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The BoldBrush Show
144 Christine Code — Consistency, Comparison, & Improvement
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For today's episode we sat down with Christine Code, a fine artist and plein air painter who masterfully captures the living skies of Saskatchewan, Canada. Christine tells us about her journey of painting full-time for 20 years, having started with small sales in eBay and eventually growing her career and business through sheer dedication and willingness to improve. Christine shares her thoughtful perspective on building a successful art career, highlighting the importance of consistency and a strong work ethic. She encourages artists to paint regularly, even if only for short periods, and to always seek areas for improvement by comparing their work to the work of other artists one admires. Christine also tells us about the benefits of plein air painting, noting how it helped her refine her technique and better understand color and value. She also offers practical advice for managing commissions as well as working with galleries. Finally, Christine tells us about her upcoming exhibitions including her participation in the 2025 annual paint out hosted by Plein Air Saskatchewan as well as a charity event called "Switch."
Christine's FASO site:
https://www.christinecode.com/
Christine's Social Media:
I say Comparison is the thief of joy. But if you can't compare, you don't really know where you stand. And so you have to have that ability to compare the quality of your work against others. And you know, winning a competition is the ultimate, you know, validation that you, you, you are, you know, you are good at what you do, you know. So, yeah, I think that you have to, you have to be able to compare and figure out what you need to improve.
Laura Arango Baier:Welcome to the BoldBrush show, where we believe that fortune favors bold brush. My name is Laura Ringle Baier, and I'm your host. For those of you who are new to the podcast, we are a podcast that covers art marketing techniques and all sorts of business tips specifically to help artists learn to better sell their work. We interview artists at all, such as their careers, as well as others who are in careers tied to the art world, in order to hear their advice and insights. For today's episode, we sat down with Christine code, a fine artist and plein air painter masterfully captures the living skies of Saskatchewan, Canada. Christine tells us about her journey of painting full time for 20 years, having started with small sales in eBay and eventually growing her career and business through sheer dedication and willingness to improve. Christine shares her thoughtful perspective on building a successful art career, highlighting the importance of consistency and a strong work ethic. She encourages artists to paint regularly, even if only for short periods, and to always seek areas for improvement by comparing their work to the work of other artists one admires. Christine also tells us about the benefits of plein air painting, noting how it helped her refine her technique and better understand color and value. She also offers practical advice for managing commissions, as well as working with galleries. Finally, Christine tells us about her upcoming exhibitions, including her participation in the 2025 annual paint out hosted by plein air Saskatchewan, as well as a charity event called Switch. Welcome Christine to the BoldBrush show. How are you today?
Christine Code:I'm great, Laura, thanks for having me. I listen to the podcast all the time, so I'm just super excited to be part of it. I'm so
Laura Arango Baier:happy to hear that, because I not only appreciate, of course, when someone listens to the podcast, because I'm always a little bit like, oh, wow, that's great. Wow. I don't I just put this out there, and I'm, like, amazed when someone listens, but also that someone with such beautiful work as yours listens because I am absolutely flabbergasted by your skies. I think they are just so pleasing to the eye, your compositions, your color. Use everything. It just ah, makes me want to go outside.
Christine Code:Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, of course,
Laura Arango Baier:of course. And that's of course, why you're here as well, because I think you're someone who definitely has a lot of wonderful advice that you can share with our listeners, who, once upon a time, that was you, and then, of course, it's still you, and you can tell us more about how podcast influence you. But before we dive into all of that, do you mind telling us a bit about who you are and what you
Christine Code:do? Yeah, my name is Christine code. I'm an oil painter in Saskatchewan, Canada. I paint primarily landscapes and big skies, and I've been painting full time now for about 20 years. I didn't always make a living at it, but I did show up to the easel every day for the last 20 years or so. So
Laura Arango Baier:yeah. Thing that's that is discipline, yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually, I am curious to know, because, of course, you now you paint skies and these beautiful landscapes and everything. When did you start following the path of the artist, and then how did you end up deciding skies?
