Are any of you artists? What kind of artwork do you do? ( I am not talking about crafts). Does your art bring in any income to the homestead?

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), April 06, 2001

Answers

Yep, I'm an artist. I've sold paintings. I love to paint, especially wildlife and western art. Now I am painting with Paint Shop Pro, and it is so cool. I am also a photographer, sunsets, wildlife, flowers, animals and things. My paintings used to bring in income, now I'm trying to make a go of inhanced digital artwork from my photographs. I'll try to add one below like I did before. Eric taught me how.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 06, 2001.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 06, 2001.

Hello Rebekah, I build and sell doll furniture. You may call it "just a craft" but, never the less my sells help pay the bills. Sincerely, Ernest http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks

-- Ernest in the Ozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), April 07, 2001.

Cindy in KY,

That is gorgeous!

-- nobrabbit (conlane@prodigy.net), April 07, 2001.

Hi Rebekah, I was classicaly trained as an artist to paint in the Old Masters style. That's where you grind up all your paints from pigments and use a flemish medium to mix with your oils,I paint in oil and LOVE to paint landscapes and animals. I also do representational sculpture, with my 22 month old son around I don't get to do too much painting these days but when I do...I use pastels it's quicker and less messy. I've had a couple one woman shows but that is a lot of time and effort. It's a lot easier to work on commision and do portraits of peoples animals and things like that.The income is sporadic but welcome when it happens! Oh, and I've just tried my hand at mosaics and have fallen in love with them. I'll try and post some of my work once my husband gets his scanner at work. Do you do art as well?

-- Judy in Md. (trailhppr@msn.com), April 07, 2001.

I also paint for profit. I trained as a graphic designer when I was young but all my skill areas have sort of coagulated into a wierd mess that spits out the odd masterpiece. I use acrylics and guache mainly but like to experiment with egg tempera. I also woodcarve and use a chainsaw for big stuff, and mallet and chisles for fine work. I do a lot of digital artwork with Adobe Photopaint and I also teach digital design when the opportunity arises.



I did this as a joke posting on BHM forum. It's completely fabricated - see if you can guess how it's done.

Eric.

-- Eric J Methven (e_methven@btinternet.com), April 07, 2001.

Me and the wife both do wood carving and woodturning, havent been doing it long but we are beginning to actually bring in money. Are planning to attend some shows soon and see what happens. I have had a good response over the past few weeks and have started some commissioned special order work. Don't know if it will pay the bills but is fun anyway.

-- David (bluewaterfarm@mindspring.com), April 07, 2001.

Hi Rebekah,,I paint with Acrylics and some Watercolors,also colored pencils. I love to do winter scenes, lots of snow and forests. Also in Horses, big cats, such as leopards, panthers, tigers,,usually in a lush jungle setting,, I do most any kind of animals and birds.I specialize in old log Cabins in the woods, fields, etc. I finished a painting of Musher and dogs recently. Plan another one similar.**Just started doing people portraits,,have a lot to learn,,but love learning. I plan an exhibit this coming August and also planning another exhibit at our local Art Gallery but have to get on a long list. It is so much fun and hope it starts to bring in some money. I have paintings going out to friends and family in Alaska, West Virginia and Maryland. I have had offers from friends to pay for the paintings but I have a hard time taking any money for them. I just give them as gifts. But will have to get more business-like if I am to earn any money.:-) I don't know how to scan a picture onto a "post" ..or would share one with you. Will try to learn..What to you do artistically? Take care,,,

-- Patsy, MT (cozyhollow-gal@care2.com), April 07, 2001.

Patsy, did you take a photo of the paintings? If you did, I can help you add it here, like Eric taught us. You have to have the photo on a web site, I can put it in my Countryside Folder on my web site and then we can link to it and the page will download it. I just made that folder for use here, it's no big deal. No one knows the link except people here. Let me know, just email me the picture if you want and I'll post it here. You can use solidrockranch@msn.com

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 08, 2001.

