't write by computer. I write by hand, then send the pages out to be transcribed. The keyboard gets in my way when I am fantasizing. My hand just works automatically, although not always legibly.
I guess I'm just old school. The way I compose when I type, seems stilted to me. There is something sensual about writting with a pen.
That is how I feel about painting.
I would wager that it kind of feels the same.
Grand! Good luck. 🙂
"After my computer crashed a month ago, I now hand write all my poetry first so I have a hard copy, then type it. Most everything was retreived but I lost a couple of newer poems. I'm writing lines down as I remember them but may never be able to get them down the way they were. Oh well."Did you ever think about getting an external hard drive? As I type this I look at the Samsung hd attached to my laptop via USB. It's a 150meg capacity and I keep copies of everything on it.These external hds are falling in price – well they are in Britain, I don't know about the USA – and are now well worth buying and using as that all important "fail safe" place to keep valued files that will never be lost in the event of a fatal computer crash. The size of this little fellow is about 2 x 3 inches and the depth is maybe less than a half inch.Here's a pic of it temporarily posing on my keyboard.:up:
My uncle uses one of those.
Yes, I have my poetry and other writings on one now. I'd forgotten I had it as I used it when going to Arizona State University…it was buried amongst papers and books in my computer room. I now have everything else saved to cds. I must leave now to go have lunch w/ an artist friend.
Safe journey – buen apetito! :cheers:
Why do we always lock the door after the horses are already out?
Yes, but they are already gone.
Because we fear they will bolt.
But had we locked the gate they would not have bolted.
Hopefully when they get the horses back they will remember.
We always remember the stuff that costs us money!
"Why do we always lock the door after the horses are already out?"I seem to have done an awful lot of that the last ten years. The first time, both my dogs ran out the front door and ran down the street: the very next day I had a fence installed around the front yard. Then someone tried to steal my car, the next day I bought a brake lock to go along with my "club" steering wheel lock, then had a rolling security gate installed across my carport. Then, of course, the computer crash w/ no backup. There's been other things, but these three cost me money!I'm still living and learning.
In theory, Newton was a genius – relativity speaking.
Lets not talk about my relatives.
cogitem ego summersed – they think, therefore they sink.
cogitem ergo summersed – they think, therefore they sink.
Newton had it right: input equals output.
We seldom remember the free ride (if it ever exists).
There you go man…Keep as cool as you can.It riles them to believe,that you preceive the webthey weave.(Moody Blues)
sensitas ergo ego sum… non sensito non vivo, suffit null. no regrets.i hadda make that one up.
If ego were the only sum,inward we would be humdrum.There are other parts we seein all of life's creativity.Amidst the beauty of such thingswe soar, we fly with perfect wings.Self expands, we merge and gointo the universal flow.LP:up:
Ego is the thing that gets us in to the most trouble.