Christine Code:Okay, so Well, I, you know, I always loved painting, like in high school, I had a really fabulous art teacher, and she was just so inspiring, not only artistically inspiring, but also just as a woman, so, you know. And I just always, I just remember being drawn to painting. I just enjoyed it so much. Whenever we had a choice of medium, I would pick painting. And I was not the best artist in my class, but I was, you know, I just really wanted to paint, and so, and then you, you know, you make a painting, and you get compliments on it, and it sort of becomes part of your identity, you, you know, you just want to paint. And I remember asking my parents for oil paints for Christmas, and my dad built me an easel. And so it just kind of started there, and then fast forward, I found myself with two young kids at home, and I was taking university classes, and I sort of needed a way to generate some extra, extra household income, and I stumbled across. That's the daily painters movement. So there was all these artists making small paintings every day, and some of them were listing them on eBay and getting fairly decent prices. And I thought, Geez, if I could just make an extra $40 a day, you know, that'd be a substantial boost to our income. So, and I loved painting, you know, when I was younger, so why not get back into it? So I did. I practiced a bit, and then I got I finally made a piece that I thought was half decent, and I put it up there, and it sold right away. And of course, that, again, is just really reinforcing somebody, you know, opened their wallet and spent their hard earned money on something you made. And it's just, you know, so I was bitten. I, you know, I had to keep, I had to keep going with it. But, you know, I admit at the time, I had no idea what I was doing. I was I went into it quite naively. And I was painting anything and everything, every subject you can imagine, abstract portrait, pet portrait, still lifes, you know, everything and kind of following trends and, oh, you know, Oh, I love, you know, I'd see other people's work. Oh, I love that. I'm going to try to paint, you know, a coke can with cherries on top, or whatever, you know, so, yeah, and then some, sometime along the way, I realized that I needed to kind of narrow my focus. I needed to, I remember reading an article, and it was talking about maturity as an artist, and maturity meant that people could see your work and tell immediately who did it without seeing the name. And I thought, oh, gosh, I'm not there, because I was sort of all over the place. And if there was anything I learned about painting all of those different subjects, is that the sky and the landscape really felt the most comfortable for me. I had the least struggle with it, and maybe it was my strength out of all of the all, out of all of the things. So in 2021 I was invited to do a show at a small town venue, and I had decided that this was the show I was going to paint entirely landscapes for. And I think I painted 30 pieces for this show, all landscapes. And the show was really quite successful. In fact, after the show, the ladies had told me they had never sold that many pieces at one of their shows before. So again, this was, you know, reinforcement that I was on the right track and I should keep going with this. And I think after that show, I sort of had this newfound confidence in my work. I I was at the same time I had started listening to art podcasts and realized how important it was to go out plein air painting, number one and number two, to enter competitions and get your name out there. So I had this new confidence from the success of this show to enter my first competition. So I entered the plein air salon, and I, you know, I entered my art in the respective categories, and then and paid. And then I realized afterwards that I could look at the competition, I could look at the web gallery. So I did, and I was able to deduce that I was definitely not in the top 10% of quality. I was maybe in the top 20, but not in the top 10. So I stopped entering competitions for, I would say, four or five months, and I really worked hard at improving my work. I figured out what I needed to do to improve my work, and I think plein air helped a lot with that. I wanted to bring my work in the to the next level by being more expressive using thicker paint in that expression, and the thicker paint and the and in the abstraction, there's the implied detail, and that's what my work needed. And I also needed to improve my foregrounds, my land. You know, my skies were already kind of there, but the land needed. My land was really minimalist, and it just needed more work. So anyways, I took that four or five months, I improved my work. I entered again, and I won Best clouds and sky. And that month, the it was judged by CW, Monday, and I just, I Yeah, so I was just, I was blushing my, you know, it was just amazing, you know, tears in my eyes and everything. It was just so validating. I. Um, that I worked so hard to get there and and then, of course, you know, I started entering a bunch of other competitions and accumulated some awards. And somewhere along the way, my Instagram sort of blew up. I'm not sure how that happened. I was just rapidly gaining followers. I think something hit the Explore page. I'm not even sure. I can't give everybody the recipe for that, because I'm not sure. But and then galleries started contacting me for representation. So it just, it sort of seemed to happen in a, you know, in a three or four year span. I just sort of rose up, and it's still real. It still feels like, like such a very short time. But, you know, I did put my work in, and I did, you know, paint for, you know, 1617, years straight. And you know, it was overdue, but it just seemed to happen so quickly. And I'm still kind of, you know, like the imposter syndrome is still there. I'm still trying to catch up with myself and catch up with what's happening and pinch myself every day. Is like, this is what I do now for a living. It's, it's crazy,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, wow, wow. You mentioned so many things that I love. I really love it. Because, you know, from the very beginning to when you mentioned how I wasn't the best in my class, right, when you were just starting out, you were just painting because you loved it, I think that really exemplifies to how hard work always beats out any innate talent. I mean, talents is great, but if it doesn't build on that, then it's like having nothing. And I've spoken to other artists who've also mentioned, like, you know, I started like, maybe I had a thing for art, but I wasn't really that good, but I really, really, really loved it. And in the end, that's really counts, you know, because now here you are, and you're like, oh my gosh, things are happening. And this is insane, which I really love, because it also goes to show that all of those years that you put into working, that you put into making your art, what you wanted it, right, even if it was the exploring phase, because there is value to the exploration phase of being an artist, right? There's the whole like, What do I like? What's important to me? What am I good at? That I also enjoy, because sometimes I don't know if it's happened to you or, like, you might be kind of good at painting something, and it's like, yeah, but it's not really, it's not really fulfilling, right? There's just it has to be, like, both fulfilling and enjoyable and maybe a little bit easier, but yeah, and then also attacking those weak points. I love that you mentioned, like, Oh, I did my competition, and then I realized, Oh, these are the parts that I need to get good, right? Because that made the difference, right? That, oh, that's Yeah. Really cares
