Thirty-six Years in the Making ~ from notecards to Beach Bird Littles!
It is hard to believe that roughly thirty-six years ago I said to Jen, what do you think about us moving to Maine and me pursuing my art full-time. Fortunately she loved the idea. From the very start I’ve been an oil painter, painting detailed paintings that take a relatively long time to paint. Because the price of original paintings can be unaffordable to many art lovers, we decided to work with various printers and offer reproductions of my work at a lower price point.
In the early 1990’s we started a line of notecards called Maine Coast Cards. We started with seven of my paintings and produced notecards featuring lighthouses and Maine harbors. At the time nobody else was doing anything similar. We also produced several Limited Edition Lithograph prints.
Excited about our new line of reproductions we traveled up and down along the coast of Maine, stopping in every quaint little town and village gift shop. I would stay in the car with our dogs while Jen would go in the shops and present our line to the gift shop owners. Usually it was successful and store owners were excited to be able to offer their customers something new. Only once can I remember a rude store owner showing Jen the door! LOL. We still laugh about it to this day. Over time our notecards were in most of the quaint fishing villages up and down the coast.
While we were still young entrepreneurs we decided to take our little notecard business and a couple of lithographs to a trade show at the Portland Coliseum. We bought a booth in the “New Business” section and had a very stark setup. To our surprise, and to the surprise of everyone else around us, LL Bean came by and decided they would like to carry our products!
We gradually increased the number of notecards in our line. We also brought out more lithographs. In doing so we worked with a number of different printers in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.
At the time all printing of this type was done on huge presses. There were all kinds of challenges and we went through a learning curve. Being the artist and wanting the closest representation possible to the original, I soon realized that it wasn’t an exact science. Color corrections were always necessary. The type of paper could make a huge difference with the whites in the image and with the saturation of the ink. Dust spots during the printing process were causes to say “STOP THE PRESS”!
The first step in producing a reproduction print is to have the work professionally photographed. Finding a photographer with an artistic eye and the knowledge to photograph the painting properly is critical to achieving an exact likeness to the original.
We have always sought out the best printer in the area that we could find. When we moved to Virginia we produced some of our maritime prints with the Newport News Maritime Museum.
For many years now we have also offered what are called Giclée Reproductions. It is a newer digital, ink jet technology that produces custom orders of one print at a time or more on archival watercolor paper or canvas..
Giclée prints are higher priced than lithographs because of the advanced printing process and because of the limited number in the editions.
Our latest addition to our reproductions available on our website are a collection called Beach Bird Littles. We’ve taken four of my sanderling paintings and produced affordable miniature canvas wrapped giclée prints that can be either hung on a wall or stand alone on a shelf.
For years I chased those little sanderlings up and down the beach with my camera! And I still do. They are so much fun to watch, photograph, and paint. People repeatedly asked if we have prints of the little beach birds. We are so happy to include the Beach Bird Littles Collection on our website for the beach bird lovers out there.
We just refreshed our inventory and stocked up since they have become so popular.
With most of my originals sold, we are pleased to offer very close representations of my work at a more affordable price to those art collectors on a budget, or to someone wanting a specific image that they love.
Our current printer, Steven Hyatt of Imaging Arts, takes all of the stress out of the printing process. He is a one man operation, a professional photographer, an artist, and an expert printer with a great eye. He enables us to offer the highest quality reproductions possible to our collectors.
It’s been a wonderful journey so far. I am currently blessed to have several big commissioned projects in the pipeline. Life is good in Mount Pleasant, SC, with inspiration everywhere. I continue to love painting Charleston scenes along with the magnificent birdlife in the Lowcountry. Thank you for reading my journal and for your interest in my art!
“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion….”
What’s next?
Drawing by William R. Beebe