Holiday Sale on Instagram Live! Dec 6th, 6:00PM

 
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I’ll be hosting an Instagram Live Holiday Sale from my home this Sunday, December 6th, 6-6:30pm. I’d love to see you all there, say hi, answer questions and catch up.

My paintings will be discounted 20-50%+ off just during the event. I’ll be joined by my wife, Ariel, as we celebrate the holidays and catch up with all of you.

Here’s the schedule and how to participate:

Now-ish:
- Follow me on Instagram if you don’t already: @alexroediger so you can watch the Instagram Live event and say hi.
- If you’re not already an email subscriber, sign up for the $50-off raffle which also includes early access to the sale using the form below.
- Check out some of my paintings that will be available at discount here.

Sunday, Dec. 6th, 3:00PM:
- If you’re signed up for my emails, you’ll receive early access to the sale via email and be signed up for the raffle at 3:00PM.

Sunday, Dec. 6th, 6:00PM:
Start of the Instagram Live event!
Event includes:
- Artwork
- Tour of my home studio
- Maybe we’ll end with a song???

All of my email subscribers are automatically entered for the raffle and early access. If you have not signed up for one of my previous raffles or if you're not an email subscriber: Please add your email for early access to my December 6th Holiday Sale (6-6:30PM) and for the chance to win an additional $50 off my upcoming Instagram Live Sale where paintings will already be offered at discounted prices.

Thank You for the Kind Words

Thanks to those of you who kindly gave me permission to publicly share your quotes on my new testimonial page. It’s been really nice going through my old emails and finding all these really touching comments many of you have written to me after receiving your paintings.

If you’ve purchased a painting from me and would like your review added to the testimonial page, please leave your quote in the comments below! I’ll be sure to add your feedback to the page. Reading these comments has reminded me that I’m supported by a really great community of art lovers. Thanks again and here are a few quotes I have so far:

 
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“We got our painting and are in love!! Thank you so much, Alex. This brought tears to my eyes!!”
— Jane P., New York, New York
 
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“Just received and unwrapped the paintings - am so happy I could cry! I was surprised to see that you were featured In Fenimore Museum , where I frequently visit. I’ve been following you on Insta and looking at your site from time to time. I so so love it. Thank you!”
— Mary H., Oneonta, New York
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“I’m very pleased to have a piece of your work! I have been watching your art with interest and am a big fan. We will really enjoy having your painting in our home.”
— Marla G., Bozeman, Montana
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“This was a gift to my father for his birthday. He was thrilled with it and told me it was perfect. My father has only had it for a short time but has already received multiple unsolicited compliments from guests about it.”
— Melissa F., Jackson Heights, New York
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“I love it. You’re so talented. Really looks incredible!!! I am blown away. I can’t thank you enough!”
— Allegra S., Chicago, Illinois
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“First, this painting is gorgeous. Second, Alex is professional, a good communicator and quick. The piece arrived well packaged and ready to hang. Thank You!”
— Hatti F., New York, New York
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“We love this painting. It is even more beautiful in person than in the picture. It was packaged really well and arrived quickly.”
— Patrick S., Astoria, New York

Painting the National Parks

Between the pandemic and my recent bicycle accident it's been tough for me to get out of my Brooklyn apartment and enjoy the outdoors. Before the pandemic, my plan was to go on a trip to Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon this summer, however my southwest national parks tour will have to wait another year. On the upside, my wife and I recently purchased a car which has been great for getting us out to the beach on the weekends. I'm hoping all of you are finding ways to get outside as well.

In the spirit of getting outdoors during the summer, I thought I’d share some of my national park paintings. I’ve been exploring national parks only in the last few years and each one I’ve been to is truly amazing. If any of you are planning on visiting a national park this year, or have already visited, please let me know in the comments. I’d love to read where people are going. The first few paintings in this gallery are still available if you're interested in owning one. Just click on the image to find out more.

Q&A About Being An Artist

I recently got an email from a fellow artist, Kenny Wu, who found my website and reached out with questions about my experience as an artist. I thought others might be interested in the answers, so rather than answer privately, Kenny agreed that I could share his questions and my answers here:

What is your current creative process?
I typically paint in one or two sittings, working quickly and mostly with a palette knife. I like to apply thick impasto paint on wood panels, typically painting from photos of places I’ve been or that my client’s provided me with. I just bought a car and would like to get out and paint more in real life. I’ve been an artist all my life, but have only been a landscape painter for the last 3 years, so I still feel like a newbie.

 
 

Do you currently work in a studio?
Yes, I rent a studio about a mile-and-a-half from my home in Brooklyn. I share a large room in an old industrial building with several other artists.

 
My studio space

My studio space

 

What work has greatly influenced you?
My original inspiration were artists from the Impressionist era: Monet, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Vuillard, Soutine and Klimt. But I also love O’Keeffe, Diebenkorn, Fairfield Porter and Hockney. Contemporary artist Sonya Sklaroff has been a significant influence for me this year as I've been doing a lot of urban landscapes.

 
Raining at the Pub, Sonya Sklaroff

Raining at the Pub, Sonya Sklaroff

 

Any courses, learning material you highly recommend for a self-teaching painter? 
- Seeing art in-person, although that’s tough to do at the moment
- Books: The Art Spirit by Robert Henri, The Letters of Vincent van Gogh, How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist by Caroll Michels, Start Your Own Etsy Business by Entrepreneur
- Podcasts: Art Marketing Podcast, Plein Air Podcast with Eric Rhoads
- Wet Canvas painters forum
- MoMA’s online course In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting
- YouTube, there’s so much available, including the MoMA Painting webinar I hosted

 
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What are the three most valuable lessons you’ve learned as an artist?
- Having total compassion and trust in myself during the creative process.
- My artwork will probably be fun to look at if it was fun to paint. I try to have fun when I paint and let go of perfectionism.
- The secret to good painting is good drawing.

