Knowing When to Say, “I Just Can’t Commit”.

Where do I start? I had the distinct pleasure of being asked by the Phoenix Zoo’s Wild Side Gallery to create a one-person exhibit of art to help promote Nature Conservation. I was given over two years to paint, and pull together, 40 paintings for their gallery. What an honor! Shortly after signing a contract to do so, we adopted Dilly. Then, several more commissions to paint people’s cats and dogs came in, and that never stopped. I booked a flight to Arizona, for Buff and myself, and was treated to a wonderful day at the zoo, photographing subjects for future paintings. All seemed like a dream come true.

Fast forward nine months later, I had only been able to start a handful of paintings of the animals I had earlier photographed. Between raising our little Dilly girl and being true to those that entrusted to me to paint their furry family companions, I knew I was in over my head.

It was a hard call to make, but I had to turn down this very special opportunity. I was crushed. I just didn’t want to sacrifice the time and devotion that I would need to put into each painting, to have a collection of 40 works for this exhibition.

I would have LOVED to have created a body of work of zoo animals, but it was all the other details that led to the final decision. The behind the scenes would have gone something like this; (SKIP TO BOTTOM TO AVOID READING ALL THE TASKS TO PULL OFF THIS EXHIBIT)

–          PREP FOR THE EXHIBIT

–          Review all the images that I photographed and those from friends from the day we visited the zoo, as well as the zoo photographers photos.

–          Get permission (back and forth emailing) from anyone else, other than my photos, to paint from.

–          Create compositions in Photoshop of each photo from which to paint from. This often includes using an ear or an eye or a paw from several photos and composing them into one image.

–          Determine the size of each painting, to best utilize the wall space of the gallery.

–          Order canvases to the sizes of the images from which to paint. Find space in the studio for canvases.

–          Create an excel spread sheet to log each painting with image, size, title, price, and possible editions and their sizes, prices and edition run.

–          Take each painting to my photographer to have them documented. Store the documented images in files on a computer database.

–          Order boxes to package each painting.

–          Create labels of contents for each box with a painting.

–          Pack each painting.

–          Book hotel to stay at on the drive to/from AZ. Save receipts.

–          Load paintings and drive them to AZ.

–          Email the list of what is coming to the zoo so they can print tags to hang next to each painting.

–          Add new paintings to bookkeeping.

–          SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING

–          Update Website. Resize image to website standards, write copy, create paintings in room environments, determine edition sizes and create “Buy Now” buttons in Paypal. Create individual pages, update listing pages, create sliders to promote new paintings.

–          Create content for social media by resizing each painting image and adding copyright information. (Oh yea, make sure to do copyright paperwork with the Library of Congress, which requires a different size of image).

–          Post to Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin and the like. Create email newsletter.

–          Work with the Zoo to book TV and radio interviews, podcasts, magazine articles and the like. They require images of the paintings, often at higher resolutions that are then sent to them.

–          Book airfare to AZ. Save receipts.

–          Schedule Dilly in boarding.

–          Head to airport and into AZ.

–          Attend opening (FUN!!!) and any press opportunities.

–          Head to airport, fly home, pick up Dilly.

–          SALES

–          Reach out to parties that have interest from social media and marketing to answer questions.

–          Keep track of every painting/limited edition and create an Invoice for each painting and/or limited edition sold.

–          Deposit said cash.

–          Reconcile bookkeeping to inventory sales.

–          Order editions from sales

–          Sign and number each edition.

–          Pack and ship each edition.

–          RETURN ART TO STUDIO

–          Some of the paintings were going to be paintings done of the 9/11 Hero Dogs and they are not for sale so they would need to come back to the studio.

–          Any paintings that didn’t sale would need to come back to the studio.

–          Drive to AZ to pick up said paintings.

–          Load art safely in truck.

–          Book hotel for trip to/from AZ. Save receipts.

–          Unpack and store paintings.

I am sure I missed several things, but after thinking through the tasks involved to create a body of work, that I truly believed in, I knew I was ill equipped to pull it off, already having a full schedule of commissions to paint, a puppy to raise and allowing time to take care of my health and have time for my wife. “A happy wife is a happy life”.

I am happy with my decision, mostly, but really miss the opportunity I would have had to see the many collectors and friends that I have missed since moving from AZ, and the possibilities of making new friends.

Lastly, I want to say thank you again to The Phoenix Zoo/Arizona Center for Nature Conservation, and my very dear artist friend Dyana Hesson that recommended me, for believing in me and my art. You were all great to work with, though it was short. My plans are to contribute a percentage of the sales from any of the paintings that I paint from the photos of your precious furry creatures. Thank you!