If you are going to be in the area, I hope you will come see me. I am in booth 23.
Author Archives: The Vintage Painter
Artstreet Art Fair in Green Bay, August 22 – 24
Next weekend I will be at the Artstreet art fair in Green Bay. This is a wonderful opportunity to catch some great art and a meal. Hopefully, you can make it. I will be in Booth 198.
Also, if you are going to be in the area please stop and eat at the Mustardseed Cafe. The family have been wonderful patrons of my work but more importantly I had one of the best breakfasts anywhere EVER at their restaurant in Green Bay.
Give these loving kids a good home
Just a quick note to let you know that I am auctioning an original oil painting this week.
This original sepia painting, entitled The Wedding Kids, 15″ x 30″ (19″ x 34″ framed), is a one of a kind – there are no canvas or paper prints.
You can click here or visit my auction site to bid and learn more details.
If you are interested in bidding on it but are not comfortable – for whatever reason – using my online auction site please let me know and I will put the bids in for you.
The auction ends August 15th at 6:00 pm CST.
Art View: I Get Around
I get around. No. Seriously. I do.
This year we are doing about twenty-five shows between April and October from Texas to Michigan and up and down the Mississippi River Valley. Because of all the getting around we do, this year we began a project to video document the artists and people that we meet around us. The videos are far from professional, but like my friends, I prefer to think of them as authentic. The result is that you will get to meet some really wonderful people and fantastic artists that you may not know are out there.
At least that is the hope. You get to decide. Where possible we will include links to their websites, Facebook pages and their other social media.
You can see more about this endeavor on my Vintage Painter Youtube channel.
Writer, poet, photographer and teacher Charles van Heck.
Lebanon, Missouri
One of my favorite clients at the 2013 Deep Ellum Art Fair.
A little help from a friend
Powderhorn Art Fair in Minneapolis
First of all, next year, there is no way we are doing an art show every weekend between April and September. NO WAY! We are exhausted.
I’m sorry we haven’t been able to post much this year. Not even pictures but with only five shows left this season I wanted to make a moment and let you know of one close to home in Minneapolis.
The Powderhorn Art Fair is this weekend. Of the three major art shows in Minneapolis this weekend – Uptown, Loring Park and Powderhorn, I like the cool grassy, tree-lined park overlooking the lake of Powderhorn best.
Especially if it is as hot as they are predicting this weekend.
I will be in Booth 102 overlooking the lake and, hopefully, under a tree. Come see me.
Cheers,
Chrissy
A story of Picasso: experience matters
A little story for you.
Legend has it that Pablo Picasso was sketching in the park when a bold woman approached him.
“It’s you — Picasso, the great artist! Oh, you must sketch my portrait! I insist.”
So Picasso agreed to sketch her. After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. He handed the women his work of art.
“It’s perfect!” she gushed. “You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?”
“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.
“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”
To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.”
Borrowed from Matt who borrowed it from Ellen Rohr that probably borrowed it from someone else.
Artists: The Creative Entrepreneurs
“Artists want money so they can make more art; entrepreneurs want money so they can make more money.” – Andrew Horwitz
Receiving my “Best of” Ribbon at Spring Green, WI Art Show. (Summer 2012).
I’m not sure I completely agree with the entire article but it raises some good issues.
Tragically, I do think we live in a culture that believes, “because artists don’t hold the making of money as their highest value, [artists] must therefore be simple and naive.”
Talk about stereotyping!
The truth is, I do everything any other self-employed small business entrepreneur does. I manage my cash-flow, I create a brand, I promote my business and search for the right market that allows me to sell my work for a profit.
And I work hard.
And, like any other good business owner, I reinvest my profits back into my business so that I can continue to grow.
Ford makes and sells cars, Nucor makes and sells steel and I make and sell vintage and Americana themed oil paintings and murals.
I see little difference in our goals, just our Visions.
10 Quotes from Alice in Wonderland That Can Help You Defy Small
I’m reposting this for no other reason than my Partner loves this story.
Love is a Rose and Life is a Canvas
My first three passions in life, after my kids, are genealogical history, vintage Americana, and what I feel is great music. All of those passions come together in my paintings.
I spent most of the 90s following the grunge and punk scene in the Twin Cities. Essentially, going to see original bands every night throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul region. My girlfriends and I spent hundreds of hours going from music bar to music bar following the best acts in the upper Midwest. On any night you could find us at the Turf Club, Uptown Bar (now gone), Cabooze, 400 Bar (also gone), and of course, First Ave.
Plus dozens and dozens of now lost and forgotten dives and corner music clubs. Live original music? We were there.
We were like postmen, “neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night” kept us from following Soul Asylum, Jayhawks, Honeydogs, Trip Shakespeare, The Suburbs, The Phones, Blue Up and dozens of other bands from location to location across the Twin Cities.
And, like the clubs, dozens and dozens of great, but now lost and forgotten, musicians and bands.
Sidebar: Because of the lyrics this is mostly a NSFW video
In our free time we shopped at thrift stores and that is when I started picking up vintage leather jackets. I thought “I could paint these up and use them as my canvases.” I researched paints and dyes and found a great dye that I could brush on and they would be highly wearable and not crack. This was long before YouTube and the internet so the research was done old school.
