Category: Jennifer Cavan

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Getting Ready for ArtsFest

I’ve been working hard to replace some of the paintings that I sold (unexpectedly) on Facebook. Tough to decide whether to show them in advance or not, but here’s what I’ve decided to do (with help from hubby, John). I’ll put them up here and on Facebook, for you to see, but they will not be available for sale until 6pm on July 9th. So…To buy, you need to come to the ArtsFest Premier (hee hee.) I will also take calls on my cell so if there’s something you really love and really can’t get to the show, you can call with your order, but not until 6pm on July 9!

So here are a few, actually one “series” that I just finished. Painted all day at the Angel Fire Retail Association Sidewalk sale. Thank goodness I was inside, as the weather was cold and rainy. That said, I was pretty much alone all day, so managed to complete two more. So, here is the series:

“Sun’s Up” “Taking a Bow” “Lit Up” “Siblings” “The Welcoming Committee”

I also need to get new photos of them. My camera was acting up and it picked up alot of glare from the reflective paint. The first three are 6 x 6, acrylic on cradled panel. The next one is 8 x 8 and the final is 12 x 12. The biggest dilemma I have is just how to hang them on the propanel that I’ll use for the show. I only have the velcro hooks right now, and these don’t have or need wires, so won’t hang on those hooks. Jacqui and I have been chatting about that. Maybe Jen has an idea. I’ll ask.

I have more in process and 3 more 12 x 12 to do. Guess I better get busy. See you on July 9!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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6 years

December 16, 2003. In many ways, it is so far away it doesn’t seem like I was there. Yet some months before that, the path was set before me…and Vicki. So much has happened in the life of the gallery, in that time. Artists come, stay, come go and come again and some, come and go. In 6 years, of the original 10, there are 5, sadly. Happily, there are more than 25 more now. And of those who have come and gone, well, certainly my life is richer for having known them, represented them, or tried to.

To Vicki, I never would have done this without you.

To Jim, Mona, Susan, Jo & Kevin, & Patricia ; You taught me things you’ll likely never know and they have all together woven new threads in the fabric of my life.

Susan, Shirley, Jane, Ami, Ginto, Barbara C. Barbara B., Nieta Fran, Sue, Kathy, Yvonne, Chuck, Margi and Sue, Tom, Teri and Teri and Terry, Cecelia, Mason and Robin and Danny…wow. I can scarcely believe the works you do, the places you are and are going. I’m thankful to have been witness to the creative in you, and hope I’ve encouraged you along the way.

And, now…to all of you who have entrusted a piece of your futures with me, by trusting me with your work, to Jacui and Jennifer and Sylvia, Martin and, Kevin and Scott, to Roy and Ralph and Steve and Sasha, John and Colin and Ed, Wanda, Margaret, Barbara S., and Gary and Laurie, Pamela, Rhonda, Nancy and Sylvia and David and Smith and, now, Lang and Rocio……am I blessed, or what? May this next year, bring great success to all of us. Thank you, thank you all, for six years, and counting. Merry Christmas!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Relaxing


It’s Sunday. The wind is howling, snow is blowing, I hear a big storm is coming. Good time to stay home. I got creative and worked on my latest commission for a few hours this morning. Then I let the creative continue and followed instructions John found for adding a new touch to the dining room. Here’s the site: http://www.designspongeonline.com/2009/11/diy-project-lindsays-wine-bottle-vases.html

I had a stash of bottles awaiting transport to the Taos Recycling Center, so I looked through and found a nice one. Here’s what I did with it. The wall’s not crooked, the photo is, but at any rate, it was fun. I had this fun red frame with white mat that just happened to fit one of Jennifer Cavan’s postcards from a few Christmases ago and that hid the wire (some surplus picture wire) on which the vase (converted brandy bottle) hangs. It took only a few minutes (after I got the labels off…wow do they use some glue on those! A good soaking with Dawn did the trick.) That’s a chunk of rammed earth wall there behind it all. I painted it sort of “mottled” red a few years ago.

Anyway, I’m taking a quiet day now, and the zoom zoom will begin again tomorrow! I think I’ll go push some sand around in the old hot tub room that I’ve been working on for 6 months. The brick is laid. I need to fill all the tiny gaps with sand. That takes time. Put some music on and push the sand around. Sounds like a time for some pondering.

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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Hello from 32,000 feet!

Wow. this is kind of fun. Never posted from 32,000 feet before…but there’s a first time for lots of fun things! We’re headed to Dallas and about half way through the flight on American Airlines and online with gogo so wahoo! too bad I don’t have my webcam with me! I’m sitting by myself cuz John got upgraded, but there was only one seat, so I urged him to take it. My reward is that I’m on the bulkhead behind him, no one next to me. Smiling.

