“ Sunflower ”
“ I was raised on the Missouri River in Montana . My grandfather was one of the great fly-fishermen / outdoorsmen of his day in that part of the world . So , our family , like most over there , enjoyed fishing and hunting . I ’ ve never tied a fly , but I ’ ve admired their beauty my whole life . So , for decades I would sketch a lot of flies in my sketchbook . Then about ten years ago I was in my studio with canvases ready to go to make abstracts and I was experimenting , dancing with the stuff , and I stood back and looked at one of them and thought , whoa that could be a fly ! I started working on it , and kind of giggled to myself thinking , this is like the flies I sketched 20 years ago . I finished them up and found there was a lot of demand and approval . It grew into a healthy niche in my collection of works .
“ It helped however when the International Fly-Fishing Federation had its national convention here . My partner of 16 years , Deb , learned they were looking for vendors to have booths at the convention and brought home their contact information . I called them up , got a booth , and displayed my fly art . The rest is history .”
What about his other works , you may ask ?
“ Right now , I love the waterfalls and landscapes . The big ones are for office buildings . Those are the real meat and potatoes of my business — large , commissioned pieces for commercial buildings . Everything I create , all the niches I ’ ve survived on , play a role in my success but it ’ s the large pieces that have sustained me . And I love doing them . 45 years is a long time , a lot of rent to pay , or as my dad used to say , bought a lot of loaves of bread .”
Forty-five years is a long time for an artist to sustain themselves purely on their art . What is his secret ? How did he develop such business acumen ?
“ I learned marketing from watching my dad . He owned and ran a sign shop . He was a sign painter and designer and made a good living with his artistic ideas . So , I watched and applied his marketing strategies to my artwork .
“ You ’ ve got to have a lot of irons in the fire . Once I have a finished piece , in many cases , I ’ ll publish it . Meaning , I ’ ll have it scanned and have limited edition prints made on paper or canvas — or an open edition so they aren ’ t quite as exclusive and not as expensive . I also make note cards . There ’ s a marketing aspect to this that some might point at and say that ’ s commercial art , as if it ’ s a sin . I never saw it that way because I want to reach as many people as possible . I want people
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