With the advent of nice weather, many of us find ourselves back out under the sun attempting to capture a bit of the fleeting light. A couple of weeks ago, after the International Association of Pastel Societies convention in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I was able to paint again in the beautiful northern New Mexico high desert. With its clarity of color and diversity of textures, I was reminded of why it has inspired so many artists over the years. While painting there, I was also reminded of one of most irritating issues of working en plein air: the intensity of surrounding light and how it affects the appearance of our paintings.
 
Most of our attention is focused on finding what to paint; once discovered, the job of positioning ourselves begins. Most of us were taught that it's better to work in open shade than bright sunlight. Working under this intense light can easily produce dark/dull paintings. Many a painting that looked fine on location is found to be extremely dark and in need of major adjustment when analyzed indoors. For this reason, it's always wise to second-guess your value and color selections before committing them to surface. Take breaks and scrutinize your painting in a variety of lighting situations (shade, full sunlight, and various angles which reflect different color influences). Whether you end up painting in shade or full sunlight, it's advisable to have your pastel palette arranged in values. If your pastels are organized in values, you'll know what value range you're working in, even if they appear overly dark or light in that situation. Learn to trust your palette.
 
Another issue often overlooked is the amount of light surrounding the painting surface. When the painting is in shade and the surrounding light is extremely intense, you'll have a hard time adjusting. There are two ways of dealing with this: turn or tilt your painting surface until it's in full sunlight and trust your palette to guide your value choices; or create a large border around the painting to block the proximity of the surrounding light, allowing a space for your eye to rest before reaching the painting. For this reason many plein air pastelists prefer to attach their painting surface to a larger drawing board even if one is not required. If you use prepared pastel panels that are capable of standing alone, reverse tape them to the support by running a strip of tape over the backside, letting it stick out around the painting, then tape the exposed border to the support. This allows you to paint to the edge while still holding the painting surface securely in place. Choose a neutral color and mid-value drawing board when possible. Otherwise, alternate between white and black until you find a good fit. Remember that, due to simultaneous contrast, white will make the painting look darker and black lighter in appearance.
 
By putting some effort into understanding the lighting situation in which you're working, you'll be better able to adjust, producing a more pleasing outcome. At least one excuse for why the painting didn’t turn out will be surrendered.

Pricing our paintings can be a confusing issue. These are our creations and, unlike a basic manufactured widget, we have an emotional attachment. Analyzing a few marketing factors and sticking to a pricing system can help.
 
Cost of manufacture: The expenses involved in the production of a painting are many. There is the cost of materials, framing, continuing education, and marketing. All of these have to be factored in at some point. In the beginning, monies will be all going out as you invest in your painting education. As the paintings improve and sales occur, you will start recouping these expenses.
 
Know yourself: Every one of us has a different sense of self worth. Some artists think so little of their efforts that they under-price, while others have an inflated sense of worth, asking grossly inflated prices. If you fall into either of these categories, seeking the advice of gallery owners and other artists you respect can be invaluable.
 
Know your market: Just because your painting is good doesn’t mean it will sell for what it is worth. Markets vary from region to region just like home prices. Understanding your market will place you in a better position to sell, providing money that can be reinvested in materials and continued education. As your ability grows, so will your market. With time, you will be displaying in higher-priced venues and receiving the true value of your labors.
 
Equal pricing across markets: Some venues require no sales commission; others ask for a moderate percentage; and prominent galleries often require as much as half of the selling price in commission. As hard as this can be to accept, it is the reality of higher end representation. They have their overhead and it is wise to remember they are a business, not a museum. Over the long term, they can do a lot to bolster your reputation, leading to higher prices and a greater profit margin. Keeping an even price across multiple sales venues can be an issue. It is advisable to have a standard price no matter what the commission discrepancies may be. If you vary your pricing based on the commission percentage, a patron that paid a higher price at one venue will be understandably upset when they see a comparable painting for sale at a reduced price in another.
 
Size pricing: Most artists’ price by size using a cost by united inch or square inch. For united inch, it is length plus width then multiplied by a value. Square inch is length multiplied by width then multiplied by a value. Here's an example of square-inch pricing: A 16x20 painting (320 square inches) at $5 per square inch equals $1,600. The cost per inch goes down as the size increases. This is due to the fact that a smaller painting can take as much, if not more, effort than a large painting. Since I work in a series of sizes, I have created commensurate pricing which I apply to all markets. If a frame costs a little more, a slight adjustment can be made without creating a huge discrepancy.

Emotional pricing: We all have our “special” paintings. This often leads us to place a higher value than on a comparably sized painting. When a prospective client sees this discrepancy, they sometimes question the quality of the lower-priced paintings. So, when that “special” painting comes along, it is better to hold it back. Keep it for your enjoyment or enter it in competitions instead of inflating its price. When you produce your next best, favorite, “special” painting, place your old favorite back into circulation.
 
