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November 2013

• Classes

• Commissions

• Scams

A home-based painting experience (with great food!)

Ever since we bought our house in North Saanich, I’ve been looking forward to the day when I’d be able to offer all my classes from my in-home studio. With Island Blue in Victoria getting out of the teaching business last year, and Coast Collective in Colwood undergoing organizational changes at the beginning of next year, I’ve decided that 2014 is the year to realize my dream.

So if you’re looking for challenging painting workshops with a maximum of six students to allow plenty of individual attention, please check out my schedule of home-based classes starting in January. You can find the list at <www.pearcepaintings.com/Classes.html>

All classes come complete with delicious meals tailored to your dietary needs.

And if you register before the end of the year, I’m offering a reduced rate for early bird signups.

Of course, I’m still available to offer classes and do presentations to art clubs or other interested groups at their choice of venues.

I’d like to thank Coast Collective for their support over the past few years, and to wish them well as they move forward.

And I hope to see you at 1870 Dickson Avenue North Saanich in the new year.

A rewarding adventure – with a Pearce original at the end of it

I’ve always admired artists who can paint on commission. For years, I’ve turned down commissions when people have asked me to accept them. To be perfectly frank, the root of my reluctance was fear: Fear that having a painting pre-sold would send my artistic muse running for the hills, as I tried to balance pleasing a client with my own artistic process.

But recently I’ve discovered how to turn a commission into an artistic partnership between the women I paint and myself – and I’m now delighted to be able to offer this service.

As with my Through Artists’ Eyes course, the first step is a three-hour private modelling session in my studio, during which I capture images on my digital camera. I then review the hundreds of photos I’ve taken, and choose three or four that I know will make the best paintings of you.

The second step is a meeting in which I show you the images I’ve picked out. You choose the one you want me to paint.

The third step is doing the painting itself. This can take anywhere from a couple of weeks to a month, or perhaps a bit longer. But I keep you informed of progress so you know how it’s going.

The fourth step: I invite you back to my studio to see the completed painting, framed, and to have lunch (which sometimes lasts as long as the modelling session did!). I also give you a CD with all the images I captured during the photo session, and destroy any other electronic or paper versions.

All that’s left for you to do is to find the best place in your house to hang your painting – and to enjoy it.

Beware the con artist

There’s nothing like having a gallery offer to represent your work, or an unknown collector contact you out of the blue, wanting one of your paintings after seeing it on your website. But despite your excitement, it’s a good idea to proceed with caution – especially when you receive an email from someone who sounds as though they’ve fallen in love with your work and are ready to buy one or more pieces.

In my experience, the vast majority of these emails are scams. Typically, they’ll name a painting they just have to have, and ask how much, and if it’s still available. Often you’ll be able to smell a rat right then and there. The grammar in particular is a clue: If it’s really bad, and really strange, and the spelling is, uh, creative, your spidey senses should start to tingle.

But hey, sometimes the spelling and grammar aren’t too bad, and the email might be legit, so you respond with the information they’ve requested. In moments, they’re back to you saying yes, they want the painting(s), and they want them shipped to another country using a shipper of their choice (or they’ll have their agent pick the artwork up), and they’ll pay by cheque or money order. They’ll also inject a note of urgency here – they’re moving and want the art for their new home, they’re buying it as a gift, etc. And they may come up with some excuse to make the cheque or MO for more than the purchase price, and you can send them the difference.

Now you KNOW it’s a scam. And when you get back to them with your terms, including the vital “no painting til the payment has cleared the bank,” you’ll never hear from them again.

Galleries are another story all together. Most owners are dedicated, legitimate business people. But some are not, and others, struggling in tough times (like now), will fall behind with their expenses, and fail to tell you when they’ve sold a work, or to pay you.

This happened to me a decade ago in Vancouver. The gallery was reputable and had been around for more than 20 years. I contacted some of the artists represented there, who told me the gallery was sometimes slow with paying. It seemed pretty safe. So I went with them, and in short order, they mounted a show of my work, producing prints of some of their favourite pieces.

The show went well – red dots on opening day, and more sales afterwards. I was paid for the first painting that sold, but then – nothing. Every time I called, the nice woman at the desk would have long chats with me, but the owner was always “too busy” to come to the phone.

I knew he was selling my stuff; in fact, I’d sold a painting myself to a woman in Victoria to be sent to her mother in the U.S., and had taken it to Vancouver for the gallery to ship. The gallery would receive its usual commission on the piece. Again, no payment ever arrived.

The Vancouver gallery had also worked with my Calgary gallery on the sale of a painting that was in Calgary, but was purchased by a Vancouver client. They were going to split the commission, but the Calgary gallery didn’t receive its share.

By now, I was more than suspicious. I talked the woman on the front desk into sending me a spreadsheet of sales that listed exactly what they’d sold and how much they owed me. If memory serves correctly, it was about $8,000.

So I went to Vancouver again, and confronted the owner in person. He said he couldn’t pay me, because he didn’t have the money. I put the rest of my paintings in the car, and brought them home. Shortly thereafter, the gallery suddenly closed its doors. Some of the other artists, besides not receiving payment, also lost all their unsold work.

Today there are great resources to help artists protect themselves from these kinds of problems. My favourite: http://www.artscams.com/.

Where did I go wrong way back when? I had no written contract. I waited too long to act on my suspicions. And I didn’t play hardball and take action against the gallery owner.

Ten years went by before I would even consider approaching a Vancouver gallery again. But I’m glad to say I did, and am now represented by Kurbatoff Art Gallery on Granville Street. It’s a great space, and I like the owners. And it’s terrific to be in the Vancouver market again.