Christine Code:Absolutely, absolutely. And I think that you need to have that skill as an artist to be able to compare. I mean, they say Comparison is the thief of joy. But if you can't compare, you don't really know where you stand, and so you have to have that ability to compare the quality of your work against others. And you know, winning a competition is the ultimate, you know, validation that you, you, you are, you know, you are good at what you do, you know, so, yeah, I think that you have to, you have to be able to compare and figure out what you need to improve. Yeah, yes,
Laura Arango Baier:totally, definitely. It's so valuable, because I understand it. You know, when, when you're an artist and you really love doing what you do, and it it can feel a little bit painful to know where those weak points are, because it's like, oh no, like, this is the stuff that I'm ashamed of, but at the same time, you need to know what that is, because that's where you can improve, right? Having having that strength, to also withstand that self criticism, or even hearing criticism from other artists who aren't, you know, saying it in a mean way. They're trying to help you, then it really can again, like you said, like you went from one year saying, Oh, I'm not quite there to the next year being like, whoa. Best in Show for skies. Dang. Huge jump, yes, yeah. Well, in a few months too, it wasn't even that long, right? It was like, what? Like, you said, just right, yeah, yeah. Like,
Christine Code:I could recognize that I was almost there, but not, but not quite. And, yeah, anyways. And I think plein air work really helped me a lot with that is particularly in the foreground, in the land area of my landscapes, which where I was really lacking, and I really gave myself like a sort of Crash Course chunk, learning by joining the when I had decided that I was going to start a plein air practice, a dedicated planner practice. Um. I entered the strata challenge, which is 30 days painting from life, from Brian Mark Taylor, and the strata ESOL challenge. And so that was sort of like a chunk learning, because every day for 30 days, I was committed to going out and painting a plein air. And so that really kick started, and gave me a month's worth worth of solid practice in plein air. And, yeah, it was remarkable when I went back to the studio after that. The improvements were so highly recommend, if you're landscape painter, to go out and paint planner. And even if you're, you know, still life painter or portrait painter, to paint from life. I mean, it's, it's just, I wish somebody had come to me, you know, and shook me 20 years ago and told me to get out of the house and go plein air, because I'd be, I don't know where I'd be now if I had been practicing it all along. And, you know, I have to say that I always felt really isolated, like looking back, I had no idea what I was doing. And I'm in Saskatchewan, Canada. We don't have a really robust art market here, not like the US. And, you know, I didn't have, you know, skip Whitcomb next door to go to a workshop, and I didn't have the means to even if I, you know, wanted to, so I really had to blaze the trail on my own and and, yeah, I think a lot of it comes down to just having the drive and the work ethic to show up every day and put the work in, and then the capacity to be able to know your weak points and improve, and that never goes away. Like I constantly want to improve, and I don't know, I think that's what it takes, that consistency,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, I totally agree. And I really love that sense of openness that you have about, like, Okay, I love this painting, but where can I improve it? Because, again, it's that you can make a million paintings, and if you're satisfied with all of them, I would be really worried. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would be more like, there's something more. Needs something more. You know, it's like, trying, I don't know, a recipe, and cooking it over and over again until it's a little bit better each time, you know, tastes better, you add a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and then suddenly it's like, oh, this is amazing. Yeah, yeah. And then I also wanted to ask you, because you did have quite a really long experiment, experimental phase, and then, of course, you dove right into the skies. How have you found that your process has evolved? And then, of course, I'm curious to know too, if you still do some plein air studies for your studio work as well.
Christine Code:Yes, I dedicate one day now. I dedicate one day a week to plein air. So rain, snow, shine. I'm out there ploneering, if it's snowing and cold, which it is, for many months in Saskatchewan, I will just paint in the car. I have this little post shade box that fits perfectly on the steering wheel, and I just turn on the heat and turn on the music, and I just sit in my car and paint the winter landscape. It's actually the most peaceful comforting is I love it. I actually really love painting it in the winter in my car. The resale value on my vehicle is probably not great anymore, because there's paint everywhere. I call it the plein air mobile. I should get personalized license plates on it, but yeah, so my process now I I generally work from a couple of different reference photos plus relevant plein air studies, and then I sprinkle in, you know, past experience, memories and sometimes imagination, sometimes those happy accidents become, you know, kind of a focal point of the painting. I really just sort of have a free flowing process where I not, I don't hold anything in the painting really precious. I don't start with a very strict plan, and I just sort of do what's right by the painting in front of me all the time. So it's constantly, constantly evolving. You know, if I don't like something, I scrape it out and and do something different or and if I really like something, I sort of leave it. And maybe the painting is, you know, kind of surrounds that, that one area that I just love, yeah. And then for larger pieces, I am, you know, I for smaller pieces, I will do them often, alla prima and finish them in one go. And for larger pieces, I am letting them dry about for about a week in between layers. And I guess. I sort of break the rule of thin to thick. I actually put lay my paint on quite thick in the beginning, and then it sort of becomes a sculptural exercise by using my palette knife, our soft synthetic and moving the paint around and pushing the cloud into the sky, and the sky back into the cloud. And that's how I get those wonderful edges and, yeah, it's, it's quite a free flowing process, and I never know how a painting is going to end up.