Thanks Nobrabbit!

Eric, I took your pic to Paint Shop and zoom zoom zoomed it, and you did a good job there! I quess you pasted the bunny as a floating layer? The yellow you can fill in. It looks very real, like the bunny is standing there. Neat picture.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 08, 2001.

That rabbit picture was very convincing! Ernest, I didn't mean any insult against crafts. I'm sure that the furniture you make is beautiful. I play around with all kinds of things from quilting and dollmaking to basketry and origami. As far as art- I work mainly in pencil and watercolor. I like to do portraits especially of children (in pencil). I've tried pastels but always seem to end up smearing it or making a mess! Until recently I almost always used the same technique in watercolor, kind of like stained glass only with white spaces and margins instead of black leading. It began to seem too restrained and formal, so decided to take a break from it for awhile. Now I've been painting very different stuff, some of it could not even be called pretty.

What inspires your subject matter? Do you have to feel strongly about whatever you're depicting, or can you be happy painting anything? Do you do custom work? How do you market your work wihout exposing yourself to thoghtless criticism from those who do not even understand what your work was trying to say? Sorry if that sounded negative :)

-- Rebekah (daniel@itss.net), April 08, 2001.

I used to do a lot of animal portraits some years ago, mostly horses and dogs, and did a lot of shows, though I marketed primarily at the dog shows and the livestock shows. Wasn't a lot of income, but brought in some cash money when it really helped. Don't do much now but am thinking about going back to it on a limited basis now that I'm in a more populated area and don't have to figure on a full day's drive to get to a show ... and another back home.

As far as the critics at the shows, there are a lot of them ... and a lot of them know someone that can do something "just like that" and it doesn't cost near as much. All I can say about that is you just have to grow a thicker skin, smile and say "my, how interesting" ...

One tip for shows ... I do a lot of pencil studies and always had several rough drawings ready to do the detail work on, the shading, which I can do almost on auto-pilot. I always had something on a big clipboard that I was actually working on during the show hours ... brought in more people to watch ... and a certain number of possibly additional sales ... "I watched her do that" ...

-- SFM in KY (timberln@hyperaction.net), April 09, 2001.

Everything you all said is soooooooo right been there,done that, so now i'm just happy to be an art teacher and let the kids do the drawing as long as they like it who cares.

I still draw and paint for my own pleasure such as watercolor Christmas cards and sometimes gifts. Everyone always knows someone who does the samething cheaper. Some people have no value of anothers talent or time. Their loss. Blessings, Sally

-- sally stanton (mallardhen67@hotmail.com), April 09, 2001.

I spent 8 years in art school and I'm sure my parents were wondering if I was going to be a profesional student. I layed off doing art for about 10 years, but started again this last year. I paint rocks to look like flowers, cottages or animals now. Yes, people will pay (sometimes a lot!) for these items. I've even had people tell me my work was worth more than I asked for and give me extra. I find if I paint a rock to look like someone's house and then offer it to them for a reasonable price they almost always buy it!

-- debra in ks (solid-dkn@msn.com), April 09, 2001.

Although I don't paint, hubby does. He is currently painting a mural on our dining room wall. I love how it is coming out. It incorporated the room to look like you were looking off an Italian balcony out onto the Mediteranean with water and buildings and vineyards. He is making columns so you look like you are standing on a balcony. He is also going around two of the corners with grape ivy and more columns. I will post a picture when it is done. But this brings to mind that we recently were invited to dinner at the house of some hunt people and they had a scene of a hunt painted on their dining room wall which was painted by one of the guests at the dinner. It was commissioned work but I think it could be a lucrative business for those of you with artistic talent in the painting area. I know of several other people who have murals painted on their walls. I think once you get the word out you will have people coming to your door. The guest at the dinner said that she has continuous work. I'm sure it wouldn't be as much as a full time job but it could certainly supplement a homestead life quite well I would imagine. The only problem is that obviously you would have to leave home to do the work!!!

