Sweatier Weather

  

    

 

                           

Did some painting today for some friends here in Bloomfield.  

It was hot.

One Another

oil on canvas

36" x 48"

Eclipse

oil on canvas

30" x 40"

Found

oil on canvas

24" x 48"

Splash

I dropped my cell phone in my cup of coffee this morning.  I managed to do this in a very impressive fashion...it was the inadvertent equivalent of a Steph Curry step-back 3-pointer from 30 feet.  My first thought was to take a photo of the mishap with said cell phone for proof of my lucky shot of bad luck, so I quickly reached in and grabbed it.  

Sometimes thinking things through can really ruin everything...

Performance Art

Three Boats with Boat Maquette

oil on canvas, Lego and assorted junks

12" x 36"

Here is my painting from last night's demonstration at the Brown County Art Guild.  It was a lot of fun thanks to the great people that came out to humor me.  We talked a little bit about picture painting, but most of our conversation was focused on Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, John or Paul, and food.  I'd especially like to thank my friends that traveled all the way from Los Angeles, my biggest fan who is doing a great job establishing my official title as "Genius Wyatt LeGrand", and the sweet girls at the Guild that make it all work...Rachel and Roberta are the best. 

I wanted to create a painting for the upcoming maritime exhibit at the Guild, so I did something a little different to bring the water to me.  For a reference, I constructed a little boat from Lego's and foam board complete with oars made of old brushes and tape.  With a little paint and a baking pan filled with water, I had a pretty convincing model.  Yeah, it's kind of a gimmick.

But if a gimmick will put a couple dozen people in a small space with me to share an experience, I'll sellout every time.  The art of this is the artifice, not the artifact.  The act of painting will always be more artful than a finished picture.  

I've got blisters on my fingers!

So how about that?  

24 paintings in 17 hours...can't think of a better way to spend a Thursday. 

I had fun...thanks for following along.  Go again tomorrow? 

24

The Bullet

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

Anyone else own a Ford Transit?  I imagine I'll be keeping this one.

23

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

22

Last Light on the Back Forty

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

21

Glass Half Empty Jug Half Full

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Thank you Steve and Stacey from from Feed Store Beer Company for the "painting fuel".

20

Satellites and Airplanes

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

19

For Everyone but the Blue Jays

oil on canvas

11" x 14"

18

Drinking Buddies

oil on canvas

11" x 14"

17

Hummingbird Feeders

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

16

Best of the Bad Weather

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

15

Possum House

oil on canvas

12" x 16"

The sun came out...now I can finally get to work.

14

For the Birds

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

13

Pete the Concrete Wonder

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

12

Rain in Jerry's Backyard

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

11

Pineapple

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

10

Watering the Pool

oil on canvas

11" x 14"

Oops, I fell asleep.

I'll be honest, I hadn't planned on the chance of rain.  It's a little tricky finding something to paint in a downpour...maybe I'll just go for funny from here onward?

9

Grain Bin

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

I'm going to run out of things to stand under...

8

Dog Shed

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

I'm a third of the way there and my feet are wet...I need a pancake.

7

Two Tall Pines

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

Rain Delay

There is water on the track folks.

This whole 24 paintings in 24 hours was way too easy anyway...

6

Rain on the Way

oil on canvas

11" x 14"

5

Risen

oil on canvas

5" x 7"

This might be the only sun I get all day...

4

The Apple Trees

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

3

Crosses on the Hill

oil on canvas

6" x 8"

2

Mockingbird Tree

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

1

Insecurity

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

Ready, Set, Go!

Game on.

Show me, show me, show me how you do that trick?

So, about this demo I'm doing on Friday evening at the Brown County Art Guild in Nashville, Indiana...

It was suggested that I offer a preview for the upcoming maritime-themed exhibit opening July 1st...ask and you shall receive!  There will be water, things floating in water, several paintings painted about said water and things, pirate language, and hot hush puppies.

I don't often look forward to demonstrations as they're typically annoying and make me feel like a circus animal, but I think this one will be sort of fun.  There is a very high probability that I'll fall on my face in front of everyone and I'm into that.  Did I mention free beer?  4-7pm!

