The Slog...

 Hey all,

Well I did the artisans fair today. It was disappointing, at least sales wise. I did enjoy doing a painting outdoors. That is fun. Also fun, meeting lot's of people and getting positive feedback on my art.

 "Road Above the Valley" Size 11x11 by M Francis McCarthy

I'm calling this post the slog because I'm being forced more and more to deal with the marketing side of my art and it does feel like a slog. I don't think I'm alone among my fellow artists in preferring painting to marketing. I think most of us would love for some type of fairy godmother to materialize and solve all of our marketing challenges.

Many artists have a hard time even producing their art. Excuses not to paint present themselves too readily. I'm fortunate that my work ethic helps dispel that particular issue in my case. I'm getting more prolific and the quality of my art is also improving. In fact, good paintings are starting to pile up.

That is an upside problem. Having many good paintings about the studio is wonderful. However, art is not a closed circuit. It must flow and circulate among the people. 

Some of us secretly dream of post death fame resulting from the sheer genius of our work bearing upon the orbs of the future. That has happened... For a tiny few of the unmarketing motivated painters of the past. We've all heard of Van Gogh and we're thinking, hoping, that we'll get the same treatment. 

I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that though. It doesn't work like that at all...

If we believe in what we're doing. That our work is good and deserves to be in people homes and be positively regarded. We must take the reigns of our own marketing and we must devote a portion of our time to creating markets and venues for our work. No one else seems to want to, or be able to do the job.

That's what I'm doing. So, watch out. I may be coming to your town...

Cheers,

A bit about "Road Above the Valley". There are two paintings underneath "Road Above the Valley". The first painted a year ago, then another about 6 months back. Not only that, the motif is one I painted three years ago after arriving in New Zealand. 

I'm pretty happy with the final result. I like the square format that features a big sky full of color. My painting has been getting more colorful of late especially in the skies. This was one of the paintings I had with me today at the fair.