As such, for several years I painted original themed surrealism and abstracts on a broad range of canvases including on my vintage leather coats and boots. At one time I had 30 or 40 coats I gave away or sold. I even had one stolen when I was a student in Germany.
A few weeks ago my Partner was digging through the garage when he stumbled upon the last five of these jackets. He brought them into the house and he took pictures of me wearing them. He then uploaded them to Facebook, Google+ and a few other of my Vintage Painter social media sites.
It was interesting to see people’s reactions.
Sidebar: Yes, I know there is only four of the five here. My Partner wants me to keep the fifth one for a while. He has some plans for it.
Most people who have met me over the last 10 years assume I only paint vintage and Americana themes. They never thought about what else I paint or have painted. I generally only show my Vintage Painter work publicly and am very protective of my brand and my Vision. Right now that is how I want to be known but I have a large collection of other work that is in my basement and in my studio.
The hand-dyed and painted vintage leather coats were amongst them.
As an artist I am very Vision oriented. When you look at the jackets, each one is very original. I let the jackets speak to me and they would tell me what they wanted painted. I’m not sure non-creatives can completely understand what that means, and I’m not sure how else to explain it, but that is how it works.
When I found a beautiful tan fringed leather jacket, I instantly knew it would become my “Love is a Rose,” Neil Young jacket.
This jacket features three of my loves – surrealism, dogs and Mr. Neil Young and his song Love is a Rose.
I guess that is four things.
Sidebar: This video is completely safe for work.
Nevertheless, a few weeks after my Partner posted the pictures online, the Neil Young Fan Club contacted me and they wanted to write a little post about the coat.
I was honored.
After some thought, I’ve decided to sell the coats – no reason to hang onto them – and try to do some good at the same time. The first coat looking for a new home will be the “Love is a Rose” coat.
I’m selling it through my eBay store with a starting minimum bid of $75. Of that, 25% will be going to Neil Young’s personal charity, The Bridge School. The school offers an innovative program for educating children with severe speech and physical impairments.
Depending on the response, over the next several months I will be selling the other coats too. Hopefully, they will find a good home. Please help me spread the word. Below are some pictures of the other coats.
My Partner has already started to dig though some of my other art relics. It will be interesting to see what else pops up.
“Love is a Rose”
Click to visit the auction on eBay
The Other Coats
Coat: “Innocence”
Coat: “Bent Man”
Coat: “Angel Cat”
Coat: “Innocence”
Coat: “Angel Cat”
Coat: “Bent Man”
Coat: “Bent Man”
Coat: “Innocence”
Coat: “Angel Cat”
Coat: “Angel Cat”
Coat: “Bent Man”
Coat: “Angel Cat”
Things to Remember When Everything Goes Wrong
My family. The 80’s were a strange time for hair.
On my way home from a little art show at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art in Madison, WI last month my van quit on the interstate. Between the hotel, towing and new fuel pump it basically wiped out my show earnings. Which was also my Christmas money for the boys.
When we arrived home a day late and more than a few dollars short, the van quit again.
Apparently it wasn’t the fuel pump.
It would have been simple to have a melt down over the whole event. In reality that is life. Things happen. Then something else happens, and then something else. And over and over. What would a meltdown have achieved?
But we made a move and made the best of it.
Christmas was very lean (my partner and I didn’t exchange gifts) and we found a garage to work on it close to home. They let us leave the van there until we were able to get the money together.
One of my favorite clients at the 2013 Deep Ellum Art Fair.
However, in the last few days I started to feel a bit overwhelmed by some of the fallout. I’m going to miss one of my favorite art shows in Deep Ellum, TX because of finances. We had to buy a starter for the van, the boys had a birthday and some little nickel and dime expenses cropped up. Plus, I’m actively working to buy the house my mom left us from my siblings; the appraisal, probable home inspection and other costs are wearing out the clasp on my purse.
So as I meditated on it this article came to my attention. It really helped.
Since reading it I have tried to focus on the positive – no more shows until April, we made it home safely, we have the money to fix it – again. The van has been fantastic and this is the first money we have had to put into it. The closing is moving forward and the boys had a nice birthday (whether they know it or not). Plus we have wonderful families.
The other bit of reality, is that regardless if I had a “traditional” job, every business has the occasional cash-flow issue.
This isn’t an issue of whether or not my business is viable but whether I am willing to make the adjustments to my business to better fit the situation. We have been challenged to make some changes to my market approach in order to turn this problem into an opportunity. It is different and scary but as my partner has worked on these changes it has become obvious that there is something new and exciting happening to my business.
Most importantly, I finally have a Partner that doesn’t try to shame, humiliate or ridicule me. He stands-up for me and doesn’t believe in “his” team and “my” team. He doesn’t try to put me in the box or judge me for my beliefs or experiences. He has my back.
Plus, one of the reasons he loves me is because of my Vision. He is not jealous or afraid of me having a Vision and a life.
I’m very lucky he found me. And in truth, he tells me he is lucky I found him.
Life isn’t perfect but it is as good as we make it.
First day with my van two years and over 20K miles ago.
The Vintage Painter 