Quiet Folk Art Sales. Perhaps Naive is redundant? What about Trompe L'oeil?

In fact, sales have completely dried up at all of my sites. Modern, colorful and wild abstracts seem to be popular, but I can only paint what I love...my naive figures, land, city and seascapes. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I had promised to post my trompe l'oeil food painting, "Light Lunch", but I forgot. A bit late, by four months, but here it is:

Naturally, this made me hungry. It didn't help that I try to live without dairy. Guess this was my response.



In thinking about the lack of sales, I remind myself that I don't paint with a view to selling. It's never been a livelihood for me, and I don't think I could handle that kind of pressure if it was. Daily Paint Works suggested I should paint more regularly - be more visible on, say, a weekly basis. But I can only paint when the urge is greatest. My work isn't a product that I can simply whip up, following a tried and true template. I surprise myself with the paintings I create. I need that little touch of wonder when new places or people present themselves. Where did they come from? Magic.

I have a lot of followers, people who like what I do, and I am always grateful for that, but the occasional buyer is very rewarding, all the same. I remember every single one of them, even decades after I sold to them. They are like my family, almost, sometimes sending a photograph of my art on their wall, in their living room or kitchen.

I love that.

See you soon. Getting some art rumblings again. It's been a while. I imagine a lot of my paints have dried out.

My Folk Art...Apology and a Reminder

Although I've prepared a few canvases for some new paintings, I have yet to actually start something. I do appreciate how patient some of you are when I see that you've visited, imagining that you probably shrugged yet again at my inactivity. I'm sorry I've been so distracted lately, but I promise there will be new work soon.

The next time I post, I should have some new images on the page!

Where have I Been?

So very long since I posted. I feel quite guilty seeing the date of the last one...where have those years gone?

But I am still here, still painting, although not as much. Still writing, but with less gusto. I have to admit to some slowing down of late.

And this is where it gets really boring. I've been doing rather a lot of gardening. It was always a special love, but it came back with a wham in the last few months.

Gardening in Australia is not for the fainthearted. Gloves are a necessity, they say, so I wear them, imagining one of the million poisonous critters in this country just waiting to spot a bare hand. In fact I haven't come across anything scary. I have a blue-tongue lizard who pops in for a snack around the first month of each year (their mating season - don't know what's particularly mate-conducive in my garden, but it is quiet. Perhaps they like their privacy.) She (I think) wanders in for about two hours, soaks up some warming sun, eats a bit of banana, moves to the shade to cool off, and then leaves. Mysterious. I don't know where her permanent home is.

Cockatoos are monstrous. They are colorful, entertaining, extremely noisy and demanding of food. They sometimes arrive in gangs of thirty or more. If I'm slow to give them some tidbit, they attack the outdoor table and benches, ripping off great shards of timber, or they pull new, very tender plants out of their pots and toss them away. So far I've managed to rescue these and shove them back in the pot. Amazingly they survive the ordeal. It's a bit much when you have to keep checking outside to see what these birds are up to...reminds me of when my twin boys were very young. Couldn't be left alone for a minute.

I could stop feeding the cockatoos, but they come up to the patio doors and peer in with such an imploring expression.

But I do get about twenty very gentle doves each afternoon, looking for seed...which I buy for the cockatoos who, it turns out, prefer people food. And there are many rainbow lorikeets. They seem to eat anything.  I have to confess to a true love of wildlife, and I do worry about them - you know, during heatwaves, stuff like that.

If you look closely you'll see how damaged the table is, that one solar light is bending under the weight of a cockatoo, and the poor first-year Jacaranda tree in the forefront has lost all the top leaves. Thankfully, these came back.

If you're still following this, you can see that I've been off-track for some time.


But, in the last week, I've set up my new art store. I was with Etsy for years, but they became so over-regulated that it became impossible to continue with them. When I first opened my shop there, it was mainly rather small-time artisans who simply wanted to sell their hand-made creations. Boy, has that changed. Etsy become a huge, highly-polished entity, listed on the stock exchange. Just the thought of that put me off, let alone all the hoops the artist was meant to jump through in order to keep selling. Interestingly, I still appear to have a shop, with no paintings of course, with the words - "HafandegFolkArt is taking a short break". As it's been over fifteen months since I declined my "upgrading", this is a somewhat understated.

