When I travel I tend to visit galleries, and I like going places where the artists actually play a role in the gallery. The family-run Frykman Studio Gallery in Door County, WI is one, and the MPAF Artist's Coop in Monterey, CA is another (in which I have spent a lot of time and money over the past year, as I have attempted furnish my apartment while modeling my own business model on theirs). While wandering I've also run into art professors, a print maker and an oil painter my age.
Among all the people I met the most applicable conversation I had was with this painter, who had a tattoo of a Miro design on his forearm that looked to me like an airplane orbiting and lassoing the earth at the same time. I love Miro and all things Barcelona. But the point is that he was doing what I am in the process of beginning. He is specifically not selling - in fact he isn't even referring people to images of his art - because he is developing a solid body of work that is all going the direction he wants it to go. Once he has that repertoire he will presumably reenter the commercial art world. But he's my age and he's a good bartender and he loves to paint. I really enjoyed comparing notes with him.
I'm moving abroad in about a month, and I have some painting to do before I get there. But once I arrive I intend to do the same as he. I will no longer sell, but I will set up a studio and develop a strong body of work that is going the direction I want it to go. I will share it on this forum, but shipping is an issue so unless you come visit me I won't be selling. That said, I've been racking up images as fodder, and with my quasi-new digital camera I can share them with you! These will all be incorporated into the repertoire I develop, if only in experimenting with the play of light or the contour of a sea lion's skin. Please share your thoughts with me on how I can consider interpreting these images!
Door County
Sea Lion in Monterey
Ripples
Acadia
Lobster Boats
Rockland Sunset
Moules
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