Tales from the Humber

September Newsletter Issue Thirteen

The Humber Newsletter.

Since I’ve been making the Humber Landscape Series, I have been considering how to present them. I had seen no frames that seemed right. for selling, I thought of presenting them like prints adding a mount, strengthened by a backing then protected in a transparent bag. This has the merit of easier storage, less expensive to buy and cheaper to transport. The downside is being able to fix them without dulling the colour. I like layering which gives great texture but is liable to shed pastel dust.

 

For presentation in an exhibition what kind of frame would set them off best? In some ways the images have an old-fashioned feel. Then In a junk shop, I saw a couple of frames that looked perfect. Not the right size but the long landscape proportion was attractive for panoramas. The mounts were off white

and I even liked the gold on the frames. They suggested a link to older simpler landscapes when the world was less populated. They had the right feel! After all, the reason I am making the images is to record how they look now, because with the world warming up and this area liable to flooding anyway, it could well change dramatically in the future.

     Recently, sending work out to open opportunities for showing work at online galleries and in magazines, I have been struck by how much pictures cost to buy. I can understand how off putting it looks, can hear everyday people say with horror “How much?” The fact is, a lot of the money does not go in artist’s pockets but is due to hidden costs. There is usually a commission that can be up to 50% or over, on top of the artwork itself. Galleries have to survive too, maintain their premises, publicise and promote shows and artists, pay their staff, water bills, taxes, and so it all adds up. Unless one becomes famous and popular, it is unlikely most of us will make a good living and the cost of our materials. already expensive are going up like everything else. The trouble is, the need to create is so strong one can’t give it up. It’s who we are.

Have a good month!

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking from my house, towards Hessle Parish Church of All Saints that has a stained glass window made by Edward Burne-Jones, the Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones.