Author: RRRodgers

Principal artist at MotleyArtist.com
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Diversions

I spent some time perusing a new interest, jewelry pendants. I have been collecting unusual bits and pieces since forever, not sure where I would use any of them.

One of my collection items was from a “yard sale” from my time at Schonbek. I purchased a bulk quantity of smoke quartz drops, along with several other rock crystal pieces. I have also collected a variety of local hardwoods in a variety of sizes, much of it harvested from my own property.

I combined the Smoky Quartz with a variety of local hardwoods hand worked to fit the shape of the drops, strung on a simple cord necklace to to create a rustically elegant jewelry.

Cherry and smoky quartz
Cedar and Lapis Lazuli beads
Cedar and amethyst

I put these few pieces in the Workbench Collective gallery and I will see how they do. I plan to sell these an a variety of other pieces at the Arts and Craft fair Nov 18th and 19th at SUNYPlattsburgh field house. I now need to figure out how to display them. I have developed a tag that describes each piece to answer the common questions.

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Holiday Season Begins

The holiday season is often the busiest of the year, but this year I limited the events, not knowing how my shoulder surgery would go. I am only planning on the Arts and Crafts fair at the Plattsburgh state field house on November 18th and 19th, along with Sparkle Village in Saranac Lake on December 1st and 2nd.

I have tried a new framing style for my large vertical paintings. This happened when I was looking at frame thickness and put one piece over the other. I know I have seen this style of frame somewhere before but not sure where. I love the way it accentuates the vertical look.

I have spent some time painting like the ones above as well as playing in my workshop on some new ideas, I hope to introduce them those in a post soon.

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Recovery

After several weeks of not being able to paint due to shoulder surgery, I’m getting anxious to get the brushes back in my hands. The good news is I have been cleared to begin using it again. I’m going to have to work back up to longer sessions but is a pleasure to get the paint flowing again.

I spent time in my easy chair updating the web site with more current paintings. I plan to blog every other week through the fall.

I am looking forward to doing the farmers markets in Saranac Lane and Keene valley this coming weekend. On the Columbus Day weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) I will be doing a 2 day event at Gore Mountain . I will also be returning to the Workbench Collective one day a week to volunteer, it’s a great artists collective.

I was able to reframe a couple of paintings with driftwood frames over the weekend., as well as make a couple of racks for selling my boxed cards on the market.

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Sidelined

Eastern Tiger Swallow Tail

I have been sidelined after having surgery on my right shoulder on September 5th. Yes that is my painting arm, so I am no longer painting or drawing every day. This breaking a streak of almost 6 years of daily making art. I have been told it will be 4-6 weeks in a sling so that will stop my painting and participation in the farmers markets. My next scheduled market is October 8-9 at Gore mountain.

The summer season at the farmers markets has been both a challenge and fun on many levers. Almost every weekend had at least one day of rain. Despite the weather issues I have excellent sales. I have sold a significant number of paintings, both my large driftwood famines pieces as well as my 5”x9” and 7”x9” framed studies.

I will say, editing my web site and blog with my left hand if a challenge but it needs to be done. I will post a lot of my past artwork photos and update the blog.

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Attempted Art Scam

I need to post about something that occurred during the past week. I was the target of an art scam.

This is how the the scam works. I received the following email from a person named Josh Goldfield.

Greetings!
My name is Josh Goldfield from FL. I actually observed my wife has been viewing your website on my laptop and i guess she likes your piece of work, I’m also impressed and amazed to have seen your various works too, : ) You are doing a great job. I would like to receive further information about your piece of work and what inspires you. I am very much interested in the purchase of the piece to surprise my wife. Kindly confirm the availability for immediate sales. Thanks and best regards,
Josh Goldfield

Being interested i responded stating i had works available and asked what pieces he was interested in. This is the response i got back.

Hello : MotleyArtist
Thanks for the message, however, I would greatly appreciate if you could possibly recommend a few completed original piece within my budget $450- $2000 ready for immediate sale… Just need something within that price range for a surprise to my wife (can tell she likes your work). I would appreciate if you can figure out a piece of work that would serve that purpose. Kindly email images and prices of any available works in that range. Thanks and blessing

This made me very suspicious since I don’t list any paintings over $400 on my web site. At this point in time I did a Google search for “Art Scams” and found several interesting articles. I found many articles like “How to Recognize the Signs of an Art Scam” and “7 Signs You are Dealing with an Art Scammer” All the various posts pointing to this being a scam. I have heard about scams where they buy an item, only pay by check or bank payment and include in the payment is fees that you are the then pay to the shipper. I responded back again asking about what subject would be of interest and a couple of images that I like, but stated I need his feedback.

