About Series Work

Hi Phyllis, I really don't know the answer but my gut instinct is to say that it might be better to do different sizes. Thinking that clients wanting the entire series would probably want a variety of sizes.

Phyllis, from a practical point of view, looking down the line, I'd keep the ratios the same at very least. You never know how big the series will get or what other things you might want to do with them....hanging, for instance.
My Judaic series has 22 squares ( some 3 footers, some 4 footers) and 1 rectangle.....it's a pain to put them altogether in a poster type series, or print them to all be cohesive... a gallery showing was a breeze with all squares..luckily the rectangle was sold so i didn't worry about it. lol.,,just some things to think about.

So the first two already on 22x28 canvas. I will think more in squares though for the next. Thanks girls.
I did find an interesting read on series art if anyone wants to look at it. http://www.artpromotivate.com/2012/04/create-series-of-paintings-to-sell-more.html

OOps! http://www.artpromotivate.com/2012/04/create-series-of-paintings-to-sell-more.html

excellent article, Phyllis...I hope it gets well read.
Series, style, a distinctive look all have merit.
My first series of Kachinas got me into my first gallery in Scottsdale. My first series of birds got me into Santa Fe. First series of non-objective abstracts got me selling like crazy in Sausalito and my first series of Judaic paintings have taken off like gangbusters..it's all good.

I was hoping that you would weigh in on this Marlene because of your series work and success. I just had an idea for a series out of the blue and started painting. Just finished #2 and will try to get a photo of it if the sun permits tomorrow. Here is #1.
The series will naturally be called Moon Over Mississippi. I love the dark background and love painting birdies so it may go well. We will see!

Phyllis I think it a wonderful idea....I love your birds! and I guess I was wrong about an assortment of sizes....I would definitely listen to Marlene. Great article too thank you!

Phyllis, this is going to be a STELLAR series! Your work is marvelous and this combination with the contrasting balck background is so distinctive!
Val, there's no wrong...just stuff I learned along the way when I was damning myself for them not all being the same. ;)

Val, we are all learning and thank you so much, that is what I love about the discussions, you can glean so many things from others. That is as long as you can ignore "the few" >LOL
Marlene, Thank you a million! I hope that you are correct. I am going to just keep going with it and see where it goes. If nothing else, I know that they will eventually sell. My paintings on dark backgrounds usually go pretty quickly at the galleries.

Marlene, LOL...that's why I said you were right! I am always so grateful for information like that. As well as the fact you are so good at series work!

Phyllis, I would definitely defer to Marlene and...you will create a great series! I love the discussions too...I just can't keep up with them. I get a few minutes here and there...LOL...maybe I'm lucky I miss a lot of the "off topic" for lack of a better word...stuff. :)

Your topic of series gives me inspiration! I have been a little bored with my art lately and creating a series sounds like fun...if I can figure out a series of what :)

Val, I think that you would have fun creating a series, I am. You will come up with something. Make sure to let me know when you do, I will be on pins and needles wondering what you choose! LOL

Hi Phyllis I don't know the answer to your question but I like the idea of series work at one time I would not consider it, I got hooked , I think there is a big upside both as a benefit to the art collector but equally for the artist, it's an opportunity to perfect the subject matter, and the technique. Here is a series of some of my copper sculptures. Good luck with yours!

Mario, those are incredible! I like the middle one the best, been there before myself!

Thank you Philiis! Luckly I am blessed and don't have either of the problems the little fellow has. Lol

You might want to read this article on series work I found it very motivating.

Reasons for Artists to Make Art in Series, Advantages to Bodies of Work Over Single Pieces:


http://www.artbusiness.com/advantages-for-artists-to-making-art-in-series.html

Good morning everyone (well it is for me!). A couple of really interesting articles, some great artwork and good advice. The sort of thread it is a joy to read first thing in the morning, thanks guys. Thanks Phyllis

It will be awesome to see what you do Phyllis. You know how I love your work! I love my bird you 'made' me do lol and I am looking forward to seeing your moon series

Phyllis, thank you so much for starting this thread! I always enjoy creating art but lately have been sort of blocked as to what to do next...and after reading both those articles...it makes sense as the next thing to do! I woke up today with more desire to get at it than I have been feeling in a while...and a few ideas to explore.

