MAUI INVITATIONAL 2015

Below is the body of work from a wonderful trip to an amazing island. Truthfully, the event gets in the way of themselves; good is the enemy of the great. It is a good show. I ended up being slightly ahead even after quite a comedy of errors starting with the reception of my rental vehicle (argh, digital age b.s.), the shipping of my easel (highly messed-up story with a few f-bombs), frames shiped were too big for show rules (emailed powers that be before shipping, never heard back…grrr), host family house fire alarm batteries, and they were out of town (long night), getting to know the island and being a bit late for a few of what they really schedule too much of, “painter get-togethers” …Just the thing we want after a long day of driving and painting in the sun. And, right at sunset and prime light for painting no less… oh here I go..rant-ville…don’t get me started.  (grrrr). Below the paintings is more rant..if you care. (More rant below, if you like that sort of TRUTH BOMB!)

Good as the enemy of the great. The event is good, yes. I think it made around 120,000 total sales opening night and the main weekend days. The Grand Canyon Association’s Celebration of Art does nearly twice that opening night because they have a special area set aside from the gallery show space where your favorite, or best 3 are nicely and neatly curated. In that special area and not necessarily curated at all, more or less stacked carefully, and divided by artist, are the rest of the artist’s framed work priced and also for sale. A virtual treasure trove. A feeding frenzy can easily occur in there and on the artist’s wall. This would require renting a large tent, lights, renting out the parking lot for the tent..blah blah. Thing is I am tired of events doing things that get in the way of sales that benefit themselves the artist and most importantly, the buyer. When they have traveled a great distance to see the show opening night, it is a bummer for them to learn that there was a bunch of other work created that they are not allowed to see…stupid. I had a ton of interest in work that was unavailable to look at. How would I know that if all I had hanging was the 3 paintings which I picked almost blindly not knowing the audience? Well because I could show them other work on my phone… Me “Will you be able to make it tomorrow to see the rest of the paintings?” Them, “Oh, are there others?”  Me, “Yes, but you cannot see the actual pieces, I can only show you them on my phone, for there are very strict rules” should have said, “It bothers other sensetive artists  if one artist has a feeding frenzy especially on a large body of work, so I can’t show you those.”

And I emailed if there was a size restriction, never heard back, sent 4 18x24s in a big heavy package to the tune of $200.00, to later find out they were too big for this little event. F Bombs. I like to paint large outside, and I paint fast enough to do it. I’m also sick and tired of size restrictions at these small minded events. If Juaquin Sorolla signed up on the roster would they tell him, “Juaquin, I know you love your 5’x7′ seascapes with cows, schooners, and multiple figures, but we’re gonna have to limit you to 16x20s….mmmmk?” uh, I seriously doubt it. Well, guess what, if you want the best in the field to participate, some are gonna like to paint big. Some are gonna be awesome at it. Some might be Sorrolla re-incarnated, and you’re limiting greatness in that area too, and not just this event either, many others have annoying size restrictions!

So yeah. Good event, and many thanks to the volunteers, and to the Village Gallery who hosted it. I had a cool host family and housing situation. Many know, I’m not a giant fan of host housing and I usually camp. This is not because I’m anti-social, it’s just that I’m on the job….big time, and I take that job very seriously. I don’t love small-talk, and I am out before sunrise, in after dark, and I am tired, and worn out. I do not want to have a deep conversation or chit chat, I just want to be horizontal. Sorry.

I will be spending more time in the future with my family on the islands. It is a true paradise.