CREATING A SIGNATURE STYLE FOR A BODY OF WORK

2010 is the year I want to move forward in my art career business. To help facilitate this, i have begun working with art advisor Aletta De Wal with Artist Career Training throughout the year. I am learning to set up a foundation upon which to build my business. This involves going back and setting up a database to build a mailing list and to track my artwork, as well as getting a business license and separate bank accounts, the list goes on and on!


However, this month's exercise is one of the most important steps an artist will take in their artistic career - developing a "signature style". To do this, you have to have a body of work and assess the direction your art is taking. Luckily, I have continued taking part in critique groups, as well as taking classes and workshops. Through this, I saw a style emerging that differentiates my work from others. No matter what series of paintings or drawings I'm was working on, I began seeing pieces that were heavily layered, with details that emerge upon closer inspection. I was experimenting with different mediums, which further gave my pieces a "story" (i.e. using salt, of coffee and tea and why).

Now, it is time to perfect and expand this style.

To do so, I approached my friend and fellow artist Lance Carlson to take part in an exercise. I feel my work is very different from Lance's, but because we use similar techniques, we have found our work very compatible to show together. Is it too compatible??? To answer this question and see if our styles are our "signature" individually, we have set up an exercise.

We are both going to create a series of 10 works, measuring 12x12 each on 100 lb Lenox paper. The theme of our personal series is music. We have given ourselves roughly a month to complete this task. At that point, we are going to mix them up and show them to our friends in the Shadowline Artist Group. We'll see if they are able to discern my pieces for Lance's!

Now - I have to figure out how to incorporate my "signature style" into my collages, etc. Please leave your comments about your journey in developing a signature style!