I Still Have A Day Job

It’s been a few weeks since I have made a blog entry.  Priority things that maintain our home took all of the available minutes for a while – lots of things going on.  But this blog (and my art in general) is important to me so I figure out ways to make it happen.

Though they are few, I put a lot of effort into the actionable events I participate in.  I try to learn what I can do to make it as successful for me as possible.  I do those things that I have learned as best I can.  I say this because I still have a day Job – there is only so much time available to my artwork.  I’m married, we both work, we have kids in school, my oldest is in college, we divide the work (a lot of work) of maintaining our house, we have dogs, my mom lives with us, we have a horse, we have large extended families, we do stuff with our kids, etc.  So, when I say I still have a day job, it’s a bit more than just that.  It’s easy to see how I’m at the point now I can’t afford the time to watch TV anymore – well, save for watching Game of Thrones.

The next actionable event I’m participating in is just around the corner – the Palm Springs PhotoFestival.  I’ve been once before back in 2013 – I was still an undergrad at Cal State San Bernardino at the time, so we had the student discount working in our favor (there was a small group of us).  This event costs a good amount of money – especially if you’re participating in the photo review.  I guess it’s unfair to say I’m going to the festival – I’m going to the photo review.  I’m working on getting my work seen by people who may find it compelling enough to want to see it in a show or published.  That’s what the review is about for me.  And to get a critique of what I have done.  That is very helpful as well.  Ultimately, my goal is to work as an artist and earn as much as I do with my day job, so I don’t need my day job anymore.  Doing this photo review is working towards that end.

But part of the cost (like printing your edited portfolio) is having something to help your reviewer remember who you are.  And that is the purpose of this writing.  That and making a blog entry.

I’m making a small photo book give away for my reviewers.  I wanted to say something about the projects that I’ll be showing in the book as well.  They are my Motion Project, Juxtaposition Project, Kinetic Ambiguity Project, and Victor Valley Project.  I know that my art, my images, are just what someone is looking for.  I just have to find that someone.

California Poppies – Contemporary Art

That’s what I think; those poppies, flowers in general, are works of art created by nature.  To be clear, this is a secular blog so I’m not suggesting or hinting at anything.  I am pointing out the obvious, is all – nature has always been an amazing artist.  I spent a little time at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve yesterday.  There were a lot of people.  That was not a lot of fun, but the poppies were worth it.  And I need a lot of flower images for a project I’m working on so I will need to brave some other spots during the anticipated “super bloom”.

Abandoned Places as Contemporary Fine Art

I created some new images this past Saturday (3/9/2019).  It always feels good working with my camera in hand.  I did a few different things but the major focus were a couple of abandoned places.  They were not really that far off the beaten path but abandoned just the same.  The thing that is intriguing for me is how this type of work can be fine art.  It’s tough wrapping my head around how we package our work and discuss it will impact how well received it may be in the world.  Or not even noticed.  If I were wealthy, would I still do this work?  Of course, I would!  It would take up a big chunk of my day unlike now where I try to squeeze it in where ever possible.  I’m a photographist, after all and this is what I live to do.

I find a peculiar strength of character in those places long abandoned – I want to know the story of these humble structures.  But most I will never know.  And there is a certain disjointed charm in that knowledge.  I think it motivates my approach to the subject and directs my composition to some extent.  That must be the source of the contemporary fine art in these abandoned places.  But I didn’t show you any of those here today.  You can see one on my Instagram but today I am showing you the view of the regal San Gabriel Mountains as seen from the Victor Valley.  Why this image and not one of the abandoned places?  I haven’t edited that crop sufficiently enough for blogging yet – I just wanted to talk about it.  But this one, taken on the same day, is ready. 

When I’m done with the image creation for the day and packing up my gear, I have a since of euneirophrenia that swarms through my thoughts – that feeling of, “I know I have a winner somewhere in that group”.  I think this one is a winner.