I am not sure how to say this but...what I do ( my day job ) has very little do with who I am. I have always been an artist and the thrill for me is in the process...if the process becomes stale I tend to switch mediums. Because this isn't my day job the switching of mediums has always been so easy...this time it has not been easy...I love this medium and have been putting off change wanting to grow with it... but having little direction I have been BORED. Now I am not! Thank you so much!!!

Now I have to start shoving furniture around ...I have some workmen coming today to make some much needed repairs...repairs I have been wanting for a while...and now I wish they weren't coming because it will probably be a few days before I can get back to doing any art

Thank you so much...hope you keep this thread open...I think it might help many of us...Oh and don't wait on pins and needles LOL...sometimes what is so much fun for me doesn't work at all :)

Dorothy, who knew right? It seems that series work is desired in collectors and galleries. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone creates, please post your new work here so we can all share in the joy!!!
Abbie, Are you not happy that I made you paint that birdie!!! It came out lovely. :}

I will check in later to see if anyone else has any input into this. I truly hope to see all of the wonderful series work that comes out of this. Just got a call from one of the galleries that I am in. It seems they sold my little hummingbird painting and have a check for me... WHOOHOO! New canvas and paint for me....

Val you made me laugh as I have also been moving furniture around over the last few days - we are going to be offering bed and breakfast and I need to move the room in the house where I teach tai chi before the class on Saturday! Back to the subject, Phyllis, I guess I have several series under way, one on healing art, one on chakras under the headings Red's Imaginarium - healing art and Red's Imaginarium - Chakra Collection (I wish we could do sub-folders in galleries), this is an example from the chakra collection:



I have just started a new series, prompted can you believe by cushions (sorry throw pillows) and duvet covers, called the OM series. There will be 24 of these and I have uploaded three so far. I am also working on a collage based on 108 Om images (108 being the magic number for mantra chanting). This is my favourite so far and they look fabby on duvet covers!

Great Dorothy> That will indeed be a large series.

Dorothy moving furniture is hard work...my house is very small and the furniture gets all jammed up if I don't plan it out right....hope you have more room than I do :) I almost forgot to say I think those will both be great series....and I can see it on a duvet...it would be pretty!!!

So thinking about series all day I decided to look at my work and see if anything to this point makes a series. I did this .http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/valarie.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=188590 a link to my gallery Black and Gold or as I started thinking of it Golden Nights. I am thinking this might be a series as the pieces have things in common...as always any input is appreciated. I haven't a clue how many pieces actually make a series.

Val, those are beautiful! My eyes went straight to this one, I think the best...

This is a lousy photo but there has been no sun today and I just snapped this inside with awful light. Just for opinions. What do you guys think of #2 and do you think that I should put more
shadow on the bird?

Phyllis I think this bird is beautiful! I think the colors are amazing! I think you'll know what to do about shadows...you always get it just right :)
And thank you ...that might be my fav too.

Hi, guys,

I'm out of my cold/flu (hoof & mouth disease?) bed for a few minutes, and couldn't resist peeking at this thread; the topic is near and dear to my heart. :-)

I do a LOT of series work, and have had a comforting amount of success with showing and selling series and sets (and/or chunks from them). Series work is such a great way to decorate spaces like boardrooms, hallways, lobbies, empty walls above super-sized furnishings, etc., and they make shopping easy for buyers who are uncomfortable with individually choosing multiple, compatible, pieces of art.

They also make for awesome video fodder! ;-)

I always have a gallery available for buyers who come looking specifically for series work. Have a peek at my FAA 'Series and Sets' gallery -

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/wendy-stchristopher.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=99631

Val, I consider two pieces a 'set' and anything larger, a 'series' or, sometimes, a collection. Several of my series have ended up in their own 'collection' galleries. Like this one -

http://fineartamerica.com/profiles/wendy-stchristopher.html?tab=artworkgalleries&artworkgalleryid=281971

Glad I stopped in; hopefully, will return in a few days. Good luck with your birds, Phyllis -- have fun with your new series, Val! :-)

Val re furniture moving, I have the opposite problem we have a huge old farmhouse that we rattle around in (20 rooms and five bathrooms!) and we have been moving things from the downstairs front of the house to the upstairs back of the house and it has been really hard work. Nearly there now, means I now have one large room for teaching tai chi, one room for giving Reiki treatments and we can offer bed and breakfast in the separate bit at the back. Thanks for the comment on the OM series, I thought I would fill the b&b with my stuff to see if it promotes sales!

