What do you do when your gallery doesn’t want your new style?
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008
TRINITY 36×36 oil on gold canvas
My husband and I own DaVinci’s Gallery in our local downtown area, (that we used to operate but now lease to a co-operative) so we know the incredible pressures gallery owners and operators have in sucessfully marketing art. I have been extremely well represented for my equine and sporting works by Sportsman’s Gallery Limited and Paderewski Fine Arts for over 18 years and cannot fault their business ethic in the slightest. They know their market.
As I grow and change as a painter (it’s not for me to say I’m an artist - only time can tell that), I yearn to pour content and meaning into my work not necessarily having anything to do with the representative image; using the image as a sort of icon for something more. This painting is just such a piece. I painted the canvas with Daniel Smith’s gold gesso before beginning (also symbolic for me) and poured out my deep intention, sometimes carving it into the background. (I’ll leave you to guess at the meaning.)
My main gallery did not feel this was something they could represent, probably not wanting to confuse my collectors. I completely understand, yet the rejection hit a nerve as I realized that my gallery was not representing me and my artistic journey, but a certain brand of image I may not forever be able to furnish. (Probably a little deluded and narcissistic to think otherwise all these years, but there you are…) A a certain amount of soul-searching took place when I realized this truth. I was reminded of a conversation I had with one of my teachers Alex Powers when he said "Drop your galleries and do Art". I suppose I am at a crossroads; I suppose it’s time to choose…
What does one do? Lick my wounds for sure. Buying an ice cream (oink) helped.
You may have experienced synchronistic events in your life, well I felt that I did on this day… I received an invitation to enter an international equestrian art competition called Ex Arte Equinus with my new pieces. I decided to see if everyone felt the same way about new works and entered "Trinity" and other like pieces. Trinity won first place in painting, and my Appleby Flasher won third in drawing. Evidently I will receive some goodies, works published in a lovely book, but the real gift is the whisper from the Spirit of Art that says "Keep going….."
You may view the competition Ex Arte Equinus at:
file:///Users/lesleyhumphrey/Desktop/http-::www.arthorsemagazine.com:art_competition.html.webloc
Now I know this isn’t the masterpiece of the modern world (far, far from it…) but I felt something "shift" while I was doing this painting. Like everything changed in an instant, possibly forever.
KINDLY OLD TEACHER. 18 x 14 acrylic on canvas. November, 2008.
Shawni. 16×12 acrylic. November, 2008. What do you do when you find yourself in a model group… They have posed the model, often in a position no human would ever sit in for 2 hours (and it often shows on their face and posture), and you’ve been there, (yawn) done that so many times before? I have begun to find patterns in the environment just as relevant to a painting that creates a feeling within me, like this one, a two-hour sketch of a model called Shawni. I love to feel totally connected with "All That Is" (at the risk of sounding biblical…) when I paint and so, instead of struggling to get a likeness of the model, everything else that intrigues me becomes part of the painting. Just in the moment, seeing everything; quite Zen really, I should imagine. (And no… I’m not sitting cross-legged humming all day!)
HANNAH. 16×12 Oil on panel. November, 2008
I thought about how sturdy those little baby books were… You know, the ones that you read to your kids when they were 2 or 3? Chipboard construction, I think it is… Anyway, I sanded the pages, gessoed them, and painted them with acrylics so that they would already have fun, exciting backgrounds. This one is about 5×6". Like miniature canvases…. So portable and sturdy. All you need is this, three tubes of acrylic, plus white, one or two brushes, and you’re good to go….
As my kids will tell you, I have a thing for "mack" ladies…As in "mackintosh-wearing old ladies that trundle around the streets and shops of the northwest of England, usually with a shopping back, a sensible pair of shoes, a scarf and a plastic hood over the perm, if it’s raining. (They get extra marks for a short-legged dog of unknown origin). I will unashamedly pose one of my children close to them and take photos of them going about their business. This is one of my daughter (on the left, looks a bit like a pole dancer in ski jacket) and winter shoppers on Lord Street, Southport.
16 x 12 oil on panel. 2008. "MAGGIE & PIT BROW LASSES"
We started off with a charcoal/erase method first to learn to identify the planes quickly….
Then we rapidly sought shapes in shadow and light…
Continuing on….
De- derrr. These some of the smashing studies the students did from life. Each painting was about 30-45 minutes. We had a fabulous ex-police horse that stood for us; a massive bay. (I can’t believe how much I express with my hands!) 

