Many people ask me, “Who’s your representative?”  The answer is that Ann Rea, Inc. is the legal entity that represents the artist Ann Rea.

How did this come about?  Well, while I was being mentored by American art icons Wayne Thiebaud and Gregory Kondos they encouraged me to make a go of it and to explore my talent full time, and to quit that boring and unrelated day job that I wanted quit anyway.  “It’s not too late” they both advised.  But each of them began their careers as academics.

“How do I make a living?” I asked of Wayne Thiebaud.  Mr. Thiebaud replied, “I don’t know, I’m not a business man. But I can give you a letter of recommendation and refer you to some galleries, one in particular. You can use my name, you’ll probably get in. But the owner, I’ll warn you, she’s a pill.”   A pill, that was a very polite understatement.

Wayne Thiebaud’s letter did get me an entrance into that gallery to review my work.  But when the gallery owner revealed her terms, actually illegal but common terms, it was no wonder  why artists are starving.  The gallery owner insisted on geographic market exclusivity, and demanded that the best of my painting inventory was left on consignment.  The art gallery may never sell a thing and I was handcuffed from selling my own work through other galleries.

It gets better.  I would be paid 50% of the sale price or less because the gallery owner wanted the right to negotiate a discount to patrons, a discount that I would have to eat.  I could not work with any other galleries in Northern California even though this gallery may or may not sell a thing and they could give me the boot at any time they pleased. The gallery also wanted to be listed as the single representative on my website and she really didn’t want me selling from my own site.

And the art galleries illegal demands are common terms demanded by many galleries.

So I thought, “Oh, I don’t think so!  I want to make a living.”  And no profitable business would agree to these terms.  “I’ll make my own market, thank you very much. I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out.”

I was advised by the successful artist Donna Billick, yes the sister of the famed football coach, “Take the reins, it’s the only way you’ll succeed.”  How true!

So I reflected on the lack of business advice from Wayne Thiebaud, and from my brother, the Dean of a business school, and my sister, a self made multi-millionaire.  Then I decided to write a business plan and a marketing plan anyway.  I sat with a dear friend to do this.  I didn’t have experience in writing business plans but realized that it was an unconventional approach for an artist that could offer a distinct advantage.  Why not try?

They all thought that  I was crazy.  But then, they always did think she I crazy.

So in 2005, I launched my business as a sole proprietorship. And without the benefit of a PR agent my business was profiled by the national media, including, “Fortune”,  “The Wine Enthusiast”, “Practical Winery and Vineyard Management” and “The Tasting Panel” magazines, and the “Fine Living” channel.

I’m happy to work with art galleries and art consultants but only if the terms are profitable and mutually beneficial, like any good business owner.

In late 2008, I learned more about our federal tax structure and the IRS code and with my CPA’s advise I changed my business structure to a corporation.

Now you know the history of Ann Rea, Inc. and you have a little insight into the art market.

And hopefully this story has encouraged you to support independent artists just like Ann Rea, who have decided to “take the reins.”

OK I admit it. I watch American Idol.  And when I do,  part of my fascination is watching what’s required of these emerging artists.  Many haven’t found their true voice and clearly their skill requires honing.  Obviously it’s about their talent but the underlying story is their ability to weather the very public humiliation and rejection and still keep going.  It’s like being in a Roman Colosseum battling emotion and ego.

Artists engage in their craft because they are passionate about it.  It gets them high, so to speak.  What an artist shares comes from the depths of their heart.  So rejection and criticism can be biting, at the very least.  Of course, we don’t have to put ourselves out there. Except if you want to get paid, you do.  A plumber, a doctor, a financial analyst never has to deal with such deeply personal matters of rejection or acceptance.

And when we place our treasured craft into the world of commerce we are subject to the market’s whims and we have to understand and play by the complex rules of business.  This does sometimes leave me feeling like I maintain a split personality.

