The Theme is Humble

Alone in the field

The end of the year always brings about agonizing reappraisal. And a questioning of my assumptions. It is always easier to do this with others but not as easy to do it with ourselves. I have promised myself to do better this year at that.

 A local business just announced it was closing. They blamed us locals because we didn't shop there enough. But who would want to? I asked myself. And I was one of those that shopped there. They stocked products I wanted, but increasingly I was willing to drive over the mountain to get those products.

 The economy gets a lot of blame for failure of businesses. I do not have enough money to shop local a lot. I try to eat at least one restaurant meal a week. It is a budget line item. If I had more money I would spend more money. I blame the economy for the low sales at my studio. That and Google Maps had me in the wrong spot. But maybe it is that I am not a good painter. Or I have a toxic personality. Admittedly nobody needs a painting. And everyone thinks their iphone takes a great photograph.

 A few years back this agonizing reappraisal stuff led me to give up painting for two years. I spent my creative energy on photography. That was rewarding but painters don't choose to paint. They need to paint so I went back to it. Our valley has several well known painters and I am probably the least of those. I do know I am third on prices, and second on google listings. I promised myself when I went back to painting that I would paint what I wanted to paint. Maybe that isn't what others want to buy. The mustang paintings go very well, but I get tired of the question, "Do you paint aspens?" "I photograph those," I reply nicely. But everyone photographs aspens. My old truck photographs sell better. Note: I did do a couple aspen paintings. Neither sold.

 And one of the reasons I quit painting for those two years was the production line of churches. I sold a lot of churches. "Paint churches. Everyone buys churches." But I still have churches in the studio I have not sold. And a new one I just finished recently. It is from a photograph I took which moved me to paint it.
Alone on the High Plains

 I do not know if I have an answer on this appraisal of my business acumen. But the theme is humble because I find I tend to blame myself. And what is the line between humble and self-abuse? Don't worry. I am not going to cut off an ear. Nor will I turn to painting 2000 flowers. That would not make me happy.

 I paint what makes me happy. And every once in a while a painting makes someone just as happy as it made me, and it goes home with them.
Thunder Run

  I am a painter and a photographer but not a great sales person. I keep taking course on marketing. But I am better at passing that information on to others than utilizing it for myself. 

Comments

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f
Read more

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip
Read more