Needless to say, I am now with Artfinder. I only have around twenty paintings up for sale at present, but it takes time to organize new listings, and I also need to paint some new ideas. But just the act of listing here has brought back the old enthusiasm - that jump-out-of-bed-to-a-new-day that's been missing.

Please, when you have time, take a look at this link to Artfinder. Please let me know what you think.

I just wanted to share with you all, if you're still interested!

Until next time. Don't know when...

Small Talk - Newest Painting

I enjoy catching up with neighbors. I rarely see mine, which suits my hermit-like tendencies, but when I do, it's a pleasure, and we really have something to say.

This is my salute to such casual encounters. It's largish at 16 x 20 inches, and I considered a smaller canvas, but I thought it would be more effective on the wall at this size.

Australian "Country Boys" - My Latest 24 x 18 Painting

I said I would post more regularly, rather than adding a great stream of pictures in one blog, and this painting is my latest.

A lot of my work is related to the number of years I spent in Canada, but out of the blue I realized that I hadn't - ever - attempted one reflecting Australian skies and land.



What do you think? It's up for sale, but I almost hope it won't sell, because I'd like to keep these goodlooking guys around. Time will tell. (But I really have to stop collecting my own paintings...ridiculous.)



Post-Script...I kept this painting. Do you blame me? 

My Latest Paintings. Mostly a Little Funky-Looking.

I've finished another five paintings since last week. Two of them were almost done anyway, but needed tweaking and varnishing. You have to acknowledge I have rather weird taste in subject matter. From city life to beach reveries, from sketchy, folky people to pretty, more realistic city girls, from Great-grandma's kitchen, to cappuccinos al fresco. And I've done another of my Gran,  but haven't quite finished her yet. Is the world really ready for yet another Gran?

"Downtown"

"Reunion"

"Sunday Morning"

"Nostalgia"

"Private Pool"

Guess I'll keep these coming, as long as my canvas supply holds out. I have no idea what else I'll do, but it's just like writing. It always comes out of the blue, and is usually a delightful surprise.

Free Folk Painting Today! "On Borrowed Time"

I haven't painted anything new for some months. Some of you will know that's because I'm currently back in writing mode, trying to find an agent for my first book, and working on my second. No doubt the painting bug will re-emerge, but not for a while, I think.

However, I'm tired of so many of my paintings cluttering up the place. My storage space is limited, and I keep tripping over boxes of unsold pieces. In this economy, it's particularly difficult for artists to sell - they almost need to offer their work at the cost of a print, not of an original. Rather than sell my pictures at rock bottom prices at the various sites I use, or have a stall at the upcoming local spring fair (I really dislike standing behind a stall...), I've come up with something that pleases me.

Over the coming weeks, starting today, I'm giving away one of my paintings to the first person to comment and ASK for it. It sounds strange, but I can't think of anything nicer than to know that my little pictures are in the hands of folks who've been following this blog.

Here is today's freebee, entitled "On Borrowed Time." It's small at 6 inches by 6, painted in acrylic on a little stretched canvas, signed front and back, and the image wraps around the sides, so no frame is needed. There's a fair amount of texture in the cream and strawberries. This painting made me very, very hungry when I first did it.

I'll pay for the postage today. It's my little gift to you for being such a nice blogger taking advantage of this offer the first time. Who knows, perhaps you'll enjoy my work so much you'll be eager to snap one up when I DO start painting again.

Lori Brechlin's Not Forgotten Farm at Etsy

Today we have some real folk art of the primitive kind. These are the ones that are impossible to find when you really want to recreate an Americana look. Were they antiques, or even vintage, they would cost a fortune, because there are so few left in the world. Lori is sensitive to this, and devotes her skills to reproducing treasures as if they were from the past. Any of these might have been on display in Abe Lincoln's house - in either the White House or his log cabin, perhaps in both!








Lori's creations are full of whimsy and wit. Look closely at the work in those pillows - you won't find anything like that at your local designer shop.

You can find all of Lori Brechlin's artwork at Not Forgotten Farm at Etsy. Don't you just love that name?