Since I introduced an “Experience of Art” I’ve noticed a curious trend.  Nine times out of ten the “Experience of Art” is offered as the ultimate memorable gift.  And I could not LOVE this more because it is such a joy to be part of these precious exchanges.

Examples include a wedding anniversary gift from the husband to his wife.  His thank you to me stated, “You helped save my marriage.”

“Experience of Art” - a birthday present from the wife to the husband who remarked, “Ann has helped us gain deeper appreciation for life through art.”

A real estate company in a gift of appreciation to their valuable clients mentioned, “I could go to any number of galleries and acquire an amazing painting for a homeowner, but it would not even come close to the personal memory and meaning that your “Experience of Art” will give my clients.”

And one case where a women opening the next chapter in her life as an empty nester decided to give the gift of art to herself and she said simply, “I love your work, I’m not going to wait any longer, I deserve it.”

Why is it so special?  I think it’s simply because the patron is involved in the experience.  Each recipient receives an elegantly wrapped invitation to an “Experience of Art.”

We experience the place that has meaning to them together. And we get to know one another.

When I return to the landscape to complete a series of field studies I’m maintaining a creative diary online so that they can witness the evolution of their painting.

Patrons have some input and control because they get to choose the study that I reinterpret on a custom sized canvas to suit their space.

We celebrate with an unveiling party and I present my patrons with a signed storybook that chronicles their experience.  This captures their memory and shares the journey we travel together.

An “Experience of Art” is about connection, the story, the memory and meaning.  That is the gift I want to help give.

Every other year the Northern California Concierge Association hosts a show and celebration in San Francisco and the members that I know urged me to join.  So this year Ann Rea, Inc. participated for the first time.

I received a warm reception from these ambassadors to Northern California’s many beautiful attractions.

Displaying an over sized version of my accordion folded brochure, one by one I greeted Concierge from the most prestigious properties.  Each of these dedicated professionals are in a constant search of new and unique resources to offer their VIP guests.

So many Concierges were quite intrigued with an Everlasting Experience of Art & Wine.  They could see how this could really engage their select top tier guests.

Concierge are always looking to please their discerning guests who have almost everything and who have done almost everything, VIPs who are hard to impress.

The remark I heard throughout the day was, “This is fascinating. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.”  My reply, “That’s because I introduced the concept just last year and I do not advertise.  Most of my business comes by referral.”

Many of the Concierges that I know are members of the prestigious Clefs d’Or.

This group is naturally curious.  I’m impressed by their genuine desire to serve. Clefs d’Or is not a trade union but it is based on friendship between its members and a desire to assist international travelers and tourists.

Clefs d’Or has membership in over fifty countries. You can recognize Clefs d’Or concierges by the keys displayed on the lapels of their uniforms. Les Clefs d’Or, pronounced, “lay clay door” is French and literally translates as “keys of gold.”

San Francisco based Artist & CEO

One Christmas a friend of mine, also from Ohio, bought me a beautiful chef’s knife from the locally famed Warther Cutlery factory.  These knives are an Ohio tradition and they’ve been around since 1902. They’re often given as wedding gifts. There’s even a Warther museum, although I’ve never experienced the excitement.

Since I wasn’t married, and I had no plans to be, I decided to treat myself to a full set of these knives.  With the wood block and everything.

It was a splurge for a grown up kitchen.  Something I had not paid too much attention to until I made dinner for a chef and famed wine maker.  Then I realized I was under-equipped.

When I called the factory, an unengaged woman answered the phone who sounded like she had been working there for twenty years.  I asked her how the weather was and shared that I was from a suburb of Cleveland called Parma.  “Oh yeaaah” she replied with a strong Ohio accent.

Then she asked where I was now.  “The beach in San Francisco.”  Then she asked, “What do you do?”  I replied, “I’m an artist. I’m known for my paintings of Wine Country.”

She asked, “Ya, you make a livin’ doing that?”  I said. “Well yes.  That’s what’s paying for these knives.”

Her reply, “Yeah right!”

“Ahhh yes.” Although I longed for a bit of nostalgia from home, in that moment I was reminded why I left.  There’s a reason they call it “California Dreaming.”

A few months ago, the Chairman of the San Francisco Luxury Marketing Council approached the Vice President of Marketing for the Montage Residences, Ashley Damron Mohan, Vice President, Ohana Real Estate Investors. He was thinking that she should know about a fellow member, the CEO of Ann Rea, Inc. He thought that the Montage Residences should partner with Artist Ann Rea.

Ms. Mohan’s response:  “Her work is really very nice but what am I going to do with art?”