Laura Arango Baier:So it's almost like real clouds. Yeah, they're gonna how they're gonna how they're gonna end up. I mean, there's nothing more fun than looking at a cloud and just seeing it evolve as it goes through the sky. Yeah. And then that's actually something else I was curious about. Because, I mean, of course, Saskatchewan is, you mentioned that it's the place with living skies, is where you live. And I was curious also, because, yeah, you chose the skies because there's something you love, but was there something about them that also drew you to them, besides the ease of being able to paint them,
Christine Code:I think just the fact that there, if, if there's any freedom in a subject, it's got to be the sky. Nobody can ever tell you, No, that cloud wasn't there. Wasn't shaped like that, like I can make it any shape I want, you know, nobody can say that's wrong, you know, as opposed to painting a portrait or, you know, a still life, things kind of have to be a little bit correct, physically correct. So with the sky, there's just so so much freedom. And you know, yes, it's true. In Saskatchewan here, it's a lot of flat farmland, and our provincial slogan is land of the living skies, and that's because there's not much else to look at. But you know, if you get up into the hills, and I'm only 10 a 10 minute drive from the river, and there's river hills, and there's sage, Sage covered hills and trees and and and stuff like that. So there's a little bit more interest over there, but in my immediate area, it's just flat arable land, and all you have to look at is the sky. So I did spend some time living in British Columbia, in the mountains, and I only lasted about eight months there, and I just felt so claustrophobic. I just wanted to come home where I could see the horizon so and definitely a prairie girl, yeah, so I don't know. I think that's what drew me to the skies. Definitely is the freedom that freedom of expression that I can have in the sky. And, you know, nobody can tell me that it's, you know, you follow a few simple rules in the sky to make it believable. But other than that, you know the shape of the clouds and all of that is really, you know, really a free flowing process. You can do whatever you want.
Laura Arango Baier:I love that. That is true about the clouds. They definitely are very forgiving in that sense. I think, if anything, it makes them kind of hard to pull off, because they're so abstract, right? You can't like, yeah, it'll look cloud like. But then how do you make an abstract cloud like thing look beautiful? You know, that's, I think that's where the challenge really comes in, of moving something in one direction so that the composition flows nicely, you know, right,
Christine Code:right? And I think that's, that's where some training and composition comes in, and then also having your your values very subtle and close, you know, where you, where you, the sky should be its own value plane, and usually the lightest value plane in the landscape, right? And then your your vertical aspects, like your trees, should be your darkest value plane. And then the the land itself would be your middle so if you, if you, you know, consider the sky all its one value plane. The value shifts within the sky should be very, very subtle. And I think a lot of people confuse Chroma for value, and that's where they get into trouble, maybe in the sunsets. So I tell you when I when I first start a painting, I always when I finish a painting, I scrape my palette down and I save that muddy pile of gray and and so when I started painting, that's the first thing I put on my palette, is that muddy gray. And I just use that to sort of desaturate colors, knock things back a bit. I just use it wherever necessary. And that keeps me because everything in nature is actually really gray. When you go out in plein air. That's, that's the thing that hit me most, was how gray everything in nature is. You think that leaf is green, but it is actually really quite gray, gray green. So, so, and it's, you know, it's just a really great exercise if you don't have time for a plein air painting, even just to go out. And try to color match something. And you'll find, like, you're looking at that DERM field, and you think it's yellow ochre and maybe a bit of white. And you try that, and it's, it's not, it's so much grayer than that. You need red in there. You need blue. You need so that's a really great exercise. Is to just mix those colors outside and hold it up to the thing you're trying to color match. And, yeah, it's, it was a revelation going out and plein air. I think prior to plein air, I was probably my values were way off, and I was probably way too saturated, which is what happens when you're painting from photographs, right? Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:totally, if you've been enjoying the podcast and also want to be able to ask our guests live questions, then you might want to join our monthly BoldBrush live webinars, where our guest artists discuss marketing tips, share inspiring stories and answer your burning questions in real time. Whether you're a seasoned painter or just starting your creative journey, this is your chance to connect, learn and spark new ideas. And whether you're stuck on a canvas or building your creative business, this is where breakthroughs happen. Don't miss out. Ignite your passion and transform your art practice by joining us. Our next BoldBrush Live Webinar is coming up on August 14, with our special guest, Diego Glazer. You can find the sign up link in the show notes at BoldBrush, we inspire artists to inspire the world, because creating art creates magic, and the world is currently in desperate need of magic. BoldBrush provides artists with free art marketing, creativity and business ideas and information. This show is an example. We also offer written resources, articles and a free monthly art contest open to all visual artists. We believe that fortune favors the bold brush, and if you believe that too, sign