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Gary Sanders is the talented artist behind the Red Ember Christmas cards available through The Giving Tree. He works from his home studio in Hamilton and sells his designs, among other places, on TradeMe.
We spoke to Gary about his life as an artist – how he got started, and his tips for others starting out.
Gary Sanders. Click to enlarge
What sparked your interest in painting?
Ever since I can remember, I have drawn with a pencil. I was brought up in the country and these natural surroundings moved and motivated me and instilled in me a desire to draw. As a child I had an insatiable appetite for Disney characters, copying them profusely to get their likeness on paper. It was during this time I began to view the world around me differently, seeing things more intimately, finding detail in the most insignificant things, and discovering that other colours existed within the basic colours of natural sight.
Art just grew inside me from there. The more I discovered the more I drew, and the more I drew the more I discovered. It was exciting. Drawing and looking at art always made me feel good and still does to this day. I love it, which has always been the main ingredient over many years, to keep at it regardless.
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Drawing became my most powerful tool through my teenage years. It became my voice and a way of expressing my ideas and feelings in a positive, sensible manner. A self-therapeutical approach to feeling good, I guess.
The skills I developed in drawing helped me immensely when I started painting. I took up painting more seriously in the mid-80s, where I attended art classes in Sydney, Australia. Classes entailed life drawing, still life, portraiture and endless copying of the works of great artists. Copying other works of art helped overcome the technical difficulties that all artists face during the painting process.
Most exciting achievement
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My first ever competition was my most exciting ever, which earned me third place in the 1990 Lion Breweries Art Awards in New Zealand (The Cambridge Community Art Award). What made this special was, I was working full-time in a bakery at nights and painted during the day. I was unknown, and mainly self-taught. I was up against some of New Zealand’s most gifted representative painters of the time and all this was achieved from my little kitchen table studio and a pack of cheap student acrylic paints.
The last seven years I have worked as a cleaner at nights and pursued painting during the days. Art hasn’t always produced a consistent income for our large family, but it has supplemented and bought substantial rewards at times. I am not presently exhibiting work through any gallery but I am working towards an online presence coming out in 2014.
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You can sometimes find me on New Zealand’s Trade Me site under the name of gofish1. It has become one of the most cost-effective ways to advertise my artwork, trialling what sells and what people like, increasing my profile as an artist and securing commissioned work locally and overseas.
Helpful tips for budding artists
One of my biggest challenges over the years is having sufficient space to paint in and being organised. That reduces the set-up times and you can pick up easy where you last left off and be more productive.
You can save bucket loads of money and increase your profits by working on two to three similar colour paintings at once – leftover colour is not wasted. Make sure the materials you are using (type of canvas, paper brushes, etc) are adequate to get the job done. Trying to produce a special effect with the wrong equipment can get you into all sorts of trouble and be very time-consuming.
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Find where you fit into the market (style and price-wise) and trial your avenues for a good length of time. It takes time to get noticed and get the results you want. Deciding on what your painting is worth is mostly decided by what somebody is willing to pay. Make sure accurate costs for packaging and post are added into your work, especially when sending overseas (check the exchange rates).
Give some paintings away – it sometimes comes back tenfold. Be willing to make adjustments when necessary. If others are selling and you are not then look for what others are doing differently. It could be a colour trend, the canvas size or something more fashionable.
Look to all other artists as teachers. We can always learn something from them. Don’t compare your works with others. Look for your own uniqueness – it could be your selling point. Take a few risks. Try selling what you think nobody would like. Put your worst painting out there at the top of your price range. You could be surprised and immensely encouraged when it does sell.
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