One Thing on Contemporary Fine Art Photography

It is very challenging to “stay on message”, to find a niche and work within those parameters and do that one thing all of the time.  I believe the reason, and one of the things that make us human beings, is that we are complicated and convoluted.  We are not just one thing – we are not just all things vintage fountain pens; everything you wanted to know about Texas pit barbecue; contemporary fine art photography by army veterans.  We can be all of those things and more but that’s not how to successfully present yourself on the network (any network, you pick).  That is frustrating.  I do know that some have achieved lofty heights in being multiple things but that does not seem to be a common road to success for the majority of the small businesses, entrepreneurs, artist, side hustles, etc.  And when I say “success”, I mean I can make my living doing that instead of doing my “regular” job – I am not equating success with being a “contrillionaire”.

I have been trying to figure out my niche for some time.  Why?  I answered that a couple of sentences ago.  Let me rephrase – I want to sell my art as a full-time job so that I don’t need a non-art job to sustain how my family and I live.  But, for the time being, the full-time non-art job is still calling the shots.  Based on the volumes of things that I have read (books, articles, etc.), I need that niche and to dial it in with a tight shot group.  Ok, that’s a little Army talk as I spent 20 years in the Army – it comes out from time to time.  But the “niche”; I need everything I do directed towards that targeted position.

I’m working on it – that one thing I have to be in order to advance my art-work and make my living in the contemporary fine art photography world.  I have my Etsy store now and I’m trying build it up – but something keeps telling me I should be on a different approach vector.  I have that nagging thing in the back of my conscience thought that says the niche thing is a bunch of Bravo Sierra – BS.  I guess we’ll see in the coming days (as my skeptical self is still working on figuring out that niche).

This image is a close-up of what is at the Etsy store.

And this image is a close-up of what is currently at the Etsy store also.

A Work in Progress

Well, I did it.  I opened my very own Etsy store.  It’s not the usual way they go on Etsy but it’s what I want to do.  Or should I say, it’s how I want to approach it. We’ll see how well it works.

I just have four items in the store right now but I will be adding to the store every week.  I also added my Etsy link on the right side of this blog with my other links.  I put on my Instagram page as well.  I suppose I should put in Facebook too but I rarely use Facebook anymore.  We’ll see.

This is pretty cool though.  And it’s step one in the plan.  We’ll see…

This image is a close up of what is at my Etsy store.

And this image is a close up of what is currently at my Etsy store also.

Felix LA Art-Fair

So, Art-Fairs.  I didn’t go to this one but I kind of wish I did because it seemed different.  I did read about it in ArtNews though.  The article; “‘Everything Feels MoreIntimate’: Felix LA Brings New Life to Art-Fair Circuit” by Janelle Zara, posted on February 15, 2019.  You should read Ms. Zara’s article because it is interesting and I’m not going to redo what she did in my post.  This is what I learned for me though – you can buy t-shirts (art t-shirts or really t-shirts with art on them) at Art-Fairs.  Which means to me, I can sell art t-shirts.  Also, this Art-Fair was held in a hotel, not a convention center or the like.  Galleries set up in rooms in the hotel.  The hotel was the Roosevelt Hotel and, from what I read, the place has a lot of history.  The article had a lot of discussions on the feel of this Art-Fair compared to the big box type of Art-Fairs.  But what I gleamed that seemed most important to me was the price ranges some of the galleries were selling art at.  For me – because I’m trying to sell work – that is useful information.  Along with that part regarding t-shirts.

Diante Yarber, Stephon Clark, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland, and Trayvon Martin

This was originally a post from my old blog site that I have since closed.  I decided to redo the post here because it was Trayvon Martin birthday on February 5^th and Sandra Bland’s on February 7^th.  If you read any of this blog in the past you know that most of the time I blog about my art, photography and inconsequential stuff.  Nothing too heavy.  But sometimes things just hurt too much and, though they were not killed by the police, Trayvon Martin’s and Sandra Bland’s birthdays made me think about how the police murder us – people of color – African Americans – black people.  And the sentencing hearing this past December of the police officer, Van Dyke, who murdered Laquan McDonald on Oct. 20, 2014 in Chicago, brought more things back to mind.  Van Dyke was sentenced a month or so ago to only six years and some months for the murder of Laquan McDonald.  His sentence only reinforces things we already know.