up completely free@boldbrushshow.com that's B, O, L, d, b, r, U, S, H show.com. The BoldBrush Show is sponsored by Faso. Now more than ever, it's crucial to have a website when you're an artist, especially if you want to be a professional in your career. Thankfully, with our special ink faso.com forward slash podcast, you can make that come true and also get over 50% off your first year on your artist website. Yes, that's basically the price of 12 lattes in one year, which I think is a really great deal, considering that you get sleek and beautiful website templates that are also mobile friendly, e commerce print on demand in certain countries, as well as access to our marketing center that has our brand new art marketing calendar. And the art marketing calendar is something that you won't get with our competitor. The Art marketing calendar gives you day by day, step by step, guides on what you should be doing today right now, in order to get your artwork out there and seen by the right eyes, so that you can make more sales this year. So if you want to change your life and actually meet your sales goal this year, then start now by going to our special link, faso.com, forward slash podcast. That's F, A, S, o.com, forward slash podcast, totally. And then I think that's the other great thing about working from life, is it's like you said, it really makes you become more objective. Because, yeah, of course, I think it's everyone's natural inclination to up the saturation. Because you you really focus in on, like that one red flower. And you say, that is the reddest red in all of the world. And then you put it down, and then you look at both of them, you say, wait a minute, that's too much. That's way too much. And I think it's very natural for the human eye to exaggerate, because I think, you know, in terms of, you know, biology, we need to be aware of these colors, right? They're useful for our eye to be like, Oh, watch out, it's red. This is, this could be a dangerous berry or this fire hydrant is going to help you, but it's never really that red. I had the same issue painting some chili peppers where painting them very red, and then I looked at them, and then I looked at mine, I was like, those are more orange and they're less chromatic. So I had to remix and repaint these chili peppers, because they really wow. Red is another beast to that is very difficult to paint. But yeah, just being aware of those actual natural colors and how gray they all really are. And I feel like, you know, mixing that gray pile is so useful because that really is the almost like the the unifying sort of gray, right? Where it's everything has maybe a little bit of it, and then suddenly it's like, okay, wow, it's all harmonious, because everything is within everything, a little bit, not all the time, but
Christine Code:yeah, right, right, well, and everything is so relative within a painting, right? So whatever you have down, everything has to relate to what you've already put down. So, you know, I'm constantly asking myself questions as I'm painting, should should it be lighter? Should it be darker? Should it be warmer? Should it be cooler? Is it red, or is it blue, or is it yellow? Or, you know, like you just constantly. Asking my myself questions, because everything has to relate to whatever you whatever you have down. And that's part of the free flowing process that I talk about. Because if I already have my my light in, in the sunset, everything else from there has to relate to it or else. And if it's just not working, but I've gotta go, go back to zero and start over again. Because, you know, color, I don't know, Cami medlich talks a lot about how, how color is so relative to what you already have down. And yeah, she does. She has a book out, and she does a really great job talking about it, but yeah, and so I'm I'm always doing what's right by what I have going in front of me in the painting, rather than going by the photo or the plein air study or, you know, whatever else it is that I'm referencing. My painting in front of me is my biggest reference.
Laura Arango Baier:Totally, totally. You have to have that ongoing dialog with the work itself and not try to fit it into a mold. If that's not what it's asking for, right? I have, I have that feeling sometimes, really, the painting is saying you need this, and then if you ignore it, you're gonna have to fix it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then I also wanted to ask you, when was the moment that you realized, oh, my gosh, I'm making a living out of this. What was that like for you to really notice that?
Christine Code:Oh, that's so tough. Because, you know, when I decided that I was going to do this daily painting thing and sell them. I just, like, I went into it headlong, like there was, there was no stopping me. I just, I just did it every day. And I still remember the first month that I was able to afford the household groceries for the month, just on painting income alone. And that, at the time, was like a huge accomplishment. I was so proud. And then, of course, your goals change over time, and and as you progress, your your prices increase and and you just get better and better. So making a living, my goodness, I, you know, and I took commissions like crazy in the beginning, too. So that helped a lot as well. I think that I was very good at supplementing the household income for about 15 years, and then maybe in the last five I've been doing really well making a full time living. I would say, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah. Awesome, yeah, I think that's so great, because that's, of course, the dream of every artist. And actually, that also brings to mind because you went through a bit of like that time period of experimentation. And then you mentioned to me before that you somehow, you know, started hearing all these tips from different podcasts or from different articles. What would you say was the biggest piece of advice that really made a difference in your artistic career?
