You need to have a prolific output!

'The Silk Road and Human Exchange,' spray paint and acrylic on canvas, 120 x 160 cm

As artists we have to be prolific in our output because so many paintings either get lost or damaged during our lifetime.  I try to keep key paintings either tracked or hold on to them myself as sometimes you need to be able to show your most important pieces again, especially at prestigious exhibitions. There are pieces I will never part with, and I know other artists feel the same about some of their work because either it is a favourite painting or it was pivotal to a new direction. I learned to hold on to pieces because some of my key paintings were damaged or lost in the past and I regret that!  A favourite piece was destroyed during a fight between the owner and his wife. Yet another large and very beautiful painting was put out to the rubbish collectors after a close friend received it and her then husband did not like it and secretly threw it out. She told me that he did not like the fact it contained nudes! I only found this out years later! My thought was; WHY did you not give me the option to take it back?  My hope is that someone decided to hang it in their home.

'China Revisited,' acrylic on canvas, 22 x 30 cm

Not all artists can be prolific, if their process is a lengthy one, (and depending on the hours they have to paint) but even so, I am guessing that either they hold on to some of their work or they keep track of customers so they can borrow work back if necessary.

'Fragile Landscape,' acrylic and ink on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

My good news is that I had a large painting accepted for the 7th Beijing International Art Biennale!  The painting is posted at the top of this article and it is a translation of the Biennale theme, which was 'The Silk Road and World Civilisations.'  I painted my landscape as being like a piece of yellow silk - especially I imagined the sky as pieces of yellow silk blowing in the wind - and various traders are seen along the lower edge of my painting. I loved painting this!  Mostly my work verges towards abstraction but I have always at times painted figures and animals.