Diante Yarber was killed by the police on April 5, 2018, in Barstow, CA.  That’s just up the road from where I live in Victorville – a 30-minute ride at best.  You can read about it.  I did.  That young man was murdered.  Like Stephon Clark was murdered on March 18, 2018, in Sacramento, CA.  These stories get a day or two then are gone but the coverage on the orange guy never ends – the circus act is none stop.  These murders bring to mind that video by Childish Gambino, “This Is America”.  That video is so on point.  Much like Marvin Gaye’s album, “What’s Going On” was on point for the 70’s.  Well, Marvin Gaye’s album, “What’s Going On”, is still on point today too.  I know there are a lot of things that we need to be focused on – a dwindling supply of fresh water, climate change, reaching the point where our population growth will exceed our ability to feed everyone, etc.  But the orange guy or sports or entertainment dominates our lives.  We need our news feeds to be focused on the pressing issues that matter.  And we need to keep those names fresh in our thoughts – Diante Yarber, Stephon Clark, Laquan McDonald, Sandra Bland and Trayvon Martin.  With the exception of Trayvon Martin, they were murdered by the police.  With the exception of Sandra Bland, whom they said committed suicide while in jail in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015.  Sandra Bland was wrongfully arrested and would probably be alive today if that did not happen.  Law enforcement officers are those who are supposed to “protect and server” us.  But, as usual, the murders of these human beings only reinforce things we already know.  So, we need to say their names, every name, so that we do not forget what happened to them.  We need to say them all to help motivate us to change things for the better.  We need to do something to make our world a better place for us, for our children – because our lives, black lives, do matter just as much as any other lives.  I think I’ll listen to the Roots, “Rising Down”, as I list a small fraction of the names of those who were murdered by police officers:

Michael Brown Jr. (Aug. 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Mo.)

Terence Crutcher (Sept. 16, 2016, in Tulsa)

Philando Castile (July 6, 2016, in Falcon Heights, Minn.)

Tamir Rice (Nov. 22, 2014, in Cleveland)

Alton Sterling (July 5, 2016, in Baton Rouge)

Walter Scott (April 4, 2015, in North Charleston, S.C.)

Aiyana Jones (May 16, 2010, Detroit, Michigan)

Eric Harris (April 2, 2015, in Tulsa)

Rekia Boyd (March 21, 2012, in Chicago)

Tony Robinson (March 6, 2015, in Madison, Wis.)

Rumain Brisbon (Dec. 2, 2014, in Phoenix)

Eric Garner (July 17, 2014, in New York City)

Jordan Edwards (April 29, 2017, in Balch Springs, TX)

Freddie Gray on April 19, 2015, Baltimore, MA)

Oscar Grant III (Jan. 1, 2009, Oakland, CA)

John Crawford III (August 5, 2014, Beavercreek, Ohio)

Photo LA – 2019

Yesterday, I went to PhotoL.A. – 2019, at the historic Barker Hangar, in Santa Monica.  It was raining.  Not a light shower or drizzle, it was raining.  You can still see the art fair today up until 4pm, (I believe but check the link above to be sure) but the earlier you go today (opens at 11:00am) the better chance you have of not being rained on.

For me, it was a good photography art fair.  I liked the old location in Los Angeles better but this this still worked.  I saw a lot of really good work and I saw work that made me feel good about the work I’m doing with my images. My website shows a lot what I’m doing except my Motion Project – it’s not ready to go on the site yet.  But this might have been my last Photo L.A.  You know when you get that feeling that something is out of sorts – something is not quite working.  The last time I went to this art fair was 3 years ago and I got that same kind of feeling then too.  I have experienced that “feeling” in different setting and places from here to the other side do the world – and I have had these “feeling” since I was a child.  No one said or did anything to me nor did I see something along those lines.  But there is non-verbal communication going on all the time – I have learned to be cognizant of it.  But this is a great event for photographic art lovers.

