I’m feeling stingy with some of my pieces. This I know is not conducive to making a living at selling my art. This is a problem I sometimes have with some of my works of art. Feeling overly protective has happened before with the giant steel rooster, “Big Red” it’s happening with some of the “Gilper Fish” and the Grasshopper that Shara wants for the new Octopus Ink Gallery. I’m also in love with the new Wheat commission… I’m not sure what triggers this reaction, but I want to keep certain pieces, handle them, weather them longer than necessary in the garden, or hang them in the Studio, feel them a bit longer before they go to their new homes. This is especially difficult when I’ve fallen in love with a piece that needs to go right away to the Gallery –my knee jerk reaction is to price the work at
a million, gazillion dollars, but again, not very conducive to selling!
The good news is that once I am able to let a piece go, it’s because I’ve created another that I’ve fallen in love with. I suppose the other positive is that I’m happily married and this issue is strictly containted to my art...
In between suffering complete fits of inspiration because of all the FALL COLOR I’ve been surrounded by, I’m working on a special commission for a “Wheat” wall sculpture that will accompany the Chapel Tabernacle Rick and I made this past Spring. For a few weeks I’d been spinning how I was going to go about creating the stalks of wheat that needed to be fabricated to a custom designed, wall mounted candle holder. I called upon my friend Rick again at Western Sh
eetmetal to fabricate the perfect candle holder and from that the wheat design took off. I love being inspired by talented people! I was at the Chapel yesterday to custom fit the stalks of wheat to the curved wall and they looked graceful. Hopefully the committee will approve the burnished gold finish for the wheat and brushed steel for the stems, which tie in with the Globe Tabernacle and lighting fixtures.
9 comments:
Oh my gosh I know this feeling.
When ever I have something new I am working on that I really, really like I have such a hard time putting them out for sale.
What if the person who buys them is a terrible person to these pots- what if I don't like them for some odd reason.... sometimes something needs to go to the house for a while until we have really looked at it enough to sell.
I love the wheat design.
I can see why you would want to keep it, even if it is just for a little while.
I know!!! I know!!! I sold the little white pot that was on my blog(the one with the "bling") at Festifall and I got very teary about it. The man that bought it was adorable and got it for his sister, so it has a happy home, but it was fresh out of the kiln and we had not bonded yet. What the heck is wrong with all of us :) I really do like that wheat.
OH, thank goodness I'm not ALONE! Tracy, I too LOVED your bling pot. Glad to be in your company girls :o)
heheheheh funny those fish are looking pretty, very lashy!! i do admire your talent for the metal you really work it....! marvellous!!
that's too funny. ditto. ditto. ditto.
Love the work you're doing Cindy!
So, here's a sad story along the same lines. :( I sold a bunch of raku oil lamps at a farmer's market - which was hard because I loved all of them. That Christmas, I found one of them in the misc section of a local thrift store where I was out looking for cheap decorations. I bought my lamp back for a quarter. It took me a full year to feel comfortable selling lamps I really, really liked at a market again...but I also re-sold the one I bought back at the thrift store. I decided to look at it positively - not many potters get the chance to make twice the money on one pot!
Julia, my husband had read my Blog today and your comment and said "geeze that's so sad about what happened to your friend..." I said "who, which friend, what happened, WHERE?!" and he said on your Blog -the artist that found her pottery at the Thrift. :o)
I thought it was sweet, that he read my Blog, that he had sympathy for you and considered you a friend :o)) Truth is, I look through the Arts & Crafts section of the Alaska Cr@igs List knowing that someday I'll find one of my sculptures and will have to buy it back in a flash and won't be happy about it!
I feel the same way about some of my pieces, especially since I haven't made many multiples. (I'm going to try and change that in the future). I try to put a higher price on items I don't want to sell, sometimes they still sell. A couple I keep hanging in my house, that way they can't sell. Now they're all packed away.
Your wheat is beautiful and especially nice to see this time of year when I think of seed heads blowing in the wind. Love the subtle colors on the gilper fish too.
I feel the same way. It's hard to part with certain pieces. I want to make a giant map of the world with little pins marking all the places where my art now lives. Your wheat is gorgeous!
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