I agree with Phyllis your Black and Gold series is beautiful and the one Phyllis picked is my favourite.

Wendy sorry you have been ill. I love the Oxidation Collection.

I just looked at Marlene's incredible Judaic series. It was hard for me to pick a favorite because they are all exceptional. I picked this one because of the importance of it to my heart and my faith.

Wendy, I agree that series and sets are a great decorating tool. I have a set of antique train etchings that I love. Hope that you start feeling better soon. :}
Just looked at your series work and you have many vibrant and exciting works. This set was my favorite, they have a Van Gogh quality to them.

Wendy hope you feel ALL better soon! Your Oxidation Collection is beautiful!!! My favorite is ...

Dorothy, How ever do you clean such a big house??? I have a time keeping up with this tiny place. I think it is wonderful to be able to have so much room to do all that cool stuff....and a great idea to decorate with your art! I have been moving stuff Down...much easier than Up. I have a three story row house that is close to 200 years old. Sounds bigger than it is...might be all of 650 sq feet. I had to move everything off of the third floor as workmen were coming to pull down everything to the rafters. What a mess!

Phyllis I can't thank you enough for starting this thread...I am having so much fun reworking some old stuff and adding new. I don't know how to explain it but doing this has made me look harder at my stuff and somehow seeing it better. Fixed things that I didn't really see before or maybe never really looked at hard enough. Feels like I am learning a lot :) I can't wait to see your finished "not for sale yet" !!!

Val (laughing so much I nearly fell over) clean????? Seriously zoning has been my solution, though that is not going to work now we are having the bed and breakfast! We don't have carpets, there are a few rugs so rather than vacuuming the floors are done with sweeping and sloshing around a mop in a hopeful manner. Up until now I have focused on keeping the three main living rooms and upstairs bathroom clean (we spend the days upstairs and sleep downstairs because it is cooler in the summer) and our bedroom and bathroom and then only cleaning the other areas when I need to. For example, it is too cold now to use our big dining room so that only gets an occasional visit to keep the worst of the dust down. The spare bedrooms get cleaned when someone is coming to stay. My studio only gets cleaned occasionally because when I am in there I would rather play than clean :-) The original tai chi room got cleaned just before a class and left if the class wasn't happening. Here is a picture of the house to the right of the picture:



We have old beams and the roads are all 'white tops' ie unmade roads and the dust is horrendous particularly in the summer. You can clean a top and an hour later it is dusty again. I have a fridge magnet which sums it up 'You can touch the dust but please don't write in it'.

Going back to the point about series I was thinking about Phyllis' query about same size canvas. Apart from my OM series which is predictable my other series work tends to take me by surprise and I hadn't thought much about the size of the piece. If it has a digital element it can be adjusted but I rather like the fact that they have a theme but are different in some way.

Phyllis,
Thanks so much for posting the painting that started the series! It was a memorable morning....my head was so filled with prayers and lessons that I couldn't clear it to paint. I then realized that I might be fighting what I should be painting. I literally asked for a sign...thought of the beautiful midrash of Jacob's sons' response to the father....I then laid the canvas on the ground, squirted out a big arch and tilted the canvas....12 drips came down.....that was my answer! one drip for each son.....I was on my way!

Marlene, I love that! A divine answer that makes it an unmistakable path set before you. Not a coincidence that I picked this particular one either. I had no clue about the origins because I did not read the description but probably should have. :]

Marlene that is so great...it's funny how new inspiration strikes!

Dorothy what a lovey house and fantastic view! You have my approach to cleaning :) I get the city dust...the windows are the worst...finally figured out an off white sheer curtain hides them and not having any view to speak of I only need the windows for light...not to actually look out at a gaze at the view. so maybe wash them once a year when the weather warms up.

Mario I missed those before...I love them!!! The middle one is me before my morning coffee :)

Phyllis this thread has really inspired me...not only about the series work but to take another look at everything. Edited a bunch of stuff that bothered me and deleted stuff...needed a good house cleaning and am about half way there....doing much better with that than my actual house!