 
I think paintings that are fun to make are also fun to look at

I think paintings that are fun to make are also fun to look at

 

What was successful in building a presence and a client-base (Etsy, Local, Online)?
There is no “best” platform, each has pros and cons. Marketing success comes from the amount of time I dedicate to fostering a real conversation with each different audience. I would say people feel the most connected when they get to know me and that usually happens fastest face-to-face. That being said, there are few opportunities to sell in-person these days and I’ve had plenty of success connecting with people online as well. It just takes consistent work for people to get to know you online.

How do you price your work and why?
I started by pricing my work very inexpensively which provided me with a lot of sales, experience and a feeling of immediate success, if not a ton of money. As I’ve gotten better at painting I’ve been modestly increasing my prices. For me, the most important thing isn’t money but making a connection to people with my art.

Have you ever dealt with international shipping?
Yes, for international shipping I charge for the artwork + shipping. For simplicity, all domestic shipping is free.

What were the three most valuable lessons you learned as a business person?
- My success has been built on making and reaching simple, achievable goals one step at a time.
- In order to make a sale or gain support I’ve found it’s usually not enough for a person to like my work, they need to have a sense for who I am as a person. This means my job is to learn how to make art that makes an impact and also to provide opportunities for people to get to know me.
- Realizing there is no authority figure out there that is going to “discover me” and that if I do the work, I can learn the skills to make and sell my art on my own terms.

Thanks Kenny for all your questions! I hope you found this helpful.

If anyone has any questions or comments, feel free to include them below, maybe they’ll become my next blog post!

Watercolors During the Pandemic

During the stay-at-home phase of the pandemic I didn’t go to my studio where I make oil paintings and instead started using some watercolors I happened to have at the house. Below are some of the watercolor landscapes I did this spring when I could only really get around in my north Brooklyn neighborhood.

Although I prefer oil painting, watercolors are fun too and I can make a finished work of art a bit faster than I can with oils. I’m not very experienced with watercolors and overall I’d say I have no idea what I’m doing when using them but I feel weirdly OK with that. The only “rule” I’ve made for myself is to paint one layer only and not to fuss with anything. It’s hard not to fuss and let things be, but I think it’s a good discipline to learn both in painting as well as in life.

Now that the virus cases have gone down in New York I’m starting to go back to my studio and picking up my oil painting practice again. But hopefully I’ll keep making watercolors too since they’re fun and I think they might help me further my drawing skills.

 
 

MoMA Painting Course

I hope you’re all doing well and staying healthy.

As many of you know, I’m not only a painter but I also work at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and get to do some fun projects at MoMA from time-to-time. I recently hosted a webinar with three of MoMA’s amazing conservation experts where we discussed the painting techniques and methods used by postwar abstract painters.

Being part of this panel was an extension of my work helping moderate the forum for MoMA’s online course In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting. The course has been very popular during the pandemic and covers the materials, techniques and thinking of some of the most famous mid-20th century abstract artists. In the class, students not only watch videos and read about abstract painting but are also using the techniques discussed in the course to make their own paintings.

Anny Aviram, Senior Paintings Conservator, Michael Duffy, Paintings Conservator, Chris McGlinchey, Senior Conservation Scientist, and Alex Roediger, painter ...

I took the course a few years ago and loved it. Here are a few of the paintings I made as I experimented with the techniques taught in the class.

(Video) New York City Paintings, Spring 2020

With the pandemic keeping me out of my studio in Ridgewood, Queens I thought I’d learn how to share my artwork in new ways.

This video is a love letter to NYC and shows a selection of my New York City paintings accompanied by my thoughts on each location. During shelter in place I’ve been missing the city I’ve known for over 25 years and putting together this collection of NYC images is a nice reminder of what we’re all working so hard to save.

Painting locations in this video include: Chinatown, Chelsea, The High Line, MoMA, Jamaica Queens, Rockaway Beach, McCarren Park Williamsburg and the Newtown Creek.

Do any of these locations hold special meaning for you? Share your comments.

Although I’m not able to paint or ship paintings at the moment I have been accepting sales and commissions both of which I can complete once it’s safe for me to go back to the studio.

Also, please stay in touch by signing up to my email list below:

 
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Available Works

 

I Don’t Like This

 
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My social media feed would have me believe that sheltering-in-place has given us unlimited time to be creative. I however am as busy as ever, working my MoMA day job from my Brooklyn kitchen table, cooking, cleaning and performing basic chores just to keep my life going. What free time I do have doesn’t come with energy or a creative spirit. My studio is a communal space that I don’t feel safe to visit and I have yet to feel motivated to make art at home when zoning out to T.V. feels vastly more healing at the moment.

It’s depressing not being able to paint or be creative, but being creative feels like a luxury when my life feels so vulnerable and many of my friends are getting sick or losing their jobs.

I think the best part of my days have been when I go outside for a walk or a run. In order to social distance I’ve been visiting the eastern half of my Williamsburg, Brooklyn neighborhood which is an industrial zone and superfund site. I find exploring East Williamsburg relaxing because I don’t have to worry about people on the street and the general vibe is appropriately depressing given the situation.

Since I usually paint romantic and beautiful landscapes it seemed appropriate, given the pandemic and my mood, to share my depressing cityscape photos from my walks.

Wishing you all good health and peace of mind.