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Why Buy Art From Local Artists?

November 24th, 2012

Why Buy Art From Local Artists?

It’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Local Business Saturday this week. This time of the year is probably when one of the best opportunities to sell your work emerges, yet most artists don’t know how to take advantage of it. Some of them may even feel guilty about promoting sales at this time. For those of you who feel guilty about telling friends, past customers, family and acquaintances “Hey, consider buying from me when selecting Holiday gifts”, let’s consider a few things. Do you know what the 80/20 Rule is? Well it says that 80% of money spent locally stays in circulation locally. By promoting the idea of other buying your art, you are contributing to the health of your neighborhood! When someone buys art from you, they provide you funds which you in return spend on groceries, rent, clothing and other stuff (which hopefully you also spent in a local business!)
Taxes such as sales tax spent with you supports local infrastructure, police, fire and schools, stay with the community when spent in local businesses. The Tax Policy Center: (click here for the entire article), says that “Local governments received transfers from both the federal and state governments equal to about one-seventh of total revenue; from their own sources, they collected about $700 billion, or 17 percent of all government revenue.” When your friends and family buy from you they are helping to return money to their local economy, so you should feel no hesitation in pointing out to them that you are a resource for gifts!
Spending money locally shows pride in your community culture and local products. As a person who lives in the area you are more apt to locally recirculate money spent with you on your art in the form of purchases from other local business, thus supporting the local work force. When you give some of that money to local charities, even if it’s just the local boy or girl scout troop, or maybe the local food bank you are keeping money spent with you in movement. It’s a monetary loop that keeps people working to make the goods they and others purchase.
“I’m an artist, not a business person”, you shout. Well, I hate to break this to you, but anyone who wants to sell art is in business. According to Wikipedia, “a business (also known as enterprise or firm) is an organization or person engaged in the trade or sale of goods, services, or both to consumers”. Q.E.D. Business is NOT a dirty word. Businesses allow us as consumers to buy food, clothes, and gas. It allows us to find a place to live (real estate sales and rentals), and most likely it employs a lot of us who are not fortunate enough to be able to make a living selling our art. There is that word “sell” again.
Local Business Can Support Local Artists
• Local business can provide a mutual support base by being willing to allow artists to display their work for sale in their stores and offices. The artist will come in to see their art and most likely buy something from the business. The artist will also promote the business by telling their sphere of friends and family about having art in display in the business and urging them to come and see it.
• By allowing artists to promote holiday boutiques, shows, sales and events flyers in their business helps develop a mutual dependency.
Local Artists Offer
What value does the community receive when they purchase art from a local artist rather than from a national chain store?
• Well-made handcrafted items give a cachet to their office, home and gift giving. When giving gifts it shows the buyer not only thought enough of the person receiving the gift to take into account that person’s personal tastes, but took the time to check the gift out carefully.
• Buying art from local artists gives the opportunity for a personal experience one-on-one with the artist.
• The buyer has an opportunity to develop a personal and professional relationship with the artist.
• Art is individually created unique, versatile item. Why buy something indistinguishable from what everyone else is buying?
What Local Artists Can Do to Promote Art Sales:
• Remind past clients, friends, and family, church and organization members that they are a resource for buying holiday gifts.
• Offer items for sale as “Christmas specials”.
• A bonus or discount off a future purchase if the buyer refers another buyer who actually purchases art. This type of promotion is done all the time in other industries; it is sometimes called a “referral commission’. No money is actually paid until the other buyer makes his/her purchase and mentions the name (or brings in a coupon) of the referring buyer.
• Adapt some art into small affordable reproductions (cards, small prints, puzzles, ornaments, cups, etc.) for sale at a holiday boutique or Studio Open House

