If you usually painted small still-lifes, would you completely change your subject in order to make more sales or appeal to a larger audience?

I guess all artists and writers have to come to terms with that, if they want to make a living in their chosen field. Then we learn the art of compromise….

2/18 ~ It appears this topic is several places across the artistic web this week – here is another very good post by Armand Cabrera on the definition of artistic integrity.

I’m so glad to have time to paint again. I’ve wanted to do this one for a long time, from an October morning camping at Inks Lakes in central Texas.

Here are the final or close to final paintings:

These three paintings shown below are the ones I have submitted. This year, rather than painting in a last minute rush, I chose three I had done earlier in 2009, that I still liked after several months had passed.

Distant Lights

Congress Avenue in the Rain

Pathways

LittleLandscape2     5×7    Pastel

Now I may wait for more inspiration on the trees

My friend Jo Castillo and I were finally able to go paint together and were blessed with a beautiful day! The temperature was perfect and the sun made some great reflections at McKinney Falls. We had painted there a year or so back, when it was too hot to even sit in the shade, so this was a much more pleasant experience. I got a start on two pieces, but they are far from finished, so will post those at some future date. Glad you’re back home, Jo!

And the very complex, intricate, convoluted answer I came up with – because it’s fun. It’s fun to create, it’s fun to use your imagination, it’s fun to play with color and application, it’s fun to see a piece evolve minute by minute, day by day. But we all need input from others and a dry spell in sales can give cause for a lot of self-examination. And too much focus on oneself.

Over the years, we’ve all known people who brought to mind the phrase “enough about me, what do you think about me?” So to guard against too much “me”, it’s necessary at times to get away from your own little self and see what is going on in the world – or at least in your part of it.

Yesterday, I was able to attend several art events exhibiting work by artist friends. One was the Real Gallery, part of the East Austin Studio Tour, which has an impressive number of artists and locations, and a wonderful variety of work. Another event was at a friend’s house, where we enjoyed inspiring music and a beautiful display of her art and technique. And lastly, a visit to another house where the art was created from wood – lovely work and design.

So it was nice, for a change, to not feel the pressure to sell my work – that’s why God made the space between walls and sofas – and to spend time enjoying and appreciating the fruits of other’s creativity.