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!

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

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 :)