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), April 09, 2001.

You guys are so right!!! I can't tell you how many times at an art show where my work was hanging I'd be cornered by someone who just had to tell me about their nine year old niece who was "a genius". Someone always knows someone who can do it with "one hand tied behind her back". And I'm thinkin' well, I only use the one hand to paint....I hope I don't sound too bitter :) Hubby and I have done a lot of murals but I need to get off my ##%& and really try and market myself. I love to support other artist though, and try and save up enough to buy others' work when I can. Keep up the good work everyone!!

-- Judy in Md. (trailhppr@msn.com), April 09, 2001.

Rebekah, Randy & I create mosaics, mostly in glass tile but some ceramic and china as well. We're trying to set up our new home right now, so time to create is scarce, but we have a gallery spot set up for this summer, which looks to be a decent source of extra income, judging on their traffic. Thanks for asking this question- it was interesting to read about everyone's work!

-- Kristin Stallworth (positivekharma@aol.com), April 09, 2001.

Debra in KS, I have all those books, Painting Animals on Rocks. I think it is really neat, but I can't find any round rocks here. Not like the big ones they use. My rocks are all square. I put our stuff on the web but so far nothing yet. I think it is Freemerchant, ours is www.solidrockranch.safeshopper.com. It is free if you don't sign up for all the pay-pal stuff. Mine is free. It wouldn't hurt to try is what I say.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@hotmail.com), April 10, 2001.

Boy, I envy all you that have time to do art! I can't seem to turn on the creativity once I get home from my 8-hour gig, then care for goats, dogs, chickens, etc. How do you do it? I have done horse & dog portraits when I was involved with show horses.. everybody wanted one. Dogs were easier than horses because they have that built-in "bless my heart" look on their faces! It was fun then, and when the customers cried when they saw the portrait, I knew I'd done a good job! But, the pressure to create on demand got the best of me and I found I didn't have any quality time for that either. Now, my only money-making venture is pen & ink notecards and stationary; it's easy to reproduce and nearly everyone writes letters! I've got some of Arabs and some donkeys and am trying to work some up of goats & sheep and other farm-type subject matter. I've got a great photo of a pygmy goat sleeping on a large wooden spool and he has two chickens sitting on top of him... that's going to be a good seller to the goat folks! I also try and send a few drawings in to magazines for them to use for filler areas. The artist is still in me and becons now and then. One of these days I'll dust off my pastels and watercolors and just go wild with all that belated creativity. Till then, I take field trips to Santa Fe and wander around in the galleries, hoping to get inspired. Good luck to you all, happy painting... dh in nm

-- debra in nm (dhaden@nmtr.unm.edu), April 11, 2001.

Rebekah,

My husband is a 3D digital artist. He makes some money from simply having a subscription to his website that allowes paying subscribers to have access to high resolution images that they could then use on their websites, or for personal use (not for resale, that would require an actual contract and more $) But he does the art because he loves it and would do it anyway. The amount of time he spends on the art and on the upkeep of the site would not justify doing it simply for the money. You can view his work at www.ekholbrook.com.

WL Holbrook

-- Wendy Holbrook (wlh@ekholbrook.com), October 14, 2001.

Gee, wonder how I missed this thread when it started in April?! Probably hysterically trying to meet a deadline, as usual.

I work full time in my home studio as a cross-stitch (and sometimes needlepoint) designer. It's hard to stay focused when there's so much to do outside, or the dogs want to play, or folks drop by for coffee, but my art director calls regularly to yell at me and keep me on task. :-) It's how we can live here in the mountains where jobs are scarce and low-paying.

-- Jorja Hernandez (jorja@color-country.net), October 14, 2001.

Hey, Wendy! Your husband's stuff is awesome! I bookmarked it for when I have more time, have to get back to work now.

-- Jorja Hernandez (jorja@color-country.net), October 14, 2001.