Sidetracked Charley

Been reading several articles about art pricing while the Artists Guild of Northern New Mexico has been debating the donating of art to nonprofit organizations. A couple of the articles I was researching addressed what your work goes for at non-profit auctions. We are all a bit depressed if our art does not sell for what we feel it would in our studios or galleries at these functions. And the non-profits are depressed about what our art brings at auction these days, and the reluctance of artists to donate and have their work devalued by what it sells for. Your art can sell for less at a charity auction for the following reasons: 1) No non-profit is as concerned about the display of your art as a gallery or you are, so chances are your donated piece is not being shown off to its b est. Charity events are about how much they can cram into a space to raise money. Too much art in the conference room makes it look trashy. And a poorly run live auction can look like an estate sale....

Clouds in My Coffee by J. Binford-Bell Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything which no longer  serves you, grows you or makes you happy. A year ago this month I made some tsunami like changes in my life. After more than 17 years deeply involved in art organizations in my valley I quit. Never one to do things half way I decided to no longer do art fairs (decision based on sound financial analysis), and to leave a gallery I had been involved in for nine years (decision based on independent market research - I talked to my customers). And I decided to take a break from painting to devote my energies to photography for a while. We all need a vacation. After winning several prizes for my photography and selling quite a few I am diving back into the shallow end of painting. By that I mean I have given up the "production" painting that doing fairs demands and working on  pieces that mean something to me. Some are from photographs that as always were a spri...