Home Sweet Home...

My aunt and I FINALLY made it home from our New Mexico trip late, late Saturday night (10/16) and I still feel like I'm recovering from my vacation.   The trip was a lot of fun, the weather was perfect and the views were spectacular.  Today, I was able to get back behind the easel after 21+ days of not painting and the impact of the trip and scenery are heavily impacting my work already.  (I should be able to upload those pics later this week.) 

Anyways, back to the trip...as we cruised through art galleries in Taos, Santa Fe and Madrid, I had the opportunity to talk with gallery owners, gather info and make some observations.  In no particular order, here are some notes:

*  The NM art market is recovering.  2009 was their worst season, but they've seen an improvement this year. 
*  There seemed to be more smaller pieces available than I remember seeing years ago.
*  The price ranges were all over the place.  Artists who were more well known could command a higher price (4in x 4in painting for $600.00), verses a newbie artist (4in x 4in painting for $150.00).   (After seeing the high prices here and there, my aunt commented that she understood why artists were starving and that we needed to be more reasonable with our prices.  I tried to exlpain the commissions, supplies, time, etc., but in order for a sale to happen, the buyer has to believe that the value of an object is mirrored in it's price...if not, you don't have a sale...unless it object is under priced, then you have a great deal.)
*  The art market in NM is primarily gallery based and does not have as many art festivals compared to the DFW area. 
*  The artworks on display are done perfectly with the highest attention to detail and exquisite craftsmanship.   I can't stress how well the artworks looked, every piece I saw, framed or not, was created with the utmost excellence.   
*  The art was very diverse.  Back in the late 90s, I can remember going through galleries and it seemed like the majority of artwork was traditional southwest.  Now, there is a great mix of contemporary, traditional and abstract artworks all over the place.
*  Artists who are honed in on particular themes done in their specific style left the biggest impressions.  One artist focused in on sheep.  They were abstracted, but she put them in almost everything.  She even made sculptures.  (This focused attention towards a particular theme is an area that I'm trying to grasp more and more.) 

Next year, I hope to get back out to Santa Fe again and go through some galleries that I missed and take more pictures.  To see more pictures from the 2010 trip, please click here.