Wendover Art Group, Barclay Butera's line - Faith and Trust

Several months ago I was contacted out of the blue by an employee of Wendover Art Group who said they would like to use some of my artwork as prints.  They would pay to have the pieces scanned (HUGE scans!), then they'd put them on their site and sell them on demand.  I would receive a check each quarter if/when my pieces sold.

Barclay Butera, a well-known designer, had seen my work and felt like it would be the "next big thing".  That was quite flattering, but I had no clue if these guys were for real or not.  I had my doubts - internet scans abound - so I checked them out as well as I could.  I spoke with people who knew of them and who knew about licensing artwork, etc.  It was a brand new thing for me.  What I found out sounded good, so I decided to go for it.  Everything was quite rushed because they wanted to have the prints available for a big furniture show coming up.  Mark Staples, a fine art printing specialist here in Richmond, did a great job scanning the work in record time, then he and his assistant Carol sped the scans to Wendover.  It all happened so fast!

A couple of months later I received a check for a reasonable amount of money, and just last week I received another one.  I like it!

Today I was sending someone a link to Wendover's website, and, for the first time, was able to find my pieces there.  Here's the link.  I am fascinated to see what they've done with my pieces!  For example, "Evoking Beach" (above left) is upside down, and it's been printed 22"x26".  The original is 6"x9" (right).

In the contract I signed, I gave them permission to alter the pictures and to change the sizes, etc., so I'm not complaining.  It's just fascinating to me to see them once the changes have been made.

If these were my nudes, I wouldn't have agreed to allow such changes, but I made a choice about these.  They came out of a period of my life when I was in pretty dark despair some of the time.  Chris had been out of work for about 9 months, and I was feeling scared.  Despite that, I decided to step out of that fear and, in faith, to rent a cottage at the Outer Banks for a week so we could get away and find our centers again.  When I arrived at the beach, I pulled out my paper and pastels, sat at the picnic table on the porch, and began to draw.  I gazed out onto the ocean, at the sand, at the sky, and drew what I saw, moment after changeable moment.  I don't know if I spoke much for a couple of days.  Through those drawings, I re-gained my center and released my fear.  A day later Chris got a phone call from a company ready to offer him a temporary job.  It wasn't perfect for him, but it was perfect for us for the time being.  It gave me the assurance I needed that all was well and all would be well.  I could trust the Universe that we would be OK.

These drawings have come to symbolize that assurance to me.  Wendover called just as I was starting to think about quitting my "day job" to become a full time artist.  I decided that this was the Universe's way of letting me know all was well, all would be well, I could quit my job and trust all would be very well.  So I released my attachment to the images with gratitude for their part in my life.

These are the same pieces which will be on display in Petersburg at the Petersburg Regional Art Center from now through the end of April.  The Opening will be this Friday from 7-10.  Perhaps I'll see you there, and you can tell me about times in your life when your faith was restored.

UPDATE:  8/6/2012

I am still selling my artwork through Wendover.  Last Spring they decided to license several more pieces, this time in hues of brown and tan. Last week I received a check for prints which had sold. 

It has proven to be a wonderful relationship with Wendover, and I couldn't be more pleased.  It's amazing to receive income for works I did a while ago but which continue to sell through the magic of the internet.  I'm so grateful!

About a month ago, I wrote about a woman who had contacted me about possibly licensing some of my artwork to sell for her company, Wendover Art.  I decided to go ahead and license the work to them and see what happens.  We had a flurry of emails back and forth as we figured out which images to use, then I took the pieces to a company, Staples Fine Art, where they scanned the pieces - lots of hurry up, then wait!  The huge show, High Point, is happening this week, and I'm curious as heck to find out how my pieces are faring - if they're being picked up or not.

Barclay Butera is the designer who saw my ocean scenes and color studies and thought they could be the next big thing.  According to the woman who works at Staples, Barclay is very "trend forward" - i.e. he has a very good sense for what will be popular next on the marketplace.  He is focusing on blues and whites this year.  Hearing that (about "trend forward") made me giggle - I did these pieces a few years ago - just think how trend forward that makes me!  Actually, though, I think that's how it is with artists - they express what is in the culture which others might not be attuned to yet.  Often it takes decades for the rest of the world to catch up - that's probably one reason artists sometimes don't sell so well in their own lifetimes - people can't appreciate their work yet.

