"The Gathering" Figurative Painting 16 x 12 Acylic on Canvas Panel

I've been distracted lately, so I haven't done much painting. Sales are definitely off, too, and although I don't paint just to sell, it certainly makes my work more meaningful. My daydream is that one day I will own a small gallery, and invite other struggling artists to exhibit with me. It would be a co-op, of course, and everyone would benefit. No one will get rich, but our lives would be.

I came across a blog comment that made me uncomfortable. Although I am a self-taught artist, I paint to the very highest standard I'm capable of and I am learning all the time, even at my considerable age. But this blogger pointed out that it seems buyers, on the whole, are looking for purely decorative paintings, and hardly interested in detail, or finesse. They want impact, not work that demands close scrutiny or analyses.

The paintings that most dominate the market do seem more targeted to decor, rather than for the discriminating eye, but I'm never going to paint rapidly and casually to produce great canvases of flowers and abstract shapes. So I scrunch over my work, peering with strained eyes, trying to get the light just so, the shadows credible, the tiny faces of my figures filled with some sort of character and expression. I think the results are decorative, of course - who wants ugly on the wall? - but the pictures are more than that. They represent my love of the work, my need to convey a story. And that's all I can do.

Anyway, this is my latest offering.

"The Gathering"

Unless I suddenly decide to go back to my writing - and it's calling me - I'll talk to you soon.