contracts for artists

[dragonphyre@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

lol! My dad always acted as if spending money on anything other than basic food, clothing or shelter was akin to mortal sin. And around here, one of the worst insults directed against any professional or business person is "He/she just wants your money."

Money is now what I mention first, it is the very best way of seeing just how committed a potential client may be,

That is a good point. Last week I attempted to generate some  support for a local art show by requesting purchase awards from  businesses. I discovered that people who had earlier talked a lot about how great it was that we have these venues for local artists, suddenly lost interest when their own money was involved. That sounds like a great way to weed out the "talkers".

The real problem with portraiture is that the client has their own impression of the subject which may not be what the artist sees and even if the sculpture is totally "accurate" it may not feel like the client's own understanding and therefore not look like the subject to them..

I assume you know your pit bull very well and almost subconsciously put that knowledge and love into your sculpture,

It was difficult, but the great thing about doing the Great Dane portrait was that it made everything else seem so easy by comparison. Before that, the only piece I had done to depict a specific animal was the one of my own dog. That was easy because I carved her in a sleeping position and she sleeps a great deal of the time. It was practically like working from a live model.

I don't know if this works for everybody, but I seem to learn better when I alternate very challenging projects with relatively easy ones. The hard projects force me to work hard and solve problems, then the easy ones give it all time to simmer on the back burner. Thus, having put the Belgian Black Great Dane behind me, my next project will be an alabaster cat, of no particular breed.

Linda Harbison