Below is an article from Home Accents Today about Barclay Butera's line at High Point this year.  I'll highlight the parts which I think have to do with my artwork.

Talkback

Barclay Butera Lifestyle and couture lines to debut new products and styles in High Point

Susan Dickenson -- Home Accents Today, October 8, 2010

New introductions from Barclay Butera for this month's High Point Market include lamps, rugs and wall décor, and new style category debuts for the Barclay Butera Lifestyle line, showing in HBeach Wicker Chair, Barclay Butera Lifestyle (HFI)istoric Market Square (330), and the Barclay Butera Home couture line, showing in IHFC Interhall (400).

Barclay Butera Lifestyle debuted at the High Point Market this past spring with a presentation of more than 300 SKUs in a new 15,000-sq.-ft. showroom. Developed in partnership with HFI Brands, Barclay Butera Lifestyle offers retailers "aspirational designs at an attainable price point." New to the brand's Town, Country, City, Plantation and Modern Beach style categories this fall is Classic Beach, 30 new SKUs of accents and furnishings in crisp blues and whites.

Rugs and portable lighting from new partnerships with Merida and Bradburn Lighting Gallery, and additions to Butera's wall décor collection with Wendover Art Group, will also be showcased in High Point.

With sustainable rug manufacturer Merida, Butera has created a collection of natural woven rugs in designs and colorways inspired by men's haberdashery. The collection from Bradburn includes more than two dozen floor and table lamps to accent Butera's Town category, in mahogany, reds and golds, and his Beach category, in hammered silvers, whites and blues.
Lamps from the Barclay Butera Lifestyle collection, developed with Bradburn Lighting Gallery
"These two crucial partnerships will round out our product offerings perfectly to allow key retailers to showcase a floor to ceiling Barclay Butera Lifestyle showroom," Butera said. "We have been very blessed to have aligned ourselves with the leaders in each respective industry and look forward to sharing our beautiful collections with our retailers this market."

Bradburn invites market attendees to a party Sunday afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. in its showroom (IHFC G270) to celebrate the launch of the new collection.

Barclay Butera Home, the designer's couture line, will introduce the Park Avenue Collection in its Interhall showroom. New designs feature a tailored mix of rich tweeds, sleek pin stripes and lush velvets layered with animal prints, accented with a new collection of hand-painted linen pillows for The Hearst Castle Collection. A new extension of Butera's wall décor collection with art partner Wendover Art Group will also be showcased in the Barclay Butera Home showroom.
"I have always been a lover of the timeless color palette of black and cream awash with muted blues, greens, grays and silvers," Butera said. "By using these tones in an unorthodox way -- crocodile, zebra, leopard on top of classicPlantation Beach Chest, Barclay Butera Lifestyle (HFI) fabrics -- I was able to achieve the perfect balance of chic with a dash of wild, which was truly a labor of love to create."

The new wall décor collection, Park Avenue, adds more than 60 SKUs of artwork with a look reflecting "a sophisticated mix of modern sentimentality with a transitional appeal that is perfect for many residential and hospitality projects that are looking for fabulous alternatives for wall décor."

Later this fall, Butera will introduce accessories, candles and home fragrance through a new partnership with Zodax. In addition, the designer said 2011 includes plans for a new project from Barclay Butera Entertainment as well as a new licensing category, B Home.

I don't know anything about this whole business of home decor and am not used to having paintings be called wall decor, but I'm finding it fascinating.  There's so much to learn!

Wish me luck!  If these sales go well, it may be the thing which will enable me to move from doing art part time to working on it full time.  That would be an incredible gift and one for which I would be completely grateful.

Pregnant (no, not me!)

This morning I was very busy with logistical stuff.  I'll be glad when this show is up and running and I can get back to painting!  I went to Uptown Color again to check on the proofs for the catalogue and to give them new files for the text (which my most excellent friend Tina edited for me with her professional eye so they're pretty darn close to perfect!  Thanks, Tina!).  I hope tomorrow will be the last day of working with Uptown - they're wonderful - it's just been hard to get the colors right and I've had to go back there at least 7 times.  I sure appreciate their willingness to get it right for me.  The problem is that I'm seeing the colors on my screen how I want them to print out, but Michael at Uptown is seeing them yellower and darker on his screen, then they're printing even darker, so I'm not getting the images how I'd like them to be.  Today I showed him my computer and how they should look - hopefully that'll help!

