Cleaning to avoid my real Work

This weekend I attended a wonderful workshop "Mastering the Business of Art" with Jill Banks. It is overwhelming to think of all of the things I need to be doing. It is hard to fit painting into my schedule as a mother let alone the hours of marketing needed to make my painting turn into a successful business. Successful Artists spend approximately 50% of their time painting and the other 50% of the time marketing.
I spend 80% of the time cleaning and caring for children and 20% of my time on painting, where are the marketing hours supposed to come from?

If anyone would like to join my mailing list please let me know. Also please share my blog and website with anyone who might be interested. My best marketing comes from all of you and your recommendations and referrals.

Here are some of my commissions and sales from the past year.

"Henry and Tom" 12x16

"Mike Mullins Rocking Chair" 24x24

"Heidi's Grandparents" 16x20

"Tide Pool"  14x18

"Pope Francis" 24x36

 

And two a little older

"Grandpa's Barn" 24x30

"Babes on the Beach" 24x36

When I feel overwhelmed I often have a hard time getting started. I have been putting off painting by cleaning my studio and my supplies.  If I keep putting it off I might start making a dent in the pile of laundry I need to fold. That would make my husband happy!

Pope Francis Portrait

Tide Pool is almost complete with mostly some texture still to complete on the hat.

To begin the painting of Pope Francis I applies several layers of neutral grey gesso to the canvas and sanded it after the final layer. I wanted to start with a neutral grey in order to be able to build up the light areas and down the dark areas. I thought that the smoother surface from several layers of gesso would make for a nicer working surface but I am not pleased with the result. The gesso is too smooth and my paint will not soak into the canvas as it usually does. I often do a lot of fairly thin layers at first and allow the canvas to show through some but with this surface my usual technique is not working.

I  drew out the layout on the canvas and showed it to the Priest at my Parish for his approval. He gave me the go ahead and this is the result from 2.5 hours of work.

 Pope Francis Detail

 Progress on Suzanne at the Beach, coloring in the forehead is nice but I still need to fix the hue, of the other shaded areas

And for any of you who wonder how can a mother of  3 young children find time to paint. Here is the pile of laundry I needed to tackle yesterday because I have been putting it off for too long, And there were three more loads still in processing. Some days I need to push housework aside in order to have time to paint and some days I need to buckle down, and as my husband commented, be a folding machine. Most days I need to give hugs and cuddles and read books and fetch sippy cups of milk and nurse the baby. The children are more vocally demanding than the laundry and I will always have laundry, but will not always have babies. And at least with painting there is a sense of accomplishment after my hard work. Laundry is never ending.