On The Easel...

Still not sleeping but I am painting. This week I have been working on this. She's 33 x 49 inches. I haven't thought of a name for her yet, so suggestions are welcome. It's finished, for the most part. Although, I never know when to quit.


The Rewards Of Good Service...

About a month ago a couple was in the gallery looking around. The woman found two works she really liked. I gave them the whole nine yards. We spent about an hour or so talking. I answered all of their questions and addressed objections. The man had no interest in buying right then so I sent them with information about the work and the gallery.

This week the man calls the gallery. We spoke for a while. I answered more questions. He wanted the works for Christmas. He liked the way they were framed. The price was ok.

All of his questions answered and objections over come he says, "I'm going to try and find them locally. Thanks." and he hangs up on me.

WTF? I pride myself with offering above average service. When I do all the work I expect the sale.

I was pissed about this for the rest of the day and most of the next.

So I called him back. I apologized for bothering him and asked what it was I had done to offend. He didn't understand. So I tell him, "You were in my gallery, saw the work. You liked them. You called me back. You want them. After everything I've done for you, you would rather give your money to a gallery you've never been in. I must have done something wrong. In order for me to improve I would very much like to know what I could have done differently."

I have no doubt my tone was condescending. At least I meant it to be.

He stuttered and stammered for something to say. He said it was because he called a couple of times and we weren't there. But he didn't bother to leave a message. He thought we were closed for the winter. Yet he called back again and left a message.

What a lame ass excuse. When he did leave a message I called him back within hours.

I have no doubt he will stop in again next time he's in town. With any luck I will still be in business so he can look around and waste my time.

Gallery rule: If you are in a gallery, or any store for that matter, and find something you want. If you get good service. Buy it from that place or don't waste their time.

More Spare Time...

It's almost 1:30am and I'm still in the studio. Still not sleeping. What's worse is that now I'm not painting either.

The gallery has been keeping me busy with the new artists, doing all of our own framing and most of another galleries framing.

Mr. Man is getting to be more of a handful with each passing day. It's awesome how fast kids learn. When I'm not at the gallery I'm with him. Precious and I still trade off. It's just the two of us to run the gallery and care for Bug.

Now, as if that all weren't enough. I have agreed to take over for the gallery across the sky bridge. It's about fifteen feet from our gallery.

It's basically just a storage space with display for two other galleries in town. The owners would like to try and sell from this space but didn't really want to hire someone to work there.

The doors will stay closed. I'll have a key. If anyone wants to look around they just have to ask.
Just what I needed, right?

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Because I'm a Mole, I have made my first guest mole post at Taupes delires, Idol Worship.
I hope that it's worthy of Laurence and the Bee Happy tradition of excellence.

A Little Batty...

How many of you know this candy bar? It's the Twin Bing. One of the most fabulous candy bars ever made. I haven't seen them since I left the mid west 20 plus years ago. My dad is a huge fan of these as well and has talked about them for decades. I bought an entire box of them for him for Christmas. That's 144 candy bars. Ok I've eaten several of them already. He should end up with about a hundred of them. They are so good!

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I just downloaded the PhotoStamps application for Tiger. It lets me make postage stamps with my own photos. It works with iPhoto also, which is cool. So today I made a couple of sheets of stamps with Mr. Man's photo on them. Next will be my art work, art from the gallery, all kinds of crazy things.

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How many days can a person go with out a decent night sleep? I'm going on....three years now. I can't seem to get more that about three to five hours, and not even consecutive hours.

It's making me a little batty.

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Political Correctness is TOTALLY out of control. What the hell is wrong with people? Will no one be happy until everything is ruined for everyone else? When did everyone get so touchy and easily offended by absolutely everything?

I just read about Santa's not being allowed to say "Ho Ho Ho" because it may be degrading to women. What kind of person would be offended by Santa and his Ho Ho Ho? And is this the kind of person that anyone should be listening too?

Let me tell you. Crazy fucked up people and NO. They need a big heaping helping of STFU!

How about calling things the way the are? How about taking responsibility for our own actions? What if we stopped catering to the lowest common denominator of humanity?

Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life America.



Playing With Fire...

After several weeks of the most beautiful fall weather, the rain has returned. I've been watching it out the window of my studio. Pacing back and forth. Sorting paintings, drawings and stacks of things from one pile to another.