Christine Code:Oh my gosh, there's, there's so there's so much, there's so much information in those artist interviews, in those podcasts, because they, you know, all of these interviews, they're successful artists. They've already been through the ropes. You know, they've already made the mistakes. And you know, are teaching you to learn from from that. And I don't know, there's just so much information in them. I think the biggest thing besides painting from life or painting plein air would be just consistency, consistency in all things. You know, if you are consistent, that communicates that you are serious, you're not going away and and you know good things will come your way if you just keep at it. So, you know, you have to be consistent in showing up to the easel every day, consistent posting on social media, consistent in, you know, entering competitions. I really think that that is a huge marketing Avenue. You don't want to just enter a competition one month and then drop off the face of the earth. You want to keep entering month after month. The more places your name is, the more time your name, the more times your your name appears. It's like, you know, it's like watching that television commercial over and over again. It just starts to cement in people's heads and they remember your name. So, I don't know, I think that's the recipe, just consistency in all things and having a strong work ethic. I definitely have a type A personality. I have several schedules and lists of things that I have to do and and and schedules to follow. And, yeah. Um, I paint six days a week and about eight hours a day, and, yeah, it's great, though. I love it. I love it, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah, yeah, totally, I'm totally on board with that, because I think that's probably the hardest part, is that consistency, you know, it's a little bit like that, uh, tortoise and the hare, you know, fable where the hare just like, oh, well, I'm almost there. I'm going to take a nap, and the tortoise just working at it, working at it, working on it, actually wins, right? And I think that really, that's, I think, the best representation of how this career can really work, because I understand a lot of people might come into becoming an artist and think, oh, I want to be famous overnight, basically, because, you know, there's so many wonderful, successful artists on Instagram. But one thing is, what we think we see because of Instagram, because it's so curated, we don't really know how much work goes into stuff. And then there are people who are honest, and I say, No, this takes a good 10 years to really start kicking up a little bit. And that's not for every artist. I think 10 years might be the average, but it really depends on a lot of factors, right? But, yeah, just having that consistency is so key. Totally, totally. Yeah,
Christine Code:I think it's so important. And you know, you get that compliment all the time, Oh, you're so talented. And I feel like that sort of, you know, like I said I was not the best artist in my class. I really wasn't, and but I just, I stuck with it. And I don't think those best artists in my class back in high school, I don't think they are professional artists today, and so they didn't stick with it. But, you know, I tell everyone, if I played golf for eight hours a day, six days a week, I think I'd be pretty good at golf by now. Like, you know, Tiger Woods didn't just decide one day to play golf and be good at it. And I've taught workshops where people say, Oh, I just don't have it. I don't have the talent, and, you know, and then they tell me that they've only painted six times in the last 10 years, and it's just like, No, you've got to do it every day. You've got to show up every day. You know, if you haven't painted since grade two, that's what level you're painting at. You don't just magically gain levels because you're 20 years older, you you have to do the work. And I don't think there's any real shortcuts. I think you just have to put the work in
Laura Arango Baier:totally, totally. And I find it so interesting that people will say about painting that although I just don't have it. And then one of my favorite comparisons is, of course, also like musical instruments, like you don't just go to a piano and somehow you're a prolific pianist. It takes many years. And to top it off, if we want to make it even more, a deeper comparison with painting, right? I'm pretty sure every pianist out there still plays their practice like Doremi, yeah, the scales, yeah. They just play all of their scales, all the fundamentals to warm up, to remember, to continue to do the thing. And artists do that too with painting, and we should continue to do it with painting. Just you saying, Yeah, I go out to plein air at least once a week, right? That's that's doing your fundamentals, that's doing your scales. So I think it's very funny that people, for some reason, have excluded painting from the list of things that do require practice and foundation and skill, not just, Oh, I'm just naturally good at it. I don't know when that happened. Yeah, so it's always great to remember that.
Christine Code:Yeah, it's definitely like, they mean well, and it's a well meaning compliment, and they maybe don't know what else to say instead. But it always just, you know, kind of, because it kind of negates all the hard work. It's like, you know, I didn't, I wasn't born do painting this way, like I've been working my butt off, you know, and I still am, you know. So, yeah, it's just one of the it's a pet peeve of mine.
