Ready to sell your art! My top 3 reference books!

    Commission of the Blue moon on the St. Lawrence River.  You can purchase prints at lynne-reichhart.pixels.com!

I thought I would share my 3 favorite art marketing books in this post.  I own these books and they are well written and chock full of information.  I am just like you, I would rather be in the studio which leads me to my first pick.

I'd Rather Be In the Studio by Alyson B. Stanfield.  This book provides practical advice from an art business coach.  I would also recommend  Alyson's blog  for frequently updated posts with free tips and great information.

Art Marketing 101, 3rd Edition by Constance Smith.  This is the definitive book for all aspects of  marketing your art.  I would liken it to what the Joy of Cooking is for cookbooks.

Last but not least is Death to the Starving Artist by Nikolas Allen.  This is a modern take on the subject with humor and tough love.  Nikolas is a young artist with a unique way of looking at things.

Back with some new paintings Cocktails and Mustard and Pyrex!

New work to share!

Cocktails and Mustard, 13 x 10 acrylic on paper framed 

History of Pyrex 13 x 10 acrylic on paper framed.

I am back!  I know it has been sometime now.  I have said before that I want to awaken my blog again and make it a place for sharing my art, life and useful information.  I think I have figured out how I can make that happen.  I hope to update at least once a month.  This should be doable with my busy schedule.

These are two of my newest pieces.  I am really enjoying still life work.  Anything is fodder for the artistic mill.  I already have other set-ups in mind using some of my fun personal things.  I love retro and reflections - the two r's!  I will still do other subjects for my collectors and so I keep myself challenged and excited about the subjects I paint, but I will throw in still life work as well.

For History of Pyrex I set up some of my personal pieces that I use all the time.   The orange bowl and brown casserole were wedding shower gifts many moons ago!  Cocktails and Mustard was born when I noticed the sun shining on some liquor bottles on my china cabinet.  I quickly added  the cordial glass and antique mustard tin for color and interest and grabbed my camera!

How about a tip!

  I think it is really important to under paint your image to eliminate the stark white underneath.   This helps if you miss a spot which is easy to do on textured support like canvas.  You won't have the bright white showing through.  There are different approaches to this.  I was taught to tone for light and shadow underneath - ultramarine blue watered down for shadow and raw sienna watered down for light.  Another approach is to under paint with a compliment.  For example, if you are doing a landscape that is mostly green - under paint with red to make the greens sing!   Give it a try and see what works for you.  I know one artist that always under paints with magenta so it all depends on your style and preference.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

When is it Done?? How to know when your painting is resolved!

When is it done???

Something that artists struggle with is how to know when the painting is finished.  You don’t want to overwork a piece, yet you want it to be the best it can be.  I actually prefer the word resolved rather than done.  So how can you tell if it is resolved?  There are some tricks to help you see things that need fixing.

Trick #1 – Hold the painting up to a mirror and study the reflection.  You would be surprised what that will reveal. 

Trick #2 – Snap a photo of the painting and study it on a computer monitor.   This helps you look at it with fresh eyes.

Trick #3 – Just let the piece hang around on your easel for a few days and look at it periodically.

Trick #4 – It always helps to have a second opinion.  Have an artist friend take a look at it if you can.

All of these tricks can help you see something that needs tweaking.    I use them often and they help me see an area that is drawing my eye away from the focal point of the painting.    They also help identify perspective problems as well as other issues.

I used the mirror trick to identify what was bothering me about this painting.  I saw that the background was a bit too bright and tried to come forward and fight with the foreground.  Since the background has a goldish orange hue, I glazed it with a blue compliment to dull it a bit.  Voila, now the painting was resolved!! 

Life is a Carnival Glass, acrylic on paper 10 x 13

Choosing when to stop altering a piece is a personal choice.  You, the artist, need to be happy with it and that is what matters.

Please share any tricks you use to get it done!!!

Locks of Luck to you! European locks on fences - new Watercolor and Free Giveaway!

My latest painting is from a photo I took in Florence, Italy.  I love how people attach locks to iron railings and fences for good luck!  It is so colorful and interesting that I had to paint it.  This piece is done on 140 lb. Watercolor paper in professional watercolors.  Use the button above to purchase from Daily Paintworks using Paypal.

I decide it would be fun to create prints digitally modifying the center lock to customize the piece.  I have the print for sale on my Etsy site and a facebook giveaway going on right now until 3/24/15.  Check out Facebook for all the details.  In a nutshell, I will digitally customize the center lock for you with any text you like. Since the lock is small there are limits though. Up to 4 lines, 8 characters each max. Any text like Happy Birthday, Lynne or The Smiths or Good Luck, John. I am showing one with hubby's and my name.  This would make a great gift or keep it for yourself!  Enter here!

The painting is complete! Life is a Carnival Glass!!!

My last post was a Work in Progress for this piece.  I still had lots to do and I saved the tough stuff for last as I always do :)  I am so please with how this piece turned out.  I have found that reflections are not as hard as they may seem.  What I do is under paint what is behind the reflection first and then dry brush the reflection over the top.  Works well for me!

I was first thinking to call it 'Top Shelf China', but that didn't really do it for me.  Then I thought of the song by the Band - Life is a Carnival, so why not 'Life is a Carnival Glass'.  That worked!!!

I had a frame all ready for this and have it hanging next to my china cabinet so you can see the still life and the painting together.  Typically, everything I do is for sale.  My mentor thinks I should keep this one for myself.  I do have it for sale right now though on Daily Paintworks.  Thank so much for looking!  Prints are also available on Fine Art America here:  Buy Print!

Still life painting work in progress vintage glass and more glass!!

I love to see works in progress.  In the top photo you can see the reference I am working from.  This one is challenging!  The view is the top shelf of my china cabinet.  I have lots of glass from my grandparents so it is all near and dear to my heart.

As you can see in the top photo, I toned the painting for light and shadow with blue and raw sienna.  This gives me a road map and also gets rid of the white paper underneath  if I miss getting color on a small spot it will not be glaring white.  I  worked on the background and the blue and white creamer in the front.

The 2nd photo show a close-up of the carnival glass in the lower left corner.  All the color changes and reflections took me many hours to accomplish.  I have made some more progress, but still have more to to.  I will post the completed piece when I am done.  Please check back to see it!  Thanks for reading :)

I call this piece 'Autumn Ivy'  It is a piece I did for the 2015 Twitter Art Exhibit in Moss, Norway.  It is on its journey to Norway right now.  If you haven't heard of the Twitter Art Exhibit - it is a great concept and really fun show.  It is open to artists and amateurs alike - no jury process.  All art is donated and all proceeds go to a selected charity which changes each year as does the location.  If you are interested in participating, please visit The call for artists page.  Deadline for submissions is  March 1, 2015.