Friday, November 23, 2012

30 paintings in 30 days, American Samoa, Day 24


Sueni agreeably posed for the picture for this painting. He tied his feet together with a rag and shimmied up the tree as if it were easy. Thanks Sueni! 


Lucilla asked;
“Do you get paid to do this?”

Where do I start? Yes, well sort of, actually, no not exactly. I hope to sell the paintings, hope being the key. Sometimes they do, but not always.  Occasionally people take pictures of them with cameras or cell phones and print them without my permission. Guess I could be flattered (once I got over it), but that doesn’t pay. It’s both the up and down side of the digital age. Copyrights for music, film and the visual arts are difficult to enforce and not always respected. On the other hand, the audience jumps from a few thousand to potentially millions who will enjoy your efforts and possibly buy something, although I sell very little work online. There are those wonderful rare people who collect original artwork and I have met a few of them in my lifetime, but I earn more by turning my artwork into products like greeting cards and calendars than selling originals. So eventually I do get paid.
     I have never been paid by the hour to do a painting. That’s called ‘work for hire’. The person paying then owns the copyright so I turn those offers down. Occasionally I take commissions and agree on a lump sum before the work is started which allows me to keep the copyright. I have no idea what I’ve earned per hour for all the painting I’ve done, but it has been just enough to pay my way in life after fifty years of effort. Sitting at the library painting to improve my skills and meet a people who are interested in art is a lovely way to spend the day, but no, I’m not getting paid for it unless I sell them which might happen so then yes, I will be paid. I hope that’s perfectly clear.     

No comments:

Post a Comment