In addition to posting my question here on WordPress about buying art, I asked the question also on facebook. I received several comments on this post as well as the  following comments on facebook 

“I buy art because I like it. If I had to buy art for an investment I would starve to death because I don’t know what is considered investable and what is not. If you don’t like a piece of art why would you hang it on your wall? “

“ The art has to touch a feeling in my soul! Something spectacular about it moves me, and then I will buy it.”

From the comments I received, I concluded that buying art comes down to buying for investment or because you like the artwork or the artist. This is true whether the artwork is for yourself or as a gift for another. Knowing these two basic reasons still does not answer the question as to what triggers the exact moment of decision to purchase the art.

When I pressed people on that question, most said it had to do with their budget. Was there money available to buy the artwork at the price asked. This was said by people with unlimited as well as limited discretionary funds. I think that funds play a big part in the decision, but I have seen a man decide to buy a framed photograph when he learned that the photographer and he were both fishermen. The photograph had nothing to do with fishing. I’ve seen people spend large amounts on artwork when the money was going for a worthy cause.

I had hoped to get some insight into artwork buying practicec. I learned very little that was new to me. Reasons for the buying decision remain “luck of the draw”. Someone may “love” your work, but apparently, the moon has to be in the right position or something for the sale to occur.

That’s all for now, Folks!

If you have ever bought an artwork, please answer this question. What took you from loving it to buying it?  When are you content to just tell the artist, “I love that painting!” and what makes you want to own it?

For me, I see many works I really like but I buy few. My art collection is very eclectic containing both bought work and work for which I traded a painting. I know I have a maximum price with which I am comfortable, but occasionally, I will go over it

I am researching this question for an article I am cosidering and would really appreciate feedback. Look on your walls at your artwork and try to remember the exact feeling you had that made you “decide” to buy each piece.

I had pieces juried into two shows in July, FiberWorks2010, and the Annual Mixed-Media Exhibit, both held in galleries here in Oklahoma City. Here are a few pieces I have completed in the past three months. Boy With Kite was juried into FiberWorks2010; Free Spirit Behind a Block Fence was juried into the Annual Mixed-Media Exhibit.

Boy With Kite

Danielle

Three Trees and Two Kivas

Free Spirit Behind a Block Fence

 I thought that retiring from teaching last November would give me more leisure time, but then I signed on with a gallery and am working harder than I could have imagined.  I have been showing my art through Contemporary Art Gallery in Oklahoma City since May 1. I am a featured artist for the month of August, 2010 which demanded all new work. I am showing Colorful People plus three quilted wallhangings of people. These works may be viewed on my Flickr site, Colorful People.

In July, I was named the Social Media Specialist for the gallery and now administer the Contemporary Art Gallery Facebook page and Twitter. I am enjoying this demanding work because it uses all my computer skills (things I taught the last 12 years) and I have lots of interaction with people, both online and off. In July, I signed up with Fine Art America to have giclee prints made of my paintings and quilts. I hope you will check out all these sites.

I will try to post more regularly now that I know how much time my activities require. Please feel free to contact me if you have questions or comments.

© MountainWoman Silver and MountainWoman Silver Speaks, 2010

Today, I will talk about my collage, Kiva Magic.  A kiva is a room used by modern Puebloans for religious rituals, many of them associated with the kachina belief system. Among the modern Hopi and most other Pueblo peoples, kivas are square-walled and underground, and are used for spiritual ceremonies.

For me, the act of descending into the Kiva represents the going within to contemplate the richness of the non-physical, the spirit, and our connections to the earth and all that is.

Kiva Magic

The image size of Kiva Magic is 12″ square. It began as a collage using papers, both tissue and watercolor, that I had painted and stamped with acrylic paints. Only after laying a few scraps of paper down and arranging and rearranging them did an image or composition begin to evolve. Like most artists, my interests and passions determine the content of my art. (One of my passions encompases Native American culture and symbology.) For me, the first inkling of where I am headed  is when creating gets to be really fun. Shapes begin to appear and demand to remain. As more and more shapes become permanent residents on the surface, my decisions become more important. At some point, I will decide to adhere some of those shapes to the surface. Now, new additions should work with those already in place although I sometimes put new ones right over old ones. Every scrap added requires decisions about design, value, composition, etc. At some point, I “know” the piece is complete.

Titles of artwork may come during the creating process or after it is completed. If I get the title while still creating the piece, it affects my choices. Sometimes, a title will come long after the piece is finished.

Once I think a piece is finished, I put it away out of sight for a few days. Then I take it out and study it often rotating it to see how the composition is working from a new perspective. A few times, I have liked a work better after it is rotated, but usually, it remains oriented just as I created it. After this period of study, I know if the piece is truly finished or needs something more.

Kiva Magic evokes the mystery of the Native American ceremonies that take place in the earth from which we all come. I enjoy looking at it and contemplating those mysteries.

© MountainWoman Silver and MountainWoman Silver Speaks, 2010

Since becoming affiliated with the Contemporary Art Gallery in the Paseo Arts District of Oklahoma City, my life has become a bit too full of activity. Yet, I’m learning constantly new things about myself.

This past Friday, ten of my paintings were unveiled for the opening reception at CAG during the First Friday Art Walk in the Paseo. CAG has 15 artists. I found that I could talk easily with patrons about other artists’ work, but when I stood in front of my own, I became tongue-tied. The things I could say about fellow artists seemed immodest when applied by me to my art. Heaven forbid that I should go against the teachings of my parents about modesty: I could hear them in my head saying ”pride goeth before a fall”. I found I could discuss my process if that is what someone wanted to know, but I was stumped by questions like, “What inspired you to do this work?”, “How do you choose your subject matter?”, “How long did that take you to do?”.

