I just made a website for my sister for a new preschool she is opening. She saw the website I had made for myself (www.meartist.com) and loved it so asked me to make one for her (much cheaper than hiring someone to do it). I readily agreed because I think it's fun. I was also curious to see if I could do it basically from scratch and make it look appropriate for a preschool and professional.
She was very happy with the results (it's still pretty basic but I only had limited info to work with) and I was fairly happy as well. I've now taken on the project of helping her promote the preschool, so I created a twitter account and a facebook page as well. Now I have to figure out how to get people interested in the product, from scratch. This should be interesting....
Her new website is www.littleacornsgrow.net. If you could check it out and let me know what you think, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Disappointed
I was trying to finish my painting last night and I had, for now, just one more thing I wanted to do to it. I wanted to add a translucent white over the moon in the painting, but somehow I messed it up and now it looks kind of bad. I have to think of a way to fix it tonight, but I haven't come up with any ideas yet. The problem is that it didn't come out translucent enough and there's no way I can re-paint the background over it....so I'll have to figure it out tonight, hopefully.
As soon as I figure it out and fix it I will post it. I also have another mixed media painting I started on and messed up (since I'm a beginner at this method it's expected). I'm not sure how to fix that one either, but I think the best way would be to sand it down maybe, or just try to paint over it. Maybe I'll paint over it first, and if that doesn't work I'll sand it down...that's a good idea.
As soon as I figure it out and fix it I will post it. I also have another mixed media painting I started on and messed up (since I'm a beginner at this method it's expected). I'm not sure how to fix that one either, but I think the best way would be to sand it down maybe, or just try to paint over it. Maybe I'll paint over it first, and if that doesn't work I'll sand it down...that's a good idea.
Friday, May 21, 2010
New painting coming soon
I finally got some more time in to paint last night. I took another old painting that I wasn't really satisfied with and started working on it. So far I LOVE how it looks (a lot better than the original painting).
It's an acrylic, which isn't really my thing but I really like that it dries so much faster than oil. I have an oil painting I finished about 3 or 3 1/2 weeks ago and it's still not dry in some spots.
I'm also learning how to use acrylic in fun ways to make the painting look how I want. I love that I can mix the paint with a varnish to thin it out and make it kind of translucent. I still have a lot of experimenting to do, but I'm getting better at it and, like I said, it dries a lot faster than oil.
I should finish it tonight and I'll post a picture as soon as I can :)
It's an acrylic, which isn't really my thing but I really like that it dries so much faster than oil. I have an oil painting I finished about 3 or 3 1/2 weeks ago and it's still not dry in some spots.
I'm also learning how to use acrylic in fun ways to make the painting look how I want. I love that I can mix the paint with a varnish to thin it out and make it kind of translucent. I still have a lot of experimenting to do, but I'm getting better at it and, like I said, it dries a lot faster than oil.
I should finish it tonight and I'll post a picture as soon as I can :)
Friday, May 14, 2010
How to throw your own art show
On the note of how to get your art shown, if you would like to have your own art show or an auction for your art (I have done both) here are some useful tips:
1. Pick the date and time you want to have your show. I would start planning about 4-6 months in advance from this date. Saturday nights usually work best so you don't have to contend with people's work schedule and Sunday family activities as much.
2. Find a space to borrow or rent for the amount of time you want. I recommend allotting 2 hours for the show, with an additional 1-2 hours for set-up/break-down. I would pick a studio type setting - a big empty space, usually with hardwood or cement floor, track lighting or otherwise good lighting, a way to play music and ample space to display everything you want. For my first couple art shows I rented a space for a day for $200 a pop. I recruited a few other artists who wanted to show their work and we all chipped in. For my auction I got the space donated.
I would recommend getting a few other local artists to do the show with you. That way it's cheaper and you get more promotion out of it (5 artists each bring 20 friends = 100 people. One artist = 20-40 people usually). But of course you can do a one-man show as well, you just have to work harder on promotion.
3. If you are attached to you art as I am, get everything scanned beforehand so you can keep them digitally forever and make prints if you want.
4. Decide if you want to charge for the show or not. I usually charge a $5 entry to my art shows and am charging a $10 entry fee for my auction, which is all going to charity. The entry fee will cover the food and some of your costs of renting a space (or if you're lucky it can cover all of your costs for the food and the space).
