I thought I would share my to-do list for the week and guess what? I just might get them all done. 
​So here are the big things I need to get done (in no particular order) this week. I won't bother mentioning all of the little things ...
​
1. Finish editing the January 30 Paintings in 30 Days Blog
2. De-Christmas my house
3. Re-decorate my house in a Stanford football theme (yes, we are hosting a New Years Eve Party for Stanford fans/friends at our home AND a tailgate party at the Rose Bowl game).
4. Paint my first 30 in 30 painting (I have to post my painting on the blog the night before so technically I have to finish my painting a day ahead of everyone. And there will be no time on December 31st to paint. See #3 above).
5. Paint my 2nd 30 in 30 painting. There will not be any time on January 1st to paint my painting for January 2nd. The day starts with the Rose Parade (depart at 7:00am) then we head straight to the game for the tailgate (to bbq and feed at least 50 people) then we head in to the stadium to cheer for Stanford. We return home at about 8:00 pm to collapse and start cleaning up from the New Year's Eve Party. I just don't think painting a painting will fit anywhere in the day ...
6. Send out intro. email to all participating artists in the 30 in 30.
7. Write the AHA show notes. Post and publicize show.
8. Host the AHA show on Thursday morning.
9. Throw a New Year's Eve Party (as in cooking many lasagnas and creating a make-your-own pizza station. For how many people? I have no clue. My son has invited everyone and their brother on Facebook).
10. Plan a tailgate for 50 people (as in cooking all of the food yet again). And it could be 200 people ...
11. Attend Michael's first volleyball game on the 30th at UC Irvine.
12. Finish my webinARTs online web building course.
13. Finish filming my January online abstract painting class.

Pretty much a typical week for yours truly. I know, I am crazy. Somehow it always gets done.

I have been thinking for a while that the listeners of the Artists Helping Artists show need a place to go where we can talk about art, share ideas and ask questions of our fellow artists. Many of us use Facebook to interact but I think Facebook is a bit too generic for this purpose. We need our own place to go and ask questions and share ideas and good news!

My AHA co-host Carrie Waller and I did a show a few weeks ago about Carrie's Artist Mentoring Group. (If you would like to listen to the show you can go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/artistshelpingartists/2015/12/10/how-to-be-part-of-a-successful-artists-mentoring-group-1.) It was a very inspiring show and I have received emails, phone calls, text messages and Facebook messages from artists looking for artists to be part of a group. But we need a place to be able to communicate about topics exactly like this. 

Good news. We now have one.
​
I have started an AHA forum on my website. Its a place where you can post a question, share news and also answer questions and interact with other artists. You can find the blog on my website at http://lesliesaetafineart.weebly.com/aha-forum.html#/

Check it out and let me know what you think. Better yet, share some news or post a comment on the forum! I already started one topic for artists looking for a mentoring group. Let me know your thoughts.

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Atlanta, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! 

I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up. 

My last post "Simplifying Commissions - part one" mentioned that I promised my abstract client I would submit three or four small concept designs for their triptych. I went back to my studio, mixed a bunch of paint colors and started painting with my palette knife on sheets of gessoed canvas. (I used the sheets from a tablet of canvas sheets I bought at Dick Blick. I think they measured something close to 9" x 12".) Before I knew it, I had 11 design concepts. It was a lot more than I originally had promised.

​I love the paintings, the client loves them and the interior designer loves them. What a great experience. I will handle all of my future abstract painting commissions in this same way. What a difference this approach made in comparison to my other abstract commissions this year!
Leslie

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching traditional oil and abstract painting with a palette knife. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! 
​
I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up. ​

Painting commissions are what I call a necessary evil. They can provide a great income stream for artists but are really hard to paint. At least they are for me. I find it hard to paint something while constantly worrying if the client will like it as much as I do.
So imagine the angst I have experienced this year with abstract commissions. It's bad enough when someone says, "Can you paint a picture of my child?". But painting an abstract commission is hard when the artist and the buyer have very little understanding as to what the abstract will look like. It's easy to narrow down the color palette but what about the actual abstract design?
Guess what? I have good news. I figured it out. I now have a system that I am going to use to sell abstract commission paintings. And I am thrilled with the results of my recent abstract commission experience.
In October I was fortunate enough to receive a call from an interior designer who had a client that needed a very large painting to fill a space that measured 110" x 90". The photo of the empty space is seen above.
The living room was being redecorated and here is the color palette and fabrics.









​​I played around with format and presented some ideas to the client. (I used my ipad and the app MoodBoard and a stylus pen to create these images.)
The client picked the horizontal triptych (on the right). 

I then proposed that I would create three to four mock ups of small abstract paintings. What happened next was incredible.

Follow tomorrow's blog for the end of this story.
​
(Sorry to string you on like this but I have read that doing something like this actually works!) We shall see tomorrow.

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information!

I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here  to sign up.