|
Since I became a working, selling,
gallery represented artist, there have been several changes in my art work. I
began as a watercolor artist, painting American historical scenes of the west.
The first change was primarily to improve and expand effects and the quality of
my work. Oils offered the ability to do many things that I found limiting for me
in watercolor. I know different now as my knowledge in handling both mediums has
improved, but the secondary reason for changing to oils kept me concentrating on
the oils. This second reason was marketing. I was selling in areas where many
people were traveling and did not want to deal with the issue of glass over the
watercolor painting. Clear plastics were just not an option as a substitute for
the glass needed to protect the watercolor painting.
So the first change was from watercolor to
oil. I still painted the historical western scenes, but phased in the oils and
phased out the watercolors. Not a big change really.
The next change was in the subject matter I
chose. I became more aware that I had an increasing desire to paint just the
landscapes I went out to paint and photograph with the intent of using them as
backgrounds for the western scenes.
I began doing a few pure landscapes. As
long as I kept them small, the gallery that represented me would hang them along
with my westerns. Soon, the landscapes were out selling the westerns and the
more I painted them the more I wanted to. The gallery wanted me to keep doing
westerns even though they were a secondary subject for me. This precipitated a
change in representation for me. It was a blessing in disguise. It was 1984 and
O'Briens Art Emporium, a 140 year old gallery took my landscapes and began
selling it immediately. At that time O'Briens represented some of the best
artists working in this country. I was with them for 14 years at which time
circumstances caused them to close their doors.
Since that unwanted change in gallery
representation, I have been involved with three galleries locally, all good
galleries and several others nationally.
Now, I am at another crossroads. this time
it is age and physical limitations. Since 1999 I have had to deal with a number
of health issues. Some are military service related, exposure to asbestos, heart
problems and age related joint problems. Admittedly some are due to the old
saying, "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care
of myself. I have no complaints though. I love the service to this country, I
loved my years in the sport of auto racing and I'm still glad, after all these
years to be on the green side of the dirt.
I have always been able to adapt. So the
change I am making now is just an adaptation of the situation I live in now. It
is really just a new chapter of my career and if it goes like the last chapters,
it will be even better. One door closes and another opens.
I learned early that if one learns to see
and draw shapes and pays attention to color temperature and values, they should
be able to paint anything they wish. This lesson has served me very well, but
not as well as it serves me now. Since realizing a couple of years ago that
hiking the Grand Canyon or going deep into the Rocky Mountains was not a good
idea for someone with joint, heart and breathing issues, I have started looking
around for other subject matter that excites me to paint. One of the things I
quickly realized when I did this is something I have known for many years. The
world is full of great and exciting subject matter.
One of my pet peeves has always been the
way galleries and some clients want to put artists in a specific "box." What I
mean is they like an artist to specialize in one subject matter and one medium.
There are a few artist out there that have escaped being placed in the "box." I
am not one of them. This new change is in joining these "free" artists. I have
decided that since I need to make a change to more accessible subject matter for
myself and I have always found many subjects interest me enough that I want to
paint them, why not do just that. This means changing from the more
predominantly western galleries to galleries with a wider scope of subject
matter as I "open" my scope of subject matter that I paint.
So this change is somewhat bigger in ways
than the others that were almost a natural evolution of my work. This is a
wholesale change. I will be changing the type of galleries I work with, I will
be painting subject matter such as still life's, people, both nudes and people
in everyday life. I will be doing florals and a few landscapes as well. I will
work mostly in oil, but my true love has always been watercolor, so I intend to
"listen" to the subject and paint it in the medium best suited to show other
what I saw and why it excited me enough to paint it. This is a change in gallery
representation, subject matter and some change in mediums.
It has always been my goal to produce the
best paintings I possibly can. Many collectors have given me the blessing of
making a living doing what I love. I owe them as well as myself, the very best
work I can possibly do. I truly believe that this change will take me much
closer to that goal than any of the other changes I have made. In the near
future I will list the new galleries handling my work. It is my hope you will
enjoy this new chapter in my career. I want to thank all who have contributed to
helping me come to this place in my career, through purchase of my paintings,
gallery promotion and moral support, other artists who have generously shared
their knowledge with me and the good Lord for blessing me with this desire and
ability to share His wonderful world with others.
John Cox, Phoenix, Arizona 2008
 |