5. Plan your menu. I have always catered my own and I usually keep it pretty simple with finger sandwiches (tuna, egg salad, cream cheese and cucumber), fruit and vegetable platters, cheese and cracker platter, and some sort of desert (cookies or eclairs). I usually also have wine, champagne, juice and water. This is the most cost effective, but if you won't have the time you could always have it catered.
6. About 1 1/2 months in advance make or have made invitations and pass them out to your friends. Create an event page on facebook. Promote on twitter. Send out an evite to your email list. You can also post a free listing on craigslist in the community section (I haven't tried this before but I plan to do it for the next show). The biggest thing will be word of mouth, so get your friends and family to help promote you to their friends. You could also look into putting a posting in a local newspaper or magazine (I also haven't done this so am not sure how that would work).
7. Recruit a couple friends or family members to help you at the event. If you're charging you'll need a person at the door selling tickets. You'll also want to have another person in charge of the music, making sure the food is stocked, and any other random details. You want to leave yourself free to be the host and roam so you can answer any questions about your art as needed. You may also want to recruit someone to take photos, which you can then post on your blog, website, facebook page, etc.
8. Set up about 1-2 hours before hand (depending on how much art you have to set up). Make sure art work is fashionably shown, evenly spaced, at a good height if it's on the walls, and well lit. Put your price tags next to each piece (it's a good idea to have a master list already made with each piece of art work and the price listed so you can keep track). It is also a good idea to write a biography for yourself with a picture and post it next to your art. If you have business cards lay them out on the various tables. Set up food table in a logical location. Set up a play list for music or pick a good set of CDs to play and get the music rolling.
9. Greet your guests and have fun!
1. Pick the date and time you want to have your show. I would start planning about 4-6 months in advance from this date. Saturday nights usually work best so you don't have to contend with people's work schedule and Sunday family activities as much.
2. Find a space to borrow or rent for the amount of time you want. I recommend allotting 2 hours for the show, with an additional 1-2 hours for set-up/break-down. I would pick a studio type setting - a big empty space, usually with hardwood or cement floor, track lighting or otherwise good lighting, a way to play music and ample space to display everything you want. For my first couple art shows I rented a space for a day for $200 a pop. I recruited a few other artists who wanted to show their work and we all chipped in. For my auction I got the space donated.
I would recommend getting a few other local artists to do the show with you. That way it's cheaper and you get more promotion out of it (5 artists each bring 20 friends = 100 people. One artist = 20-40 people usually). But of course you can do a one-man show as well, you just have to work harder on promotion.
3. If you are attached to you art as I am, get everything scanned beforehand so you can keep them digitally forever and make prints if you want.
4. Decide if you want to charge for the show or not. I usually charge a $5 entry to my art shows and am charging a $10 entry fee for my auction, which is all going to charity. The entry fee will cover the food and some of your costs of renting a space (or if you're lucky it can cover all of your costs for the food and the space).
5. Plan your menu. I have always catered my own and I usually keep it pretty simple with finger sandwiches (tuna, egg salad, cream cheese and cucumber), fruit and vegetable platters, cheese and cracker platter, and some sort of desert (cookies or eclairs). I usually also have wine, champagne, juice and water. This is the most cost effective, but if you won't have the time you could always have it catered.
6. About 1 1/2 months in advance make or have made invitations and pass them out to your friends. Create an event page on facebook. Promote on twitter. Send out an evite to your email list. You can also post a free listing on craigslist in the community section (I haven't tried this before but I plan to do it for the next show). The biggest thing will be word of mouth, so get your friends and family to help promote you to their friends. You could also look into putting a posting in a local newspaper or magazine (I also haven't done this so am not sure how that would work).
7. Recruit a couple friends or family members to help you at the event. If you're charging you'll need a person at the door selling tickets. You'll also want to have another person in charge of the music, making sure the food is stocked, and any other random details. You want to leave yourself free to be the host and roam so you can answer any questions about your art as needed. You may also want to recruit someone to take photos, which you can then post on your blog, website, facebook page, etc.
8. Set up about 1-2 hours before hand (depending on how much art you have to set up). Make sure art work is fashionably shown, evenly spaced, at a good height if it's on the walls, and well lit. Put your price tags next to each piece (it's a good idea to have a master list already made with each piece of art work and the price listed so you can keep track). It is also a good idea to write a biography for yourself with a picture and post it next to your art. If you have business cards lay them out on the various tables. Set up food table in a logical location. Set up a play list for music or pick a good set of CDs to play and get the music rolling.
9. Greet your guests and have fun!
Letting go is hard...
