I've been up to my ears in pink lately---just checkout my flickr photo stream to see all that's new and pink in my life :) This sweet little painting is a custom order for one of my repeat customers who wanted me to recreate (somewhat) a painting I had done previously. I had someone ask me that if doing something like that bothered me as an artist. That's an interesting question, because as an artist, you are supposed to create because you are inspired to create by something in your life, an event, a moment, an opinion, or a voice that drives you do so. But what if someone decides for you or asks you for something specific....should you, can you comply? I think the answer to that, is absolutely! Afterall...if it is your desire to sell what you create, the voice of who keeps you in business should be listened to as much as the voice inside of you speaks to you to create in the first place. However, not everything can be recreated exactly....in fact, it's probably a good thing that it can't be exact, otherwise you'd mainly be doing production work and while that may be good to a point, it's not quite as inspiring. I don't know...how do you feel about creating on demand? I might change my tune if I was asked to do one thing a 100 times over, but a few....ya, I can handle that.
Other news--I am honored to have been asked to do an interview over on the ACE Team Blog (Artists of the Carolinas on Etsy). I've done a couple of interviews over the last couple of months and the interesting thing about doing them is that I seem to learn something new about myself each time I reply to the questions. Sometimes it takes someone else to ask questions about ourselves to have us dig a little deeper into our motivations and history.
I better get back to work, there's more painting to tackle and dinner to eat (wow...I am eating late...not good)!
8 comments :
I absolutely love this piece Jodi!!!
I agree with Persimmons! If you can "recreate" and come up with such a wonderful, fun piece than Yes - do it!
I've been selling many sets of personalized baby blocks out of soft flannel on etsy, and I've made so many sets lately that it's just not fun anymore. Boring instead and that's not what creating is about, so I know what you're saying. On the other hand, it's so fun to have people like your product and continue to buy it. It's also very much about that. Hmmmmm....decisions...
great piece & cool slideshow, Jodi
Love the painting Jodi and the slideshow is cool too. I love seeing artists redo their works in a different color scheme or with a new element added. Fun, fun...
very pretty. i'm a pink girl myself. as for those custom orders....i don't turn them down (most of the time anyway) but i only agree to do them with lost of artistic leeway. :-)
I think it's a big step when an artist does a custom or commissioned piece. I did a simple (seemingly so) contribution to a themed event, at first being so excited to be asked, then it turned out to be a huge stress for me. I was so concerned I would let people down because art is so interpretive. I was given free reign with only a theme (can you say the ulimate *challenge?*) and the open field made it worse.
So kudos to you Jodi to be able to step over that line in the sand!!!!
What a lovely little piece...but then again your work is always fabulous.
I struggle with the same questions whenever I get a custom commission piece and just had to walk away from that for awhile. Of course those are the pieces that pay the bills so I'm back to doing them occasionally. You've got a great attitute about it...each piece IS unique even if it kind of seems repetative...we just need to let our artistic individuallity shine through.
Great piece.
I enjoy doing commissioned work. I've even been given free reign a time or two and found it exciting, but also as said above, a bit stressful.
I've also been in the position of being asked to make large quantities of one piece, to which I've had to say no.
That first happened years ago, and I found myself in the position again recently.
I enjoy what I do, but I'm not a production line.
That said, designing and making a quantity of cards, or painting more than one piece, is a bit different than doing canvases. Those are often made using found objects that can't be duplicated, making them truly one of a kind.
Most people who buy my work love the fact that what they're getting is 'one of a kind' or limited. Others don't get it at all, and I can't make them understand.
To those people I simply have to say 'I'm sorry, but I can't do it'.
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