Hi Friends,

A few years ago I was in an area that I knew was frequently inhabited by Rocky Mountain Sheep. As a wildlife artist I really did want to take the time to watch them. So here I am in this rocky terrain with big boulders strewn all over the landscape as it gets increasingly steep up to the ridge summit.

Peeling my best sheep eyes, my focus was toward the top where the sheep trails were just barely visible on the sheer rock walls. Knowing the sheep were there, but not spotting them right away, my concentration was keen.

After studying this wild landscape hard for several minutes, a small movement in the foreground, about a 1000 yards in front of me, caught my attention. A dozen sheep were there just going about their lives, doing sheep stuff, while I was focused over their backs way up on the mountain side.

While I would like to be kind to myself and say they blended in well with the habitat, they didn't blend that good. I mean they were right in front of me. Ever since I have wondered what else have I missed? What really good ideas for marketing art or creating art have I overlooked while focusing on a distant idea?

One project that I took on recently was doing ACEO small format (3.5x2.5") paintings and selling them on EBay. It was an experiment to see if there really was a market there. It didn't take long to get disenchanted with selling them really cheap and I had not figured in the time to photo them, posting in the auctions, writing the descriptions, paperwork, package them for shipping.....you know.....the details.
Because I was doing at least one a day, this amounted to a lot of time.

So about the time that my whining was starting to get annoying, I realized what I had learned and it was rather a lot. It's an excellent exercise in learning what colors really can get a painting to stand out and it was a dramatic lesson in what sells to what I call a "cold" audience. Meaning it was not connected to a particular region or show, so I was selling cold with no way of even guessing what they might be interested in.

About the time I decided to throw in the towel, these little paintings have even started increasing in selling price....not impressive money by any measure, but enough to get my attention. So how long will the experiment go on? With a new attitude about this venture, I'm just focusing on the close up picture.....just paint the paintings that I know stand a good chance of selling well and leave the far-off, top of the cliff things to work themselves out. This lesson applies to all the art work that comes from my easel now.

Now and then, though, I look to the mountain tops too.

Keep Coloring Outside the Lines,
Sandra