Dear : Ron,
Thanks for the message, I must tell you I intend to give my wife a surprise with the immediate purchase of the piece. Also If you’d like to know, I’m relocating to the Philippines soon and our wedding anniversary is fast approaching. So I’m trying to gather some good stuff to make this event a surprise one. I am buying the any painting you recommend for $600, s a gifts to her. I’m okay with the price, I think it’s worth it anyway, so I’ll be sending a check. As regarding shipping, you don’t have to worry about that in order not to leave any clue to my wife for the surprise. as soon as you receive and cash the check, my shipping agent (who is also moving my personal effect) will contact you to arrange pick-up. I would have come to purchase the piece myself but, at the moment, am on training voyage to the North Atlantic Ocean (I’m an ocean engineer) with new hires who are fresh from graduate school and won’t be back for another couple of weeks.
Regards,
PS: In the meantime, kindly get back to me with your full name (you want the check payable to) cell phone no. and contact address (preferably for Usps ,fedEx not P.O box) where a check can be mailed to, so I can get the check prepared and have it mailed out to you right away.

I’m now sure of the scam and want to see haw far it will go, not that I want to waist time but figured I could post here about it, I stated that i could only do credit cards and have it processed through my web site of invoice through Square. He responded.

Ron,My wife handles the family credit card/paypal issues, and in order not to leave any clue to her for the surprise, i can only make the payment via bank transfer payment …so let me know if you can accept bank transfer if yes kindly get back to me with the follow info; Bank Name , Bank Address , Acct Name , Acct Num , Routine Num , THANKS

This is where I stopped responding to the emails. I want this to be a warning to other artists that scammers are out there and we are a target group. It appeals to ego and they use money as the bait.

Be wary, and if it sounds to good to be true – it is.

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Back to Painting

I have taken a little time off from posting, and now my goal for 2023 is to post once a month at a minimum. January is a slow time for doing events and shows here in the Adirondacks, it’s winter and time to enjoy. I am working on building an inventory for the spring shows.

I have been working on some paintings of a more southern theme like pelicans, sea turtles and whales. I need to update my note card collection and these have been requested a few times.

I had a great season, and a shout out to the Workbench Collective in Plattsburgh NY. They sold several of my paintings, cards and lamps. I recommend a visit, it’s a very classy shop and represents a number of great artists.

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Christmas Break

Approaching the Christmas break I only have one more event to show my art. This one is at Livingoods restaurant on December 11th 10 – 3.

I have had a great year, sold a lot of paintings and had several record shows where paints have sold and caused a little panic painting to have enough for the next event.

I have painted several larger pieces that were not in the driftwood accented frames. I only have a few left and after the next show I will post them to my site.

I know pickings are slim here on my web site, it’s been hard to keep up posting them with the volume of paintings I am doing every week. I have often completed a piece during the week only to sell them at the next event that weekend.

My goal is to paint larger pieces over the winter and continue with more of my landscapes. I have the urge to try a few abstract pieces, it will be a stretch, but I think it will be fun, especially with no expectations of making sellable pieces.

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Note Cards Now Available

I have posted my note card sets into my gallery. I have 20 different sets available. each set is a collection of six different images, each one shown as a thumbnail on the label.

The note cards are $12 for a set of 6 cards. The note cards are prints of my work, the inside is blank so you can add your own comments, and they are printed on high quality note card stock,. The cards come with envelopes and are packaged in a plastic box that make them perfect for gifts.

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Summer Market Madness

It’s been a while since I last posted, but I have not been idle.

I have been very busy with attending markets as well as needing to replenish my paintings. I have painted and sold a large number of paintings. On average I sell 1 – 2 of my larger driftwood framed are sold every week, along with 15 – 18 of my smaller framed paintings. That means I have to paint at least 15 paintings every week.

I have found that loons, foxes, moose and blue herons are favorites wildlife subjects at the Lake Placid NY and Saranac Lake farmers markets. I have also started to paint locally inspired landscapes and they are very popular as well.

While attending the various markets I have made a number of good friends and professional connections, and as a result I have been directed to a number of new events to sell at.

I will be honest, a number of markets have not been great, cold and rain resulting e very few sales. I have also missed attending a number of events to attend to other issues. This has spurred me on to enjoy the ones I get to participate in.

After the mid week markets finish in mid September, I will try to update my web site and social media accounts.

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A New Season of Farmers Markets

This is the time of year that I look forward to, a chance to participate in weekly Farmers Markets. The season is short and I look forward to joining my friends and fellow artists and farmers. I am cutting back on the markets I will be attending, I will only be attending the Saranac Lake (Saturdays) and Lake Placid (Wednesdays) markets on a weekly basis. I don’t plan to participate in Willsboro or Elizabeth Town markets, although I will miss some of the people and may break down and attend one or two. I will be a “day of” decision so I wont be posting on my events calendar.

I am also going to participate in several Sunday events in Peru NY . I really look forward to these events because they are so well run, easy to set up, only once a month and close to home, its an easy day.

I am also going to 4 events at Gore Mountain ski area, three are new to me but the final one on Columbus day weekend is one I did last year with great success.