Artists and Charitable Contributions

It's a mere two months into the new year and I've already received six different solicitations for charitable contributions of my artwork. All inquiries that I receive are for a good cause and I appreciate the implicit compliment that each request represents.

However, I don't think that many of the well-intentioned people associated with these causes understand what making a donation involves for artists....Most people assume that we can deduct the fair market value of our artwork, but we cannot. Instead, we can only deduct the cost of materials, which is only a fraction of what the work is worth.

For this reason, I donate only to causes that are near and dear to my heart: Animal shelters, environmental organizations, children's educational causes, and women's resource / domestic abuse shelters. This past year, I contributed to Easter Seals of Central Pennsylvania and the Clearwater Conservancy.

Fortunately, change is on the horizon within our nation's Congress in the form of the "Artist Deduction Bill." This proposed legislation will allow artists to deduct the full, fair market value of their works:

"...bipartisan legislation, S. 548 or H.R.1524, which would allow artists to take a fair-market value deduction for works given to and retained by nonprofit institutions. The U.S. tax system accords unequal treatment to creators and collectors who donate tangible works (e.g., paintings or manuscripts) to museums, libraries, educational or other collecting institutions. A collector may take a tax deduction for the fair-market value of the work, but creators may deduct only their 'basis' value—essentially the cost of materials such as paint and canvas."

As a professional artist, I ask that you please consider following this link to sign a petition in support of this legislation:
http://capwiz.com/artsusa/issues/alert/?alertid=9521951

Nocturnes

I like to take an upbeat attitude in my posts to this blog, but it's been a rough few weeks at our house and I think I need to write candidly about some of the things going on in my life to help make sense of the work that I've been creating lately.

First, some good news: My husband was offered a chaired position at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a very tempting opportunity, but for a variety of reasons (both personal and professional) we will probably stay put in central Pennsylvania for now. Nonetheless, I'm proud of my husband for earning this opportunity and I think it will be the first of additional professional opportunities for him as the years come.

In addition, this past week I hung my first exhibition of the year at the Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College, Pennsylvania. I'm calling the exhibition "From the City to the Country" because the works on display span my dual interests of rural and urban scenery. It will be on view until March 31, 2008.

But for many months, I've been dealing with stomach problems of mysterious origin. To make matters worse, our dog has also been sick with a couple of chronic issues of her own and it's been a roller coaster at our home as we deal with "up" and "down" weeks with her. Both of these things have combined to put me into a bit of a somber mood as 2008 begins and I decided to channel my restlessness into "One, if by Night," my first nighttime landscape.

One, if by Night, pastel on paper, 16 x 24. Currently on display at the Mount Nittany Medical Center until March 31, 2008.

Nighttime scenes are a popular theme within my cityscapes, but for this piece I took ample inspiration from the nocturnes of Frederic Remington. In particular, I think that his painting, "Last March" (1906), may be one of the most powerful works that I've ever seen because its low key palette perfectly suits the subject matter.

As far as my own work, "One, if by Night" captures a very cold December night along Nixon Road on the edge of State College, Pennsylvania. I find endless inspiration at this location (please refer to Sunset, from Nixon Road, Down Whitehall Road, and Mighty Oak for a sampling of other scenes inspired by this venue) because it's one of the few places in central Pennsylvania where one is surrounded by a vast openness very much akin to what one commonly finds in the upper Midwest, where I grew up. Indeed, the night that I caught this view, my car was literally rocked to and fro by the wind howling across the openness of the fields out there.

Evening Shopper, pastel on board, 12 x 18. Currently on display at the Mount Nittany Medical Center until March 31, 2008.

Another recent piece, "Evening Shopper," taps into the solitary aura that many of us can feel in the midst of a city. I've had the source material and the idea for this piece kicking around for almost a year, and I finally felt like I was in the correct frame of mind to tackle it over these past couple of weeks. I was drawn to her distinctive profile as outlined by the manmade lights around her. This play of light afforded an opportunity to push the colors to a stylized crescendo in this piece, which is one of the main reasons why I so enjoy working with cityscape subjects.

I'm confident that as the temperatures warm and the daylight hours expand I'll recalibrate to a better frame of mind, but for right now my work has taken a decidedly darker turn and that may not be all a bad thing. Time will tell...