In addition to working on the catalogue, Wendover Art Company, the company which wants to print my seascapes, emailed and called to say I was going to have to Fed-Ex my paintings to them so they could do the scans themselves.  I had them done by Staples Fine Art here in Richmond.  Mark Staples does outstanding work, and his assistant, Carole, is a dream to work with.  They have both been incredibly helpful.  Wendover was wanting to print my 6"x9" pieces 50" big, and they were thinking the files were too small to do so.  I think the problem was more that my art is too small to blow up so large.  Mark scanned them as large as is technically possible to do so at this time.  Finally we got it resolved.  I'm going to take over some larger pieces so they can make big pieces out of them, and the smaller pieces will be blown up smaller, and the pastels won't have to be shipped to FL.  It's all good.  Everyone involved is wonderful to work with and is doing everything they know how to make things work out just right.  It's just complicated getting art made by me, scanned here in Richmond, coordinated by Catharine in Atlanta, printed there in Florida, and marketed all over the world!  Next time I'm in Crate and Barrel and see artwork, I will certainly appreciate the effort that went into making it a lot more!  Geez Louise!

After settling all those details, I flew into the studio, ready to work!  I feel done with Faux Fur Follies so I had to find something new to work on.  For some reason, I'd been craving working on a pregnant nude - I started drawing them in 2000 and a series of small drawings of them was my very first show.  I found an image I've drawn several times before and painted it all afternoon.  It felt so good to create those fabulous curves.  Pregnant bellies are so gorgeous and so satisfying to draw!  (The red image is the one I did in 2000 of the same image.  It's in pencil on textured paper and is very tiny, so that's why it looks so static-y.)

Licensing Artwork to Wendover Art Group

Another item on my agenda last week was deciding whether to allow Wendover Art Group to license my artwork.  I hadn't heard of them and didn't know anything about the world of print publishing so I had no idea if I was dealing with a scam or what.  After a lot of research and googling and talking to folks, I found out that they're for real - they publish and frame prints for the hospitality industry as well as stores like Macy's and Crate and Barrel.  Pretty cool!  I would enjoy having my work sold there.  That would be a wonderful thing. 

They're interested in my ocean scenes.  They sent me 9 they're interested in so I had to go through my inventory of paintings to see which ones I could find.  I'm actually pretty organized with my work, but I recently had a situation where I sold a piece online then couldn't find it to save my life.  I looked EVERYWHERE!  I called galleries where I have my work on consignment.  I looked under beds, in closets, thought about friends I might have given stuff to, or people who might have bought pieces - I simply couldn't find it.  I ended up drawing it again as the only alternative I could come up with to meeting the customer's desire to have the piece.  I still haven't found it and have since realized that 5-6 other pieces are missing as well, so I think I must have left a container of paintings somewhere as I was taking down a show.  That's a big loss.  It's bugging me like crazy to try to figure out where they are, like a toothache - I keep putting my tongue in the hole, hoping I'll be able to make it better finally if I just touch on it enough! 

I was, thankfully, able to account for all of the pieces Wendover wants.  That doesn't mean I have all of them, but I could account for them at least!  I had sold 3 of them, so this morning I spent some time re-creating 2 of them.  I am satisfied with how they turned out.  The third one was too complex - it was a very challenging sunset - so I'm choosing not to re-do that one.

Wednesday I will have to take the work to Staples Fine Art in Glen Allen where they will scan each piece then send the digital files to Wendover who will get them printed, framed, and in their inventory for the upcoming October Trade Show.  Things happen quickly!  It's a lot to keep track of!

I'll let you know if sales happen and if it's worth it to license my work.  I'm very curious. 

The thing that convinced me, actually, to go with it, more than anything was, when I got quiet and asked myself/Spirit, the answer I got was, "Did you say you want to be able to live off the income from your art?  And to work as a full time artist?  THIS is a way to help you do that.  YES.  Do it!"  That was good enough for me!  Ask, and Way will Open.