Pursuing any passionate endeavor in life—whether art or business or love—has its ups and downs, its highs and lows, its joys and disappointments. I’ve been pursuing the dream of being an artist since my senior year in high school, when an invaluable teacher helped me see that I was free to do so, that it was a worthwhile pursuit. I’ve been diligent about it ever since.
As any artist will tell you, the old maxim ‘practice makes perfect’ really does apply. And while perfection may be elusive, nonetheless producing a lot of images makes your work stronger and stronger.
The challenge for me is: I’ve made a lot of quality of images, but I don’t always have a use for them, or a venue, or an audience. While I produce the images out of love for the creating itself, it’s natural to want to share what I’ve created with others, to have others enjoy them as I do. So having the images sitting in my hard-drives and storage cabinets can be quite discouraging. While I’ve certainly attained to a modicum of success in showing and publishing the work, it’s never quite enough.
Creating art is also not inexpensive. In time, money, ‘heart’, artmaking is a costly endeavor, and the tendency is to reserve the final product for those who can afford to pay for it. But I find, sometimes, that this ‘hoarding’ of the final product is not always satisfying.
Struggling with these things—dissatisfaction and disappointment—is not uncommon, and sometimes I think to myself, “Why don’t I just give some of this art away?” The thought is usually accompanied by a stab of delight; it gives me pleasure to think of others having the work on their walls, enjoying it. But aside from a few gifts here and there, the idea is usually relegated to the ‘I’ll get to it when I have time’ pile, and that’s the end of the story.
Until now.
Life is short. In honor of Easter, a time for contemplating and accepting beautiful, costly, free gifts, I’m giving away art. It’s not a fire sale, it’s not a gimmick. It’s a gift. I want you to have it on your wall, I want you to enjoy it every time you pass by it, and I want you to share it with your friends and family.
I’m giving away 10 photographic prints, 8×10 or 8×12, depending on the image. These prints usually sell for a couple hundred dollars, but I’d rather have them on your wall than in my basement. You’ll need to agree to have them properly framed.
Here’s how it works, and here are the rules:
- You have to really really love the art in order to request it. Please don’t ask for it just because it’s free.
- You must promise to properly mat and frame and hang the artwork in your home or business. I want to ensure that it beautifies your world, that you enjoy it and share it, not leave it in a drawer.
- If you can afford to buy original art, I’d rather that you leave this free offer for others. (If you can afford it and love my work, you know what to do.)
- If you meet the above criteria, you’ll need to go to my fine art website and select a piece that you can’t live without: www.fritzphoto.com/arts, or my old art website (with many images that are not on the new site) www.fritzphoto.com/art. You’re also welcome to visit my blog, www.fritzphoto.com/blog. I post a lot of quality work there that never makes it to my other sites. On my blog, you can hover an image to get the name of the image; on the fine art site, the name is usually listed under the image in the enlarged galleries. If there’s no name, just describe it to me, or give me an html link, and we’ll take it from there.
- Email me at fritz@fritzphoto.com with the name of your selection. (If you’re selecting an original, one-of-a-kind work, such as original tintypes or paintings, I’ll make you a print of the image, not give you the original.) I’ll accept the first 10 appropriate requests.
- You can pick up the piece from me when it’s ready. If you aren’t in Portland, I’ll ask you to pay $10 for shipping.
That’s it. Enjoy it. Smile or cry when you see it. Make your world more beautiful. It’s my gift to you.
