How to Create an Art Series©
Posted: Thursday, August 04, 2011
by Arlene Wright-Correll
http://www.learn-america.com
This week’s “Art Only Spoken Here” questions asks, “I just sold my first painting and I want to know should I paint another one just like it?”
Congratulations! The person that bought your painting obviously not only liked what they saw, but they paid for the privilege of owning a”one of a kind” original painting. In the event that buyer happened to come across your next painting and seeing a duplicate that was not a print or a Giclee copy I think they may well have a pretty good reason to be upset. A print or Giclee copy allows the original owner the “Bragging Rights” to say, “I own the original!”
I do not know what the subject was in painting you sold. However, I can give you some advice from my own experiences.
I happen to love the Mediterranean and I love the colors, the lighten, the old buildings and just the ambiance of that area and whenever I travel there I take lots of pictures and when at home I am able to use these photos as subjects.
Thus I have a Mediterranean series that consists of about 12 paintings, all sold, all available in a limited edition signed and numbered prints and all available as affordable Giclee prints, note cards, tiles etc thus expanding my ability to hopefully produce more income without offending the buyers of the originals. The secret to a series is the “theme” which I can add to at any time thus expanding the series or collection.
The buyers obviously liked their paintings and by creating a theme I was able to “duplicate” the pictures using the same techniques, the same colors, the same lighting, the same whatever was the trigger for the purchase yet with different street scenes, buildings, bistros, waterfront areas, doorways, garden ways or whatever.
The same thing happened in my American Southwest Series which consists of 10 or 12 different paintings all creating an American Southwest feeling that also sold out immediately.
By putting your subjects into a similar series you can do the same with a landscape series, a garden series, a still life series, a car series or whatever you like painting without duplicating the same painting and calling it an original.
There is the question of painting the same painting in order to see how you are progressing in your technique and that is a very helpful thing for the artist, but that is not what I think is the answer to your question.
Right now I am working on two things. One is painting Iris miniature paintings in different mediums and the other day when I showed my latest one to my dear friend Rosie Hays she said, “Yes, I saw that last Thursday when you were working on it”. But it wasn’t the same one and side by side they did not look the same as one was an acrylic and one was a watercolor, the styles were different, the colors were different, only the subject was the same. However, I now have an “Iris Series” that currently consists of about 6 Iris paintings in different mediums and different types of Iris.
The other thing I am working on is a series of portraits of our family members and though each one is different in poses, mediums and styles, currently I am using the same family members and I suppose that could be called a series.
Yet an interesting thing happens here because when I use the same member and do them in different mediums I can put them in different on-line galleries such as my drawing gallery, my pastel gallery, my people gallery etc and when I tweet or Face book them I expand, world-wide, the viewing public. You may want to consider working towards that goal and good luck with your painting efforts.
May the Creative Force be With You….
Arlene Wright-Correll
If your birthday falls between August 1st, & August 31st stop in for a visit at Avalon Stained Glass School & Creativity Center during our business hours and pick up your free birthday gift. There is nothing to buy and these birthday gifts will range from $10.00 to $150.00 so it might be your lucky day. Questions? Just email me at askarlene@scrtc.com
This Article has been viewed 254 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.