The cost of making money & A Gentleman and his Sheep

I'm attempting a lot of things out of my comfort to be able to do the things I want to do full time instead of as a hobby. As many of you know I'm tired of the animation industry after 20+ yrs and feel it's time for a change. Looking to get into different things. One is to simply sell my own artwork. 

  

       The only thing wrong with that sentence is the word 'simply'. I spent almost $500 to have three paintings photographed and set up for printing and I don't know how many hours setting up an account with Etsy to sell them on. I launched today so who knows, with some luck I'll get things sold as my popularity increases. Finally as I've mentioned before, I'm getting the idea of what they mean when they say, 'get out there'.  

       

       However I didn't realize that even outside of an education, supplies, etc. it costs a lot of money to try to make some money.  As scary as it sounds it's nice to know I'm learning new ways to make a living. Even if they're meagre for now, experience is priceless, and I'm getting lots of that. 

     The wonderful thing about being an artist is that you're never limited in your abilities to produce great art or a great living. As long as you realize you're never too old to learn or do anything.

  BTW below are the paintings I'm selling on Etsy for now. 

      

    Have had a lot of interest in them, we'll see how that interest holds when it parts with contents of ones pocket book.

 A Gentleman and his Sheep

 A Gentleman and his Sheep in the Rain

A Gentleman and his Sheep in the Snow 

 I have written a short story based on the two of them. 

It's a love story. 

But not what you're thinking.

Til then.

T.S.

ROM visit

On Friday Nov, 29th I went to the Royal Ontario Museum with my first semester Illustration class from Seneca college. We drew dinosaur bones and other animals. They produced some really nice work, I look forward to continuing with them next semester. I'll see if I can post some of their work on here.
The ROM is such an invaluable source for artists, any artist who wants to excel at their craft should go as often as they can. Their artistic ability will increase immensely.

Sabertooth tiger

 (pencil and white conte on pastel paper)

Stag moose approx. 12000 yrs old

(pencil and white conte on pastel paper)

Christmas is coming so I had to attempt to sketch a reindeer.

Didn't turn out as I had hoped but better than I had at first thanks to my friend and mentor Werner Zimmermann. To see amazing art check out his blog Man4art. Well worth it.

Beautiful animal, I'll have to go back before Christmas and try again.

Finally!

   I've never been a fan of modern technology, even though I'm still rather young,  computers and such never held any interest. Even things like power boats and fast cars. I always preferred the more traditional methods, canoes, pen and paper over email, I do have a car but it's just something to get me places I can't walk to in decent time.
  Especially as an artist I've always been a traditionalist. I think I just prefer to be able to hold art, smell it, feel it as opposed to just looking at it on a computer screen or a print out. Even though I dislike using computers for art I have found it useful to do quick samples when deadlines are crazy.
  One aspect of art I never grasped was the business end. I was always told, "You have to get out there." I had no clue what that meant. Still don't but I think I'm getting the hang of it. And from some prodding by students combined with my own frustration of 'not being out there', I've taken to creating this blog. So bear with me, it could be a while before it's as smooth as others on here.
  But in any case I hope you enjoy it and give me feedback. Who knows maybe I'll get pretty good at this computer stuff. I tell my daughter and my students to never stop learning. So with some hesitation I'm attempting to continue in practicing what I preach, even if it isn't considered traditional to me, as far as the internet goes I guess it is.

T.S.

   These are pen sketches I did about 12 yrs ago. Typical of me I didn't have my sketchbook handy so used a napkin. 
  Always a fan of our history these are ideas I had while reading about the 1812 war between Canada and the U.S.....I wonder where that napkin went?

Below is a small rough oil painting on wood of a trench raid during WWI. Not sure why I opened with these, maybe because Remembrance Day was just a couple of weeks ago.