I even met Ms. SusanSpiritus at her gallery’s booth, G05.  That was cool but I was really awkward – there went my first impression.  And I met the artist Ms. Hui Yi, who was with the SoPhoto Gallery out of Beijing.  Yes, all the way from China to participate in this art fair.  That’s cool and she was nice – she briefly explained her work to me too.  Photo L.A. is really a great chance to see some exceptional photographic art.  If you can make it today, you should go.  It’s not free but you’ll see some amazing work.

 This is what I drove through to get to Photo LA.

 It doesn't say it on the label but this is from the Susan Spiritus Gallery.

And this is one of Ms. Hui Yi's images I took of her post card.

Essence of Art

I read an article on The Washington Free Beacon website titled, “Finding the Essence of Art

Review: ConstantinBrancusi Sculptures at the Museum of Modern Art”, by Emily Ferguson.  I bit and clicked on the article because of the title, “Finding the Essence of Art”.  Well, I’m always on the hunt to find a way to be showing my work in galleries and museums.  As I see it, of course knowing the essence of art will help me do that.  And this guy, Constantin Brancusi, had some cool pieces too – I remembered a couple from when I was an undergrad (work we discussed in a class).  I loved the very first sentence in the article, “Watching two people argue about art is like watching two people try to ice-skate uphill.”  I was like, “yup”.  The rest of the article was good but more review than finding essence really.  A good review though – better than the stuff I write and call a review.  But I did revisit some since of what has been bugging me ever since I changed majors back in 2012 to become an art major rather than a finance major.  I’m not on a quest to get rich – it’s why the finance major became a business minor.  All I really want to do is make a good living (like make what I make now in my non-art job) being an artist.  That’s all.  So, what’s been bugging me is selling my work or rather me not selling my work – this doesn’t go the way I want it to unless I’m selling my work.  Ok, you’re like, “what does this have to do with the article you read?”  You should read the article and gleam that for yourself.  It was interesting but this is not about that.  This is about art (pause) work.  I need to move the needle on sales so I can get to where I want to go with my art work.  Maybe chasing the gallery thing may not be for me.  I need my own customer list.  I need to control the promotion of my work.  I need to be in charge of the operation, the business, that I am pursuing. I need to figure out the essence of my grind, my hustle – how I should be putting in work.  I’m moving into a world where perceived value is viewed as actual value and I need to understand that and adjust accordingly.

I’m still doing the portfolio review at the Palm Springs Photo Festival in May though.  I’m just saying.

This is an example of AP print of the Window Pain series (yes, pain not pane), part of the Victor Valley Project.  It is a 13” x 13” chromogenic print, cross processed, medium format, matted in a 16” x 23” frame.  This will be for sell soon.

A Review of the Exhibition, “In the Sunshine of Neglect”

The show runs from January 19 through April 28, 2019.

Last night, Saturday, January 19^th, Jane and I went to the Riverside Art Museum (RAM) and UCR Arts’ California Museum of Photography (CMP) for the opening of “In the Sunshine of Neglect: Defining Photographs and Radical Experiments in Inland Southern California, 1950 to the Present”. We haven’t had a date night in a while, and we love looking at art, so the opportunity was perfect.  And I would get a chance at maybe seeing some art friends which is always nice.  Both RAM and CMP websites have a good write up about what to expect at the photographic exhibition (the same write up, actually) so I don’t need to do that.  But you should go see this show if you can, especially if you live, work or go to school in the Inland Empire – or you just love photographic art.  I haven’t been to a lot of openings, but this opening reception night was probably the biggest that I have ever experienced – there was a gang of folks out at both venues.  But it was fun and worth the price of admission – oh, that was $0.00.  But you do have to pay at the CMP on normal viewing times - $6.00 or less (students, seniors, etc.)  There is a lot of great art being shown at this exhibition and I plan on going back to better take it all in, but it was especially nice seeing those friends/CSUSB alumni though.  Like Katie, Andrew and Sant (who is also a former professor of mine).  That was really cool.  Go see the show.