I often begin a work with no preconceived image in mind. A work may take hours, weeks, months, or years depending on what it tells me to do and how long I have to wait before knowing what the next step is. Because of this proces, I work on multiple projects. and at any time, new pieces are being started and others are being finished

In the next few posts, I plan to show some of the paintings that are presently at the gallery or in my studio and talk about each.

I’m beginning to think that making visual art requires  too many hours for me to spend much time writing. Creating visually for me comes naturally but writing is  like a foreign language. Anyway, I have been very busy since my last post when I returned from vacation in New Mexico and Arizona.

I have recently contracted for a one-person show at a restaurant in Oklahoma city for October 7-November7.  I am considering showing nothing but landscapes, each including a mountain, for this show. I can see what I will be doing all summer. I will keep you posted on this.

In addition, beginning in May, 2010, I will be represented by Contemporary Art Gallery in the Paseo Arts District of Oklahoma City. With First Friday Art Walks and creating new work for this gallery, I will be kept busy here also.

It is likely my posts will be strictly updates of art activities for anyone who is interested. I hope you will check out my current projects from time to time.

© MountainWoman Silver and MountainWoman Silver Speaks, 2010

I have just returned from a trip of 2800 miles through southern New Mexico and Arizona. As always, the scenery in those two states is breathtaking! I came back with over 400 new photographs and hopefully, some will become new paintings and quilts.

I have loved northern New Mexico since I first visted Santa Fe and Taos in 1983. This is my first trip south; I toured Alamagordo and White Sands National Monument as well as visitng four Spanish style churches around Tularosa and the Mescalero Apache Reservation. I was able also to visit Petroglyph Park near La Luz and took about 30 pictures of the scratched images on the rocks. I am thinking of making a quilt using a different image on each block.

I found that the dust in all the places I visited–Alamagordo area, Las Cruces, Tombstone, Bizbee, Tucson, and Kingman–bothered my asthma. Fortunately, most areas had  recently received rain or snow and that had settled the dust.

Driving from Tucson to Kingman, Arizona took me through Wickenburg via highways 60 and 93 and I saw some of the most spectaculor mountain scenes. The sky was full of dramatic clouds left over from showers that morning.

Here are a few pictures:

Arizona Hwy 93 scene

More Hwy 93

Laguna Pueblo Church in NM on I-40

Cowboy herding cows across road

© MountainWoman Silver and MountainWoman Silver Speaks, 2010

Art serves many purposes but it is primarily made for two reasons—for the pleasure and enjoyment the artist gets from creating and for the pleasure and enjoyment of someone else viewing it. An artist may never be famous or financially successful, but as long as he or she continues to find pleasure in creating, the artwork will continue to be made. Finding viewers is another matter.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately because after making artwork most of my adult life, I am still a “non-famous, non-financially successful artist”. Unlike Van Gogh, I have sold paintings steadily over my artistic career, but if you add up all the money I’ve made and subtract all the expenses, art-making has been a money-pit for me. At times, I have despaired. The pressure to sell has sometimes been excruciating. I have supported myself or my “art habit” by working either full-time or part-time jobs, and I have come to see that earning my living at something other than art is a blessing in a way. It lets you have more choice in what you create rather than creating for the market all the time.

Getting the artwork before the public is often an uphill battle, however. My work is accepted into 2-4 juried shows each year and sometimes, I win an award. Lots of people come to see the shows and make lovely comments, but few give in to a desire to own a painting and write a check. So, again, I have been examining why I keep making artwork and finally arrived at the pleasure principle.

The last few months, I have created an online presence. So far, it has not brought any additional sales of artwork, but it does serve the pleasure principle. I get to enjoy making the art and I get to share it with others through my photographs on Flickr People are able to enjoy not only a current painting in a show or the few displayed in my studio, but bodies of work that are stored away or have been sold.

I am currently doing work that is unique, work that is a joy for me to make, work in which I take pride. I invite all of you to enjoy what this “non-famous” artist has to offer.

© MountainWoman Silver and MountainWoman Silver Speaks, 2010

Wow, I am so heavily into my 2010 “Must Do” activities, I am forgetting to eat, literally. On Monday, my husband came home to take me to our dinner out with friends (every Monday event), and I realized that I could not remember eating lunch. I actually sat racking my brain wondering if I did eat and it slipped my mind, but no, I had not eaten since breakfast. I’ve done the same thing two more times, but I’m not complaining; every morning, I’ve lost some more weight.

What am I doing that is so engrossing? I have opened a Flickr Pro account and have been uploading images and organizing them. I hope all of you will check out the site. Just click the icon under Art By Silver in the righthand column.

Now I’m ready to paint and sew.

Yesterday, I completed Joshua’s quilt and washed and dried it. I considered the quilting a success since it held together through the washing and drying. When I make a baby quilt, I want it to be used. I talked with a  mother awhile back who put the quilt I made for her baby four years ago in a drawer to save it for her daughter when she is grown up and has a child of her own.  What if her daughter does the same thing? The quilt will never be used.

Here are the three photos of Joshua’s quilt in different stages.

January 11, 2010 Finished  quilt

Joshua's Finished Quilt

January 4, 2010

Joshua's Qult Pin-basted

December 22, 2009

Qult for Joshua