Artistically Bent: March 2015

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Promoting Art

I'm a big fan of Million Dollar Listings (both coasts). On his Facebook feed today, one of the star realtors, Josh Altman (one of my favorites) said: No matter what industry you're in, sales is sales.

SELLING AND ARTISTS

Selling ends up being a dirty word in the artists mind. I'm including ALL artists in the general category of artist: musicians, media/fine artists, writers and writers. The only artists this applies a little less to is physical artists such as dancers. That is a different category altogether when it comes to making money. For most media artists there is a difficulty in offering pieces for sale. It shouldn't be hard, but it is and it seems to be partly self-imposed and partly created by a general feeling that seems to persist in the public. Art should not be sullied by money. Well, that's a lovely notion, but the artist definitely needs to be sullied a bit in order to survive. Even just to create costs money, and artists need to be able to purchase supplies not to mention food and living expenses.

For that reason, it seems that many artists choose a 'low key' sort of sales approach with their work. They put it out there for others to see, and hope someone asks if they can buy it. That's definitely the 'safe' method for selling.

Another popular method is to sell the artists rather than the art. For some that means opening up cloud funding campaigns to support the artist either as an ongoing fund or a one time thing to obtain a high priced supply item.

One of the more powerful sales options for artist is to 'sell' the craft. Making money from teaching others how to create the type of art they do. There are several ways to make money from teaching online: classes, pod casts, and finally one of the most popular, YouTube videos. This form of sales has a double edged benefit. First the artist makes money from the actual teaching (straightforward fees from classes or ad revenue from videos), and second, when students find the artist this way they may be interested in the actual work of the creator and buy the pieces being created for the class or others found on the artist's website.

One way that simply isn't used enough is the direct sales approach. Telling people that certain pieces of work are available for sale. This tends to be looked on as crass, but think about it. In NO other industry in the world is it considered crass to tell people an item is for sale. People are shown information on the availability of everything from hamburgers to automobiles every single day. It's how they know what is available to them, and what the cost will be. There's nothing untoward about it. Of course, no one 'loves' commercials or advertising, but it is a necessary evil and both sides can benefit from it when it is done in an above board fashion.

So--- have something to sell? Don't be afraid to let the world know. You don't have to cram it down people's throats, or be obnoxious about it. Or you can, sometimes that works. Either way, no one will know what you have available if you are afraid to tell them.

AFRAID OF FAILURE - AFRAID OF SUCCESS OR JUST AFRAID OF RIDICULE

The direct sales approach is the one that inspires the most fear. It isn't just one single emotion that this type of sales creates. There are a couple of reasons people can be reluctant to use this method of sales for art. Some people are afraid to fail.

Afraid of failure - If you are afraid to fail you have already lost the battle. If you put your work up and list it for sale and no one buys it--you have failed, maybe. Not really though. So what? So it doesn't sell. You put it out there. That's the important thing. It may sell, it may not, but if you don't list it it will DEFINITELY not sell.

Afraid of success - That one seems the least likely, and yet, it actually happens a lot. People are afraid of what success will mean. For most people it is a big unknown, and people are afraid of the unknown. It is safer in the shadows. How can you beat a fear of success? Get over it, try it. You don't know until you give it a shot. If you become wildly successful and don't like it, quit! It is simple. It's easier than you might think to return to the shadows.

Afraid of ridicule - This is a big one for many artists. Since art, of all types, is largely subjective to opinion, what others think is a big fear for the artist. The only way to get over the fear of ridicule is to realize that it won't hurt as much as you think. If someone doesn't like what you do--so what. That's one person's opinion, and it isn't going to truly effect your life in any significant way.

So find a way to let people know about your work, and don't be afraid to promote it. What's the worst that can happen?

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Some Things Just Don't Make It All The Way

Well, I finished the abstract I was working on today. I have a love-hate relationship with it. There are things I REALLY like about it, and things I don't... so, it was a nice experiment, and a learning experience, but sometimes working on something just doesn't turn out quite the way you'd want it to. That's okay though. That's what art is all about, experimenting with different ways to express yourself. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but the only 'wrong' way to do it is to NOT do it.

Here's my abstract horses from today.

The shiny areas are just areas of wet paint that havne't dried all the way yet.

