The artist painting in the studio is removed from life
outside - we bring our external experiences back into the studio and translate
these feelings into paint. Then we take our work outside again and exhibit it -
either in a gallery or online on our blog, website or on social media
platforms.
Then a work is sold and moves to the buyer’s home and the artist’s
connection with the work is broken. The artist needs to sell work to survive,
but it’s often hard to say goodbye to a special piece. If a work is specially commissioned then there's a close relationship between the artist and the buyer. I have been fortunate to have had inspiring and enjoyable commissions recently. The painting below was so difficult to photograph - the extreme light areas are silver leaf and proved beyond my photographic ability to capture exactly.
When the painting is sold at an exhibition frequently the
artist will not know who the buyer was. Sometimes the gallery wants to keep their client list private and won't disclose the buyer's name. If it’s group
show there would be too much admin for the organisers to let each artist
know who bought what.
Sometimes you find out years later who bought the painting. Recently
I received an email from someone I hadn’t heard from for more than ten years. He
had been looking at my website, discovered I had moved to Australia and wanted
to let me know that he owned three of my paintings. It was so good that he took
the trouble to write to tell me and send images of the paintings. These two paintings are from the time when I did many miniature paintings, quite a change of scale compared to some of my recent work!
Waterfront Cape Town - watercolour on paper est. 50mm x 80mm ©2012 Carol Lee Beckx
Fishing Boats Cape Town - watercolour on paper - est. 50mm x 80m ©2012 Carol Lee Beckx
Occasionally the artist has a chance to connect directly with
the buyer of a painting. Recently I spent a morning painting in a gallery where my work
was being exhibited. I had a chance to talk to someone who had bought a
painting of mine. There was a wonderful opportunity to talk about the creative
process and my inspiration for the painting.
Then this week I received this email:
Every day when I come into the office it's the first thing I
see and it's the last thing I see as I'm closing the door to leave. I can't
think of a more wonderful way to start or finish my working day - a beautiful image
to carry me through the day and one that reminds me that no matter how arduous
my day has been there is always something good about it.
An artist can ask for no more than this.
