New painting

[phat46]

Finished a painting today, I did this one for my brother who will retire from the local FD after more than 25 years as a firefighter. Funny thing, as I was in the process of painting this he sent me several old firetruck pictures he thought might make good paintings, lol, he had no idea I was doing this.

[kb426]

VERY nice! Are you going to build a frame before you give it to him?

[phat46]

VERY nice! Are you going to build a frame before you give it to him?

Yup, I have been doing my own simple frames for my paintings, I also have to cut it to size, it's 16 X 24, needs to be 16 X 20. I was just invited to display my work at a new local gallery, they thought it would do well in the local Mainstreet car show coming up on the 28th. I have no idea how to price anything! 😀

[58 Yeoman]

That is so cool. Growing up as a kid in a town of 150, our fire truck looked just like that one, except ours had a full cab and extended front bumper with a pump on it. I remember it well. Behind the fire station, we had two 2-man drawn hose carts with two wheels each and the hoses still on them. That was in the 50's and 60's.

I'll bet he really likes the painting. You should do well at the gallery.

[kb426]

I asked a local artist how they price things. She had been to several classes and they mentioned to keep track of the hours and have an hourly rate to multiply. From me observing art work, none of the pricing makes sense. What does appear to be a contributing factor is an artist's reputation.

[phat46]

I asked a local artist how they price things. She had been to several classes and they mentioned to keep track of the hours and have an hourly rate to multiply. From me observing art work, none of the pricing makes sense. What does appear to be a contributing factor is an artist's reputation.

I went to a local well established gallery to try to figure out pricing...that got me more confused than ever, some stuff that I thought was amateurish was very expensive and other things that were well done were way less. A lot has do with reputation, of which I have none. There is (was)a local artist who was the official artist for Bob Ballard expedition to the Titanic, Jim Clary, who's work I have seen in person, that goes for serious money, but I feel, while it's far better than mine, still isn't exceptional, but he has the reputation. I really hate to part with my stuff, unless I give it away, so I'll probably give them the "you have to love it more than me" price! 😄

[rumrumm]

I have made a couple of frames out of door casing by gluing on an outside spacer to accommodate the thickness of the piece of art. Inexpensive and only involves the time it takes to cut and glue up the spacer.

[phat46]

I have made a couple of frames out of door casing by gluing on an outside spacer to accommodate the thickness of the piece of art. Inexpensive and only involves the time it takes to cut and glue up the spacer.

Good idea. I have made frames from different things, I used an old, well patina'd window frame from my daughters 1880's house for one. My "standard " frame is a simple pine frame, I just need to rip a 1X4 in half for the stock, (gives me 16' of stock from one 1X4X8)
then cut a 1/4" deep groove in it, cut to length, miter the corners and pin it together. I usually paint on 1/8" hardboard so it slips in the groove and one side of the frame is screwed together with brass screws so the painting can be removed. They get painted or stained to compliment the painting.

[moose]

Do not price your work too cheaply! Remember they cannot do what you created. If you sell your work cheap you will always be the cheap painter. AND is is always easier to lower than raise your price. remember Art is not needed but wanted, although I feel that people need art in their lives to to balance the environment they exist in!

moose

[kb426]

Moose, good statement!