To be fair, an Experience of Art is a new concept and not everyone gets it right away.  But now she knows, this an extraordinary corporate gift.

Recently the VP at Montage was trying to think of a way to provide an unforgettable thank you to one of the delightful wine loving Montage Residences owners who has brought two other owners into the Montage Deer Valley community. Then she remembered her brieft conversation with the Chairman of the Luxury Marketing Council.

Maybe Ann could paint the owner’s vineyards?  So the Chairman arranged a conference call. She learned that not only I would be able to paint their vineyards but also that an Experience of Art was much more than that.

I would meet her clients in their vineyard. We would experience the landscape together.  Then I would return to complete a series of field studies in and of the vineyards.  While I’m developing the series I’ll be maintaining a dedicated online diary with video clips, musings, and sketches.  They’ll actually witness the creative process.  They’ll preview the field studies on annrea.com and choose one to be reinterpreted on a larger custom scale. I’ll also chronicle the experience in a hand signed storyboard. Once the final large-scale canvas is complete the Montage will host an unveiling party to toast the creation.

I knew that Ashley Damron Mohan, Vice President, Ohana Real Estate Investors of now understood the Experience of Art concept when she said, “I could go to any number of galleries and acquire an amazing painting for a homeowner, but it would not even come close to the personal memory and meaning that your Experience of Art will give my clients.”

Of course an Experience of Art is not limited to Wine Country.  I’ll be flying to Montage Deer Valley next month to begin the first of a series of Aspens in Winter.

I’m often asked to donate to charitable auctions but rarely do I accept these requests.  Even though auctions can involve the right demographic of potential collectors,  generally auctions do not yield much, if any, business.  And I’m just not yet in a position to give much of my limited time or inventory away.

I decided to make an exception for the 2011 Naples Winter Wine Auction which brings many of the world’s finest vintners and chefs together with wine collectors and philanthropists for a three-day gala each January in Naples, Florida. This event raises significant donations and awareness for at-risk and underprivileged children.  I am particularly interested in causes that promote the health and well being of women and children.

2010 was a banner year for Ann Rea, Inc. It marked my fifth year anniversary in business.  I formed an advisory board. I launched an Experience of Art & Wine. And a gentleman who is an extraordinarily successful venture capitalist, philanthropist, business professor, and author offered to mentor me along with eleven other emerging entrepreneurs that he selects each year.

With good health and good people in my life, I have much to be thankful for.  So I felt an urge to celebrate my good fortune and give back by donating an Experience of Art & Wine to help 2011 Naples Winter Wine Auction.

I’m proud to say that I helped the Naples Winter Wine Festival raise $12 million at this years auction.  They have raised a total of $94.5 million in the last eleven years.

The other donors who contributed to the same auction lot include:
Terry & Bob Edwards, Sandi & Tom Moran, Nancy Andrus Duckhorn, Meadowood Napa Valley, Araujo Estate, BOND Estates, Michael Chiarello, Colgin Cellars, Ken Frank, Thomas Keller, Kelly Fleming Wines, Kongsgaard Wine, Christopher Kostow, Cindy Pawlcyn, Richard Reddington, Robert Mondavi Winery, and Spottswoode Estate Vineyards & Winery

The winners of my prize have chosen an Experience of Art & Wine featuring Robert Mondavi Winery’s To Kalon Vineyard. Their custom sized painting of To Kalon Vineyard will be featured in their newly restored 100 foot yacht, named “To Kalon.”

San Francisco based Artist & CEO

I know that it may be hard for some to understand why artists have such an urge to paint. Because typically it doesn’t pay the bills.

Remember the book,  “The Flow”?  The author Mihály Csíkszentmihályi describes “the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.” “One cannot force oneself to enter flow or even predict when one is going to enter flow. It just happens.”  That’s what it is often like when I paint.

Csíkszentmihályi studied highly skilled people such as; athletes, surgeons, musicians, and monks.  But his fascination with the state of “flow” came from first studying painters.

Time is lost, worry is suspended, focus is clear, that’s what it’s like to be lost in a painting.  It’s a rapture of color, lines, texture, and shapes.

This elevated focus is what drives the urge to paint, a need to respond to the colors that surround me.  And when I’m away from the easel too long, like lately, I feel cramped.

It’s as if I’m walking around unable to express myself completely.  This is the balance that I must maintain, on one side the weight of business and the other side the urge to paint.

With business in balance I plan to revisit my newest series next week.