My best advice to any artist when asked, “What should I ask for my work?” is to reply: “For what would you be willing to part with the painting?” When it is all said and done, it is between you and the purchaser. If you are happy and they are pleased, it is a successful “win-win” transaction.

We're all curious about the contents of other artists' studios. How are things laid out? What type of lighting is employed? What color are the walls? But one of the most interesting questions is: What art books do they keep on hand?
 
Books can play a valuable role in the success of an artist. They carry on a lineage of information passed from one generation to the next. A debt of gratitude is owed to those industrious teachers and painters who felt the need, or desire, to take pen to paper and place their observations, understandings, and experiences down to enlighten future generations.
 
Western art has had a long history of influential artist/authors and much has been made of the opinions they expressed. As valuable as these works can be, however, it's imperative that we place them in the context of their time. Scientific knowledge evolves, providing heightened understanding of the way we see and the phenomenon of light. Tastes change. What was acceptable in one time becomes passé and trite in another. However, the core observations and reasonings of these writers retain importance. As scholars instruct: if we don’t learn from the past, we are destined to repeat it.
 
Through study of these “text books” on the craft of painting, we create our own way, adapting what we read into our process. With time we shed dependency upon them for the “answers” of how to paint and instead rely on them as comforting reminders of art foundations—of the “why” certain things work in our paintings. They become the combined observations of many generations, providing a pool of information upon which we form our individual beliefs.

Personally, I have few historic favorites on the subject of landscape: Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting by John F. Carlson, published in 1929 (the landscape painters’ bible); Landscape Painting by Birge Harrison, published in 1909 (a series of impromptu lectures given to the Art Students League summer school in Woodstock, N.Y. (Harrison was a teacher to Carlson); and The Art of Landscape Painting in Oil Colour by Sir Alfred East, published in 1906 (an interesting, highly informative read filled with strong opinions). Another must have is: Composition, Understanding Line, Notan and Color by Arthur Wesley Dow, published in 1899 (an eye opening exercise in design). Acquiring copies of these books use to require a treasure hunt through used bookstores. Now with book-find sites on the Internet and public domain publishers, picking up out-of-print treasures can be a mouse click away. Digital versions are also becoming accessible as PDF files that are easily downloaded to a computer. Check out “Google Books” or do a web search for available copies.

Today's art publishers, such as North Light Books, continue to provide instructional art books filled with sage advice for the beginner to the advanced. Many of these will undoubtedly become the treasured studio guides to a future generation of painters.
 
What are your favorite "historic" art books? Your favorite contemporary art books? Please share highlights from your personal library by posting a comment here.

Relating value (the relative lightness and darkness of things) to color can be a tricky exercise. When color is intense (high in chroma), this becomes even more of a challenge. Since chroma is easily related to brightness, it's common to associate lightness to it as well, leading to value confusion. This is usually the culprit when we're having a hard time associating a proper value to a given pastel stick. Grayed tones become much easier to identify. The color is diminished, allowing for the value to be easily distinguished.
 
It is worth noting that if you're use to working with oils or other wet media, you may have a distorted mental image of base pigments. Since oils are wet, the base pigment often appears darker, often by as much as two values, and richer in appearance. Think of this like a rock viewed in a stream bed. When wet, it is a jewel, filled with rich lush colors. Once dry it appears dull, lacking the luster that initially drew your attention. This explains why all those rocks I picked up as a child along the streams that ran through the woods of Oregon were nothing more than rocks when I pulled them out of my pockets hoping to impress my mother. To better understand the change in the appearance of pigments when they're wet or dry, compare burnt sienna straight from an oil paint tube to pure burnt sienna in pastel form (which has not been affected by the addition of white or black). Most manufacturers will indicate pure pigment on their labels or printed color charts. After witnessing the difference many pastel artists decide to work in a higher key, raising the value scale and avoiding overly dark pastel applications. Traditionally black pigment was added to pure base colors to darken them and this produced dead dark tones. Today many manufacturers are combining rich dark pigments in the making of their darker pastels, providing much richer darks.
 
Training the eye to see value and to not be overwhelmed with color takes time. The best advice I have in arranging pastels by value is to make marks of the color on white, black and middle gray (something close to halfway between white and black), or on a value scale representing no more than nine values between white and black. Then close one eye and squint way down. If the mark nearly disappears, it is close in value. If it stands out as noticeably lighter or darker, you'll have a better idea of where it resides on the value scale. See, for example, in the illustration above, how—when you squint—the red is close to value 6, the blue is close to value 3 and the yellow is close to value 9.

Many of us live in areas that don’t provide easy plein air experiences in the winter. The days are too short and the weather too damp for pastel work—not to mention the inhospitable temperature. It's during these times that we all long for a painting vacation to some inspiring, warm environment.

