Merrimack River Painters

 TIS THE SEASON

By DUSTAN KNIGHT TARBELL

In this month of flurries, open studios and holiday sales, I pause and consider the joys and ‘not so joys’ of the season. My new studio space (in an artist building) has a December Holiday open studio sale.

 This is a new experience for me and I would like to share my ideas about it. I have these few minutes because I have been burning the midnight oil in my studio, for the last two months,

building up the specific sort of inventory I will need for the event.

In my experience this is not the time of year for big price items – most of the holiday fair goers are looking for multiple gifts for family and friends and have a budget they are adhering to – so in November I like to create a limited body of smaller, less expensive, light-hearted art works.

Last year I created a series of Birch trees on smaller, less expensive, canvas. I had a great time trying versions of a single theme in various colors and compositions. 

This year, encouraged by a studio friend, who is a fabulous animal photographer, I am having fun painting 4” x 4” pet images in bright happy colors.

(This IS about as far as I can go. I have artist friends who are better merchandizers, and they are readying notecards and calendars of their images.)

I am a tiny bit cranky about converting my studio to an exhibition/sale space for three days – but I actually vacuum and toss the empty paint cans out. When the open studio is over, I burst into the cleaned space like a storm…

Managing my expectations, disciplining myself to an extensive series of smaller, funner, artworks and appreciating the opportunity to make new connections are the joys of the season for me. Holding back from my usual daily art practice is the not so joy – but that may not be a bad thing either.

STUDIO 320, Button Factory Studio, Open Studio and Holiday Sale – Dec. 3, 4 5, 2022 855 Islington Street, Portsmouth, NH 03854