But I not only accept this, I embrace it.  The good news is that I’m only trying to win over a very select few, a clearly defined targeted market of art and wine enthusiasts. In fact, I thought that David Mathinson, author of “Be the Media” put it well.  He said you really only need a 1000 fans.  This is also a lesson taught by Chris Anderson, author of the “The Long Tail”. Anderson explains the new economics of culture and commerce and “why the future of business is selling less of more.”

Once I read my letter of recommendation from Wayne Thiebaud in 1999, I found one part most flattering, but also the most important thing I always remember is “She has a well-developed confidence and personal inner resources allowing her to use critical confrontation for positive results.”  Without this I think I’d be headed straight for the lions.

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This past Sunday my fiancé took me to see the Wayne Thiebaud exhibit at the San Jose art museum.  I could have spent all day there.  The title of the show is “Seventy Years of Painting.”  It was amazing to see a slice of my mentor’s work representing his life’s effort.

I sat and watched the 70-minute interview with him and heard him offer the same observations and advice that he offered me.  That as painters we are in the business of creating illusions, that one must use critical confrontation to edit our work, and to be conscious that there is muscularity in a painting, an artist’s movements are reflected in the canvas.

If you look closely, you can see how his close friendships with contemporary painters Willem DeKooning and Richard Diebenkorn left their mark in his history.  And I noticed each of these art giants is an amazing draftsman.  As Thiebaud says, “drawing is foundational” and that’s what I learned from Viktor Schreckengost at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Established in 1882, it is a highly esteemed member the Association of Independent Colleges of Art, a coalition of the leading art schools in the United States.

Go see his “lushly painted glimpses of everyday life—from a slice of pie to a steep San Francisco streetscape—are icons of American Pop Art.”

Theibaud is really a painter’s painter.  He understands the medium; he’s unusually passionate about teaching despite his individual success in the international art scene.  I’m so appreciative that our paths crossed.

Artist Ann Rea

When I met Wayne Thiebaud, a retrospective of his life’s work was traveling the nation’s major art institutions.  We were discussing my decision to commit myself to painting full time.  He mentioned that if I did this, aside from earning a living, I would always be challenged with one issue.  “What?” I asked.  Wayne said that “You’ll be challenged with the nagging thought that your work is not quite good enough.”  I replied.  “You feel this way?  Even with your national retrospective show and with the international acclaim and recognition you’ve received?  Really?”  I was surprised.  I thought, “I’d be on top of the world!”  He said, “Yes.  When I look at a Degas I think my work is just crap.”

Not long after this meeting Wayne Thiebaud wrote me a letter of recommendation.  I picked up the letter from his secretary and as soon as I was outside the door I ripped open the envelope.  As I read the letter aloud on November 19, 1999, my eyes welled with tears.

I am very pleased to recommend Ms. Rea as a practicing artist. She is an extraordinary candidate as she exemplifies a rare combination of very special qualities. Ann Rea has an engaging personal manner of working and relating to varying and challenging circumstances. She has a well-developed confidence and personal inner resources allowing her to use critical confrontation for positive results.

Ann Rea is intelligent and sensitive with a deep capacity for serious and sustained work. She is keen to share this talent I urge you to take her application seriously, and I highly recommend her as someone who can make significant contributions to the community through her art.

Sincerely,

Wayne Thiebaud

Ironically, now it didn’t matter what I thought or what art critics thought.  I had just received a teflon coating against negative criticism.  And I’ve not since suffered from this notion that my work is “not quite good enough.”   I don’t so much look at a painting as “better” than another. I look at each painting that I create as part of a bigger ever evolving effort.  My inner critic is essential, it helps me edit my work. But it must be kept in check.  I listened carefully to Wayne.  I’ll not allow my inner critic to undermine my confidence or prevent me from enjoying success.

This month, January, marks my fifth year in business, my decision to paint full time.  What inspired me to do this?  A number of things led me down this extraordinary path.  But if I had to name a single person who inspired me to make this decision, it was a coworker I met when I was suffering from anxiety and working as a corporate consultant, her name was Angela.

Angela and I worked together on the same very politically charged government account as project management consultants.  When I think about it, I can’t even believe that I forced myself to work each day.  I found the work so incredibly boring and the management was dreadful.

