Hi Mary,
Thanks for the Junior League idea. I'm getting a sinking feeling and a reality check from yours and many other posts in the business/marketing section that children's portraits are the stock and staple of portraiture-as-income. Although I've done a thousand portraits of children (literally), I didn't recognize it as being the bulk of my market. What a whack in the side of the head! I'm not that fond of painting children. Maybe I've done one too many children's portraits.
This has been a problem my entire creative life: I keep changing!!! I'm trying to leave "cute" and "pretty" paintings behind and make portraits that show something else. I don't know what. But my recent portrait (attached) comes closer than ever. Once I only wanted to paint like Sargent and now I want to paint like Avigdor Arikha.
So I need to try to make a living without painting children, if that's even possible. Or if it is possible, I want to paint children without the cute-ness that is their most obvious trait. (Would anyone buy them?) Maybe this should move to a different discussion thread -maybe one on creativity issues... I continue to get my issues fused together. What to paint, how to paint, whether to paint figures or landscapes, how commercial to become? Unfortunately, I don't think I have a choice about the commercial part. Well, anyway, thanks to everyone for the marketing reality check! I appreciate so much your willingness to share ideas and your helpfulness.
Melanie Peter
To see Arikha go to
http://www.marlboroughgallery.com/ar...a/artwork.html
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