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A New Place to Sell

Sales of my art have declined. Is it the economy? I assume so, since sales are an economic transaction. The specific reasons are: one of my regular vendors was not open this past summer; another one relied on a now-closed adjoining restaurant for foot traffic; the third place relied on traffic to Sequoia National Park, which was closed until July 1.

What’s an artist to do?

Look for a new place to sell, of course.

St. Anthony’s Retreat asked for some of my paintings for their gift shop. This is close to home, a place where I have painted several murals, staffed by many friends, and is an active place in Three Rivers. It brings in people from all over the valley for various purposes, many of which are not actually Catholic. It is a beautiful place, very bucolic, and they have very good food too.

I worked with two friends there to decide what to put in the gift shop. This is what we chose:

Craig Ranch (on BLM land above St. Anthony’s)
Kaweah River (St. Anthony’s is visible on the hillside.)
Alta, Kaweah Lake, Lupine (visible to anyone traveling to St. Anthony’s)
Winding Kaweah, almost visible from St. Anthony’s
Redwoods, painted from the same reference photo used on a mural at Santa Teresita, St. Anthony’s youth center
Yarn! Because there was a knitter’s retreat setting up when I delivered the paintings. (Mama didn’t raise no fool. . .)

3 Comments

  1. You have chosen . . . wisely!

    If this proves successful, how about painting something from AT the retreat (unless that’s a no-no policy)?

    (My favorite of this bunch is still Alta peak, with the redwoods coming in a close second.)

    • Sharon, I chose to not paint retreat scenes, because if they don’t sell at the retreat, they won’t sell anywhere else and I will have wasted my time.

      • Good point. It’s a limited-audience subject. Unless someone would commission you (half down, please) to paint something specific.

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