This picture and mention of my artwork appeared in the April 2010 edition of CincyMagazine. And once upon a time in a land far far away I was a very young and naive girl who thought that getting mentioned in the press meant something very important – I thought that it meant that you were successful…financially successful. I thought that if an article was written about you in an art magazine that meant you were earning a living selling your artwork. Boy, was I wrong.
Being written up in a newspaper article or art magazine doesn’t mean that you’re a good artist (who defines GOOD anyway?) and it doesn’t mean that you’re earning a living with your art. What it does mean is that you’re good at getting press. Well, you know what they say…actually I’ve forgotten exactly what they say…it’s something about any publicity is good publicity. Getting written up in a publication #1) Gets your name out there into the big bad world, #2) looks good on your resume, and #3) Maybe, just maybe, will lead to BIGGER AND BETTER THINGS IN THE FUTURE. And maybe not…..
There was an article written about me in the March 2006 edition of The Artist’s Magazine. Well, the article wasn’t so much about me as about how bad a painter I was!!! You see, I had gotten the courage to submit a photo of one of my paintings for one of their ART CLINIC articles. It’s a section of the magazine where they have a “famous” painter critique the work of a not so “famous” painter and give suggestions about how they could improve their painting. Except in my case they actually hired a FAMOUS PAINTER to critique my work. John Howard Sanden is so famous that he’s painted all sorts of rich and famous people, he has his own line of paints/brushes, he has a book/videos, and he’s been given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Society of American Portrait Painters. And he really tore my painting to shreds.
The painting that I’d submitted was one I’d done of my husband, Tom. The painting was titled The Pilot and it showed Tom wearing a black shirt, his standard black hat and there was a shadow on the wall behind him. John Howard Sanden did his own version of the painting showing how everything should have been done correctly. And what did Tom say when he saw the “correct” version of the painting? Why, he said “Why did he make me look like an old, fat Indiana Jones???” Funny, eh? Tom didn’t think that the “correct” version looked anything like him – it looked like a very generic version of an Australian bush pilot.
And what did I learn from this experience? #1) I learned that whoever writes the article gets to skew it to suit their point of view, #2) the author gets to misquote or misunderstand what you think you said to them, #3) the author gets paid for the article and you don’t, #4) it does get your name known to a lot of people. And name recognition is good.
And what did I get out of this article? #1) I received lots of e/mails from people all across America and even Canada, #2) Yes, I get to put it on my resume, #3) Richeson Art Supplies gave me $300 worth of free brushes and paints (probably because they felt sorry for me) and best of all….#4) A woman came into my booth at Summerfair and said at the top of her lungs……..“I saw that article about you in The Artist’s Magazine and that critic was full of *#@##* !!!”. And that made it all worthwhile.
I don’t know if you can read this article, but I’ve included it below:
