I just wanted to take a moment and thank the Artist of Bristol for acknowledging as a member and an artist this month. You can read more about me and my path to art here on their Featured Artist Page.
Until next time
Viewing entries tagged
bucks county
A couple responses from my last blog were about selling art - that thinking about sales is the wrong thing to be concerned with. A couple of my friends would disagree with that notion. I have to say I disagree with that notion, too.
I, for one, never think about selling the piece while creating it. However, when I step out the door of my studio I am David the business man and I am thinking about sales, sales that pay the bills and allow me to return to the studio. In the 50 years I've been working as an artist, I've seen a number of talented artists toss in the towel. I know of one who committed suicide. The need to create, whether it is painting pictures or writing a novel is there inside all artists. For some, it is like breathing. When we stop breathing, we stop living. For others, it is something to do to fill their days between golf season and bowling.
I am glad for those that do not need to sell art to survive, who can decorate the walls of local restaurants and retirement homes. For some, though, sales means paying for a daughter's braces or her college tuition.
Building a name and gaining respect is a must right from the start. Going into fine art is a very difficult challenge for most artists, especially if there is no support available in times of need. I've seen marriages break up over one's desire to be an artist. I've seen very talented friends go into deep depressions and lay down their brush never to pick it up again because they did not know how to sell art. So when someone says sales are not all that important, I just think of all the artists out there who are not painting the masterpieces the world will never enjoy because they are behind the counter at McDonalds.
Why do I believe restaurants are not such a great places for showing art? If you are serious about making a living from art, you need to talk with those looking at your art, thus you need to pick a venue where you can do so. I hate being in a restaurant in the middle of a conversation to be interrupted by the waiter asking if everything is ok, so a total stranger interrupting me to ask me how I like the decor would really tick me off. Decor is what art is in a restaurant. I will admit, there are a few restaurants that it would be of some use to have one's art on their walls, but in those cases the restaurants know the value of good art and have purchased the art they show.
When I was out painting in parks, people were always coming up to me asking about my art and where they could see more. It was that personal contact that helped me. Artists at art fairs who sit behind their tents sell less than those in front of their tents chatting with people. Sales do not always come from those first meetings, but when those people are ready to buy art they'll remember the artist who took the time to chat with them. Pick places to exhibit where you can meet and talk to the people looking at your art. Should you pick a library, make a point of letting people know you will be there at certain hours of the day. Have open studio shows or backyard shows where you can do a demo. Rent a tent. Be creative. Invite other artists to show with you or form a small group and have group shows. Do you really need to spend hundreds of dollars to find out how to make it in the arts? Attend other art shows and see what will work for you. Whatever style or form of art you love doing, there are people like yourself who will see what you see. When I first started, my adviser said you will sell to friends. It took awhile to realize that I was making friends as I was talking with those looking at my art.
-----------------------------------------------------
You can view David's original post here.
Until next time
Tom
It was a wonderful feeling to reach 300 fans on my Facebook page so I would like to celebrate and share that wonderful feeling with my supporters. There will be three lucky winners who will win an 11 x 14 inch fine art giclée print of their choice from any of the Modern Floral Collection, the Port Issac Collection, the Bucks County Barns and Farm Collection and select winter scenes. You can look through my paintings here in the gallery. These lovely fine art prints are a $50 value each.
You will have up to four chances to enter the competition. You can like my Facebook page and share this post on Facebook, follow me on Twitter and tweet this post, follow me on Instagram and regram or instagram your favourite painting of mine or follow me on Google + and share this post. In order for me to view your entry on each social media format you must tag me in your post as the following:
Facebook: @Tom Furey
Twitter: @tomfureyartist
Instagram: @tomfureyartist
Google Plus: @Tom Furey Artist
Each person entering the competition can only win one print to guarantee there are three unique winners. No immediate family members are eligible to win. The competition will run from now until April 15, 2015 at midnight EST. The winners will be announced on the blog on April 16, 2015. Once announced they will need to email me at tom@tom-furey.com in order to select their print of choice and provide a delivery address.
You can't win if you don't enter so please submit you entries.
Good Luck!
Tom
I found this interesting video explaining basically how the art community works through the eyes of galleries and others. It highlights just how crazy things can be. It also tries to convey the reason for types of art popularity at any given time. It attempts to answer the question "Is there Democracy in the Art World?".
So what's your opinion? Please feel free to leave a comment below.
Until next time!
Tom
I have been very fortunate this year in having my work accepted into many shows and exhibits as well as appearing in some great Public Relations articles and videos. As previously mentioned, this all takes time away from the canvas. Today was spent running paintings to a show fifty minutes from the studio. I then had to pick up some work and I took the opportunity to check out a new frame shop in the area. By the time I had navigated a number of road detours and got home, the whole process had taken me four hours! Where does the time go? This is all in a days work as an artist and the part that people don't tend to think about.
I spoke about shows and membership in my last blog comments and I wanted to take the opportunity to elaborate on that subject a little. For me, the most wonderful thing about the shows and joining new groups is meeting people. If you hold the belief that we are all here to help each other whilst enjoying life to the max, then art organizations are the best example of this. Artists share information about everything needed to succeed almost by nature and even strangers are very open to conversations and discussions, artistic or otherwise. The arts are a wonderful experience for anyone and I love to share it with all I can.
Until next time!
Tom
Shows and exhibits are a big part of my efforts this month. Juried shows and exhibits are especially important to enter for anyone wanting to succeed as a professional artist. Of course artist are not required to ever enter a show, however if you want investors in your work to see you as a serious artist it's part of the business. Most artist will tell you that the time it takes to market themselves would be better spent creating their artwork. Unfortunately, most creatives do not have that opportunity. Today marketing has been supersized with the explosion of social media, tweeting, instagraming and Facebook posts galore. Techniques used to market yourself with social media could fill a book. I'm sure there are shelves full of books providing guidance on this at your local book store or library not to mention somewhere online.
For the actual juried shows, the entries are selected and narrowed down to those who will be in the competition. Sometimes just being accepted to a prestigious show is winning. There are many juried shows all over the world. Today with the internet and mass media you are no longer confined to your local area. The shows I entered this year require the artist to supply a good digital photograph or scan of their work which the judges will review and choose who gets into the show. Some shows are actually judged for awards by these photographs supplied so having good scans and photographs of your body of work is critical. Shows and exhibitions also come at an expense to the artist. Entry fees can range anywhere from $10 to $100 a submitted work. Some exhibits allow artist to submit two to three works as well. Whilst other shows may require membership in the organization, which again adds membership fees. This is just the tip of the iceberg with entering shows and exhibits. I'll share more soon.
Until next time!
Tom
Cold weather this week. Monday morning about 4:30 AM I awoke to find my furnace stopped running. It was one degree Fahrenheit outside. I worked on the furnace until about 6 AM when I called my son-in-law and asked him to get me kerosene. My incoming water line was frozen. To make a long story short we got the furnace running about 4 PM. I laid in my bed exhausted at 11:30 PM after all the stress and heard a dripping in the bedroom. Yes, you guessed it twelve hours with no heat equals frozen burst pipe. At midnight, my son-in-law went in the loft space and put some putty on the burst pipe I couldn't reach. Temporary fix. I hope it holds until we can replace the pipe. That was the bad news.
The good news. Thanks to my daughter, Theresa being so insistent that I paint some flowers, my work was accepted into the Philadelphia Sketch Clubs "Art of the Flower" exhibit. Since I am kick-starting my career as an artist again, one thing I needed to do is get my name and work out in the public eye. This is a great start for me as far as exhibitions. For me, just being accepted is winning. There were 315 submissions and 124 works were accepted. There was a limit of two accepted works per artist. I entered two pieces and both were accepted. They are Modern Floral I and Modern Floral III. Prize winners will be determined by the jurors visiting PSC in person on Sunday March 1, 2015. The Reception will be on Sunday March 8, 2015 from 2-4 PM where cash awards and PSC medals will be presented to the award winners. All works submitted by an accepted artist will be on view on our online gallery. Please visit the gallery at www.sketchclub.org/exhibitions.
Until next time!
Tom
If I'm being honest, I would say painting flowers was never on the cards for me as an artist. While studying art as a young man, I would have happily bet a million dollars I would never paint flowers. I viewed it as a subject matter that was not considered Art for Art sake. The only exception I ever saw to this was if the flower was part of some abstract art form.
As it turns out, floral compositions are as abstract as they come. So many negative and positive spaces, extreme changes in contrast, and changing colors flowing in all directions. So I welcomed this challenge my daughter put to me in turning my hand to painting some modern and organic floral paintings. Prior to this, a few months ago, I painted one flower on an 8 x 8" canvas first which was fun to do. I then received six photographs from the talented Sarah Winward of her floral work to interpret into artistic paintings. As I said, it really was something I never considered but I could have never imagined the result and it turned out to be quite a learning experience. I like that! After all, that's what life is all about, trying something new and different. Seeing things in a different light. Some may say this comes with age, but I have come to realize now that flowers can be as complicated to paint as anything I have ever experienced. It all depends on the approach and the end results you require. I hope you enjoy my first attempt at painting florals as much as I did. You can see more on the collection here and the resulting new smart phone cases and fine art Giclée prints are available in the shop here.
Until next week!
Tom
Hello! Thank you for finding your way to my new website and blog! I hope you've lost yourself amongst my paintings in my gallery. If you haven't yet viewed them you can find the gallery here.
I've recently began painting full time this summer. It's been almost 40 years since I had publicly exhibited my work. I have been painting almost all my life, but nothing as consistent as I have recently. I purchased a house in order to build my studio in 2009. I had been longing to do so for the last few years, but as with many things in life, there was never a perfect time. I took a trip to England to visit my daughter and her family a few years ago and was amazed at the countryside and historic views. I took many photos while I was there along with my daughter. My eldest daughter, who is a professional photographer in England (you can find her work here) sent me her photographs for inspiration. I started off with the Port Issac Collection, which is the home page to my website. Port Issac is a beautiful little fishing village in the Southwestern coast of England. Its all so scenic-perfect for painting. It also happens to be the ancestral home to my now son-in-law's family, so the paintings hold more significance in that manner as well.
I build my paintings in stages. I usually have 6 to 10 paintings in progress at a time. This gives each stage time to dry so I can add more detail. I'll spend time in another blog post in the future discussing my work flow and technique. But know that this is how I typically work. I have been adding my works in progress to my Facebook page here and my Instagram account here, so if you are interested to see how my paintings look during construction go there and check them out.
For now I will leave you with that. Please do check out my new shop when you have some time. I will be adding more art in the following week or so and some special products especially for Valentine's Day.
Until next week!