What if we improve?
 

What if you change your style, or just plain get better? Is it awkward meeting older clients at shows, etc? Do you turn that into a sales opportunity, or make excuses for your old work, or suggest it's just a new direction, or what? Do you keep mum and smile pleasantly, wait for them to bring it up, and then say, "why yes, I'm really quite good now, eh?"

I keep waiting. But anyway, your prior clients and purchasers bought what they liked. If you're even better now, they're already sold. Rejoice.

There are myriad outlets, mostly unpaid, for new writers, and I have stuff out there that absolutely makes me cringe. But it was the best I could do at the time, and getting it into print was a big deal for my progress at the time, and I make no apologies. I have provided countless bird cage linings to folks who would have otherwise had to use more expensive Viva towels. Those folks now have larger and more expensive birds, and are looking to move up in accommodating them. I'm ready, with ever more remarkable manuscripts.

Steven, I have some old paintings in the garage that might work for those bigger bird cages. Let me know where I should send them!

I also have some clients I still see who were among the first buyers of my work. Every time I go to their homes I want to ask them to take the paintings down.... but I just smile politely and try not to look at what I created back then.

I've wondered about this myself
 

One case in particular: I did two sisters individually about 1yr apart 5 and six years ago. Well, it is almost time to do the third sister and I KNOW this one will be far better than those first two, and it will be obvious when they are hanging in the same room. I really worry about it.

I'd use it as an opportunity...

"Do you see how much I have improved? You should have me paint another." Do not act ashamed at all. Make them want another now because they are collectors of yours. They NEED more recent work from the artist since they already invested in one of your earlier works. At the rate your work is improving, this is a great investment...blah...blah.

Just make sure your prices are higher now so they will look at the improvement in quality accordingly.

I think it is a mistake to in any way diminish what you have done to the person who owns one of your previous works. You can cringe inside, but outwardly I would never bring it up, and if someone else did I would dismiss it as being simply a different unique work of art.

People become emotionally attached to what they have and I don't think they dwell on these matters nearly as much as we do.

Most people who tell me that are trying to compliment me. Let's face it, everyone is your critic. Today a very old friend commented on a painting I did of her late husband several years ago, that I had improved since the portrait of him, that I didn't quite get the mouth; but I am doing them good now! It is a good thing that we get feedback like that to keep us humble. Perhaps the work we do today will get a negative critique down the road, no matter how good we think it is today. You can't please everybody, anyway.

I just keep quiet and tell myself that when I am a famous artist, these "early works" will be of interest to art historians, and will have added value due to their provenance.:)

I'll use that too, then, Chuck.

I want to run all over town and re-paint everything I've ever done, but my business manager and better half says that it's not allowed. She also makes the point that if someone loves something I painted and can now surpass, who am I to question it--that what makes it special to them may be lost in applying the new tecnique. And she makes the additional point that it betrays a lack of confidence and undercuts how accomplished the universe thinks I am. So I try to smile and keep my mouth shut.

My creditors don't particularly like my going back and re-working past attempts for free, either.

Also, when I think about it, I'm more afraid of the question: "What if I DON'T improve?"

Best--TE

Lon, you're in good company. You wrote:

Remember Sargent's famous quote, that "a portrait is a painting in which there is something wrong with the mouth."