I stood in front of my canvas for what I thought was a few minutes. It was an hour and a half.

More pacing. More sorting. I have been changing channels for I don't know how long. Still haven't seen anything for more than a few seconds. I'm not sure why I'm even doing it.

Precious and Mr. Man have been asleep for hours. Every now and then I sneak upstairs to kid myself I'm going to bed. I poke at the fire. Sparks dance and fade away. I stand over Mr. Man and stare. He talks in his sleep. My mind wanders into the future. His future. What will the world hold for him? I want to lock him inside and never let him go.

Insomnia makes my mind go. It wont shut off. More pacing. I think I'll go play with the fire.

Why Must You Mock Me...

Sometimes the voices get so loud. And of course they all want to talk at once. It makes it hard to hear any of them clearly. Ignoring them is usually the best. Eventually they fade.

The visions on the other hand, are soft and quiet. Crystal clear in my mind. Every detail is right there in front of me. But they're stuck.

No matter how clearly you can see them in your mind, getting them out is painstakingly difficult. No matter how you beg and plead with them.

They taunt you like a play ground bully.

What do you want from me? So close, I can almost touch them. When I reach out they pull back and fade away, only to come back clearer than ever.

Curse you! Stop it I say. Come out or go away!

For days, weeks, months and years at times. You toy with me. Just when I have you out of my mind you poke me with a stick. "Here I am, come get me."

I reach out only to have you pull away again. Re-opening the wound, rubbing salt in it and laughing at my pain. Mocking me.

Why can't I just let go of you? Why?

I beg of you, please...

Quick Draw Update...Part 2

The reception at the gallery was a big success. Unless you equate sales with success. In that case it just stunk. Lots of people wanting to eat free food, drink free wine, watch Christopher paint and act like it was the social event of the year at MOMA. If only these people knew what MOMA was.

A lot of couples talking about which paintings they liked, which they loved, where they would hang the work once they got the work home. Everything we should hear right before they say, "I'll take it." Except they didn't say that. I so don't get this town.

The after party was at our house. We had about 20 people stop by. Friends, clients, artists.
Even with the time changing we managed to stay up until about 2 am. That would have been fine had I not need to be back at the gallery at 9:30 am.


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This was the first practice work from the Quick Draw. It's 11 x 14 inches


This is the second of the practice works. It's 12 x 36 inches and it sold at the auction.

This was the main work that I painted for the event. It's 24 x 36 inches, oil on canvas.


Today we should be able to wrap up a few sales from the last few days. We better. It will be a bit slower. No more receptions today. Today it's all about the work.

Photos of Christopher's painting in the gallery will be up soon. He painted three works whie he was here.




Quick Draw Update...Part One

The event was sold out. About three hundred people milling around, staring, asking silly questions.

I set up my table at about 6:45 pm, went directly to the bar for a double vodka rocks. $12. Bastards.

From 7 to 8 pm there was a catered reception for the crowd to meet and greet the artists, eat and drink. While I was talking, eating and drinking, and drinking, I was warming up by painting two smaller canvases. An 11 x 14 inch and a 12 x 36 inch. People stood and watched, took photos, blah blah.

At 8pm the time started and we were off. I chose to paint a 24 x 36 inch canvas. I was much more relaxed this year than last. I didn't stress. I took my time. I managed to talk with anyone that stopped to ask questions. I paused for drinks. I asked people what they thought as I painted.

I managed to finish my painting in about 40 minutes. I was pleased with it. It gave me a chance to wonder around for a while to see what the other artists were doing. There was some good work as well as some crap.

At 9pm the auction started. My work came up while I was hiding at the back of the crowd. I don't like the auction part. This year mine sold for $975. After the quick draw works were auctioned a few of us that had done others were asked to auction those as well. The 12 x 36 inch also sold for $475. Not bad. It was about there wholesale prices. I was pleased.

Photos will follow of course.

Today we have had Christopher Mathie in the gallery painting. Tonight our reception starts at 6 ish. The town is packed for the weekend.

Right now I took a break from the gallery so I could come home and make a lasagna. We will have about a dozen guests tonight after the receptions are over. About 10-11pm.

I have to finish cooking tonight apps and get them and myself back to the gallery.

More to come...

Life On The Line...

Chapter one I jumped into cooking on a bit of a whim. With little to no hesitation. After spending many years in the art business I was lo...