New Abstract Painting: Twilight

"Twilight",  9x9" mixed media on paper. Available.

If you follow me on either Twitter or Instagram you may have seen this one already. I finished it up a few weeks ago, but wasn't particularly happy with the image I was able to get from it. In an attempt to capture the "night sky" feeling I was going for, I pulled out my iridescent paints. I chose "mother of pearl", which has a gorgeous purple cast when looked at one way, and a green when looked at the opposite way. In my photo? It just looks grey. Damn.

I fussed with it a bit, but I was stumped as to how to show the metallic effect. If it was plain metallic, I suppose I might settle for this, but I love that iridescent effect and wanted to show it off. Finally the only thing I could think of was to film a few seconds of video, moving the piece in the light. I couldn't even get that right. My attempts saw the piece going in and out of focus, or I could get the purple but not the green, or the glare from the lights made it so you couldn't see much at all. I tried. This is the best of my attempts... 

One thing about being an artist.... there is always a learning curve. Back in the day (yes, I actually said that. I am that old), you did your work, hopefully got into a gallery, they sold it and sent you a cheque. They did the promotion, printed catalogues, held the parties, dealt with the collectors. Times have changed. The advent of social media totally changed the playing field, and today most artists promote and sell directly. That means keeping up with changing technology, learning how to photograph your work, figuring out how to get paid, and dealing with your own packing and shipping. Then there's the whole website thing, and blogging if you decide to go that route. I've been doing this blog for 3 years now, and even though I like doing it, I've had days where it was the absolute last thing I felt like doing. I've learned how to plan ahead and schedule for stressful times.... and the fact that I've only missed one week during the most stressful time in my life shows that I've at least got that part down. 

And just a reminder, most of the work I post is available for sale. I'm working on adding e-commerce to my website, but in the meantime, if you see something that peaks your interest, shoot me an email and we'll talk.