When we left this morning the overnight rain had left the streets wet and puddled, but the towncar ride was pleasant (little traffic at 7am on a Saturday morning). As we lifted off, the damp haze was still hanging over the city.

Part of me wanted to stay, part of me, ready to go home. Little sleep as my brain churned out the order of the tasks awaiting me. 3 commissions yet unfinished. 2 due by December 1. Parties to plan, budgets to stick too, little funds and lots of bills. Little comfort that it’s not just me.

The sun was shining in so much I couldn’t see the screen. Down comes the shade and, ahh, better now.

So, lets see. I did one small painting that I mentioned in the last post. Never got back to it as the sun came out and beckoned me out to wander the streets. It’s always refreshing to me, to wander through downtown or midtown Manhattan, and just try to count the different languages you hear as conversations float past you. Or to wonder who’s local, who’s visiting and from where? Standing on a corner, waiting for the walk light, a couple walked up and asked me where to catch the bus to Long Island. When I explained I hadn’t a clue, that I was visitor, the gentleman said, “oh, we saw you had eggs and thought you lived here”. It was true, I did have eggs, having just left the grocery. Kind of funny…not knowing who lives there. Even the army of tailored black suits is not a sure indication. Lots of those walking the streets in downtown Manhattan. The apartment we stayed in was a block or two from the NYSE. Two blocks from the Hudson River and a 10 minute walk from Battery Park in one direction and the South Street Pier in the other. Fun.

We searched google for an Italian Restaurant and it found 243 in our “neighborhood”. How fun is that? Sushi, Indian, Italian, Irish Pubs on every corner and limos, towncars and the suited drivers stood all in a line on Friday nights. Delmonico’s a four minute walk.

Oh, and they were filming a movie right outside the apartment. That was amazing to watch. Cameras moving along on lines hung for blocks and held up by giant cranes. Lines and lines of equipment rental trucks and vans, and street after street blocked off to traffic…except that the thousands of people who walk everywhere, still did, and so did we. Some of us almost bumping into each other for looking up up up at the wire and camera gliding along it. Definitely fun.

Though I got off to a rather rough start, (lots of rain, over stressed and over tired), in the end, my shoulders are lower, and while I’m not looking forward to the 32 degrees my desktop tells me it is at home, or the snow that I hear (thanks, Jen) is still on the ground, I’m setting my mind on the paintings I need to finish and coming holidays (they’ll be here before we blink). so, I’ll order a glass of wine, recline my seat and smile!

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM
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To Donate, or Not

I know it’s not Sunday (that’s usually when I post) but it is quiet here at the gallery now, and I had a great conversation with Jennifer Cavan which compells me to write. She wrote a great post on “how long does it take?” (to create a piece). And as she says, there is so much “not art” that goes into the business of being a professional artist that the casual viewer doesn’t see. So, whether you spend an hour, a day, a week or a year, that process is not the whole piece. I’m starting there, because our “great conversation” was about donating work (or not) to the many organizations who ask. She might post about too, but I thought I’d get the conversation going here.

Over the years, I would hazard a guess that I’ve donated, somewhere in the range of $25,000 in my art. So, why do I severely limit what I donate and to what organization now? Let’s see what those donations did for me, for the organization, for the art community, for the galleries.

If I donate a piece with a retail value of $500, what is that for me? lost revenue of $500. It is basically “advertising expense” and based on tracking, very poor at that. Worthwhile advertising nets revenue. Not so a donated piece.

How about the organization that gets it? Once in a while at the Music From Angel Fire Art Auction, a piece will go for at or near it’s value. But way more often, most work gets “sold” for about 20 cents on the dollar. So, they have to sell ALOT of art to generate reasonable revenue…and if you’ve ever been to one, you know that they do.

Now, examine the impact of that. If, at the auction my $500 piece was lucky, and sold for $200, the lucky winner got a “bargain”, and I’ll hear about it for the next few years. Will they come buy a piece from me? Not likely. Will the person that was bidding against them? Not likely. Why? because they’ll go to another auction and try again. I have actually had people tell me that they love my work, but will wait for the MFAF auction. Those same people say, “I love this gallery, I hope you are successful!” and walk out the door without spending a dime. So, I wonder, how does that work?

A few years ago I donated a $300 piece to a local group and they sold it in a “Live” auction, for $35. While one person jumps up and down about how they “stole”it, several hundred others watched it. What is the impact of that?

That said, yes, I will donate to the MFAF auction. Maybe a handful of others. But I sincerely hope those of us who buy at similar auctions will consider supporting the artists, as well as the organizations. And I would encourage the non-profits that auction art, consider more than their own bottom line, look for ways to support the artists that make their fundraisers possible.

I have lots of ideas on that……

Angel Fire ArtSpace,
3469 Mountain View Blvd, Suites B2-4 Angel Fire NM