I'll be the boy in the corduroy pants...

You be the girl at the high school dance

Day at the Lake

oil on canvas

18" x 24"

If you're looking for something to do in Indiana, check out these two options...

Art From the Heartland Exhibit

Brown County Art Guild Demonstration

I won't be at the Art from the Heartland opening, but I have a painting included in the show...looks like a fun time.  You can find me at the Brown County Art Guild with my boat.  I'll be performing/doing a demonstration that is free and open to the public.  Free beer and wine, bring your own tomatoes. 

Run with me wherever I go

And just play dumb, whatever you know

Free Entertainment

Over a Barrel, Again

oil on canvas

12" x 12"

Tune in early on Thursday to see if I can keep pace...

24 hours, 24 paintings

Dioxazine - 26 Points

Surprisingly Sixty-Three

oil on canvas

12" x 12"

Painting is dumb.  I've been thinking about professional Scrabble...the idea may be quixotry and I may be going heavy on the chutzpah, but it certainly beats learning to play bezique.  Where's my oxazepam?

Hungry, Bruh?

Circle K Revisited

oil on canvas

12" x 16"

Oh, I could tell you stories about this slimy gas station.

The hot dog roller is a thing of beauty...and salmonella.  Take it from a pro, skip the ancient wieners and opt for the Flamin' Hot Funyuns.

Or maybe you need a little more gas station dining guidance...

Gas Station Food Hacks

Only skinny yellow...fat red is for amateurs

Utility

oil on canvas

8" x 10"

I'd crank out 10 minute paintings like the one above every 10 minutes if it were my choice.  Instead, I'll just keep convincing myself that my time not painting is necessary preparation for short spurts of productivity.  Wiffle ball, anyone?  

"Even the losers keep a little bit of pride"

Trunks

oil on canvas

16" x 20"

We all know the Golden State Warriors are going to win and Kevin Durant will be the Finals MVP...

But we really just want to see Lebron James go down swinging.

Oh, on a related note, I wanted to invite all of you faithful follows to my annual Super Summer Celebration this weekend.  That is, unless you don't really want to come...in that case, you're uninvited.  

You know what they say, "No Refuge Could Save...".

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy."

Larry's Hydrant

oil on canvas

9" x 12"

If you are planning on going to the Hoosier Salon Gallery in Carmel, Indiana to see the outrageous show Larry and I put together, you're too late.  It was a good time making the paintings.

Contrary to what would be a safe assumption, the Carmel Arts and Design District is not the epicenter of art in Indiana.  I can understand the confusion...there are galleries, there are cute sculptures on the street, and there are $5000 throw pillows for sale that compliment signed canvas prints of bad paintings by stay-at-home-moms who watch too much HGTV.  I take that back...don't call the PC police.  For all I know, the crappy wall decor could have been made stay-at-home-thirty somethings who dropped out of business school before dropping out of art school before deciding they'd carve their own path out of the absurdity of dumb people with too much money. 

For my next trick, I'll write "My other car is a baked potato" and other ironic phrases on Indiana silhouettes printed on canvas.  Look out John Mellencamp, somebody call ARTnews Magazine.

Now here's something that really matters...

 After enduring a week of constant song-singing, I've decided to train all of the mockingbirds in my backyard to blow raspberries when I walk outside.  It's going well.

For Profit or Pie

Ever wondered about those ridiculous prices on pieces of "artwork"? 

Now, I don't want to speak for all picture painters out there, but let me give you a little insight to the way I come up with those absurd prices...

The outrageous prices you see in the gallery during the opening reception aren't just for show...that's how much the picture costs.  After figuring in the worth of my reputation as a picture painter (I realize that sounds ridiculous), the prices of artworks similar to mine created by living artists, the "prestige" of being a part of whatever exhibition I'm taking part of, and some good old-fashioned supply and demand, I determine the amount of money I need to part with the picture.  If I'm showing a picture at a national exhibition in California with a small group of supposed big names in the picture painting business, my price doubles...that makes sense, right?  So, let's say I have a picture that would normally cost $20.  In California in good company, I need $40 to convince me it's worth selling.  If it sells at the show, every $20 painting I make is now a $40 painting.  But that's my cut...

