Sunset from yesterday over the central Texas prairie - no particular importance to what I want to say, but I like the picture.
What happens after the easel?
I would like to see an article or a series of articles on the mechanics of what to do after completing a painting with pastels – when the painting leaves the easel
No one I know has someone waiting to take the finished picture to a professional photographer and then to a framer who will than whisk the famed piece to a gallery where it will stay for a week or two before it ends up on the wall of a collector’s home or office. Most of these tasks are the work of the artist, and they are just as important to the process of selling our paintings as creating them in the first place.
Here is a list of some of the things that I have to face and would like all the information I can get:
• Mats and matting, importance of acid free, acid neutral, etc.
• What to do if one cuts their own mats
• Framing without mats and the advantages, disadvantages
• Frame considerations for unmatted pictures
• Glass types and glazing considerations
• Kinds of frames and frame terms such as “plein air,” rabbit, etc.
• Consideration in selecting a frame for the best presentation of a particular picture
• Differences of framing for a show as compared to a gallery
• Photographing one’s work
• Creating an accurate and usable catalog of completed pictures and making it work for identifying and tracking one’s paintings
• Accounting of expenses and revenue for tax purposes
• Keeping accurate records of expenses and sales and being prepared for tax accounting
• What to do with paintings that aren’t framed – storing finished paintings when framing them is not practical, the use of glassine and storage folders, drawers, boxes, etc.
• Fixatives and considerations for their use
• Building and keeping a resume – what’s important and what’s not
One additional issue that I would like to see addressed is why galleries do or do not feature pastel paintings. With only a few exceptions, my observation is that pastels are rarely prominent or plentiful in galleries. I would like to know why this is and what can be done about it.
I have also noticed the lack of pastels. If you look through Southwest Art and the Plein Aire art magazines you will also notice the rarity of pastels. On occasion both magazines will focus on pastels, I have friends who ask why don't you do oils? and some friends who switch. I prefer the beautiful color and still have so much to learn. The public does need to be educated and one of the ways is to see pastels on equal footing to oils. It is a conundrum.
ReplyDeleteCarole, it seems we pastelists have an educational task before us with both the established art community of publishers and galleries and with the art collecting population.
ReplyDelete