The End
 

I'm a lurker, not a poster, but I have a burning question and value the opinion of SOG Forum members more than any other artist forum I've seen.

I've just finished a piece that I've worked on the the past month. I love it. It's my best so far. But I love 'em all. That's the problem. I actually feel quite SAD, that it's done. Am I nuts?

My long range plan, (I'm now 47) is to develop my skills and style privately for the next several years, let's say five more, and then begin to market my work to enhance my retirement income. This is a sensible plan right? The thing is, I have such a feeling of loss when I give a piece away, now, like I did at Christmas, (I visit them at mother's, etc.). What will it be like to actually sell my babies to complete strangers?

Do you keep pieces for your private collection? Do any of you feel this sense of separation when you finish a piece? Do I need Prozac?

Create lots and lots of paintings, fill the walls of your house with your favorites and sell the rest. Also, when you do portrait commissions, you're not selling the paintings to total strangers. The client becomes kind of a partner in the process. Get good reproductions printed of the paintings you sell, for your portfolio, so you never have to feel they are truly gone.

Good luck!

When I managed Robert Schoeller, he used to keep finding something to paint even though he was really done because he didn't want to see the painting go.

Production
 

An odd part of being successful as a painter is to paint many works. Then, as mentioned by Michele, each will mean less. You'll get to the point where you see a work (afresh) and you realize you had even forgotten about having made it.

What I've noticed about the sense of loss mentioned here is that usually when I do portraits, landscapes, still-lifes, I am aware that they are probably going to someone else's home or office. I'm providing a service and that is part of the energy that creates the work.

A few times I've done some surreal work straight from my imagination. That was almost a mystical experience. In one case, I could see parts of it appear on the paper and all I had to do was follow the imaginary lines. During the time I was creating this, it was painful to be disturbed, even to eat. When I had to finally submit it for the school yearbook I felt as though I was giving away my baby. It was extremely popular and the kids would open the yearbook and stare at it, and discuss it at length. Oddly, the yearbook company said that they lost the piece and couldn't send it back to me.

Some artists that I have spoken to, who do abstract or work largely from imagination, experience a deep sense of loss when a work is sold.

Rochelle, you wrote: Every time any work goes out of my studio to be photographed, shown, etc, I get a signed "Artwork on Loan" agreement, with specifics as to the dollar value I place on the work, description, the date it went out and the date it is expected back to me. That way, if it goes "missing", you have some recourse. Also, check what your homeowner's insurance covers. Artists sometimes need a separate insurance rider to cover work that they own that is out on loan.

For insurance on paintings while at exhibit, on loan, in transit,etc., see Peggy Baumgaertner's post at http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...=inland+marine

Rochelle,

Exactly. This piece is the last of a series I've done completely out of my imagination. It's a day in the life of an angel: at dawn viewing the sun rise over a mountain; at midday, walking through the woods with my two cats and my dog; and the last, at day's end, sleeping while a lion watches over her. All of these "appeared" on the canvas. Faint inconsistencies in the brush strokes of the base color turned into shapes...yadda yadda yadda. I think you know just what I'm talking about. I never want it to end.

Dear Chris and Michele,

Thanks for the advice. It was so long ago, and as a student in high school, I didn't really understand the importance of that. All of the teachers seemed to feel that it was of no importance and there was nothing that could be done.

I will have to look extensively at preventing this from happening again.

ReNae,

I look forward to seeing your work. Do you have any specific plans for marketing it?

Chris and I both have our work on this website. Just look under our last names in the "Artists by Name" section at http://www.portraitartist.com/artistsbyname.htm