Angela and I worked with a young, insecure, and power hungry consultant from New York. We were quite sure that she was sleeping with the boss. Ick!  And so we’d break the tension by laughing and making jokes.

Angela was one month older than me and she was recovering from stage four breast cancer treatments.  Her black hair framed her attractive face in a short-cropped curl.  I always wanted curly hair.  She told me that hers used to be straight too but that it was very common when women lost their hair from chemotherapy for it to grow back in curly.  This made me pause and I became thankful for my hair just the way it was.

Angela and I both were both deeply dissatisfied with our jobs.  I wanted to paint and I learned that Angela always wanted to be an interior designer. Unbeknownst to Angela, I looked at her one-day and thought, “why the hell don’t we just do it, why are we staying here?”

Angela and I moved on to different project management gigs. Hers to Hawaii and mine to San Francisco where I had an episode with a self proclaimed born again Christian manager.  One day he actually cornered me into my v-shaped cubicle at PG&E.  I woke up the next morning with a different resolve.

I could not again drive for 45 minutes, park, wait for the ferry, and sail into the financial district for yet another hour, one more day, not one more day of my remaining life.  I decided to quit, to find a way to paint, to live the life I was given, and to develop the talent that Wayne Thiebaud himself recognized.

I’m blessed to have another year ahead and I’m going to make it the very best that I can.  And I look forward to dedicating my first book to Angela.

I have a growing list of private and celebrity collectors across Northern America and Europe and my work is gaining increasingly collectible status.  It’s commended by Wayne Thiebaud (an American Art icon) and I’m fortunate to continue to receive features by the national media.
But because I deliberately don’t follow the traditional route and work with galleries people often people will ask how my patrons find me.
Many of my collectors are visitors to San Francisco and the Wine Country.  They either find me on the Internet or through my exposure in the press.
I was at a party the other week hosted by one of my newer patrons in his beautifully refurbished barn amongst his Napa vines.   How did he find me?  He read about me in Fortune magazine in May of 2007, and he saved the article.  At that party I met several of his neighbors.  Referrals are the biggest source of my business and hopefully these introductions will lead to more collectors like him.
However, occasionally someone FINDS me on the Internet.  Often they have been looking, often searching, for original art inspired by the Wine Country.  And what I frequently hear from these collectors is that they have found several “decorator” pieces but that these pieces do not have the same depth or quality they have been searching for. They are formulaic, very literal, and most importantly they don’t evoke and emotional response.  It’s much like searching for a fine wine.

By appointment, traveling collectors of original works visit my private live/work studio in The Presidio on their way to and from Wine Country.
A couple of avid art and wine collectors recently visiting from Naples, Florida commissioned me to create an original oil on large canvas of Tim Mondavi’s Continuum Estate vineyards so that they can “bring home a piece of the Wine Country”. They are remotely sharing in the evolution of the series via my blog posts.

What inspires me? Color, color, color.  I eat it for breakfast.

What is color?  It’s simply the energy of light vibrating at different frequencies.  I choose to focus on color because this inspiration is infinite and it is ever changing. As the sun shines through the particles in the sky and moves over our heads each day it casts a different light in each environment on the globe.  Hour by hour forms and shadows are reshaped.  Focus upon this subtle change keeps me present, it therapeutically keeps my thoughts in the moment.

Why do we enjoy watching a sunset?  I think it’s because we slow down and relax into the moment, reflecting as we watch the very source of color reshape the environment for yet another day.  As they day ends we’re reminded that the sun will set again and it places the days events and life’s current circumstances in context.

The French Impressionists discovered the genius of this joy and inspiration.  Their subject was color shaped by the immediate and ambient light of a place in time.  The subject wasn’t haystacks, water lilies, or cathedrals.  The Impressionist period continues to hold universal appeal and remains one of the most popular periods in the history of Western art.  It’s accessible and the focus was beautiful simplicity.

