To figure out a paintings price often evolves a large number of factors to people. The time involved with it’s creation, the amount and types of paint used, the support and materials, the paintings size, just to name a few. I however, like to use a simplified formula that works very well for smaller paintings. I take the supports rounded length (L) and width (W) and multiply them together to get the total squared inches of the painting. I then take this number and multiply it by my price per square inch (P/Sq In) to get my final price for the painting without a frame.

To represent it more mathematically: L*W*P/Sq In = Final Price

If a frame is included I will add it’s cost to the final price and a 10% fee for the materials and time involved with inserting the painting properly. (Backing board and framing points, etc.) It’s also not uncommon to double the price for the frame to recoup your charges. That would essentially place the frame at suggested retail a majority of the time but I don’t currently feel the need to do so.

I’ve found this works really well and adds a much needed consistency to my pricing. Before adopting this formula of standard pricing I struggled with what to charge. Now I do a flat rate of 3.00 USD per square inch of the painting. When I become more popular and when the prices of painting materials rise I can simple alter that one number and get an accurate change in pricing. This is both a positive for my inventory purposes, and for buyers wondering what will change with time.

Here’s the painting pretty much finished. While adding a layer of retouch after this photograph I had some of the paint lift. I was quite surprised as I waited over a week for the paint to dry before application. Yet, this is always a risk when a solvent touches your paints.

Once that happened I thew a fit for awhile. It’s so frustrating to see your work literally disappear in front of you when you’ve worked so long and hard to put it down. After a day I regathered the courage and fixed those areas where the paint had lifted. I then also decided to fix more of the shadows and altered the lower left cloth quite a bit in the process. I’ll get a further photograph up once I have the painting back in my possession.

overall I think this was a good learning experience, I just wish it had been with one of my quicker studies and not this painting which I’ve been working on for the entire month of April.

I’ve been pretty sick lately, got a summer cold that’s passed around my entire family at this point. Truly awful experience as I normally don’t get sick in the summer other than my usual allergies.

I haven’t done much in the way of painting of the last few days. I varnished the last painting, using a satin retouch damar and beeswax varnish I mixed that day. It gives a nice luminosity to the work and finally unified the surface. I also finished the work in progress above (other than varnish). I”ll post that latter with the frame (and a corner uncovered), I”ll admit that the WIP above is mostly complete however. I mostly worked on increasing the contrasts between light and dark.

It’s been rainy most everyday this week, haven’t done much for my energy levels, it also make me leery of varnishing any more pieces as I want to avoid blooming of the varnish.

I’ve been mulling over my next piece, settling on a flower painting again. I’ve got some silk magnolia flowers that I will hopefully use to pull of a realistic looking flower still life. As of yet I’ve always struggled with getting the look I want with flowers, mostly because they die before I get any amount of real finish to a piece, or because I loose interest. Hopefully this time, with silk blooms I will have no excuses.

I’ve got the frame there to give an idea of what these will look like as a whole. I now realize I should have exposed a corner for you all but that will have to wait. The small cards on the bottom are my color correction tools, the middle one is a gray card and works best but at times the black and white are more helpful. These are new to me but are a great advantage.

I’ve been experimenting with getting my photography skills better and it’s a long journey. My wife borrowed some books from the library to help and I’ve read over them already. There has been a marked improvement but I’ve still got a lot to learn. Namely I’ve learned about the usage of gray cards, and of “bracketing.” After a short time I’ve realized my camera’s light meter is biased a bit towards washing things out. Bracketing for those not in the know, is the purposeful over and under exposure of a image series to get a firmer grip on the lighting conditions.

I’ve been feeling much better these last few days, my back doesn’t hurt nearly as much and my energy is returning. I’ve still been having an awful time waking up in the mornings but my son quickly cures that. Last week was the end of a sever bout with depression, but my mood has swung back towards the normal range.

Lemon and Two Slices Work In Progress

Things have been going slowly as of late.

I’ve been preparing to enter a juried exhibit and its been gnawing at me because finances are rather tight right now. This is an early work in progress shot of one of the paintings I’m planning on entering. I’ve got some frames for the paintings I’m entering and have them installed but I’m still working to a higher level of finish than as of late. It’s somewhat odd working with the paintings in the frames, but I can see advantages to this as long as care is taken. For one it allows one to work out the actual composition that will be visible rather than what you envision will be.

I did something to my back, causing me plenty of anguish and limiting my ability to stand for any length of time. Of course I typically paint standing, and while I could always sit in a chair it just doesn’t feel right and thus limits my progress further.

I’ve been experimenting further with my turpentine, stand oil, and Canadian balsam mixture. It seems to me like the medium I’ve been missing. Having never previously used resins I now understand why people are attracted to them albeit their drawbacks. They just add a wonderful drag and look to the paint that I have not otherwise been able to produce. Thus my kit has expanded again.