Now that I've determined my price, I double the number.  You see, galleries that are worth showing in should be as invested in selling pictures as the picture painters themselves...they typically take 50 percent commission.  It might sound steep, but 50 percent commission on a picture is more than worth it...so long as they can sell them for twice as much and twice as often as I can here in Indiana.  So after having some success on the west coast, the cost of my painting is four times what it was before accolades and gallery commission.  So, why the heck would someone pay $80 for something that I'd be satisfied selling for $20?  

Well, they might not know everything I just told you.  They might not care.  They might be afraid that if they pass on the picture at a high price they'll miss out on the opportunity to buy it at a lower price.  I don't need to attempt an economics lesson...this stuff is pretty basic.  My job as a picture painter is to make nice things to look at.  My job as a "professional artist" is to make sure my prices go up and up and up.  I won't sell every $80 twenty dollar painting, but I can sell a few of them.  And so long as patrons are still tempted by high prices despite their knowledge of what I'm over-explaining, I don't have to sell all of them.  Again, this is pretty basic, but maybe we're not all on the same page.  

I don't want to deter anyone from buying a piece of artwork at the gallery, because buying frivolous things is fun and galleries certainly make it into an experience.  Sometimes the gallery may offer the only opportunity to buy a picture, but some of you might be interested in knowing what all of those galleries are afraid of, should the painting leave the wall with the artist...the direct sale.

That's right folks, if you want to buy a $20 painting for $20, there is still an option for you.  Some might tell you different, and I might be pulling the rug out from under the business plans of many an artist, but the easiest way to get a painting from a painter is to contact said painter.  You might not be able to have a glass of wine while perusing the stacks of pictures, you might not have to dress up and pay for a ticket to the opening reception, you might not get a chance to schmooze with an elite crowd of art enthusiasts who are content buying works of art at a premium and will continue to do so...but you can buy an original piece of artwork for the amount the artist determined it was was worth.  What I'm getting at is this...

My latest exhibition of painted pictures is still open in Linton, Indiana.  It won't be the most glamorous thing you've done in your life, and the paintings still might be way too expensive, but you can have a good time entertaining the idea of treating yourself to something frivolous in good company with lots of things to look at.  A little less black tie and a little more sugar cream pie.  Just set up an appointment at wyattlegrand@gmail.com.  And if you don't want to make the trip my way, just stay tuned for next week's painting shenanigans.

I liken all of this to selling pumpkins.  As an old man, I hope to sit on my porch and enjoy the crisp Autumn air, eager to entertain a few folks that come to see the largest pumpkin in my patch.   And if someone really wants to load that largest orange squash in their pickup truck, I'll gladly sell it to them for a little more than the previous year's slightly smaller decorative fruit.  I'll rest assured that I'll always sell that largest pumpkin for whatever price I put on it, because everyone always wants the largest pumpkin.  I'll be content selling the rest of the pumpkins for just enough to plant more seeds in the summer.  Where's my trowel?

The Guitar Man

Thanks to all of you who came out for the show last night.  Kade melted faces, I drank half a gallon of punch, and a loud lady entertained a large group of friends with criticism of my pictures...I didn't have the heart to tell her I was the picture-painter, so I just laughed with the rest of them.  It was awesome.

I also learned how to play a melodic minor scale over a major seven chord.  Kade Puckett is a guitar genius.  There's Merle, Chet, Jerry, Tommy...and then there's Kade.

Kade Puckett Tonight!

Kade Puckett will be playing a free concert tonight at my Main St. Pop-Up Gallery at 118 N. Main St., Linton, Indiana.  

Doors open at 5pm and Kade goes on at 8pm.

There'll be plenty to look at while you wait for Kade to take the stage, so get there early...it's going to be a full house.