Finding The Right Support As An Artist

November 11th, 2012

Finding The Right Support As An Artist

When I started to take my art seriously, I knew that peer group association was important for me to grow as an artist, but finding the right art group to join was a little frustrating. Why is it so important to associate with other artists? Well, although you can create art in a vacuum, if your art is never evaluated by your peers, you may simply be stuck repeating the same type of art and art subjects at the same skill level forever. Peer groups challenge us to stretch our skills, reach for new goals and generally provide support when we are feeling down. Therefore, it is important to seek out those who are Sympatico with our ideals and feelings about our art. Local art groups can be invaluable in this area. Let’s face it, while our friends and family members may ooh and ahh over our art, they really can’t provide an informed opinion about it. In addition, most of us suspect they are praising our art because they love us, and not really because they actually love our work or are really interested in art. Close family and friends also seem to devalue our work as artists because they consider it to be of secondary importance to our place in their lives.
I was sure that other artists usually wouldn’t fail to recognize how important my art was to me in the way friends and family might, because their own work is just as important to them as mine is to me. Therefore, I went looking for other artists to spend time with. The easiest and fastest way to meet many other artists is to join a local art group. However, as I said, I knew virtually nothing about any of the local art groups in my area, so I simply joined most of them. In fact until I got to know and talk to some of the members of the first group I joined, I didn’t realize how many other groups there were in my area. I then went to as many activities sponsored by each group as I could to get to know how each group functioned. To my surprise, I discovered that while most of the same local artists also belonged to many of the groups, each group did have a different “feel” to it, depending on the group’s mission statement and who was actually directing the groups focus. In my area alone there are five or six art groups, all with different standards and goals. One of the alliances is simply a painting group that gets together to talk, paint or draw and critique each other’s work. Another aims its standards for professionals and is very picky about what they accept in their shows. A third group is warm and welcoming to new artists and seeks to encourage its members to strive to improve their skills. All of these groups have valuable insights into the local art world. While I do maintain my membership with most of the original groups I joined, I did finally find the group I consider my “home” group. Once you do find the right fit, you will also find the friendship and support you are looking for in your peers.
However, If you are not feeling the love in the group you joined, then you need to do some honest evaluation of that groups focus and aims and what you were looking for when you joined. You need to decide what it is about each particular group that makes you comfortable or uncomfortable. While only you can draw these conclusions, I do have some markers that can be used to aid you in making your assessment.
1. What are the goals the group has set for itself?
a. Do you agree with them?
2. What were your goals when you joined this art group
a. Friends
b. Career advancement
c. Improving your skill set
d. Has it met your expectations
i. If not, why not?
3. Have you been a member long enough to have made a genuine attempt to get to know the other members?
4. Are you comfortable with the majority of the group’s socio-economic status?
a. Why or why not?
5. Are you comfortable with the majority of the group’s education level?
a. Why or why not?
6. Are you comfortable with the age/sex of the majority of the members?
7. Do the other members respect you as an artist?
a. As a person?
8. Do you feel the criteria used in selecting winners at the group’s sponsored shows is fair?
a. Why or why not?
9. Can you find topics to discuss with members at group functions?
10. Are these people you would enjoy spending time with outside meetings and group functions?
11. Are the other members friendly to you?
a. If not, they why do you think they are unfriendly?
After evaluating your feelings about the group, then you need to make a decision as to whether to stay with the group or move on. Sometimes you may find that it is not one, but several local groups that give you what you need. Once you do find the right group fit, you will also find the rapport and encouragement you are looking for in your colleagues.
Good Luck
Gail

The Blogging Jungle

November 5th, 2012

The Blogging Jungle

Why Blog? All the Internet marketers say that creating a blog presenting a wide variety of information of interest to your customers, both about your Art, the art world, your local art community and more is a great way to promote yourself and attract visitors to your website. Also recommended is to create a newsletter and write articles on a variety of issues relating to art collectors, buyers and the local art community and distribute it through your blog. Report on the latest happenings in the art world. This is a great way to generate daily visitors to your site. Plus frankly, it’s a great way to be able to feature your solutions to the issues through links into appropriate pages on your site as part of a report.
A lot of the sites I where I have art also have an automatic link to Facebook and/ or twitter. Whenever I blog, I check the automatic update to these sites which then posts a link to the blog. In this way, I save time spent promoting my work. Doesn’t this sound so simple and easy? Well to my sorrow I found out that Blogging’s not as easy as it sounds. A little like thinking you can do a major remodel of your house without any construction experience just because you watched some home improvement show! Oh sure, I can write the blogs no problem; however finding a blog site I can use and setting it up turned out to be harder than it looked. Then I discovered each Blog post had to be promoted with the same stuff I was using for my art on my website (SEO, etc.)
At first I tried two of the best publicized: Google Blogger and WordPress, and I do confess the Google Blog Tiger has eaten me. Both Google and Word Press do say you can start out free and then upgrade which I was in favor of as I didn’t know for sure which site was going to work for me. A year later and after many frustrations and downright silly mistakes, I paid Google the $10/year fee for my domain name and succeeded in losing my entire blog. When I loaded a blog up on Google after the upgrade, it showed as long as I had the Google Blogger open, but as soon as I closed it, the blog disappeared and the message “no longer in use” appeared on the site. To the best of my knowledge, any blogs I created there went into LaLa land! I have tried in vain to find the domain name I paid for without success and Google is NO help whatsoever. Google’s tutorials are awful and their help forums never seemed to cover what I need. Google has no e-mail contact for customer service so you can’t ask them to do research and find your blog. I tried the search site without luck. The idea of not having a customer service contact seems to be a recurring theme with independent blogs as I encountered the same issues with Word Press whom I no longer use for the same reason.
Am I the only artist who can’t find a blog that is easy to sign up for and use? There are lots of free sites out there in the wild and wooly internet, but Baby it’s a jungle out there! A lot of the free artist sites do offer a free blog along with the free web page, but their blogs don’t seem to get much traffic except internally; however some of them are making improvements with this issue; notably interfacing with Facebook and Twitter.
I generally blog on multiple web sites for the same reason I have art on those sites; exposure, exposure, exposure. I have rated the sites I use from 1 to 10, with 10 being highest.
SiteName Rating Share Features Notes
ArtId 8 Over 50 share options, including Linkedin
ArtistSites 3 none
Fine Art America 3 none
Fresno Arts Net 5 Facebook & Twitter
Gail Daley’s Fine Art 5 Facebook, twitter & Google Have to close site and go back to it to share
My Space 5 Facebook, twitter,tumblr & Google
Sell-Arts 3 none