Alright, I think that I have finished part two but that is subject to change...

That's beautiful Phyllis, the two look lovely together.

My series of 24 has expanded to 27 because 27 x 4 is 108 and it makes my life easier for the collages! I couldn't wait to play with the 108 OM ideas, one looks like a patchwork quilt and I am not so keen, one is quite geometric which makes a change (again, not one I would go for - I will probably tinker with both of these in due course) but the one I like is this one:



I will do some more variations on the 108 theme and of course I can come back and add to the series when I wish. Phew! A whole week of 'OMs'!!! I have a stack of other ideas I want to get to but I won't feel happy until I have the 27 in the bag.

Val, I don't have any curtains other than fancy door hangings. We have no neighbours and have shutters on the bedroom windows. My windows are filthy, covered in hanging chimes, rainbow crystals and all manner of stained glass creations. My house is really wacky (what you might call individual) - I love it!!!

Phyllis That came out beautifully! A wonderful addition!

Dorothy, I love a wacky house...mine is too. I never knew how wacky it was until the workmen here offer to help me move stuff around.

This is part three in my new series "Moon Over Mississippi A Great Blue Herons Perspective".

I think that is beautiful Phyllis. My favourite of the three.

Thanks Dorothy. Do you think that the sea oats are too much? I was not sure when I put them there, just thought that there was too much dead-space and it was a toss up between cat tails or sea oats. The sea oats were easier to paint, so......

I think they balance it out and I like the colour. I was just fiddling with the image on the throw pillows to see how it looked and the edge of the oats intrude a bit there even when you move the image right over - so the only suggestion I would have and it is a little one that you can ignore is to just adjust the oats slightly to allow for the image on the pillow. That is the trouble with these additional products things look so different on them and that isn't what it was painted for originally.

Not many of my paintings work on pillows I am afraid. I paint my subjects too close up and in your face! Just my style. I tried to start a gallery just for throw pillows and that is when I discovered that most of my paintings just will not work. Oh well!

Just looking at these three they all look great on pillows but a buyer has to play with them. The snowy egret you have to make the image smaller and then pick a background colour for the two edges of the pillow, then you can see him beautifully. I wonder how many clients would think to play to that extent - I have some sympathy with the calls for us to decide the images that appear on, for example, the pillows. My comment re the oats was just if you take the image to the left to get in as much moon as possible, if you take the beak to the far right it works fine. I can't remember if you said you were doing more than three?

I will do more but I stopped to paint a few other things in between. A gallery that I am in and sell well at is opening a new gallery in a few months at a prime art location in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. I plan to have at least two or three more for her grand opening. Many collectors in that area. I am hoping that we get a few roseate spoonbills around here that I can photograph. The only photos that I have of them will not work. I did happen upon a tri-colored heron a few weeks ago and may go there with the next one. I never know what my next inspiration will be until I see it.

Sounds good to me, I look forward to seeing the next one. The new gallery grand opening sounds like a plan!

I just completed part four. Thanks to Bradford Martin for allowing me photo reference usage for the roseate spoonbill.
http://fineartamerica.com/featured/roseate-spoonbills-and-reflections-bradford-martin.html

whoops!

I really like that Phyllis, so much to look at within the image.

Thanks Dorothy. I love the warm pinks against the cool background. This is my favorite so far. I just may do a few more after I finish the 4 that I am working on now.....

Just completed part five in my series. Will have to get a better photo when the monsoon season ends here!

Phyllis that is just beautiful!

Thanks Dorothy! I was a tad reluctant to paint a flamingo but took a chance and ran with it. Lets just hope that it sells!

I just had a look at them all together, what a wonderful collection they make.

I recently worked on a series of bird pastels. I did 4, one for each season, but I may add more when I feel inspired. There is a winter cardinal, spring blue jay, summer wren, and autumn mockingbird. I made them all the same aspect ratio but used different colored papers.

They are lovely Linda

Linda, Beautiful work. I especially love the mocking bird, they are among my favorite songbirds just because of their amazing songs. I also love the color choices there, grays, reds and pale yellows. They flow nicely together and compliment each other well.