THE BUSINESS OF ART

A list of planned drawings with framing measurements

I love to draw.  I love to paint.  I love to teach my students everything I possibly can about all areas of visual arts.  I am loving showing and selling my artwork at shows and galleries.  I do not love the chore of framing my artwork.

As I've added more shows and increased the need for more inventory I have had to be super organized.  It takes a lot of planning to have work finished in time (while still maintaining quality I am proud of) and then have that worked scanned for prints, signed, matted and framed for display.  When I am doing back-to-back shows I need to have my framing and mat supplies ordered and on hand.  I live in such a remote area that there aren't stores that sell these items.   I have to forecast ahead of time what work I am going to do and then stick to those pieces - sometimes that means a new idea has to wait and last minute inspiration has to be ignored until a later date. 

Since my original work is done on old dictionary pages, the work isn't a uniform size.  My books are all different sizes so that means I need to cut mats and order framing that will suit what I'm planning to create.  I have to pull pages and order frames before the work is finished - sometimes all I have is a rough idea of what I want to draw on a page but I need to measure the page for a frame if I'm going to have it in time for a show.

Like most artistic folks - I hate math.  As a teacher I am fortunate that our gradebooks are now computerized so averaging is simplified.  So when it comes to cutting double mats and planning frames I sometimes get a headache.  It's all part of the job.  Drawing is called a discipline and it takes discipline to make it a business.