I’ve been referred to as an Impressionist and I don’t believe that is accurate.  Although I do paint in the timeless tradition of French Impressionists like Monet, plein air (in the open air), I’m not from a previous century. And even though I use the same oil pigments as Van Gough from Old Holland Oil Works established in 1664, my work is influenced by the direct mentorship I received from contemporary painters Wayne Thiebaud and Gregory Kondos (American Art icons) and my study with renowned industrial designer Viktor Schreckengost.  Each of these influences are an inspiration along with my love of color.

Artist Ann Rea

“You mean your patrons don’t tell you what to paint?”  I get this a lot.  The answer is no.  The first paragraph of my commission agreement explains this very well.

I invite you to consider, when you’ve attended a musical performance, the audience didn’t select the sets performed.  And generally guests at a restaurant don’t go back to the kitchen and help prepare the meal with the chef.  It’s really the same thing.  You leave the decisions in the hands of those who are informed and inspired to create for you, to do their very best, with your satisfaction and pleasure in mind.
If you have a particular vision that you want someone else to execute you would hire an illustrator.  That’s what they are trained to do.

A winery executive once asked me why the images on their labels did not have the same depth of feeling that my paintings possessed.  I explained that this was because those images did not come from that illustrator’s pure inspiration, they where someone else’s vision and they where developed and edited under someone else direction.  Consequently they lost their original inspiration, logic got involved.

Don’t get me wrong, that’s not to say that illustrations lack feeling or that I don’t have great respect for illustration. My friend Yan Nascinbene, a French Italian author and illustrator, is an enormous talent.  Yan and his wife Joan encouraged me to paint and pursue my passion from the very beginning when we all lived in Davis, California.  American art icon, and my mentor, Wayne Thiebaud, began his career as an illustrator.

So to answer the question, no one tells Ann Rea what to paint.

One hires an illustrator to execute their vision.

One hires an artist so that the artist can create a vision, just for you.

The traditional or conventional means of selling or marketing art does not work, hence the term “starving artist”.

It is extremely difficult and time consuming to gain gallery representation, despite the artist’s “talent”. Even with a “shoe in”, an endorsement from an American art icon (Wayne Thiebaud), I found the process daunting, frustrating, even humiliating, and certainly not profitable. The good news is that challenges can present opportunities to create new solutions, and that is what inspired my business.

Galleries operate on terms of consignment, a speculative arrangement. This means that the artist only gets paid if their art sells and the artist generally cannot sell anything themselves that is on consignment with a gallery. An artist can not even sell their work from their website.

This is because galleries demand exclusivity to all sales within a geographic region, whether or not they generate a minimum amount of sales and even though it is an illegal practice. Once an artist’s work does sell they receive 40%-50% of the retail price, or even less if the gallery owner negotiates a discount with the collector. Most often, the artist eats the discount.

The artist is handcuffed and prevented from expanding their sales. If they work with a gallery they can only work with one gallery in a geographic region, a region defined by the gallery of course. If an artist works with a gallery in a distant region they often have difficulty recovering their inventory or payment if the gallery folds or simply decides to help them selves to it. Galleries are successful in enforcing these terms because they have a long list of artists waiting in line for a chance to be “discovered”, artists who do not yet posses the skill or the confidence to operate a business and market their own work.

Every artist I have known, including myself, has had galleries sell or lease their art without paying them and they have had their art damaged or “lost” without receiving any compensation. The traditional art business model is good for galleries; it’s bad for most artists.

This is not to say that all galleries or art consultants are bad, but like most companies, this company’s policy is to only engage in terms that are profitable and avoid those that are not.

Ann Rea Incorporated is often approached with opportunities for “exposure”. These “opportunities” include the invitation to donate works of art without compensation to non-profit auctions and without the IRS benefit of deducting the donation, all for the sake of insubstantial “exposure”.  Aside from the cost of supplies, the IRS disallows artists from deducting donations of their art.

The second most frequent opportunity for “exposure” is the invitation to use or profit from Ann Rea’s intellectual property, with no payment in exchange for “exposure”. Reproductions and licensing currently represent 63% of this company’s revenues to date. Giving away these profitable assets does not support creating a profit and it muddles the development of a brand.

