Matching the Couch...

For a while, there was a joke circling about making paintings to match the couch. Or for a gallery client to find "something that go's" with their decor. A joke not among artists and gallery staff... but solely among artists. "Make a painting of a couch on fire," one artist suggested.

Instead, I've chosen not to participate in the whole thing.

The strongest affirmation I've had of this belief, is having been told of a client who purchased a very large painting a few years ago. It was a two panel piece and she wanted it in her dining room. Unfortunately, the antique dining room table stood a little bit too high, and interfered with the bottom line of the piece. Instead of choosing another painting, she had the legs of the table cut down.

This is my position: own only what you love, or, what you need.

Matching the couch is a fad. What happens when the couch is out of style in half a year, and then you have to look for a new painting to match your new couch anyway... ?

...

Lately, I've been noticing that the colours in some of my paintings and colours in other things, are similar. While drying a bathing suit on the arm of my rocking chair in my studio after swimming the other day... And eating a cantaloupe while gazing at a painting I was currently working on.

Environment impacts painting. Maybe if someone lent an artist their couch for a few years... a painting would show up to match it. Although, there would probably be a lot of paint left on it as well...