I am not moving to Australia but these two paintings are! Yesterday afternoon I shipped them off so they have a long voyage ahead.
I have only been to Australia once, many years ago. I went to Sydney which is where these works are going. It is such a beautiful city. I wouldn’t mind taking a trip to Australia now to escape the winter. One of these years I will have to get back!
More work headed to my solo show. The exhibit is at the lovely Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento, California.
I have never been an optimistic person. In grade school, learning vocabulary, the teacher asked us if we were optimists or pessimists. A girl I had eyes for said, “Oh, we are both optimists.” She was a bit smarter than I was, but as she explained the difference, I knew she was horribly mistaken.
For some odd reason, I am filled with an unrealistic optimism for the new year. I am making my living painting, it’s not easy. My days are only getting shorter, never mind. I have a vision for my work, mastery of my materials. For the first time in my life I know my greatest work is ahead. I am excited to make it.
I hope you all find passion and meaning in 2019.
I am spending a lot of time framing and packing up art this weekend. It is not my favorite part of the job but it means work is selling which helps keep the lights on!
These two paintings are headed to Georgia!
Here is a link to Radius Gallery in Missoula, Montana. Some of my work can be purchased with the link.
https://radius-gallery.myshopify.com/collections/brian-sostrom
Collecting high resolution photographs of your art is critical. At the very least it is something worth looking at later to see how your work has changed and hopefully evolved. I frequently fail to capture images of my paintings and it’s a shame to sell work without retaining a digital version.
Over the weekend I did manage to take some photographs of my recent works. These aren’t the highest resolution, I scaled them down for the website.
I was motivated by a deadline, it always seems to take a deadline!
Art sales are always a good thing in my line of work but there is something especially thrilling about sending my work abroad. I have traveled a bit in my life but now my artwork resides in many places I have never been. It feels a little like writing my initials in wet concrete, “I was once in this world”.
I just shipped this painting off yesterday! It is another Ugallery sale. I have been a Ugallery artist for about a year and a half and have found it to be a great company to work with. They originally contacted me through Instagram (@bsostrom). The gallery promotes your work in various ways. When they make a sale the gallery mails the artist well built packaging and provide prepaid postage online.
It is another source of income and one I need to devote more work to in the future!
I just sold this painting at the McVarish Gallery in Astoria, Oregon. So far about 1/3 of my work has sold from the show. It is a good feeling to sell your art and it helps keep the lights. It does mean I will need more new work for my August show in Pendleton, Oregon!
This last week was a good week for me. I mailed off 8 paintings. Work sent to Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Missouri and Germany!
Selling work through my website and Instagram account (@bsostrom) is fun and satisfying. As an independent artist I am taking on all the promotional responsibility along with negotiating, packing and shipping. Ideally I would just like to spend my time painting but nothing is that simplistic and as an artist you have to hustle and scramble to make ends meet.
Thanks you for your support and interest!
brian sostrom 