Beaux Arts Fair in Davenport Iowa, September 6th & 7th

If you are going to be in the area, I hope you will come see me. I am in booth 23.

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.

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

What would you take? An essay on perspective and values.

As an entrepreneur and artist I am always trading off one thing against another to make way for my Vision.

As such, I enjoyed this excellent article on The Art of Manliness website about the Ernest Shackleton expedition to cross Antarctica in 1914.

It was a disaster.

The Endeavor was eventually caught in an ice flow and chewed open by the grinding of the ice against her hull. They were forced to abandon ship and make their way nearly 650 miles across the frozen landscape.

Remember, they did this before Gore-Tex, GPS, cell phones, radios and a host of other modern “conveniences”.

To aid survival Shackleton allowed his crew to take only two pounds of personal belongings on their treacherous journey.

The essay highlights what they kept and what they left behind and then draws some parallels to the modern issues of American life.

I thought it was interesting essay and wanted to share it with you.

To read The Art of Manliness article click here.

Christmas is coming! Christmas is coming!

“Working the Fields”.

Everything has a story.

For Christmas, I’d like to paint yours.

Repeatedly, I’m asked where I get the ideas for my paintings. The truth is my ideas come from you.

The source material from all of my paintings come to me as commission work, personal genealogy research or are donated to me. As such, I know the family and history of almost all of my paintings. I may paint them as impressionism with, or without, a flair of contemporary pop-art or in a realism style but at the end of the day what I paint is based on what I know about the people, the place, the mood and my personal style.

I paint using oil and canvas in a master’s style – no computers, no tracing. Only old school technology.

Find a favorite vintage photo from your family and let me turn it into an original sepia painting!

Order a two figure, sepia painting in my impressionism style before October 31 and have the original painting before Christmas.

20″ x 24″ $600 unframed + $65 S&H = $665 (Normally, $900)
16″ x 20″ $400 unframed + $55 S&H = $455 (Normally, $600)

Lady with Horse Original: Sold. No prints available.

Canvas and paper prints available for an extra charge. Framing available. 50% down due at time of order with the balance due at delivery. 

Because of time constraints only 8 are available at this price. Below are some samples. Cannot be combined with other offers.

…or…

Donate a favorite vintage family photo and if I use it as source material for a painting I will give you a free canvas print of the painting.

Click here for more details. 

Wedding Kids 15″ x 30″ Oil on Canvas Framed: Recovered and re-purposed barn-wood. Handcrafted. $350 + S&H (Originally $700) No paper or canvas print available. Details at http://goo.gl/VTGzGe.

Original Painting: Escanaba Beach Combers. Not Available. Sold.

My sepia painting “Working the Fields”.

Plowing the Fields Original: Sold. No prints.

Backyard Bikers (Paper Print) Paper Print Matted, 11″ x 17″, $25 + $3.99 S&H = $28.99 Canvas Print Not Available Details at http://goo.gl/Xrvqwe.

Front Porch Love Letters Original: Sold. No prints available.

Lady with Horse Original: Sold. No prints available.

Three for the Road, Now 35% off through March 31.

Save 35% on the original oil painting “Three for the Road” plus free shipping through 3/31. Now only $585 (Originally $900).

I will even pay the freight through 3/31. Click here for details.

Original Painting: Three for the Road

Just a reminder

Painting completed my life. – Frida Kahlo

Three Suggestions for Success

Me. A long time ago…

Recently I was drawn to a conversation on Linkedin about the proper etiquette for using photography as a source material for other creative work.

The exact question was:

As a painter, is it OK to create a new work on the basis of a photograph that’s not mine? And should I request permission to acknowledge, even if the painting looks different?”

If you are a member of the Art Business group on Linkedin you can find the complete conversation here.

After some thought I decided to respond – since I actually have experience on the topic and not just an opinion. I think it bears repeating here because I know as a creative person sometimes I get the sense I am on an island doing this alone.

Below is my response:

As someone who makes a good living utilizing vintage and Americana photos as source material for my paintings, I will make three suggestions based on my actual experience.

