Athena

[Debra Jones]

I have talked to a gallery owner who loves my work, but we both agree, that until I find a clientele which is all about stopping painting and starting to network (I just do NOT have the wardrobe for networking, which I need money for, so you see the vicious circle?), I should try to be more figurative. We have had many debates around the forums as to what figurative is and if you want my humble opinion, it is eyes looking off. All that does to a pose is take it internal, rather than presentational.

Ok that tirade over, I got into the studio early to set a dramatic light, threw in flowers and let the model plunk herself wherever she wanted. Luckily she looked up and to the left.

This is 24" x 18" oil.

[Sharon Knettell]

Debra,

I love this piece, such juicy paint and a really lively expression.

Oh, I don't agree with you on the your eye rule for deciding whether it is a portrait or figurative. Some examples are Manet's "Olympia", "The Bar at The Follies Bergere" or his "Dejeuner s'ur L'Herbe" and Goya's "Naked and Clothed Majas". I think these are both, but are really more figurative. There are more examples I could mention as well.

Try another gallery. They should do the networking, that is why they chomp off 40 to 60%. They should HAVE the clientele, that is their business! You should not have to drum up clients for them. Most of my work has been purchased by complete strangers, I would have had to wear out a lot of Ferragamos and drink a lot of wine at too many boring parties and I still would have not met any of them. If I had to depend on friends or acquaintences in my pea-picken little state of RI, I would have thrown in the towel a long time ago. Use the internet to ferret out galleries that are sympathetic to your style of work. Look into an artists representative, you only have to pay them a percentage of sales.

As to a wardrobe, I belong to the Copley Society of Art in Boston, people show up in dungarees and ratty hair at the openings. Somebody once said "if you can't afford to be chic, be outrageous!"

Sincerely,

[Debra Jones]

You made me laugh!

As I have an addiction to our local open studio, I rarely get an opportunity to paint more than one person at a time and have a huge portfolio of heads (which is my joy) but not a lot of sales of such. They are very representational and have strong likenesses but if you don't know them they tend to be dull. Hence the eyeball comment.

When you add another person you have a story. Olympia is full of content because of the maid. Without her it is just beautiful. Your point is correct, but cut out the environment and it is a head. Interesting but less interesting.

My challenge is to make a story out of a solitary person. The Maja's for example. The moody Absynthe Drinkers are a bit "done" out here but that is exactly the "feel" of a solitary person with a story I am looking for. I hate backgrounds and as our studios are only three hours, I try to make the most out of the time, so I have tried dazzling and not baffling.

The clientele I must seek is for the portraiture. I so agree that an artist's rep would be the best route for me but even that requires me putting down the brush and seeking them out. Until then, I am trying to see what the casual passerby may find interesting and have had lots of support from this individual at the gallery. He knows his market. Not that his market is every gallery's market, but I bow to his expertise as guidance. The two of you have really made my Monday.

You have encouraged me.
Thank you!

[Mike McCarty]

I tend to agree with Sharon, you should paint and they should sell and therby earn their percentage.

I love your work. This to me is still a portrait, but I think you are right on the cusp of creating great figurative work (if that's what you want to do). Just widen the frame and add one more dude and you may find a wider market.

[Debra Jones]

You made a really strong point to me.

I agree this is still a portrait. I have labored over detail, but honestly seem to have a knack for catching an essence in the first few minutes of a pose. I personally LOVE the look of the undersketch! I like the immediate recognition without the labor of the finish. I feel like a student perfecting the lessons but not really learning much more. I think I am coming to the point of leaping out into a style.

The figurative aspect has been grossly avoided and quite honestly, I am really competitive in this open studio setting. If my picture is not the truest likeness I tend to overcompensate. It is all about my shakey ego.

I think it is time to jump out of the airplane knowing the parachute works. I have a skill and I owe myself the stretch to dive into the painting and my sense of it. By leaning toward my own definition of figurative, I know the totality of my work will improve. The life lived (or even imagined) in the image is half the story I have available to me as the artist and I have been seriously neglecting it for the high I get when the model looks over my shoulder and beams. They will beam if it is a really good painting, not just a good likeness and I may be connecting with a lot more of that audience in the bigger frame.

I like the metaphor of frames too!
Thanks.

[Linda Brandon]

Dear Debra,

Why do you think you need a 'wardrobe for networking'?

Best regards,
Linda

[Sharon Knettell]

Debra,

I think you are very talented and believe or not you know what's best for yourself.

I decided I would concentrate on my own work, until I croak. I found that going around in an "antique or classic car", buying flip-flops at Walmart instead of shoes at Neimans and patching up my dress sweatpants was better than spending the time drumming up portrait customers.

I don't like backgrounds either unless they are simple flat and decorative. You can do a lot with just a face or a figure. Actually it is, I think, more difficult and satisfying to just do simple figurative work. You have to be aware where all the parts are, not so easy.

Sincerely,

[Mari DeRuntz]

Just a thought - figurative work seems to deal more with how the subject "interacts" with the setting, and less tightly cropped seems to be one of the determining criteria, although paintings always break the rules. Of the contemporaries, I'm thinking Milt Kobayashi, Dan McCaw, and of the realists, Allan Banks, Jeffry Mims, Morgan Weistling, Jeremy Lipking.

These paintings are all generally about the figure's relationship within the pictoral space.

[Debra Jones]

Ok Linda!

Let's just say I need to leave my house in something besides my pastel pants! You have SEEN me in studio!

I brought out my summer stuff this week, and that is the stained right hip where I wipe my sticks to see what color they are but this lovely ensemble had ventilated knees, which grew to my hip as I drove over there. I feared the seat leaving when I bent to set up the pose! I have ONE decent dress to show myself in public gatherings. You are all thinking I am joking, but a few extra pounds and lack of attention to the fashion scene have left a full closet of clothes too small and no desire even to run to TJMAXX.

By not reaching out to touch more galleries, I have no room to walk in the house and have cut my work schedule back to where a loose tooth is getting postponed until I come up with just the right promotional piece to try a trade with a periodontist.

It is a bit ugly.

Thanks for the inspiration Mari. I have met your two contemporaries. Just a month or two ago Dan McCaw gave a lecture at the school and although some friends grumbled that he had not taught anything of the technique my friend expected to hear, I found it a really inspiring and expanding lecture. Milt is a former mentor and lets me help out when I can with his studio.

The Kobayashi effect is a little of my problem, as two pieces directly influenced by his workshop have received a lot of notice lately and to my dismay. He has a big fan base out here and I determined to not come out a clone, so I avoided trying to slavishly mimic his style and learned a LOT about the craft of painting. Now I am rethinking subject for mood and trying to get that pop without the immediate recognition! A quandary!

Thanks for all your support folks. I am still trying to figure out how to paint what I want and still live indoors! Maybe I will stick back in that day I took off my work schedule just to get a running jump at it again. Or just to get this tooth fixed!

[Sharon Knettell]

Ah, the haute-couture of the pastel artist!

I was driving up to Boston quickly last week to grab some pastels. As I was coming directly from my studio, I was dressed by the same designer as Debra. I had to stop at a toll booth and while I was fishing around for the right change, the toll collector took one look at me and my car and said "That's okay ma'am" and waved me on!

Ah, the glamour!

Sincerely,