A Few Memories: -
It's been a few years since I retired from the business of art. I must admit, however, that I don't miss packing, travelling, setting up a booth, and spending time with other artists, ....and of course working at selling my art. It's a hard sell, art that is. Understandably art isn't for everyone, and to attempt to make art to please everyone is quite impossible. Cheap lodgings, bad food, and the packing up and heading back home with a few dollars in your pocket, enough to get to the next showing, wears on you after a few years. Working with art galleries was no better. Your better pieces tied up for months, with very few sales and ridiculous commissions, was enough to decide to pull back and try to survive from one's own studio. Having your own studio sort of works, especially with the help of a website, but even so there's not enough to make the effort worthwhile. Fortunately, when I decided to work at becoming an artist I was already middle-aged, so my suffering so to speak was only for several decades.
Retirement has been far more satisfying. Free to sketch and paint without product in mind I began to write about my experiences as an artist, and producing books, books in which I could introduce readers to my art and encourage sketching and painting, or as I call it, making memories.
The books should anyone be interested are available from Blurb.ca a print-on-demand publisher located, I believe, in California. I don't sell the books, the publisher does, nor do I receive a royalty for any sales. By not doing so I keep the price of the books down by just a bit, possibly encouraging a sale here and there. Besides, not unlike selling paintings, art books do not appeal to everyone, and the sales are not tremendous. It's not as if I'm a famous personality. I simply want to share and encourage.
By the way of encouragement to pick up a brush and sketch I'm attaching a few thumbnail sketches and small watercolours that I've made lately while visiting memories of my time spent making art.
Enjoy....and get out there and make a few sketches. It beats the hell out of watching TV.
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| Thumbnail Pencil Studies |
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| Northern Ontario Landscape Pencil Sketch |
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| Tea Lake - Algonquin Watercolour Painting |
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| Birch Tree - Pencil Sketch |
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| Canisbay Lake - Algonquin Ink Field Sketch |
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| Frood Lake - Killarney Watercolour Painting 2019 |
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| Whitefish Lake - Algonquin Pencil Sketch |
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| Opeongo Lake - Algonquin Ink Field Sketch |
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| Thumbnail Study Pencil |
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| Tea Lake - Algonquin Ink Field Sketch |
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| Several Thumbnail Studies |
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