Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Proud like egg lady


 Like birds in flight
(work in process)
Acrylic on watercolour paper
10.6 x 13.8 inches
Barbara Muir © 2015
What?  There used to be a woman who lived
down the road from our school house in
Nova Scotia, who raised chickens and sold
eggs.  She didn't sell them every day, but
once in a while, and they were a tremendous
treat.  That lady was so proud of her chickens.
She knew everything about the breeds of her
chickens, and why they gave such good eggs
 -- it was a pleasure to hear her talk about them.
Plus the birds were beautiful and her rooster
woke us up every morning.

So I was wondering tonight how we can know
that people raising livestock for sale, or
vegetables, or sewing quilts, are proud of
the artistry of their work, and want to sell it,
and why people don't make the same connection
with artists.  We are supposed to be like some
strange cult who love to make things so much,
that that's what we do.

But here's a secret.  We also want to sell that work.
Not all of us.  There are hoarders, and people
who are too shy to put it out on someone else's
walls, and people who just make art for fun.
But the majority of us I'd go so far as to
say, want to do the work, and like egg lady, or
the health food store lady who took over
egg lady's property, and was infinitely
knowledgeable about herbs -- we want to
sell the work we're passionate about.

If anything strikes your fancy, you can
contact me at the email address above.
And for you my wonderful blog
audience -- no pressure.  I'm not
going anywhere (well New York, and
maybe Paris, but I am still here).  I say
this small piece in support of all the
artists on my blog list -- and all of them
need to eat.

Have a buying-your-eggs-from-an-egg-person day.

4 comments:

Flora Doehler said...

I know you're not supposed to eat tulips, but I can almost taste these parrot tulips!
Good post Barbara. I am about to open an 8 artist-run gallery in the village and at our meeting yesterday to figure out the details for our April 17th grand opening, we were talking about the uniqueness of our gallery and I said something like "our gallery is a commercial one" and then I apologised for saying 'commercial' and then others said "what's wrong with commercial? We WANT to sell our work".
I don't know how we ever got the idea that 'real' art is so rarified that any talk of $ is crude. Yet we have to eat, pay mortgages and make room for more artwork.
It's a great topic Barbara...one that could go into a number of posts!
I love your tulips. xoox

Unknown said...

love the loose fluid nature of these tulips. Bravo for the shout out for art sales!

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Flora,

Thank you. I know that some of the artists we love came from very wealthy families and were supported by them, or inherited large sums -- Manet, Mary Cassatt. But it breaks my heart that Emily Carr couldn't paint for 15 years because she had to run a boarding house to survive.

And one of her paintings sold for 3.3 million dollars recently! It is a juicy topic indeed!

XOXOXOXOXO Barbara

Barbara Muir said...

Hi Sally,


Thank you - they were on the way up and out if you know what I mean. So I had to get them recorded ;-)

Yes artists need to sell!


XOXOXOXOXO Barbara

Portrait Artist

My photo
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
I paint and draw on commission and for shows. To commission a portrait, or purchase one of my paintings please contact me at: barbara.muir@sympatico.ca
A major highlight in my career? Drawing Oprah Winfrey live via Skype for her show "Where in the Skype are you? Galleries: Studio Vogue Gallery, Toronto, Canada. The Amsterdam Whitney Gallery, New York City. Gallery at the Porch Door, Kingston, Canada. Your positive comments on this blog mean the world to me. I'd love to hear from you!