Happy New Year's - NYC it's nice to visit - depressing to stay

So me and my wife ventured to New York this past long weekend to a) get out of boring Columbus, b) take in the sites and c) see the ball drop. I guess two out of three ain't bad.


We were actually prevented from getting near enough to Times Square in order to see the ball drop. We got off at 42nd street at approximately 7pm - we should have been there about 7 hours earlier in order to get in the crowd. The NYPD kept pushing us farther and farther north. First it was


"Go to 50th Street"


Then when we got to 49th it was


"Go to 54th Street"


And so on, all the while the police continued to block off streets just as we arrived. Our Hotel was on 57th and when they told us to go up to 60th we began to run, made it to cross back over and head down Broadway but the officers stopped us at 59th & Broadway and suddenly penned us off so we couldn't even simply stand where we were. All this is and weather in the mid 30's...

Needless to say we watched the ball drop elsewhere, on a TV screen.


I did get a chance to go to the world renowned and expansive Metropolitan Museum of Art.

pic from atomicana.com

We also got to stroll through Central Park

found on F that S

We also did the whole Times Square thing yesterday. We even saw a Broadway show, I'm reluctant to say which one.

One word to the wise though, if you can put your hands on the Village Voice while you're there - do it. I was a little weak-willed after our concierge's refreshing politeness (compared to every other New Yorker's rudeness and/or disinterest) coupled with my wife saying "please" about 50 times, cost me a pretty penny. I read in the Voice earlier that tickets were on sale at the box office for considerably less than what the concierge was offering them for. I asked her about this and she informed me that they do put a 'surcharge' on their tickets. The 50th "please" from my wife convinced me to buy them at the overcharged rate anyway.

Overall it was a great trip with the exception of the concierge scam (the surcharge for both tickets would've easily paid for 3 decent meals for the two of us in NYC) and a crazy Italian lady who was sitting next to me, texting friends during the Broadway show and kept yelling "can we share?" (referring to the armrest) as she poked her elbow into me while I struggled to keep my personal space in the tiny theatre seats.

On the 2nd day I was all excited to move there but, by this morning I was kinda of done with perpetually angry, rude & impatient New Yorkers. Ah slightly boring Cow-town, C.O., C-bus how I like you ... like a brother.

Tips for Tuesday: 5 perspectives on how to profit from art

The following are 5 articles with differing views or how to start an art business and/or how to sell your art. They are all helpful but, I find the information found in 1, 4 & 5 to be particularly helpful to someone like myself. Hope you enjoy!

1. How to Start an Art Business by Alicia Bodine
2. Start a Freelance Art Business - from Internet Based Moms
3. How to Start an Art Gallery - from MySmallBiz.com
4. How to Sell Art - by Clint Watson
5. How to Sell your Art - from eHow

Tips for Tuesday - ...for Artists who want to sell

This is Tips for Artists who want to Sell - By John Baldessari (b. 1931). Mr. Baldessari is an artist who focuses primarily on text paintings and offers the great advice above is his aptly titled work to those who would dare to become artists.

Artists I Admire : Gabe Leonard

I like Gabe Leonard for a number of reasons but the main one is he convinced me that Artists can make good money doing what they love.

Gabe's Style: Gabe's style is mostly realistic with a tinge of cartoonish nature. His subjects are primarily human figures with a few mythical creatures thrown in here and there. It seems that he picks a theme and stays with that theme for several paintings. He's done fantasy paintings, paintings featuring classic Hollywood stars and his most recent vein has been the "Wild West" or cowboys, Indians and Abe Lincoln.



Gabe's Bio/Education: Based on his website bio, Gabe is originally from Wyoming but got his Art degree from CCAD (Columbus College of Art & Design) the premiere art school of central Ohio. He moved out LA after graduating hoping to become a background painter for a major studio. When he got there however, fate had other plans and he split time between "folding shirts" at Macy's and hocking his art on the boardwalk of Venice Beach. The sales in Venice Beach became more and more profitable until he was able to do survive from the sale of his paintings full time.
Today, he counts himself lucky that he did not get a background painting job with a major studio. Otherwise he would not have the freedom - both of his schedule and artistically - that he possesses today.



Why I admire Gabe: I admire Gabe because about a year and a half ago or so, I saw his work on myspace and started reading his blog. This was after doing a search of CCAD alumni who graduated around the same time I graduated with my Marketing degree. I e-mailed him about if he is surviving being a CCAD grad. He e-mailed me back saying not only was he surviving, he was thriving. This little bit of encouragement convinced me to start drawing again if only to see if I still had my gift. Before I could even try and shop some of my art to local galleries, my first customer "K" complimented me on my art work and asked if I could draw a certain church for her. When I remarked I already had, I shortly thereafter had my first sale. All because of Gabe's encouragement.


My favorite piece of Gabe's so far:

Thing She Saved

Tips for Tuesday - Great article from artbusiness.com

So I was planning on drafting a few tips about how to be a better artist and business person simultaneously when I came across this article - I believe by Alan Bamberger on artbusiness.com about how to become a better artist and business person.

I was struck by how much good information is all in one place! Although I've never attended art school full-time I loved the part about:

"These days, a decent art education runs around $100,000. Art schools need lots of $100,000's in order to stay in business. If prospective students had any idea how tough making a living as an artist is, how good they have to be to make those livings, and how hard art is to sell, art schools would get fewer $100,000's than they do now. So art schools don't talk about the survival aspects of being an artist, they offer precious little instruction in how to make enough money to survive, and worst of all, they appear to discourage their graduates from venturing outside the academic realm to learn survival techniques. Sure, they expose students to the formal gallery system and maybe show their art to local dealers and collectors, but that's not nearly enough ammo for confronting the realities of the marketplace. "

I guess my "role model's" prodding to back away from art inadvertently gave me a wealth of knowledge about Marketing, Sales and the like as I was going through several professions I did not care for.

In the article Mr. Bamberger explains how it is just as important for an artist (a not-so-hungry artist that is) to develop sales skills as well as their art skills. One cannot survive without the other.

He also, points out that randomly blasting art galleries or art professionals with unexpected requests to represent your art and to -

"rescue [you], and whoosh [you] away to fame, fortune, and scrillions of dollars"

Is something you might want to shy away from.

Anyway, again just an excellent article on how to really get by and hopefully excel in the art business. I highly recommend it!