Laura Arango Baier:Yeah, yeah, I relate so deeply to that. And then I also want to ask you, career wise, have you had any recent aha moments that really shifted your perspective? Yeah, I would
Christine Code:say, like I said, I've always take a commission work, and commissions kind of drag you down, especially if the client is really prescriptive about what they want. And of course, now that I'm showing in all of these galleries and selling, you know, the work that does come from my heart. I can be a little bit more picky and choosy on the commissions I accept. But recently I just commissions just are pressure no matter what. I've recently devised a system that helps alleviate some of that pressure. So let's say a client asks me for you know, they say, Oh, I love your sunsets. With the peachy tones. But I need a 40 by 40. I will say, Okay, I'm going to paint you two or 340, by 40s with the peachy tones for you to choose from. And that has been really great for all of us. It takes the pressure off me to get it right in that one shot. It takes the pressure off the client to be stuck with one, the one and only painting you do for them. It takes you know, they have choices now. I mean, what's better than that? And also, whatever gallery this commission is through, I'm putting them all three paintings, and the client picks one and the gallery has more stock it can hang the other two on the wall and sell them. So it's a win, win for everybody. And you know what, once in a while, the client will say, Well, you know what, I have room for two. So they actually take two. So the you know, that's just a bonus. So that's how I've been, how I've been dealing with commissions lately. And it's, it's been working out really well. It really takes the pressure off, off everybody, because the more parameters a client puts around a painting, the less free I am able to make those choices. And sometimes it just ends up in a jumbled mess because their vision doesn't match my vision, and I can't take the painting to where, you know, I want to put out my best work. So if I offer three options that way, I can make my three best paintings with the peachy sunset colors and, and they have the choice. And, oh, and yes. So if you are showing in a gallery, just a piece of advice, and you get a random email and somebody asked for a commission, always ask that collector if they found your work in in a gallery, or did they just find you through a random internet search? How they found you? Because if they saw your work in the gallery, first, you should run that commission through the gallery. It's just good business. It establishes trust with your gallery, and it just builds that good business relationship with your gallery, so you should always honor that. But yeah, anyways, that's that was sort of an aha moment. That's how I deal with the pressure of commissions. Now, you know, it takes a little bit longer, but the galleries are always wanting work, so it kind of kills two birds with one stone, and it's that it's been great that way. So,
Laura Arango Baier:wow, yeah, I think that's, that's an excellent way of of doing it. Because I do agree. You know, there's always that pressure of, Oh, what if the client isn't totally happy? And then that does sometimes happen, but to avoid that all together, and to feel more free, you know, having three paintings you can count on, and then the possibility of maybe selling two or three to the person who commissioned if they can, that's really cool. But even just selling the one and then having a gallery to fall back on, that's absolutely great. That's really that's a really great piece of advice for anyone out there who's, you know, actually enjoys painting a lot and doesn't mind doing three, three paintings to offer someone who's commissioning. I think that's a really great piece of advice. And then I also wanted to ask you, you know, if someone wanted to become a full time artist, what piece of advice would you give them? Oh,
Christine Code:gosh, well, this is going to come back to the consistency and hard work. You know, I realized some people have, you know, full time jobs, and they don't have the time to put in, but even if you can just put in 20 minutes at the end of the day just to increase your skills and take a few workshops from from a few of your favorite artists you know, find your weaknesses and then seek out the workshops that are going to help with those weaknesses. But don't workshop too much. You don't want to be a workshop tourist, because it's just too much information coming at you, and then you don't have time to actually apply it, because that's that's where you really learn, is in, in applying the techniques and skills that you learn. I've taken a few workshops, and I find that some of the things I'm taught, I could, I can apply to my work, and then some of the things I have to discard, because it just, it's just not me, and then eventually, you know, you take from here and take from there, and eventually it just amalgamates into your own style. So, yeah, I would say paint every day, as often as possible, and put in the hard work. And good things will come be be consistent in all things and be able to compare your I hate saying that. I hate telling people to compare. But just to be able to know where your weaknesses are and improve upon them and just keep improving, you have to have that drive to keep. Improving. I mean, there's never a point where I say, Oh, there. I've done it. I've painted my masterpiece. I can retire now. I mean, that just never happens. I will always, until the end, want to improve. I think about one in 10 paintings I am 100% happy with only one in 10, and those other nine, it's like, Oh, I could, you know, I could use some work in this area or that area. So it's like, my brain is always 10 steps ahead of where my ability to execute. And so, you know, just keep going, keep being curious and trying to improve.
Laura Arango Baier:Totally, totally. That's very important, you know. And I love that, you know, you go back to the improvement, you know, slash comparison aspect, because, I mean, we have so such a depth and such a huge amount of painters, both past present, who have worked their butts off right as well to get their work to where it's at, right? So that's why a lot a lot of times in schooling, they might say like, oh, we'll do a few master copies or look at the work by this painter. I think maybe for some people, it might be a little bit more, I guess, easy to understand if you look at Dead painters work, because you know they're not around anymore, and actually their work is also just as beautiful. Sometimes I find that it's really hard to even imitate the level of the past painters. So it's, yeah, totally important. I mean, any any self respecting Academy will tell their students, do master copies, look at old paintings, look at good paintings, because otherwise, you know, it's like trying to learn how to write, but you don't have a reference of letters to look at, to write from. You know what? I mean?
