Smokey Train 2 - Business opportunity...can you help?

I still enjoy putting my work here for you. My audience here however has remained fairly static for a long time. I also run a fan page over on face book which has a much bigger reach...it's also growing each week. my work is also available to buy from that site.

 

I'm currently producing work to sell as originals...I have an exhibition coming up in April and another one in May...my aim is to have a good stock of work to sell....which of course they never do! But one has to try. i'm am forever frustrated by my lack of marketing skills. If i'm perfectly honest, it doesn't excite me...I realise that to make a successful business, one has to give all ones energy and time into developing it. I am primarily an artist who loves the conception and creation of art. I'm also a Husband and Dad who's devotion to his family means that my wife could not do what she does (doing the job she loves and coincidentally earning the wages that put bread on our table) If i were to dedicate my time to exhibitions and selling, I would spend a lot of time away from home. I'd not only neglect my children's needs but the domestic needs aswell.I'd also probably do even less art than I do now.

what i'd really like...what i really dream and pray for is either an agency...or an agent who will help me to develop a market. I'm absolutely sure that just around the corner lies a lucrative market for my work. i hold fast to my claim that i'm the only person in the UK producing the kind of work i do...unless anyone can step up and contradict me ( which of course i'd be pleased to have happen!!!) I remain unique...and in the art world, that is something that is very rare these days.

So I know it's a long shot, but if you or anyone else you know has the time/experience and desire to join me in business and help me, i'd love to hear your ideas. i'm sure I can ask anything else or more. I can't afford to pay anyone, but a join business partnership between us and also possibly with other artists might be an idea. Have a think and let me know.

Smokey Train - finished

Smokey Train (2013)

10 x 7 cm.

Moon train - finished.

Moon Train (2013)

14 x 10 cm.

 

Well....it's taken long enough to finish this minipic...it's actually rather stark and cold, the colours are quite nice especially when you see them for real in the daylight. I'm currently spoilt for choice as to what I'm going to go forward with next...I have one or two very solid ideas for larger pieces, but am tempted if i'm honest to press on producing these smaller pieces which i intend to sell as originals at my up coming exhibitions. I'll have a rest tomorrow and see what comes to mind.



Moon Train - 2

Worked mainly on the sky today...must try to be less busy in my life...and find more time to work!

Moon Train 1

I'm working on this mini pix which I've decided to call 'Moon Train'...again I'm producing small format work specifically to sell as originals. misty...glowing ...ethereal subjects seem to attract attention well, and since I love steam trains..bridges...twiggy trees and moon light...this seemed the perfect use of those ingredients.

You'll have to forgive any delays in posting over the next few days. I've been having serious problems with my ageing lap top, which today has finally entered it's last days. I'm working on my son's machine which sadly has a badly cracked screen...(that's it's only problem...the rest has hardly been used!)

Cold Trees - finished.

Cold Trees. ( 2013)

14 x 10 cm.

Cold trees - 4

Not very long to go on this piece now...there's more colour to introduce to the buildings and sky on the horizon, then the lower part which is mainly snow....

Cold Trees - 3

The upper quarter of the picture is now more or less finished...I'm gradually moving down adding detail and shading as I go. I'm having a day off working on this piece tomorrow because I'm going to give the kitchen a very thorough spring clean...it will probably take all day !

Cold trees - 2

Managed a whole days work on Cold Trees today. Work on the complicated tracery of branches and twigs is fun...the temptation is to draw each twig, but at this scale, it's enough to settle for giving the impression. I still find it surprising that a few applications of yellow ochre and red in the right place can almost create the feeling of direct sunlight. For those of you interested , I'll be making this piece available to buy via my Face book fan page later in the week.

Cold trees - 1

I began working on this piece today, I might have mentioned that I have a plan to work on a piece involving busy traffic ....I've taken photos towards the idea, but funnily enough, even on a busy Saturday in Derby City centre, the traffic was not as busy as I'd hoped it would be. so I'm going to have to make a trip down one early morning to catch the rush hour...

In the mean time, I've used a photograph I took on my recent trip to Derby Arboretum in the snow the other week as reference. I'm acutely aware that this is just a 'pretty tree picture'...but people quite like them....and I have to have once eye on the upcoming exhibitions ...I really want to see my work selling again.

This picture is by the way exactly the same size as the preceding minipixs....it's 14x10cm!

Tree'o - finished

 

Tree'o (2013)

14x10 cm.

 

Finished this at last. Was not really what I was aiming for, but it's pleasing never the less. I continue to produce a series of relatively quick , small and affordable pieces with which to stock my coming exhibitions.I'll make prints too.

 

Below is a little fun i had later in the day. I quite like little comic strip features, and I often use caricatures in my commercial work for posters etc. the piece below is a simple and mildly humorous sketch which holds a deeply significant personal symbolism for me ( of course!!) and was a reaction to a saying attributed to the Buddha.."No one can save us but ourselves..no one can and no one may..we ourselves must walk the path" I'll not go on about it other than to say..saving yourself , is like trying to lift yourself by standing in a shopping bag....it doesn't work...I've tried it!