The Art Order - Tiny Pleasures - Tiny Paintings
For those of you with dirty minds…get outta the gutter. This is about painting! A few days ago, I received a very cool gift from Jeremy Wilson…a tiny little painting.
It made me smile.
It made me wonder
…and wondering always leads me into trouble.
Next thing I knew, I was reading up on booth spaces at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live 3, and wondering what it would be like to have a whole booth filled with a bevy of tiny little paintings. Can you imagine that? Hundreds of tiny paintings filling a booth. All waiting to be admired by the artists and spectators attending SFAL. If they were cool enough, they might even sell!
…and that was when I was hooked!
Tiny Pleaures
So there’s nothing new or innovative about doing tiny painting. Greg Manchess did a slew of wonderful helmeted tiny paintings last year (sold out before I could snag one too!).
Tiny Paintings by Greg Manchess
Tiny paintings are also a part of the 5×7 show that Irene Gallo does in connection with the Society of Illustrators. In fact, you can find tiny painting all through art history. There’s even a miniature art association, & collections of tiny art…it’s every where!
Tiny Paintings
When I first got the painting from Jeremy, I had this vision of a wall full of tiny paintings at my house. I seemed like a cool idea at the time. I think that vision has been hanging with me the last few days, cause I kept seeing tiny stuff everywhere. It probably isn’t a surprise then, that when I stumbled across some tiny canvases at the local art store…I had to snag them! Then I got the note about the tables going on sale at SFAL, and the idea of a booth full of canvases lite me up.
…and that was when I had the idea of taking as many tiny canvases to Kansas City as I could. I know there is no way I can create enough paintings to fill the booth – or even a small portion of it. That was when I had the idea of inviting other folks and giving them the opportunity of sending tiny canvases to Kansas City too!
Wanna create some tiny paintings? Me too!
I figure I can hang a few hundred tiny images in the booth. Actually I’m sure I hang close to 900 images, but that would be a stupid amount of canvases…and really time consuming trying to hang and manage all of them. So I figure I’ll call it quits at around 300 images. There are lots of artists that wish they can get to SFAL. While I can’t take you…I can take your paintings! So jump onboard the tiny paintings train, and join me at SFAL. In order to try and keep the chaos to a minimum, I’ve got a few ground rules I would like folks to follow.
• all images have to be 3×3. I would like to recommend stretched canvas, but if your medium doesn’t allow for that, use what you want. I’ve found a great deal on them on Jerrys Art ‘o Rama – 6 of them for less than $5. Buddy up with a few artists and you can get a bunch of them without an increase in shipping fees. While I can’t make it mandatory to use these, I would like to recommend it…so all the canvases are the same size and thickness. It’ll make a nicer presentation, and easier to hang.
• must be tasteful. Nudity is okay as long as it is handled with taste and artistic sensitivity.
• must be traditional media. Yep, I’m gonna be a traditional snob on this one. It’s only 3×3, what better time to take the traditional dive?
• it should be fantasy or sci-fi themed. Hey, I’m going to be at SFAL! What else would you expect?
• must pass muster. If I get too many submissions, I’ll have to have a way to deal with the excess. If I need to thin the herd, I’ll set up a jury to help me weed things out. Don’t worry, you’ve got 300+ chances to get in!
• must meet the deadline. Submit a jpg of your painting no later than April 1st, 2014. No foolin’!
You’re in the show!
If you are chosen to participate, I’m going to ask a few things of you, so don’t enter unless you agree to the following conditions:
• The painting must be received no later than May 1st, 2014. Shipping location will be provided at a later date.
• If you are willing to sell the image, please provide a price you are willing to sell it for. Please add 5% to the cost so that I can cover transaction fees, and such. Compare that to the charge galleries hit you with, and I’m sure you will agree that it is more than reasonable.
• Be willing to pay postage to return the painting if it doesn’t sell, donate it to a good cause, or decide whatever other manner you wish to dispose of a non-returned piece.
• Provide a business card/flyer/brochure to go with the painting at the time of sale.
• Provide a padded envelope for the painting to be packaged in at the time of sale, or to be returned in.
I hope you think this sounds like fun, and potentially profitable too! I’ll make sure I take pictures of the new owners with their tiny painting, and share them with the each of you.
Extra Credit
Now, those are all the must have, and must do’s, I’m just going to ask a little something of you. This is completely voluntary, and I won’t think the worse for anyone that doesn’t take part. I would like you to consider donating a portion of your sales towards a scholarship fund for artists. In the coming weeks, I’m going to be working to put together a fund that will help get deserving artists the education and training that they need to pursue their artistic careers. If I don’t get it pulled together in time for SFAL, then hold onto your hard earned cash, but if I can – please just consider contributing…even if it is only $1. That’s all I ask, consider it.
…and I’ll have plenty of ArtOrder stickers, and perhaps a few other swag items available for sale so I can help defray the costs of the booth. So if you are looking for a nice t-shirt…swing on by.