San Francisco based Artist & CEO

I prefer to create art with meaning.  What does that mean?  It means that I have purposely created a commissioned based art business.  So I don’t just create for my own pleasure or creative curiosity, I create to serve the particular interests of a patron.

Immediately the question that I get is, “Is your creative process compromised?”  The answer is, “No, it’s even more inspired.”

Why?  Because when I create a series it’s for a particular person or couple and the subject of the series has meaning to them.  Serving them gives my work energy and even more purpose.  And trust me, I don’t accept commissions that will interfere with the creative process.  This is very well guarded.

Just like a chef.  I’ll prepare the meal for my guests but they must stay out of my kitchen.

The fact that my patrons tour the landscape with me has meaning to both of us.  We will always share that experience. When I post to my patron’s dedicated online dairy I report on the progress of their series, I reveal my decisions, the weekly happenings, and inspirations along my creative path.

My patrons preview all of the field studies I’ve created. Then with my guidance they choose the one that will serve as the basis for their large-scale custom sized painting.  Because the final painting requires their input, it has more meaning.

And my patron’s signed storybook chronicles their Experience of Art & Wine.  The meaning that cannot be found anywhere else is that my patrons can recount the time of our first meeting to the creative journey that led the painting on their wall.   Their painting will always hold meaning.  So beyond my artistic expression it’s that meaning and memory that I want to create.

San Francisco based Artist & CEO

People will often assume that the patrons who commission me to create a custom oil painting tell me what to paint.  They may decide what vineyard, landscape, or garden they would like as my subject, but ultimately I must decide what inspires me. Just like a chef you really want them to choose their recipes.

Here’s an analogy: if you went to fine restaurant, where you admire the cuisine, you would make selections from the menu that the chef has carefully prepared.  You would not go back to the kitchen and offer the chef some recipes.  Even if they are great recipes they are not what the chef is inspired or prepared to cook.  And it probably would be a bit awkward if you started directing.  You know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen.

Now if you have some specific recipes, and you would like the benefit of the chef’s experience, then that would be like hiring an illustrator.  An illustrator is an artist who you hire to execute your vision.  An artist is someone you commission because you are inspired by his or her vision.

I respect the fact that my patrons are making a significant investment when they commission a large-scale canvas.  So I like to give them some input and a sense of what to expect without compromising the creative process.

So I’ll create a series of field studies and then upload them to annrea.com for my patrons to preview.  Then I’ll suggest which few will work best to interpret on a larger scale.  This way my patrons have a reasonable expectation about what they are going to receive and they get to have some choice.

I’ve found that this approach helps my collectors feel much more at ease about the commission process.

My new box of vivid color arrived today.  I couldn’t wait to open the two-tiered shiny wooden box of pastels from England. This grade of pastels is for grownups, professional artists.  I love them!
I can’t wait to smear the pigment with my fingers and to shape forms of light and color of the Golden Gate Bridge.

I’m reminded of the big box of Crayola crayons that I longed for as a youngster but that I never got.  I’ve got them now and this is so much better!

Art has always been my friend.  When circumstances or people were difficult I could always turn to creating something.  Art served as a positive channel of my energy and attention and a way to shut out chaos or concern.

And art can transform negative circumstances into something positive.  At least during the time I’m creating I can leave everything else behind.

When I was first entertaining the idea of becoming a full time artist I conducted informational interviews with successful full time artists.  One piece of advice that I received was from a well-known ceramist, Donna Billick.

Donna gave me sage advice about building my own enterprise versus relying on art galleries.  And then she said, “And when you are not sure what to do next, just make art.”

I usually know what to do next but sometimes I’m just not ready, or I need a break, so the best thing to do is what Donna said, “just make art.”

San Francisco based Artist & CEO

Collectors will ask me if I have to wait for the muse to show up before I begin a painting.  The answer is no.

Why?  Two reasons.  Number one, too often it would be a very long wait.  And number two, the landlord will not wait for their check.

The fact is that it’s during the act of creating that I receive inspiration. And the more I paint, the more chances I have to be inspired.

Now if I’m working on a painting and I really feel like it’s working against me, it’s just plain ugly.  Then the best strategy is to walk away.

I’ll let it sit and when I return I can see it with much more clarity.  This perspective helps me understand what’s working and what’s not.

It’s kind of like life and relationships.  I get along with most of my paintings but every now and then I come across a real pill.

And that’s okay because these pills give me feedback and I learn the most from them.  After I’ve critiqued the failures I destroy them so that I may release them.

So no, there’s no waiting for the muse if you want to earn your living as a painter.  When I show up, creativity and inspiration show up.