Author: Blue Koi Gallery

I was born and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. As a child I enjoyed drawing and painting, but art was just something nice to look at.  I took for granted that anyone could paint or draw and it was just a nervous hobby for me. In college I went on to earn a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy and in 1973 I began practicing retail pharmacy in my home town.  In the early 80’s I stopped practicing pharmacy to pursue other healthcare related business ventures including computer software development, hospital marketing, and home health care management. Somewhere along the way I got married and was the father to two wonderful girls. By the time I was in my late forties I began to feel an urge to explore my long dormant artistic abilities. I really don’t know why. It was 1998, near the turn of the century. All of a sudden I found my self divorced, re-married, suffering the death of my father, not enjoying my work. Call it my mid-life crisis.

 

When I actually decided to pick up a brush I knew I wanted to use paint that would dry quickly, not oil based, was water soluble – but not watercolors, and did not smell. My medium of choice was, and still is, undiluted acrylic paint on paper and canvas. I purchased the necessary supplies: paint, brushes, a few canvases and heavy watercolor paper and created a space in my home to paint.  I quickly realized that I preferred to paint on 140 pound archival watercolor paper and a fixed size (36″x36″x2.5″) canvas.  As I started to collect a rather large portfolio of artwork I needed to figure out how to promote my work and eventually sell my paintings. After participating in a couple local art shows and doing some research I decided to apply to a number of regional art fairs within two hundred and fifty miles from my home. Shows that were scheduled from May until September were the only ones I wanted to consider.  My primary motivation was to see if the public was interested in purchasing my work so I could generate more funds to buy more supplies so I could paint more pictures.  As I began to get accepted in many juried fairs, I realized I had opened another “can of worms.”  Besides paying the substantial fees for most juried events, I needed to purchase a good quality tent and add some amenities to it like a comfortable flooring, a decorative rug, lighting to highlight the work, and good quality display panels for hanging my art. Other expenses included reserving hotel rooms, food and gas purchases, securing programs that allowed me to accept credit cards on my phone, and whether to purchase a van or rent one for transportation. If that wasn’t enough, I needed to standardize a mat and framing plan for my paintings and finally, price my work. I’m sorry but I have to take a short break now. I’m exhausted just thinking about how much work was involved and the large expense I had to invest, not to mention convincing my wife to go with me to the shows. As of this writing we have participated in more than seventy five juried art shows and have sold more than six hundred original paintings. My matted and framed paintings range from three hundred and fifty dollars to a little more than one thousand five hundred dollars. I consider that price range as a usual and affordable range for visitors to the art fairs.