Early Morning Workout -- FINISHED

I finished the acrylic 9x12 Early Morning Workout painting early this morning (lol) at about 1:30 am. The horse and rider in the painting may not be up in the wee hours I was while painting them, but it makes me miss the early mornings before a show getting a last minute work in.

To buy a print of this painting CLICK HERE. Along with prints on archival paper, canvas and framed prints, they also have some really neat options such as cell phone cases, pillows and note cards.

Original 9x12 acrylic on canvas pad: SOLD

Saturday, March 28, 2015

On the Easel - WIP - Early Morning Workout 3/28

Finished the last of the under painting coats. It is a little lighter than I'd like. I'm going to have to tone the whole thing down with a dark wash somehow, unless I can darken it down in the detail painting. It's looking too 'afternoon' instead of early morning like it started out.

The Fine Art Advantage

I have tried a few places to make prints of my work available. Of them all, I really like Fine Art America the best. They have very reasonable prices on the acrylic prints for sale and tons of other styles and choices to look through. They also offer great advantages for artists that other sites don't.

Friday, March 27, 2015

On the Easel - WIP Early Morning Workout

This is an acrylic on canvas paper from a photo from the WetCanvas reference library. Did the drawing yesterday.

Did some of the under painting this evening.

Abstract Painting - Life in the Fast Lane

Completed today: Acrylic on 16x20 stretched canvas.
Title: Life in the Fast Lane

Original 16x20 acrylic on stretched canvas for sale: $800. Email me for payment options.

Prints in all sizes available HERE.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Where Inspiration Comes From

For just about any artist, whether they are writers, dancers, musicians or painters, inspiration is a pretty important necessity. It is definitely possible to create under 'the gun' without inspiration, but it is hard and often lacks feeling or the type of connection that causes others to connect with the creation. So, where does this elusive inspiration come from? (and it IS sometimes elusive.) I think for every individual the source is different.

For me, inspiration can be inner desire or passion, it can be interest or just a sudden impulse. What I do know is that regardless of where that inspiration begins, grows or occurs, I have to listen to it and enjoy it for what it is. It's one of the reasons my work can be so eclectic. Yesterday a horse, today an eye, last week an ocean shoreline, or dolphins playing in the sea. When writing, I can feel inspired by a romantic notion, idea or even anguish, or have a sarcastic cop character nudge my mind and insist on being heard.

Where does your inspiration come from?

Today I was 'seeing' my inspiration quite literally.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Arabian Head Study - Today's Painting

Today's work, a study on a horse head portrait.

Acrylic on Canvas board - original painting. No model, painting from memory.

Original 5x7 acrylic on canvas board: SOLD

Prints in all sizes available HERE.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Abstract - Roses

I actually started out doing something completely different with this one. I had begun to just create a background, and then decided I liked it more as an abstract so here is "Roses". Acrylic painting on canvas paper.

Original 9x12 on canvas paper: Available- Bid HERE

Prints in all sizes available HERE.

Summer Skier

Today's painting - "Summer Skier." I guess this latest snow blizzard here in Chicago has me dreaming even more about summer. There's nothing like boats, water, and even waterskiers that scream summer to me. This is a 9x12 original acrylic painting on canvas paper.

Ended up working a little more on this one, thanks to some suggestions from the folks at Wet Canvas, I added more detail to the boat to create a stronger focal point, and I fixed the untilted windshield (which I already knew wasn't right. lol)

Original 9x12 acrylic on canvas pad: Not for Sale

Prints available HERE.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Dolphin Play Fix

Quick shot of the corner of the Dolphin Play painting where I fixed the seal headed/duck-billed dolphin by turning into two dolphins (fixing the long body) and working on the original troublesome head.

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Time Lapse Creation of Acrylic Painting - Dolphin Play

Acrylic painting on canvas paper. This painting didn't turn out the way I'd hoped. There were several things I really liked about it, but I ended up with one dolphin that looked really a lot like a cross between a seal and a dolphin (seal head, dolphin body)... I still did a time lapse of it if anyone likes to watch them. I enjoy making them and have fun watching the sped up version of the painting, lol. After the video I did re-work the seal headed dolphin and I did manage to change him... into a duck billed dolphin!!! LOL

For the record... I fixed it! I'll get a pic of it tomorrow. I'm exhausted by this painting, haha. I ended up turning the troublesome dolphin on the lower right hand side into two (it was too long anyway) dolphins and I got rid of the beak on the initial dolphin head.

Artistically Bent