FEATURE IN MAGAZINE CONNECTS ME WITH NEW CLIENT

Over these past holidays my family and I were featured in our local neighborhood magazine to share a little about our life and experiences here in Folsom, CA.  I was eager to share my latest addiction for creating fabulous artwork with a new and broad, local audience… as a result of the publicity, I am grateful and thrilled to welcome a new client to the osTRAnderART family with the sale of dark angel.

I created dark angel the week before the KVIE auction in October; read my recent blog post about creating dark angel here.  If you have been following along then you know that I had many pieces displayed in my home for friends who came by to celebrate my participation in the auction.  What I never shared is that I had dark angel on display that evening, but since it was only a few days old I was totally out of wall space consumed by other works.  So, I set it above my foyer in a spot that isn’t in immediate view from my downstairs… I didn’t even have a name for the the piece at that time.  Needless to say, I didn’t sell dark angel that evening, but it was featured in some pictures that were included in our magazine article, and a local collector did take notice!

Below are some crude pics I took with my phone of the magazine that was mailed to our home… click and zoom if you want to read the text.  You’ll see dark angel in the two smaller pics on the story front page.

I’ve been quiet on the airwaves these past few weeks since the holidays… busy with work, family, and a bit of COVID that made it’s way through most of us here in the house, including myself.  It was an experience I hope to never repeat.  The week prior to my illness I got an email from Scott, a neighbor just half a mile away, who was inquiring about my work and pricing after reading the article.  We exchanged emails and then he texted me back a few days later saying he was interested in buying dark angel.  By this time I was sick in bed and had to advise that, while I would love to show it, we had to wait a couple weeks until I was back to normal (and not a risk to him).  We connected in January and I made the 4 minute journey to see how it looked in his house.

In the linked blog post above, I mentioned how the resin work on dark angel fanned out a bit at the edges.  It was something I wasn’t sure about when I first saw it dry, but the uniqueness of the texture in combination with the composition won me over.  I chose to not add a second layer for the full “glass” sheen across the surface.  What I didn’t share in that post is that the open craters left where resin was thin or non-existent could result in multiple brilliant reflections of light, depending on how and where the light source was coming from.  I noticed this cluster of glare in certain spots when it was hung in my front room.  But when I moved it to a different room, the way sunlight came in from the high windows, there was very little glare from just about any vantage point.  Well, (there is a point to this!=) I mentioned this to Scott upon delivery and said that it really does matter how the light hits the piece and if the glare was too distracting that I could always add a second coat for a beautiful flat polish across the surface.  Sure enough, within two days I got a text asking if I could add the second coat of resin.  Apparently the lighting in his room was really bad, not during the day, but at night.  I gladly came right over and the next week it was back at it’s new home and hanging beautifully on the wall…

This piece is large at 60″ x 48″ and fit perfectly above this dresser.  Like the bedroom, the rest of this beautiful home looked like a gallery with outstanding artworks from many local, and some prestigious artists. Scott is a true and self-admitted collector choosing to support local and up and coming artists in the region.  It’s very humbling, yet empowering, to be able to connect with a buyer who is wanting to see my creation on their wall each day alongside so many other great works.

I had the pleasure of signing and dating this piece upon delivery (thank you, Scott, for supplying the sharpie!;-).  I really need to start signing my works when they are complete… I guess I haven’t felt the need to sign because I’ve mostly enjoyed painting for the pure joy of creating and hanging in my home.  I’ve actually sold other pieces and had to come back and sign them after sale, too (and I have a couple out there yet to be signed…).

Teaser for those that have read this far and a look towards my next post… I am currently working on some really exciting (VERY LARGE) pieces.  They are like nothing I’ve created to date; they are entirely original and 100% authentically me.  I can’t wait to share with all of you very soon.