I got word that the Art of the Forest Show will be taken down this weekend, so if you haven't gotten to West Annapolis Artworks to see what my colleges and I have on display, please get over there before Saturday night! The holiday shop will be replacing the current show, so consider the gift of an heirloom this year when giving.
I have a friend, also an artist. She's doing quite well, and works like mad promoting herself and her work. Very talented, and I have no doubt that she will be just as she hopes, in every home in America.
I thought about that. I guess my aim is humbler but no less difficult to attain. My goal in all my artistic endeavors is to have a very loyal following. Whether that following is 100 or 1000 or even grander, my aim is to entirely commandeer the attentions of my patrons. Have them anxious to see what's on my easel, where I'm showing, and what's still available for sale. I don't intend on being in every home in America. But if the homes I am in now and in the future still enjoy the art I created in fifty years, then I will tally that a personal success. That is what I mean by heirloom art.
Another artist asked me what my long term plans are. I responded with a wink, "I want kids to fight over my paintings when their parents die". Morbid, right? Not really. Because there is always something of value that trumps all others in an estate. But I don't want to be the most valuable. I just want to be the most revered. Tall order, right? I'll let you know how that pans out....
I did a quick little watercolor sketch today, another illustration. It's an elderly man who just lost his wife of fifty years. He's holding her, his earliest memory of her...when she was young and spry and he's imagining that he is the same. But he can't be, because she's moved on to youth in her next life, and he's still stuck in his own declining shell. I suppose I'm feeling melancholy today...
