After a year of focusing almost exclusively on sports art, I recently sat down with one of my distributors and discussed current market opportunities and what we can creatively do to respond to that. The particular opportunity surrounds the launching of a dozen art galleries in Moscow, Russia that want to focus on the marketing of American art. With my portfolio of American sports art and Southwest "stormscapes", it seemed like a perfect fit to expand into a number of other themes that are intrinsically American and pitch me to the Russians as their painter of Americana. That pitch is going on this week in Moscow, so I've spent the last several weeks thinking about Americana and what I can offer. I'm excited about the direction it's taking me.
It appears that the same fascination we American's have for things Parisian and European street scenes is mirrored in the tastes of the home decor buyer in Russia. However, they supposedly crave for those scenes to be American. It's hard to find the market research to back that up, but that's the word on the street. Supposedly this is still a country that will pay four figures for a good pair of Levi's. The difference these days is the expanding Russian economy. Capitalism is now in full swing and annual incomes are said to be growing at 30% per year (hopefully inflation is less). The result is a burgeoning middle and upper class of nuvo riche that are still fascinated with American iconography. So, how should I respond? I already have the American sports box checked. My portfolio is fully stocked with portraits of "America's Team" - the Dallas Cowboys. I thought about what else would be uniquely American and of interest and I was taken back to the landscape series I had left unfinished last year. If you do a little research, you'll find that there are quite a few storm chasers that provide guided tours of "Tornado Alley" each Spring and early Summer driving up to 15 hours a day to put their guests in plain sight of a tornado. The majority of this clientele is European. These folks have only heard of this type of severe weather, but have never been on the same continent with a supercell. So, the question is whether a Russian would like to hang a painting of a tornado on his wall and say this is a painting of Texas painted by a Texan. We'll see. In preparation for the meeting in Moscow, I expanded my portfolio of storms and tornadoes to see if there would be any interest. I love painting these storms. It is so freeing to be able to work so much more quickly as compared to painting a portrait. But for me the colors are what resonate. Somewhere inside of me there is an itch that is scratched when I see the perfect pairing of blue and orange tones. The colors are complimentary on the color wheel, so it's no surprise that there's a relationship, but there is some sort of endorphin release when I paint with these colors. It's like the feel of hitting a baseball in the sweet spot or that perfect cappuccino after months of swearing off $4.00 cups of coffee. I'll save another blog for talking about complimentary colors in nature and how God uses these combinations to provide natural beauty in the world around us. But I digress. I added five storms (four supercells and a tornado), most of which include late afternoon lighting.
It just so happens that these storms pop up at the time of day when the lighting is most dramatic. The one other landscape I added was a painting that I had put on the back burner 2-3 years ago of the Golden Gate Bridge. I had become annoyed by the tediousness of trying to paint bridge support cables and had moved on to other things. If I was now the "Painter of Americana", I had to finish that painting. Plus, I had started the painting for my wife and she had been waiting patiently for its completion for years now. I put it on my easel and thought long and hard about how best to accomplish these cables. Straight thin lines are incredibly difficult. And there is the issue of perspective and at some point on the horizon the cables disappear altogether. So after some head scratching, I decided to paint the interior of the bridge spans the burnt sienna color I wanted the cable to be and let it dry. I then came back and covered the same space with my blue combination for the sky. While still wet, I took a pallet knife and scraped the straight cable lines revealing the burnt sienna underneath. It worked and the painting was finally finished.
So, we've checked the American sports box and the American landscape box. What else does the world longingly see as uniquely American? With a little thought the answer came to us ... Harley. The object of longing for so many middle and upper class American males seems to be shared by our friends in Russia. Sources say it is one of the brand's hottest emerging markets. So, I've decided to dish up a heaping helping of "hog" ( a term of endearment for Harley) for the Russians and the true blue Harley faithful here in the states. I've selected the themes for the six paintings I'm going to complete as part of the series. I'm planning on capturing individual aspects of the bikes that are iconic. The first painting was completed in time for a charity Harley ride to an event I was appearing at in McKinney, Texas. That painting ("2008 Fat Bob") is a large-scale close up of the classic v-twin engine and all of the chrome that is part of the unique exhaust on that bike. I love the painting. When my wife asked why I was just painting just that one part of the bike, I explained that painting the entire bike would be like painting a full figure of a woman, but focusing on just this one area would be like painting just the bosom. Hopefully the painting makes that dramatic of a statement to the Harley faithful. I've received nothing but positive feedback thus far. Limited editions are currently being sold through Art Channel Galleries with 20% of the proceeds benefiting the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas. You can check out the painting and purchase your copy by clicking on the thumbnail below.
So, what's on my easel? Captain America. No, not the comic book super hero. The customized '52 Harley chopper that became an icon in the 1968 cult classic "Easy Rider". Can't you just hear "Born to be Wild" in the background. Again, I'm looking at the bike from a new angle, so hopefully folks like it. I'm experimenting with grabbing short snips of video that I can piece together into a time lapse and stick on YouTube so folks can see how my paintings evolve. Let's hope I can pull that off.
Well, back to the easel.
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