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11/30/2008: "Ain't that a kick in the head?"
Hurry Hurry Hurry, Everything Must Go!
Since returning from Hawaii I've been a painting fiend. I had until Dec. 8th to get paintings shipped to a gallery in Anchorage for a Dec. 12th opening. This was to be the gallery's last show, one they had planned a big party for. I wasn't able to finish all of the new pieces before my honeymoon and since oils take so long to dry and my paintings go through multiple drying phases, I decided to do something I've never done before.
I rounded up all of my paintings from former shows that didn't sell and picked out the ones that seemed to work together the best collectively. Then I repainted them all. some I only made minor changes to, others I repainted almost entirely. It was incredibly liberating. I realized there were quite a few things about old paintings that I didn't like, the eyes that were too close set, the hand that wasn't quite right, etc. and since the work had already been displayed in Juneau and probably never would be shown again, I took some risks I might not have otherwise taken.
It was hard at first, you get used to a painting looking a certain way after awhile, but after awhile it got addicting. I think I've re-painted (and improved in my opinion) nearly every painting that I had on hand. I also finished several new pieces. I painted so much in the last couple of days that my shoulders and hands were cramping up. But finally, all of the paintings are drying and I felt confident they'd be ready to ship on Friday.
December is the end of a calendar year for tax purposes and I haven't sold much at all this year, and as I claim to have an art business, not having any sales does not look good at all to the IRS. I had to cancel my show in July due to getting married and not wanting to have a physical and mental break-down, so I was counting on this show to unload some work in a new and larger market.
About twenty minutes ago I got this message from the gallery owner:
"I received some bad news at the end of the week from our "property managers" that they would not allow us to have a show on the 12th of December for our last hurrah. Not only did we fight this as much as we possibly could, but we feel horrible about this late of notice for something we've been planning for so long."
I have had shows canceled at the last minute in the past, but this one was particularly disappointing. I had planned to fly up for the opening (standby on one of my sister's airline passes) and spend the weekend there with a friend, but now I can't really just justify the trip.
I think what I'll do instead is photograph the pieces (including detail shots) that would have been in the show, and try to sell a few through this website. I'll reduce the prices by 15-25% from the original asking prices and throw in free frames for paintings and free shipping and handling for the US and Canada.
If you really like a piece but still can't afford it, make me an offer. I just really need to sell a few paintings (or prints) before the end of the year.
Speaking of which, I have three new prints (shown below) that I never added to my "for sale" page with the other prints. I will find out tomorrow what size they are and also how much they'll cost and how many are currently in stock...the free shipping will count towards prints as well but otherwise prints won't be discounted as my profit margin on them is way way too thin.
Anyway, I'll be posting the other pieces including their original and discounted prices as soon as possible, hopefully by tomorrow night or so. Wish me luck!