When I was considering pursuing art full time I interviewed several successful artists. I remember one in particular telling me that in order to succeed I “must take the reins”. That is my recommendation to other artists. Understand and respect your value and find a market for it.

My collectors often ask how I see the colors that I paint. So while I was visiting Bob Proctor to paint his garden I offered to introduce him and his family to the way that that I see color.

I sat with Linda Proctor and her grand daughter, who was armed with a new box of colored pencils and paper. With a white egg on a piece of white paper in front of them, I asked them to relax and tell me all of the colors that they were seeing.

They blinked their eyes and gave me blank stares. When I prompted them further they said that they saw a white egg on white paper with a grey shadow. Wrong answer. I asked them to just consider that fact that we could not just be seeing white because we are perceiving forms and shadows of the egg on the paper. The colors of the shadows where not gray or it would be like looking at a black and white photo. Grey does not exist in the natural color spectrum. White is just how our left-brain classifies white paper and white egg. Then once classified we stop seeing. They were thinking, not seeing. The key to seeing is to relax and to feel into it.

In fact, the natural spectrum of light, the rainbow, was vibrating at different frequencies all over the paper and all over the egg. Our right brain can perceive these colors. These colors formed our perception of a white egg on white paper. What colors were there? By simply relaxing, and trusting their perception, the layers of colors reflecting and bouncing in space began to reveal themselves. Their interest peaked as they began to see the essence of color.

Although Bob did not have time to draw eggs that day he did wonder back and forth as we worked.

At dinner that evening he very astutely remarked, “Ann, I know how you see the colors you paint. You simply relax and let yourself see them.” He stated it perfectly. I have learned to relax and savor the colors in each moment, see my previous blog.

He also gave me some business advice. “Your paintings are spectacular. But if there was a way to offer your collectors the experience of seeing color, as you showed us, and the opportunity to get to know you. Now, that is something you could charge anything you want for. And there are many people like me who have gardens that they treasure.” Bob had taken great pleasure in watching his painting evolve from a walk in the garden, to a sketch on a canvas, to a finished oil painting. It was a unique and memorable experience.

My reaction was, inside voice, “You’re right, but how the heck am I going to do that, Bob?” Now the universe works in interesting ways to answer our questions. Before I had left for Canada, Valerie at First Republic Bank asked if I would like to feature my paintings at a lavish event for their private banking clients. Once I returned she asked if I would be willing to do a demonstration painting during the event. I was a little reluctant, but I said yes. Then she confessed that she is always searching for new ways to provide unique and memorable experiences for their guests, who have often done everything. Would I consider teaching their guests how to see color by creating a collaborative painting during the event? Now before I visited with Bob that would have sounded crazy, but Bob’s business advice popped into my head and I knew that the path of “how the heck am I going to do that” had just revealed itself.

How many can say that they have experienced creating an original oil painting with a nationally acclaimed artist? Not many.

I could help people host an event of a lifetime. Guests could paint alongside me, while I guided them in a welcoming and approachable way. Kind of like a cooking class. Guests who painted, or those who just watched, are introduced to a unique understanding of color and light. Once they are done with their part they sign the back of the painting.

Of course I must get paid, so while the painting itself is being completed, the guests may acquire the piece through a silent bidding process. And the host and the guests have the option collecting mementos, or thank you gifts, that feature the very same painting created at the event, including: note cards, prints, and crystal paperweights.

As long as the bid on the painting exceeds my teaching fee, there is no cost to host me beyond the art supplies. A win-win scenario that is beginning to really take off. I hear a lot of self critical comments from guests during the events that I have done so far. “I can’t do that.” “I will ruin it.” “I am scared.” But I assure them. There are no mistakes.” “Oil paint is very forgiving.” “We can always make changes.” “I will help you.” “Don’t worry.” “It’s fun, just give it try.” “When will you be able to do this again?”

I love working with the people who often have not painted since kindergarten, but have the courage try. They immerse themselves in the canvas. They savor the moment. They love it.