Just as the depression of winter was starting to take hold this year, I was able to arrange a plein air workshop in southern Arizona, in the Tucson area—a place I had never visited before (see photo). The desert has always held a particular fascination for me: California’s Mojave, northern New Mexico’s Pueblo country, and eastern Oregon’s rugged high desert have provided many hours of painting inspiration. Something about the textures and rhythms of the rugged earth and industrious vegetation combine with the wide-open expanse, making for unlimited painting possibilities. So, with great eagerness, I set off for Arizona. Fortunately, I was able to connect with artist friends upon arriving in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area and they graciously showed me the sights. It is worthwhile to make contact with local plein air painters when visiting an unfamiliar area for the first time. They know where all the good painting locations are and days of aimless wandering can be avoided. This also provides artist camaraderie as so much of our time painting can be spent in isolation. It's a pleasure to spend time with “our tribe.” After checking out the local art scene of Scottsdale (one of the major art markets in the United States), it was off to Tucson.
 
Upon arriving, it became clear why many artists have been drawn to this rugged and majestic landscape. The city sits at the base of the beautiful Catalina mountain range. With the intense reflected light off the desert floor, it's a nonstop kaleidoscope of value and color variation. Dry river washes that attest to the volume of water produced during the monsoon season, and the abundant varieties of cactus and desert vegetation provide a stunning foil. But it didn’t take us long to be reminded of the dangers of extreme desert painting: cactus needles that could penetrate the strongest of shoes required pliers for removal; rattlesnakes easily blended into the terrain; and ornery wild pigs left hoof prints as a reminder they were near. Curious coyotes peaked up over the ditches as we packed in for the day. All this played a part in the experience. It was a reminder to do research in advance of wondering off towards that beautiful inspiration when visiting unfamiliar locations. We definitely weren’t in Kansas anymore!
 
If you love to work en plein air and winter gets you down, try visiting the Southwest. The key of light is high and the color harmony muted with a gray that threads it all together. You won’t be disappointed. Summer in this region of Arizona is another matter: I was assured that even a pastel stick could melt!

Here it is again—time to file those federal and state taxes. As artists, we typically spend more time engaging the creative side of the brain, which can’t be bothered with records and itemized lists of expenses. Creativity is great but best avoided when filling out tax forms.

If painting is mostly a past-time for you (and there is nothing wrong with that; you are in good company with the likes of Sir Winston Churchill), keeping records and expensing your costs is not a concern. Even as a hobby, painting can prove expensive and being able to declare these costs against other income may be tempting. Be aware that hurdles must be met. It's best to contact a well-trained tax consultant for advice. If you're pursuing painting as a career, though, learning to keep accurate records and knowing what can be deducted, becomes imperative.
 
Let me start by stating that I am not an expert on tax matters and certainly not an accountant. However, having done this for many years has lead to a few observations that might prove helpful:
• Find a professional accountant or tax preparer and build a long-term relationship. Quick “drive through” tax businesses may not be equipped to understand the business of art. What we do is not a “cookie-cutter” business and requires a professional that has some experience working with artists. So many aspects of our lives are intertwined with the pursuit of creating art; it takes someone that understands the lifestyle and tax code to filter out what can, and cannot, be deducted.
• Keep good records and all receipts. Computer-based bookkeeping programs are very helpful. Personally, I use an old-fashioned line ledger (old habits are hard to break). Don’t procrastinate in recording the information. There is nothing more daunting than a shoebox full of old forgotten receipts.
• Set up a separate checking account and credit card for art related matters. This can make bookkeeping much easier. You know that everything on the statements had some art-related purpose. With online record-keeping, these records can be directly downloaded to accounting software, making it even easier to track those expenditures.
• Deposit all income derived from your art, such as sales and tuition, into the dedicated checking account. Itemize these deposits by breaking them down into separate categories of income. Add a description to jog your memory, in case clarification is required.
• Place a small notebook in your vehicle and record mileage to and from all art-related activities. All those trips to the art store, framer, classes, and shipping agent really add up. Even drives in pursuit of “landscape inspiration” are part of what we do.
• If you have a separate studio space solely devoted to your art, it can provide a major deduction. If you utilize a room within your living space, it can become a little tricky and is best left to your tax consultant to work out.
• Classes and workshops are considered part of continuing education. Everything involved can be deducted: tuition, travel, lodging, and meals. Even the upcoming trip to the IAPS (International Association of Pastel Societies) convention in Albuquerque, N.M., is deductible. Speaking of which, the artist Terri Ford happens to be offering an interesting IAPS session titled: “The Art of Keeping Good Tax Records,” on May 30th, 12:30 to 2:30 pm. To find out more, click here.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Certainty? In this world, nothing is certain but death and taxes." If painting is a major expense in your life, it may prove helpful to talk to your tax person and see if you can’t declare some of it against your income, ultimately providing more money for pastel purchases.