Tomorrow night I will be having a silent auction as a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I will mainly be auctioning off my art work, though I have some other items, including art donated by another artist, a starbucks gift basket, gift certificates, etc.
I will be auctioning off every single original I have at the moment. I guess it's a pretty good sign that I don't have any in my possession. I have either sold or given away the rest as gifts (and I have actually sold quite a few, I didn't even realize it).
There are a couple of the ones I currently have that I REALLY like, specifically my first mixed media painting "Travel" and my 3 panel oil "Sunset." I love it when I do a painting I'm really proud of and don't mind showing off, but I hate the fact that I will now be selling them tomorrow. I already have a $100 bid on "Sunset."
The sad thing is I don't even have time to get all of the latest pictures scanned so at least I can have the digital version and can make prints if I want. I did get "Travel" scanned, so I'm happy about that. I hope whoever wins "Sunset" won't mind if I borrow it back later to get it scanned :)
I will be auctioning off every single original I have at the moment. I guess it's a pretty good sign that I don't have any in my possession. I have either sold or given away the rest as gifts (and I have actually sold quite a few, I didn't even realize it).
There are a couple of the ones I currently have that I REALLY like, specifically my first mixed media painting "Travel" and my 3 panel oil "Sunset." I love it when I do a painting I'm really proud of and don't mind showing off, but I hate the fact that I will now be selling them tomorrow. I already have a $100 bid on "Sunset."
The sad thing is I don't even have time to get all of the latest pictures scanned so at least I can have the digital version and can make prints if I want. I did get "Travel" scanned, so I'm happy about that. I hope whoever wins "Sunset" won't mind if I borrow it back later to get it scanned :)
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Problem #2 - How to get a website made without breaking the bank
This is one I've been working on for a while as well. I looked into having someone make a website for me, but they seem to start at about $300 and go up from there. I'm a "starving artist," I don't have that kind of money! I wish I had a friend that made websites who could cut me a deal but I don't know of any such person, unfortunately.
So I braved it alone. First I went with Google Websites. This was great! It was free and very easy to use. This satisfied me for a couple months. While Google Websites is free and easy to use, it is also VERY limited and there were a lot of things I wanted to do with my website that I couldn't.
I did some more research and asked around. My friend Tim told me about Wix. I checked them out and I have definitely found what I am looking for. I am in no way, shape or form and computer tech person (websites for dummies would be too complicated for me) but I was able to figure it out fairly easily. The whole website operates in flash, so I can do a lot more with it than with Google. I wanted to like my domain name to it, so while it is free to make the site, you do have to pay to be able to link your domain name to it. Not much, if you pay for a year or 2 it's about $8 a month I think. Very doable.
They also have the option to upgrade so that you can actually have it be a commerce website as well, with a cart and the ability to recieve credit card payments, etc. This is about $15 a month if you pay for a year or 2 at a time. I will be doing this eventually, but I'm not up to that point yet.
By the way, I got my domain name from godaddy.com and linked it to my Wix website. Also, I went on-line before purchasing the domain and before upgrading my Wix websites and I found discount codes for both, so I got the Wix upgrade free for a month and my domain name for a year for about $6. Very affordable!
My new website is www.meartist.com. Let me know what you think!
So I braved it alone. First I went with Google Websites. This was great! It was free and very easy to use. This satisfied me for a couple months. While Google Websites is free and easy to use, it is also VERY limited and there were a lot of things I wanted to do with my website that I couldn't.
I did some more research and asked around. My friend Tim told me about Wix. I checked them out and I have definitely found what I am looking for. I am in no way, shape or form and computer tech person (websites for dummies would be too complicated for me) but I was able to figure it out fairly easily. The whole website operates in flash, so I can do a lot more with it than with Google. I wanted to like my domain name to it, so while it is free to make the site, you do have to pay to be able to link your domain name to it. Not much, if you pay for a year or 2 it's about $8 a month I think. Very doable.
They also have the option to upgrade so that you can actually have it be a commerce website as well, with a cart and the ability to recieve credit card payments, etc. This is about $15 a month if you pay for a year or 2 at a time. I will be doing this eventually, but I'm not up to that point yet.
By the way, I got my domain name from godaddy.com and linked it to my Wix website. Also, I went on-line before purchasing the domain and before upgrading my Wix websites and I found discount codes for both, so I got the Wix upgrade free for a month and my domain name for a year for about $6. Very affordable!
My new website is www.meartist.com. Let me know what you think!
What exactly qualifies as an official print or a "limited edition" print?