Christine Code:Yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's weird every time I try to do a master study or something, it still ends up like me, like, I think I could still see elements of me. I mean, you never know how they you know the steps they went to to get to the result that they did. So I always see like, oh, there's my own little twist on that, on that master study. But just yeah, I really valuable information in doing that. Oh yes, those, oh man. I just, I love looking back at like, 18th century, older, work, their value control was phenomenal, yeah, yeah, very dreamy, dreamy work. I love it. I love it, yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:yeah. And I think what makes it even more impressive to me, especially looking, you know, be before the year 1865 ish is all the paintings done three camera that really fascinates me, because, of course, there's stuff that I'm sure you know kind of like how you do, where you kind of remix a couple things in there. They did it visually as well. Oh, well, I'm going to remove this tree from here, because it's not that nice. So I'm going to add a couple more trees here, because that's really pretty. So just seeing that level of extreme observation and just the use of memory as well, it's, ah, amazing. And of course, you can get that with plein air, just doing tons of plein air and just studying, right? So, yeah, yeah, just compare, hear your work, and also compare your work to nature. But I think sometimes I had a teacher who would also say, like, oh, well, Nature needs some juicing up, right? It needs a little bit of pushing around to make it even prettier. And nature itself is already beautiful, but yes, it's a little push. But yeah, totally. And then do you have any upcoming shows that you would like to promote?
Christine Code:Yes, I have something coming up that's very local, but I'm just so excited for it. An organization called plener Saskatchewan asked invited me to host their 2025 annual paint out in my area. So this is kind of big for me, because I live in a small town. The population here is only about 1000 people, and so there's like 40 artists coming here to paint the area. Like, when is this ever going to happen in this small town again, right? And, of course, there's a show and sale at the end. And I'm just so excited to to meet all of these artists that decided to come to my crummy little town and and then get the, you know, the local, the community, involved in buying original art, and, you know, like, maybe their favorite landmark will be painted and, and things like that. So I'm just so excited about that. Another show I have coming up in October, my I call it my home base gallery, because it's my gallery. In my only gallery in Saskatchewan, in my home province, darvillia, art and design, and every year she does this show called switch, and it's a really unique event. It's entirely for charity, and it's a group of artists, and we all start on our own painting, and then every 20 minutes, somebody bangs a gong, and we switch to the next artist's painting, and paint on their painting for 20 minutes with their supplies, with their medium. It could be pastel, charcoal, whatever. And then in 20 minutes again, we switch, and we just keep going around. And then, you know, at the end, some of the paintings are jumbled mess, and some of the paintings are just like, wow, really wild and creative and and, and then the paintings are all auctioned for charity. So it's just a really fun, interactive event. You know, the crowd kind of gets involved. You know, you're working on someone's painting, and the crowds behind you going, ooh, oh, don't do that. Oh, yes, do that. So it's just really fun. Um, other than that, I think most of my galleries have holiday, you know, like Christmas type shows where smaller, affordable works, but yeah, other than that, that's, that's what I have going on in the near future. Yeah,
Laura Arango Baier:that sounds really fun. I can only imagine how interesting it could be to mix, you know, your style with someone else's style with someone else's style, all in one painting. That must be quite an interesting event. I would love to try that out. And then, where can people see more of your work?
Christine Code:On my website. Christinecode.com I also post on Instagram. Almost every day, I try to post every day that's at Christine cold fine art, and I'm on Facebook too. Christine cold fine art on Facebook, I love my website because, you know, there's a you can sign up for my newsletter there. And art alerts. I love the art alert function, and yeah, that's that's about it. I'm in a few other places, but those are the big ones.
Laura Arango Baier:Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Christine, for this wonderful conversation. If anything, I feel even more enticed into going out to do some plein air, even though every single plein air painter. Guest I've had has always encouraged me deeply, and it's been a few years now, and I always say, I'll try it, I'll try it, but I'm still terrified, but I might try
Christine Code:it. Yeah, there's just, there's such a wealth of information out there on plein air painting. And I mean, all the there's I listen to so many art podcasts while I'm painting. I listen to them all, and it's just every day I'm learning something new, and I don't think there will be an end to the knowledge. So you know that would be another one of my biggest best advice for for artists is to listen to other artists interviews, because there's just so much information imparted.
Laura Arango Baier:Totally, absolutely. Well, thanks again. Christine and happy painting.
Christine Code:Well, thanks so much, Laura. This has been, this has been a fabulous conversation. Thanks for having me.
Laura Arango Baier:Yeah, of course. Uh, hopefully I will have you again in the future. You never know sure returning guest, that'd be great. Yeah?