Thursday, March 19, 2009

Art all around

Recently I received an email from the woman who bought this piece at my Etsy store a year ago. She just wanted to let me know where she'd hung it, and how much she still enjoyed looking at it. The same day, I had an exchange with Diane Wright about buying art. Selling my work has changed how I think about owning art.

Back when I made Real Money, I used to think art was a luxury I couldn't afford. Silly me. Now I don't make much at all, but I know that art nourishes. Spend money on art, live theater or music, a painting: you enrich yourself. Art gives back, every time you handle the object, remember the performance, or look at the painting.

So Friday morning I took off for the Paradise City Fair - a high-end arts and crafts fair about 50 minutes from my house. I meant to look at people's booths, but of course I became totally involved in their work as well. Wen Redmond happily talked about where her work had been and where it is going. . Vitek Kruta's work brought me back for a second look:He trained in Europe, doing large set painting. This piece is about twelve inches high. The picture doesn't do it justice. The light is golden, molten. If I could shrink, I could walk through it into my childhood stories.

There was more, of course. I am full of ideas and colors now. Back to work.




1 comment:

Candied Fabrics said...

How nice for her to let you know! I think that's the hardest part of selling art - you don't know where it ends up and if the purchaser still likes it! I recently sold a piece reluctantly as I still loved it so much - because it was to a friend (for her to give as a gift), I was able to tell her, only half jokingly, that I wanted the recipients to send me a picture of where it lives, and to remember that if they don't love it, or get tired of it, that they should send it home to me!
An exterme of course, but it speaks to what we put into our art, and what we hope others get out of it!