AMBER GEORGE

I hate to say it, but sometimes it really is all about size.  I recently heard from Susan Eley, my gallerist in New York.  She had been contacted by a client who wanted a 60″x60″ painting and they loved my work.  Since I work in encaustic, 60×60 is a really big size. For all of my acrylic and oil painter friends out there, it’s kinda like asking you to paint a 10’x10′. It’s a daunting task.  And they didn’t want to commission anything.

This situation pushes two of my buttons.  One being the people pleaser button, I really would love to help Susan make the sale. Obviously I have a dog in the fight as well, since it would be a lucrative sale for me.  I suggested four 24″x24″ or four 30″x30″ panels that could be hung together for the effect of a larger painting, and I have several paintings in those sizes the client could chose from. Plus I think that groupings like that are a sophisticated approach to hanging and seeing art.  Susan suggestedtwo 24″x60″ paintings, which happen to be my favorite size to paint right now and would be a welcome challenge for me to essential think of them as pairs. Client says no go.  They want one piece. Here’s where button number two gets pushed.

I have a hard time letting go of a missed opportunity. Some situations just don’t work. I can’t feasibly paint a 60″x60″ painting and ship it across the country and hope that the client likes it. It’s not a typical size for me and it’s too far outside of what I normally do. So I’ll keep painting, doing what I do and hope that the next opportunity that comes along will call for 24″x24″ paintings, lots of them.

So, after much discussion with friends, students, my husband David and random strangers (okay, not really) I have decided to start  blogging. I promise to keep it interesting, and I’ll probably write about all kinds of things, from the mundane to the extraordinary things that seem to happen now and again.  So here we go…

I only need to look at the dog to know it’s spring. Okay, lots of other things tell me it’s spring. The peach tree is in bloom, the apricot tree has leaves, the coral tree is blooming and the days are longer. Which throws our dinner time off something fierce, but I digress.  All I have to do is look at my dog Teddy. He has a perma-smile, and all he wants to do is hang outside.  He has also begun to crush the african daisies on his favorite spot that looks out on to the backyard.  He can also stand guard to protect our old girl cat, who likes a spot just adjacent.

Spring is time to start anew, to evaluate and grow new leaves.  So that’s my plan. Starting with this blog. Hope you’ll stop by for a read now and again.