1. Ignore the critics.

My partner describes it as the 10/10/80 Rule. 10% of the people are haters and will hate it regardless of what you do or how you do it. 10% are going to love it (sometimes even if it is slop). 80% won’t even remember it. Focus on the 10% that matter. Paint what you like. Snobs are snobs. Ignore them.

2. Do what you love.

I have a good friend that only paints plein air. He can’t understand why I would paint “dead things”. I on the other hand doubt the world needs another painting of a birch tree, cardinal or a barn – let alone another photo. We are good friends because we both appreciate the work and lifelong dedication to our own vision…but we certainly don’t critique each others art either. LOL – at least not face to face! lol

3. Listen to your Vision.

If your Vision tells you to paint something you see in a vintage photo, paint it. Stop worrying about what other people think. I like vintage, Americana, history, genealogy and portraiture. What I choose to paint touches all of those themes.

Sometimes I use photos I have taken as source material as in Bill’s Garage and the Magic of Junk. 

Sometimes I use old photos from my family The Regular Dinner.  

Often I use images that were donated to me by supporters and collectors of my work such as Seriv-car and Billboards.  

On VERY rare occasions I use found materials but always ask for permission and check on the rights. I NEVER thrift shop for images as I want to know the history and stories behind my paintings.

So there.

In a nutshell. Ignore the critics. Do what you love. Listen to your Vision.

If you do those three things then you won’t have to worry about copyrights and infringing on other people’s work. Actually, as I’ve discovered, you will end up being the one copied.

Happy Trails.

If you are a member of the Art Business group on Linkedin you can find he complete conversation here.

Vintage Painter Art Auction on eBay

Original: Abby In Spring

In the spirit of spring, I’m trying something new.

This weekend I will be auctioning off one of most popular prints on eBay. I have mixed feelings about this doing this but if I want something different for my life I have to be willing to act differently.

That means not relying so much on juried art shows (travel expenses are huge), galleries (galleries typically keep 30% to 50% of the sale price) or simply commission works. Auctions on my eBay account, promotion of a monthly newsletter, exhibiting at non-art related events and periodic sales are all attempts to act different.

The Beer Can Collection canvas print is 16 inches by 40 inches and is framed in an original, one-of-a-kind, industrial frame made of old ductwork created by a master craftsman friend. I want it to go to a good home.

Click here to go to the auction and learn the details.

The auction ends 3/9/13.

I’m going to experiment with this periodically with originals and canvas prints and see what happens. I’ll keep you posted.

Original: Beer Can Collection

In the frame the dimensions are 24 inches by 48 inches.

Framed Print: Beer Can Collection

 

Trip to Texas

Deep Ellum Art Festival 2012

Spring is sprung! Almost!

In four short weeks I will be leaving for my first show of the year at the Deep Ellum Art Festival. I can’t believe it has been a year already.

Last year was my first major road trip with my partner and we had an amazing time stopping at Bill’s Garage in Lebanon, MO and seeing hundreds of other wonderful people, places and things.

This year will be even better. I won’t be towing a trailer (because I bought a large cargo van), I have a new high clearance tent and the show promoters at Deep Ellum assigned me an end booth on a high traffic corner! It’s going to be a good time.

Plus I have new work. Check out some of the images below.

My partner can’t wait. He went and bought a CB radio just for this so we can chat with the truckers on our 20 hour drive.

Painting: Bill’s Garage

This year I will be in Texas for two shows back-to-back.

Obviously, April 5, 6 and 7 at the Deep Ellum Art Festival. If you will be there come see us, I’ll be in booth 127. The following weekend I will be at the San Antonio Fine Arts Festival. I will let you know exactly as soon as I get my booth number.

Either way I hope you will come see me.

We will be making a detour to Houston and Austin between shows for my partner’s business. He has to still work. If you are going to be in the area please let me know. We would love to have lunch or dinner.

We are always interested in meeting new people and lovers of art.

Happy Trails!

My new van.

Here are some samples of the new work I will be bringing with me.

Framed Print: Bill’s Garage

Framed Original: Brains and Donuts

Original: Jim’s Music

Original: Piddle