Fed Up with FedEx? An Artist’s Continuing Saga

FedEx came highly recommended to me by well known artists and art magazines as the best vendor for shipping artwork. My experience with FedEx began with great expectations and reasonable results in 2002 when I began shipping artwork to New York City, Washington, DC, and less populated locales in the U.S. My work arrived safely and was returned safely from exhibitions in which it did not sell. My husband built me two wooden crates of different sizes and we packed the works ourselves with foam rubber or bubble wrap, as no galleries or museums appreciate or accept pesky packing peanuts.

After the first few years FedEx decided that I needed to have a business account in order to have them prepare in advance a return shipping label to be included with the shipment for the return of my work after the shows. I willingly complied as I was promised discounts on all services by using my FedEx business account number which was attached to my credit card. I was careful to drive about 25 miles from my home to the FedEx Distribution Center, because I was told that I would receive better rates. This arrangement worked OK except that I could not be sure of the exact charges until after the services were actually performed and I received my credit card bill. There was some confusion as the statement listed only numbers rather than any written itemization for the charges by FedEx.

This year, however, FedEx is undergoing exponential problems. From my point of view as a “business client” I am not aware of the internal turmoil which most certainly manifests itself in horrendous customer service. My and my husband’s attempts to find information and answers online at www.FedEx.com were futile. The website is completely unintelligible. In my effort to sign in to the website I was led through steps to open another business account. My next step of a phone call to the toll free number led to a friendly female robot asking me irrelevant questions and not understanding my responses. After some time of this I was passed on to a friendly female human who kindly assured me that my local FedEx store could package my large painting and ship it.

My husband took off on his lunch hour to help me heft the unwieldy box to our local store, only to be refused adamantly by the “service” employee who claimed that:
•FedEx does not handle original artwork, unless it is something that can be readily replaced by purchasing another at Wal-Mart. (His words, not mine.)
•FedEx does not handle insurance. You must buy that from another vendor.
•FedEx will not do the packaging. You must do all the packaging yourself.
•FedEx will not reimburse for loss over $500 for artwork, no matter what your declared value.
(FedEx will gladly charge you more for a higher declared value.)
•Anything valued over $500 must be shipped FedEx Express.
•My package is too large for FedEx Express, so it must be shipped FedEx Freight.
•FedEx Freight will not reimburse for damage or loss over $100, no matter what your declared value. (FedEx will gladly charge you more for a higher declared value.)
•This office does not handle FedEx Freight. (FedEx Freight is a separate company.)

At this point I developed a sudden and keen understanding and affinity for “going postal”! Lucky for me, my husband quickly herded me out, into my vehicle, and back home where he perused the internet and found another FedEx shipper even closer to our home. By phone this friendly local store assured us that they would do the packaging and ship by FedEx using my business account. We went directly to this store and the managers were so very helpful and courteous. As far as I can tell they have done an exemplary job of communicating with various and vastly divergent FedEx offices and personnel who have given them numerous rules, roadblocks, and hurdles. After two days I am still receiving calls from this vendor as he attempts to coordinate and compromise with FedEx in order to make my shipment happen. He is optimistic that he has worked out all the bugs.

I am glad that I am a woman of faith, because I believe that it will take all the power of prayer to see this experience through to a glorious conclusion. I am extremely grateful for the honor of being accepted into such a prestigious exhibition; because it is quite possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, thanks to FedEx. In the meantime I am open to any leads for an affordable and reliable company which will package and transport original artwork. By the way, have you heard that, “Shipping is a hassle!”?

Denver Botanic Garden Path

Denver Botanic Garden Path, Oil on linen, 11x14, $600

This is a scene in the southwest desert habitat plants at the Denver Botanic Gardens. I enjoy the patterns of light and shadow, warm and cool colors, and the vibrancy of complementary colors such as red and green or yellow and purple placed next to one another. What do you think or feel as you view this painting?
Denver Botanic Garden Path | Ruth Soller - Blog

Beside Still Waters

My newest project is a challenge for me as I am conceptualizing a composition made up of many separate components. Before putting any marks on paper or canvas I have done much research including a photography weekend to Taos and Taos Pueblo. I have already completed two well received Taos Pueblo oil paintings and several Santa Fe scenes. My challenge is to include a Native American with her paint horse in the real setting of Taos Pueblo. I studied Pueblo Indians and their costumes online and in an encyclopedia. I next studied my collection of horse photos and paintings. My goal was to find a horse similar to the handsome Arabian Pinto whom I used to rent for riding lessons. Next, I searched my sketchbooks for figure drawings which would present a natural and believable pose. I selected the figure sketch shown above for the woman’s pose. After collecting these resources I began sketching rough ideas for a pleasing composition.


Since my goal was a finished oil painting 30x24 inches in dimensions, I wanted to increase my odds of success. I completed the 10x8 inch oil study shown above to help me decide on color harmony and to be certain that I could create consistent lighting throughout the composition. I prepared my canvas by toning it with a thin wash of Transparent Red Oxide, allowing it to dry and gridding it into thirds and fifths. These grids establish the most visually pleasing points for placement of the focal points. The Native American woman’s face is my primary focal point with the horse’s face a secondary focal point. I like the way the woman’s right leg runs on a diagonal leading the eye into the scene and her head is tilted towards the horse’s head, drawing the eye in a spiral motion within the painting. Notice that the stream leads the eye from the lower left corner up to the faces of the woman and the horse. Pleased with the study, I began sketching the composition onto my toned canvas with watercolor pencils.

My usual process is working from background to foreground and from dark to light. I painted the blues of the water while I had the sky and mountain blues mixed. After painting the sky, mountains, pueblo, and middle ground it was necessary to revise my drawing of both the woman’s face and the horse’s face. I continued working on the horse, grasses and water. Next, I painted the woman’s skin, dress, and moccasins, saving the detail of the beaded rose designs on her belt and moccasins for last. Although this one of my most challenging works, I am happy with the composition and the action of the woman’s pose. This work has a symbolic meaning to me of the scripture Psalm 23: 1-3a “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.”