Palm Bayou
12x16 inches
Mixed Media on panel
gold or copper frame
800.00
Purchase HERE
Painters Tip
Loyalty
I was having a conversation with on of my sponsors yesterday via email. We were talking about loyalty. I think it's one of the most important things we need to think about in our professional lives as painters.
Loyalty to our own style of work is important. I don't know about you but I constantly see painters change their painting methods to make their work look like other more popular artists. How many Richard Schmids, Charles Soveks, Matt Smiths have we seen out there? The plein air world is full of this. Since California is the Mecca for plein air painters, I see more and more painters emulate the California painters. This is sad to me. Florida is a unique and beautiful place. It should be celebrated for it's uniqueness, and yet more and more work I see here looks like cookie cutter stamped out California copied work. It is difficult to be loyal to your own work sometimes. Sometime you feel that it is not understood or appreciated. You must be loyal to your own muse. Don't take the easy way out by jumping on bandwagons. Those bandwagons have a habit of falling off a cliff at some future time. Clients are fickle. Some other fad will come along soon enough. If you are sure of your own work and continue to produce the best you can, the clients will find you. I have learned the hard way not to be discouraged at paint out events. My paintings always find their owner, but not necessarily at that event. The sales come later.
Loyalty to our galleries is important. Promoting our galleries and keeping our work rotated in them is important. It works both ways though. The galleries that I am most loyal to are good to me. They put my work on their web sites, they communicate well, pay on time and make an effort on my behalf.
Loyalty to suppliers is important. I am loyal to the suppliers who treat me like a person, not just an order number. I want to speak to a real person, not a machine. I have the expectation that problems will be solved in a timely manner and with courtesy. It's not about discounts to me. Quality and service are more important. I know that I can go to my local framer and have a frame that I need made immediately if I need it. My other suppliers are the same way. They are loyal to me because I am to them.
Loyalty to clients is important. If my client wants a special frame, I will get it for them, if they need me to drive 50 miles to deliver a painting, I will do it. If they want to come to the studio at 3 AM, I will get up for them to show work. I will help my workshop students prepare for a show, do research for them, help them to frame paintings and give them advice. Clients are your life blood. No one is more important to you than they are. I never forget that they put the bread on my table. Most of them become personal friends. Loyalty to them is without question.
Who has helped you even in a small way to make your living as an artist? Do you eat in the restaurant that gave you a show? Shop in the bookshop who sells your notecards? Do you refer friends to businesses who support you?
Who deserves your loyalty? Are you giving it to them?
2 comments:
Linda you are so right. We should grow in our own work but it should be true to ourselves. I believe to a degree there is 'peer' pressure to follow trends or the way another person thinks but like my clothes I don't update my wardrobe to be up to date. I am who I am and my work reflects that person and for that reason I have become more open how I go about my own style. My way isn't for everybody and that is exactly how it should be. Wouldn't it be a sad world if we all painted with the same style.
Absolutely agree Susan. We need to be loyal to our own work and not let others' popularity sway us to do things we simply aren't happy with.
We need to be very proud of what we have worked so hard to accomplish in our own work. There is a market for every style.
Thanks for your wise comment.
Love,
Linda
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