Notes at the End of August
“These streets are crazy,” I thought to myself as I ripped down the winding Hollywood streets in the 4Runner.
It reminded me of my time in San Francisco—lush vegetation spilling out into the streets barely wider than an alley. I’ve swapped the regular crawl up and down a 30-degree street for the wide 6-lane surface streets of Phoenix.
I was glad to have the experience once more. I went to Los Angeles to deliver a painting to a client, taking advantage of the proximity to my uncle in Long Beach. Why spend the cash on shipping when I could drive myself, meet the client, and get a short vacation out of it?
On my way back to Phoenix, I had plenty of time to think. This month has given me much to feel gratitude—I’m thankful that my artistic career has led me to the point that I can travel for my own work. I feel significantly further along than I was 6 months ago—even last month. I’m thankful for the ability to meet so many new artists, clients, and other connections.
Getting to this point has been as winding a road as the residential California streets. I’m writing up the 2 year self-employment retrospective later this week, so stay tuned for the discussion on the whole journey.
The post today is all about what happened in August.
Preparing for my studio launch.
New Studio & Launch
At the beginning of the month, I moved my painting studio into a warehouse in West Phoenix. I’m still acclimating to the new way of working, especially the heat; now I’m mostly working in the early mornings and late evenings.
It was a challenge to juggle my commission workload and the setup for my Studio Launch & Painting Sale. It was all worth it— the event went really well! I met between 20-30 new people in the Phoenix area, sold some pieces, and realized the potential that the space offers. I appreciate everyone that came through, and it was really special to have my friends and family around for the event!
After the event, I delivered the paintings to the clients who had purchased pieces and was thankful to have more room to continue production!
New Work
I finished these two figures in July. I’m really satisfied with how they turned out, and I’m excited to continue to use this palette for future pieces. Woman with Onggi is still available, but Self Portrait 1 is going to its new home at the end of the month!
After finishing the figure pieces, I started work on the next few pieces in my queue. The first is a stylized landscape made under loose direction— the client wanted a lot of earthy reds and some yellows. I’m intending to add some more pink to the sky and I’m excited to finish it!
I have another 40”x60” commission to finish in a style that’s somewhat foreign to me. The concept is to recreate a Cézanne composition with broken color— I made the digital render for the client and I’ve been devoting time to fully establishing the colors before I put any paint on the full-size piece. The challenge is that the brushstrokes in this piece will be “one-and-done.” No layering— I’ll be getting the colors and placements correct the first time.
The last is a 48”x30” piece of lavender fields in Provence. The client and I met a few months back, and he mentioned that he wanted a piece much like my existing Cézanne landscapes with thick palette knife textures. He anticipated taking photographs on his trip, and boy did he deliver! I’ve only put down a first thinned layer and I plan to do another pass, make corrections, and then I’ll start adding the texture and vibrant final layer.
LA trip
Back in June, an interior designer purchased my piece based on Cézanne’s Mont-Sainte Victoire. I organized with him delivery, and I had pitched the concept of a trip, since it had been so long since I’ve been to California.
I dropped the piece off at his home in Los Angeles and he sent me the photos of the piece installed in his clients’ home!
Pitching New Clients
Despite having a few projects on my plate, I’m always looking for and accepting more clients. This is the challenge of self-employment— you have to juggle your workload with sourcing more work. I’ll admit that it stresses me out at times, because things come in waves— I spent the first half of this month wondering if I’d sign any new commissions or sell any pieces.
This final week of August has been busy. I drove up to Fountain Hills for a client consultation. I didn’t know what to expect, but I’m loving her concept— she wants a permanent installation of ceramics and flowers with an oil painting of the setup. This is a project that I explored briefly while in Boise back in May; we had bisque-fired pieces which I painted at Art Revel Gallery.
Her home was beautiful and I’m excited at the prospect of being part of it. I’m organizing the entire display, sourcing the ceramics and the flowers. I’ll be putting together some renders and pitching the concept to her later this week.
I also have a few potential projects on the radar— another designer here in Phoenix contacted me about a large statement piece with some greens and reds for a home in Paradise Valley. The clients are reviewing the proposal and I have my fingers crossed!
I have one more client meeting arranged for this week and I’ve been musing on some more concepts for him— it’s always so helpful to see their space and get an understanding of the aesthetic they’re going for!
Requests for Mentorship
I’ve gotten quite a few other artists contacting me, typically asking how I’m going about my sales and marketing. I’ve had a few who are interested in learning oil painting and expanding their creative practice.
I’m considering the best way to respond to these inquiries. I’d love to organize a monthly meeting for artists, with workshops on production, marketing, sales, and delivery. I don’t know if I’m going to be doing these individually or hosting events specifically for artists. If this is you, and you want to learn to do what I’m doing here, feel free to respond to this email and I can tell you more!
As always, thanks for reading!
