I am moving "Beneath the Synthetic Sky" to Word Press, as of today.

I have wanted to blog more frequently for some time now, and it is damned difficult to add images on Blogger (and, for an artist's blog, images are pretty important!)

So, this blog continues at :

beneaththesyntheticsky.wordpress.com

See you there!

Picking Shows that are a "Better Fit"...

For the last (honestly, several) years, I've been participating in art exhibits at local galleries, often with artist friends...and, the results have been...less than stellar.

It's not that these were bad shows, bad exhibit spaces, etc.,--not at all.  But, they weren't the best "fit" for my work.

Galleries specialize, and a gallery that features mainly Southwest landscapes may not attract an audience that enjoys WWII-style pin up art, or heavily conceptual stuff.  As artists, we often forget this, and we take all rejection--whether it's a gallery that turns us down for a who, or someone who looks at our work then walks away without buying--personally.

Art buyers and collectors specialize, too.  Someone who collects 18C woodblock prints may enjoy your satirical portrait of a hated politician, but they may feel no need to add it to their collection.

With this in mind, next month I'm going to submit a new painting to a gallery on the West Coast.  I hope it's selected to be part of an exhibit there, in September.

I think this would be the perfect "fit" for my imaginative (not really objective, yet certainly not non-objective), slightly strange work.

We'll see...

No Shows Scheduled For Now...and that's a really good thing!

False Starts:

I signed up for a 2016 weekly drawing forum in December, and (so far) I've posted exactly two drawings.

And since I started this blog, I have thought that I should draw more (and more frequently) and post more in this blog.

I've recently figured something out; that's not "me".

Unlike many artists, I don't draw "just to draw"; I think of an image--generally, for a painting--and I use drawing as a way to work out the composition for th painting is going to be.

I don't draw well fast; many artists seem to be able to create a detailed, skillful image quickly, effortlessly.

Not me.

I have to work at it, layer by layer (I use LOTS of tracing paper in refining my drawings) until I get something I like, something that approaches what the image in my head looks like.

I think one of the reasons why I haven't been producing as much art over the past year, is that I was (still) trying to force myself to draw more, and more often, and I want paying any attention to the ideas in my head, or how to develop them.

I've stopped that.

I'm back to working on a painting that I started more than two years ago, and I have a couple other paintings, too.  (Another thing I've realized is that I'm also not one of those artists who works on one painting at a time.  I'm more comfortable moving back and forth between several drawings and painting projects at the same time.)

For the first time in a long time (possibly the decade since I graduated from school) I don't have a show planned--and I'm perf call fine with that.

I am making plans; I want to have eight to twelve NEW paintings done by early Fall, and then I'll start looking for a place to show this new work.

But, for now, I a just going to concentrate on making the new pieces, and making them look as good as I possibly can.

No deadlines, no pressure...just the at I like it.

The image is a new painting in progress, a small commission piece, 6x 9, oils-on-panel.

One step towards my resolution: SOLD!

Tomorrow, I'm picking up That Certain Inner Radiance from Noir Arts & Oddities, as it was purchased by a local collector over the weekend.

It's my best sale in several years, and a terrific start towards my 2016 goal of selling more of my work.

I'll post the newest painting before the end of the month, too.