Tuesday 29 April 2014

PERSONALIZING YOUR WORK - The date - TWO ROSES FOR MOTHER'S DAY

MY ROSE by Sea Dean - 6" x 8" wrap canvas
MY ROSE
PROFESSIONAL ACRYLIC ORIGINAL 
PAINTING BY SEA DEAN
6" x 8" on Gallery Wrap Canvas

To view my Gallery or purchase this painting please visit Daily Paintworks. Larger originals or prints may be available by contacting me.

This work would make a perfect mother's day gift. Don't be put off by the camera glare caused by the cadmium red pigment, it is beautiful in person.


RED ROSE
PROFESSIONAL ACRYLIC ORIGINAL 
PAINTING BY SEA DEAN
4" x 4" on Canvas Panel
To view my Gallery or purchase this painting please visit Daily Paintworks. Larger originals or prints may be available by contacting me.


PERSONALIZING YOUR WORK - The date

Do you date your work and if so where? Many curators, gallerists and artists say that visible dating may be negative for sales, although I have seen dates on Claude Monet's work, so it can't be all bad. It's important to know the reasoning behind the controversy so you can make your own choice.

There is a propensity in the Art world for "new", "latest" or "fresh" work. If a work is hanging in a gallery with a date on the front that is more than a couple of years old, buyers may be curious why it hasn't sold, (what is wrong with it) or what your latest work looks like. I think for this reason alone work should not be dated in a highly visible way. I made the mistake on the painting above, but it has since been removed.  Patrons are difficult enough to find without putting them off at first glance. (My Rose is still available and the only reason is that it has been packed away in storage for a while.

The above is also true of dating on the side of a gallery wrap painting in a visible area.

So how about dating in a less obvious way? Some artists date under the canvas edge on the stretcher at the back. I think this is a good idea if you need to organize your work by date or if a collector would like a cross section of your work.

Is there any value in visibly dating on the back of a piece? I'm beginning to question this for the same reason as visibly dating the front of the canvas. The art market can be a jittery place and with the internet making huge changes in the art world, I would think twice about making any reason for a buyer to shy away. Sometimes even an internet posting date can age a work past it's due date.

I will address catalog numbering systems in a later post, but be wary of catalog numbers where it's easy to decipher the year the work was produced. This is something I need to revisit in my own work.

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All work by Sea Dean protected by International Copyright - No printing, copying, electronic transfer or any form of duplication allowed without written permission from the Artist.