Efficiency in Art Pitches

I got a notification in my inbox that the artwork I pitched was favorited by the client. I was so pumped. I immediately logged into my account on Indiewalls to check out some of the other artwork that was favorited and what I was up against, and boy was I blown away. There was some other work that was equally suitable if not more than the piece I had pitched.

Something interesting that I noticed once I began to look into the other work was that there is a lot of efficiency with art pitches, and that is something I did not exhibit myself. A really good artist had pitched 5-6 pieces for the same project and I just couldn't fathom how she had so much relevant work in a span of 4 days, especially since the size required was relatively large. I then realized that they were small pieces that she had prepared as drafts for the client to get a sense of color, mood and composition that the client is drawn towards. In the description of the pitch, she had mentioned that the size of the pieces were approximately 16x20 in and that if the client were to select a certain piece, she would then go on to creating one in the appropriate size (approx 4x6ft) (!!!)

Thats pretty smart. And thats probably what you're supposed to do. I clearly didn't. So now I have a 4x6 ft painting sitting in my tiny studio space, which is definitely ready to ship but not likely to ship. BOO.

Anyhow, I decided not to give up and try to do something similar myself. I grabbed another canvas that was smaller in size and of a similar ratio (2:3). Started working on my second pitch but this time, just to challenge myself I'm working with cooler tones of blue and grey. Almost like silver. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Here's what the piece looks like in its environment. (I secretly still like the warmer Prussian more than this palette for the space. But in the brief, the painting that the client had provided the artists as inspiration was in similar tones. I'm going to give myself another day with this palette and if I still feel like its not suitable for the environment its being pitched for, I'll make the colors warmer.