I Love This ~

That is beautiful!

So true!!

balderdash.. that is the word that comes to my mind when I read things like that.
Not meaning to offend anyone.. and also I just love the word balderdash. ;O)

Poppycock is a fun word too. Not saying the quote is poppycock, just having fun with words.

It might be a little syrupy for my taste.

Yet.....Take it from someone who sold directly Face to Face, for decades, to actual living and breathing people. They not only buy what I create, they dearly want to own a part of me...Wanting to know:,....What, Where, When, How, and most importantly WHY I create what I create.

And....When I have the opportunity to know those same kind of people here on this stilted online format,....They still want to know those 4 W's and 1Y

Roger, I think your art automatically leads to that kind of inquisitiveness.

Nope - you don't get heart or soul from me when you buy my art or photographs. I enjoy taking the photo's and creating the art - but I seldom regard any of it as a part of me - it is what "me" does. That you enjoy it - I appreciate.

https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/1-roy-erickson.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=517307

assuming that the art is authentic, true!
Love this quote, thanks for sharing.

So true

My wife and I often visit small galleries when we travel, and she often strikes up conversations with the artists. If the discussion lasts more than a few minutes, you can be pretty sure that we're going to be leaving with something. I think sometimes her decision to buy is based more on the fact that she likes the artist than she likes the piece itself. That and having a tangible memory or our trip. Maybe she's just an easy sell, but needless to say, we no longer have much space of our walls, lol.

David,
You have a smart wife and you may even be a smarter hubby!

Thanks Marlene, like they say, "a happy wife makes a happy life"...

DL,

I'd like to meet your wife. She sounds like a positive role model.

Dave

Yes, definitely a positive. I guess having people that appreciate (and consume) artwork is a major incentive for artists to create new original work. That, and of course, paying the bills, lol.

Back when I was doing nothing but drawings and paintings and trying desperately to learn and improve through self teaching... and, I was also making my own frames and doing my own matting... Absolutely, it was all very much a part of me which made it difficult to part with. Each year I would paint something for my parents and my three siblings as a gift for Christmas. It wasn't until I had so many pieces that there was no room on the walls of my two bedroom apartment and they started being piled against each other in the corners, that it became a little easier to part with them. When I finally decided I wanted to buy a house and needed money for a large down payment, was I more prepared to part with the pieces. I took the majority of it to work and sold them for 10 or 20 dollars a piece to co-workers.

So, I can relate very much to the quotation since I put my heart and soul into everything, even if it wasn't the best artwork out there.

Now that I'm only selling prints and not originals, I naturally no longer feel that kind of attachment because the prints are only copies. :)

I'm fine with buyers liking or buying the fruit of my labor or the work I produce, but I'm keeping heart and soul for my own purposes. Those are not for sale.

I'm going to cite an example for those who cannot imagine an artist giving up a piece of their heart and soul ( nowhere does the quote say you are selling your soul, btw....you just stretched the quote to fit your case)

Several months ago, a female artist who had been following my prayer series contacted me about the Mourner's Prayer painting. She was interested in availability. She had really connected to it. I wrote back to let her know the original was sold....but that I could recreate it, do an enhanced giclee, etc. She simply responded, " my son died last week." My heart fell into my stomach.
I countered with an assurance that we would make it happen and to get back to me when her official period of mourning was over. A month later, I heard from her again, but in the meantime, I sent her information, commentary about this prayer and meditations that could help her on her journey. I prayed for her and her son....all the way through recreating the painting for her. This time, I added her son's name in the shadows, to personalize this expression of a most important prayer for her. I copied all the information and included it in a package for her when the painting shipped.
Yes, I gave her a piece of my heart and soul and then some.
Every painting in this series has a similar story connected to those who purchased them.

That is a very heartfelt story Marlene...very beautiful.

Marlene,

Your moving story, brings to mind a time when I couldn't get myself to give my heart and soul to one special person.


There was a regular customer of mine, who would buy a piece of mine every year at a show I did ( Harrisburg, Memorial Day weekend)

One year he made a request that many have made before and since: To make a "Family Tree"

His request however had a unique requirement...He wanted me to include a small white vulture, to represent his boy that had recently died

As sincere as I possibly could be, I told him that I just couldn't do it

The years after, he would always come to my booth, with the slim hope that I had relented

I had to tell him each time. "I just can't do it...I just can't do it"

Such a beautiful quote!!

Marlene, that is beautiful. Just beautiful!

My heart and soul is in everything I do. Every single piece. It doesn't matter that there are "just prints" available. Every time I sit down to create, I feel an intimate connection with the subject at the time, and I have very strong emotions attached to every piece I create, no matter what way it enters the world.

Marlene, what a special story.