Christmas and the Artist

   I wonder with the Christmas season upon us, whether people really consider purchasing artwork for gifts?  Paintings and how they make one feel is such a personal matter...how could someone take the leap and hope that a painting would affect another the way they see it? It's a huge leap.
  But here we are and I did, in fact, specifically paint some very small (4x6) oils for this very purpose. Moderately priced at only 100 dollars each, I have been fortunate enough to have sold a few thus far. Was my intent to market them for the holiday shopping season a sell out? Maybe...but I, like many other artists, find that no matter what you are working on, a commission for example, or some other work, have way back in my brain, the thought of," how sellable is this work?", "how marketable can this thing be?", "would I want to hang it on my own walls? "   Not everything I paint is sellable. Not everything I paint is good. I have to do alot of weeding and editing. I throw alot of stuff away. Thank goodness I don't throw away as much as I used to. Maybe that means I am getting better, at least I hope so, because for me, that is what it is all about.
   I know artists that think that everything they create is sacred and worthy of praise. Not so for me. I periodically go through a big, flat box that sits on the floor of my studio and pitch stuff in the trash, paint over it or just give it away.

  I hope that more of my stuff continues to sell over the next three weeks until Christmas. These paintings are small and easy to wrap and give...Still have a few left at Blue Skies Gallery in Hampton.