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The
Dark side of being a Commercial Artist
(click above for full
size picture)
After a painting is done, often someone will say they loved the painting and
want me to do another. Occasionally it’s possible but, of course, there are
times it is not. In the last column I showed you a painting called “Waiting
for Love the Third Time”. After that painting was sold, Bryan, who runs the
gallery that sells my art here in Antigua, saw the laser scan and asked me
to do another for the gallery. But he wanted me to change the window
element to another he had seen in a different painting of mine.
I
know this sounds tedious, but here’s the clue about this process; it pays
the bills. Sure, eventually I do get tired repeating an image. Sure, this
is the downside to being a commercial artist. Obviously this is why the
fine art of offset lithography and posters became so popular. I can’t even
tell you how often I’ve had to do this. So just this one time I wanted you
to see how this works, and that in reality, no two paintings can ever be the
same.
Personally I feel that when a painting is born in the mind of the artist and
is created the first time, it is not always it’s most perfect rendition. In
that case I refer to it as a draft. The second time it is painted and is
visually correct, it becomes the statement. Afterwards, if it is repeated
and repeated it can almost become a caricature of itself. By the time I can
do it in my sleep, it’s time to stop repeating the damn thing because
somewhere along the line it has lost its life.
I’m
not sure which of these two paintings I like better but I think it was last
week’s version.
Now
you know the inside track on how artists often pay the bills. Oh, and when
times get really rough there’s always sign painting. |
