Exhibiting - 10 Things Artists Hate to Hear

My newest painting, 'Irish Setter'

Most of the people I meet at exhibitions are a pleasure to talk to but there are others who either intentionally or not are at the best unthinking, at the worst rude.
I usually laugh the comments off as all exhibitors have had their share of 'those' people but a friend of mine has decided not to exhibit any more as she found the comments affected how she viewed her art.

So here are 10 of the comments artists hate to hear:-

1. 'How much', said in a shocked voice, swiftly followed by John, Sue or Bob only charges a fraction of that, I wouldn't like to pay that much.
2. 'I wouldn't pay that much' you can buy paintings for £10 at .......
3.  I like the ones painted by the artist over there better.
4.  Why do you paint cats they're horrible animals (insert animal of choice for cat, I've had the same comment for dogs, horses, birds etc)
5.  My friend, wife, sister etc is really good, said while looking at your art then walking away with a slight shake of the head.
6.  Why would anyone want to hang a painting of an animal on their wall.
7.  If I had the time I could paint like you
8. Are you using crayons, I used to use those at school . (if I'm using coloured pencils)
9. It's like painting by numbers
10.  How long has it taken to paint that (perfectly reasonable question) but after telling them 100 plus hours they follow it up with, it only takes John, Sue or Bob 10 hours and they're really good.

Exhibitions - The Hanging Dilemma

So far this year I've entered five exhibitions/shows and at four of them I'll have my own stand.

Each year I try to improve on my display so that I show my work to the best possible advantage.
In previous years I've used velcro to attach prints to the exhibition panels. This works well but because of the weight it is only possible to display mounted/matted not framed prints. Even so if the marquee is on grass the damp sometimes causes prints to fall off, usually at night which means the paper buckles by the time they're rescued in the morning.

This year I decided to look for a hanging system so that I can display framed prints and originals, this didn't turn out to be quite as easy as I thought.
I had to make sure that whatever system I went for didn't damage the exhibition panels and obviously I couldn't fix to the wall or ceiling. My initial searches only turned up fixed systems which were either wall or ceiling mounted. It was only when I had a lightbulb moment and entered 'exhibition picture hanging'into the search engine that I started to find what I was looking for.

I settled on using picturehanging.co.uk who were very helpful in sorting out what I needed. This was just as well because I was totally confused when I initially looked at what was available.

I did need to email the exhibition organisers to ask the width of the panels as the screen hooks are made to measure. I also needed to weigh a picture and calculate a total weight per cord.

When everything arrives I'll have a practice run and post some pictures just in case anyone else has the same dilemma.

The Borzoi - A Fact You Might Not Know

'William' the Borzoi

 

The reference photograph I used for William was kindly provided by his owner after I expressed a desire to paint him.

I met William at a show a couple of years ago and was impressed by his sweet nature, his elegance and his dignity so when his owner sent me some photographs of him I put him on my 'to do' list. It's taken me a long time but he's finally finished. The original painting is mixed media on hot press watercolour paper.

Before I draw or paint any animal I like to find out about them. I study the anatomy, coat, features etc but I also look for any interesting facts. This brings me to the fact you might not know about the borzoi.
They rank 75th in Stanley Coren's book The Intelligence of Dogs and fall into the category Lowest Degree of Working/Obedience Intelligence.
The classification is partly based on understanding of new commands and the percentage of times they obey a command first time.
Reading further borzois would appear to be selective learners who become easily bored and can be stubborn if not motivated. I'm not sure that I would class that as unintelligent!

No one will be surprised that the border collie comes out top of the list as the brightest dog.
For anyone interested in the full list this is the article :-The Intelligence of Dogs

Limited edition prints of William are available from my website
 'William' Limited Edition Giclee Print
or you can contact me direct gayle.mason@gmail.com