One of my most favorite plein air painting groups is located in Newport, RI where they just opened their own gallery called Harbor Fine Arts to showcase their work. There are five members and they have had a fantastic reception from the public. I was invited to join them on several outings while visiting and was intrigued to see that Jonathan McPhillips was recording his actual plein air painting in real time with a camera set up on his easel.

I've always said I wasn't very sentimental.....and for the most part, that's probably true. However, the older I get and the more friends and families I see losing loved ones, the more I find myself thinking twice about what I have that someone else "may" want, rather than me selling it.

Summer 2009, offered me the opportunity to paint with many wonderful artists where I observed new ideas as well as being reminded to use tried and true techniques. I visited private studios and new galleries and even one of the oldest art clubs in this country. All in all, I came away with some basic conclusions of what makes a compelling painting that attracts our attention from across the room, drawing us to it above all others with real excitement.

We all know with the tough economic times that it has been a struggle to sell antique furniture. The bigger ticket items have been a hard sale to push. Customers will tend to go to shows and spend a small amount of money on a treasure but are hesitant to spend a larger sum of money. We need to educate the public to recycle and reuse and put that thought to use when making a purchase toward furniture.

I feel like I do pretty well it when comes to getting bargain prices at estate sales. I’m actually talking about what is commonly known as a “moving sale”, where in some cases, “everything must go”. There are also “downsizing sales”, where the seller is moving and has too much stuff to fit in their future place of residence. Normally those types of sales are conducted by the owner of the goods.

One of my favorite TV shows is "Cash in the Attic" on HGTV, and I'm often amazed at both the process and the turnout of the program. If you've never seen it, the homeowners have some project they want to complete, and have a certain dollar amount they are hoping to gain by selling items in their house that they no longer want or need. Then the items are taken to auction, and sometimes they make their goals or better, and many times don't even come close.

"'Tis now the very witching time of night, when churchyards yawn and hell itself
breathes out contagion to this world." ~ William Shakespeare

This is part of a series of blogs about attending live auctions. We will address auction etiquette here.

When attending live auctions, there are a few basic rules that will help make the auction experience a comfortable and successful one for both new and seasoned attendees:

The love for oak furniture goes back a long way, as far as the Gothic years! Dark English oak massive pieces were plentiful. In the early 1700's the North American seaports used white oak to build numerous ships. Also, during this time lumber mills were created to supply extremely long wide planks to build ships and colonial homes. The skilled craftsman took the builders techniques of mortised joints and constructed heavy furniture. Builders also used a combination of woods due to the diminishing supply of oak. Each had their own secrets in preparing lumber to mimic oak.

From what I understand from researching Abstract Art, it was born as a result of two primary forces: The Industrial Revolution and the expansion of support for the arts away from primarily the Church to more private patronage. The Industrial Revolution led to a wider distribution of wealth by creating a true Middle Class of merchants, manufacturers and the service industry created by the resulting economic activity.