Still a little stuck on the whole aspect of having prints made of my work. I am very happy with the prints I have and the quality of them, but just a couple days ago I had someone who was interested it one ask me if they were numbered and signed. Ummmm.....no......They are "signed" because the original pieces are signed, but other than that....
So now I feel like I have to go back to the drawing board a bit. But honestly, I'm not sure I even want to get into that. Really, I love the way my prints look and they're affordable for me to make and for others to buy. That's really what I'm going for at this moment. I think maybe later when I am able to dedicate more time to my art and work on some bigger canvases, I will then look into making limited edition prints that will be worth more. For now, I'm happy with what I have.
So now I feel like I have to go back to the drawing board a bit. But honestly, I'm not sure I even want to get into that. Really, I love the way my prints look and they're affordable for me to make and for others to buy. That's really what I'm going for at this moment. I think maybe later when I am able to dedicate more time to my art and work on some bigger canvases, I will then look into making limited edition prints that will be worth more. For now, I'm happy with what I have.
latest latest painting
This is another painting I did several years ago, probably about 2 1/2 years ago when I was first experimenting with acrylics. I was practicing what I call the "bleeding colors" method, where I bleed certain colors together with water (which obviously wouldn't work on oil paint!).
The picture was never a big hit and I never really liked it either. It was ok...just not enough color and life. It's fine if a painting is dark, but it has to have life. So I added a good deal of color to it as well as some beautiful pressed flowers, then I "bled" the painting again with red and black paint. It came out very interesting. I haven't completely decided if it's done or not, but I definitely like it a lot better than the original.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Latest painting
Oil and acrylic on canvas. This is a painting I actually did quite some time ago, probably almost 2 years ago. I have shown it at a couple art shows, but have never been satisfied with it; it always seemed kind of dull and lifeless to me. So I took it and "edited" it to my liking. I added more color and life to it, including a bit more depth and detail. I am finally satisfied with it and will now actually feel good about showing it and about selling it.
Monday, May 3, 2010
No painting today....
Unfortunately too tired! I will definitely get some done tomorrow though.
I have three paintings to complete by the 15th, for my silent auction. Luckily I will just be working with acrylics on these (two are mostly oil but I will finish them with acrylic) because it dries a lot faster than oil.
In reality, I have to finish them by Wednesday the 12th, if I want to have time to take them to the printer and have them scanned to have on file for prints or whatever later.
Soon I will blog about problem #2 (making a website without paying a ton of money) because I think I finally got this one down (not perfectly, but satisfactorily for the moment).
Oh! I forgot to mention, I finally got some business cards made. I had to finish the website first, which I did, so that I could have it on my business cards. I will write a little about this in the next blog as well.
For now....off to bed :)
I have three paintings to complete by the 15th, for my silent auction. Luckily I will just be working with acrylics on these (two are mostly oil but I will finish them with acrylic) because it dries a lot faster than oil.
In reality, I have to finish them by Wednesday the 12th, if I want to have time to take them to the printer and have them scanned to have on file for prints or whatever later.
Soon I will blog about problem #2 (making a website without paying a ton of money) because I think I finally got this one down (not perfectly, but satisfactorily for the moment).
Oh! I forgot to mention, I finally got some business cards made. I had to finish the website first, which I did, so that I could have it on my business cards. I will write a little about this in the next blog as well.
For now....off to bed :)
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Latest oil painting
Latest oil painting. I will try to upload a better picture later, but let me know what you think. It was done on 3 canvas panels and each individual panel could stand alone, but obviously they are made to go together as one piece. I particularly love the color; I love when there are many vibrant colors, even if they don't seem to "make sense." This is a painting I'm really proud of and will hate to part with.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Running into trouble painting for a couple days
I've been super busy and haven't painted in a couple days. I had a very long run this morning, which I had to prep for last night and go to bed early for. Not painting bums me out!
I will definitely paint tonight. I have two oil paintings which I want to finish (I need to finish them this weekend so they're dry in time for the silent auction), and then I have two acrylics I want to finish, which I will get done over the next couple days.
Seems like I still have issues with problem #0, finding time to paint! At least I'm doing my best. I will post pics tomorrow of what I get done tonight :)
I will definitely paint tonight. I have two oil paintings which I want to finish (I need to finish them this weekend so they're dry in time for the silent auction), and then I have two acrylics I want to finish, which I will get done over the next couple days.
Seems like I still have issues with problem #0, finding time to paint! At least I'm doing my best. I will post pics tomorrow of what I get done tonight :)
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