Winter is setting in, and the winter light is great for drawing and painting (it is here, anyway!). With fewer distractions more time can be spent on art, rebuilding my body of work and planning themes for next years exhibitions.
The body of work is important. anyone in retailing knows that it is important to offer choice. Take clothes for instance – you need to have a range of colours and styles, and also sizes to fit everyone. That can amount to a lot of inventory. Selling art is the same. You might suppose that if the customer wants one painting and you have one for sale, then that’s ok. NOT. The customer must have choice.
My body of work comprises A3 and A4 (standard sizes) and assorted sizes also. I have about six A3 at the moment, so I need to do some more, this size has been selling well for me. I have about thirty A4, too many, but they are a handy size to paint, and also I sometimes do an A4 as a warmer-upper for a larger A3 painting. However I (and also customers) get fed up with these standard sizes, so I often do smaller and larger pieces, some square, but I like the panorama view as well, I have about twelve of these in total. So I have inventory and you have choice.
I particularly like to paint water, the sea, lakes, rivers. People always ask for local scenes though, so I have to make sure I do some of these. I paint some local townscapes, but these tend to sell quickly, but I do like drawing and painting buildings. I don’t have too many of these in stock right now …. so I must get painting.
I have (too) many framed pieces, about thirty, this is good – they are ready to hang, but as they are under glass, they are not suitable for posting. You have to call around to look at them. Various sizes. I really would like to clear these, as I don’t think I should exhibit them again and again.
So, my work plan for the winter is – paint more A3 scenes, paint more local townscape scenes in assorted sizes (probably line and wash) to replenish my body of work. I also want to develop a theme for next years exhibitions (blue, actually) and work on these.