The biggest issue I have encountered so far is actually the twitter/Facebook link; sometimes I end up with multiple tweets or notices to my Facebook page about the same blog. I try and avoid this by not putting the same blog at the same time on every site (I have a chart! Yes I had to make a chart to keep track of where I was posting what). I also have a blog on my print store and my site for original art as well as the local art network. Why do I use several blogs as well as web sites you ask? I do it because it increases the chances of someone new checking out my blog and then maybe going on to buy my art. Let’s face it; we all have favorite sites where we look for things, so by using several different sites it increases the potential of reaching more prospective customers. The free sites were definitely more user friendly than the stand-alone sites like Google and Word Press however.
I also recently tried AtContent, another Blog site. They were actually a lot of help in constructing the actual blog, and they also allowed me to tell everyone about it. However, I discovered to my sorrow that the blog link they had me use was blank. When I clicked on it after a complaint came in from a LinkedIn user, it too said, “Blog not found”.
Instead, I have been uploading my blogs onto my web site, closing the site, and then going back to the site and promoting it by using the Facebook, twitter and Google+ sharing methods I installed. Very Cumbersome, but it does work. I also always upload to ArtId because of its fantastic sharing abilities (the list shows about 50 different network sites!) and it is the best for blog sharing.
The real solution to blogging jungle of course is for all the sites to add more sharing options and for Google Blogger and Word Press who do draw a lot of traffic, to actually install customer service links (NOT links to those useless user forums!). Their site designs are beautiful with lots of features, but they DO need to add customer service.
Good Luck!
Gail

I Am An Artist So Why Would I Need A Lawyer?

October 23rd, 2012

I Am An Artist So Why Would I Need A Lawyer?

I Am An Artist So Why Would I Need A Lawyer?
It seems never to occur to most artists (with some notable exceptions) to have a lawyer look over the contract their new Gallery or licensing company wants them to sign. Why not? Well, a couple of reasons might be that the artist is just so thrilled to have an actual walk-in gallery or licensing firm offering to display or sell their work that the artist overlooks making sure their rights are protected, or that the artist simply can’t afford to hire an attorney.
There are several types of contracts an artist might be involved with.
• A contract commissioning a piece of art.
• A consignment contract with a gallery to sell your work,
• A licensing agreement to sell prints, cards or commission work to be translated into other art forms (plates, tiles, textiles, etc.).
• An agreement with an agent to sell or advertise your work.
• An agreement with a venue (non-gallery) to display or sell your art.
• Booth rental space at an event.
When are the times when you should have someone with legal experience take a look at what you are signing? Well, if you can afford it, anytime you want to be paid for your work, but if you are a starving artist, can you afford a $60/hour retainer? Probably not, however you do have some other options. If you ever find yourself in need of legal representation, you can try Lawyers for the Arts. Most states have either a volunteer lawyers for the arts organization or regular lawyers for the arts who if you ask for it will sometimes give you a bro bono consultation to see want you need.
VOLUNTEER LAWYERS FOR THE ARTS (VLA) is both a generic term for a number of legal service organizations located throughout the country. It is also the proper name of an organization in New York City, Founded in 1969. That organization is the oldest VLA in the United States. Many states also have their own non-profit organizations: In California, Bay Area Lawyers for the Arts (BALA) was founded in 1971. When BALA expanded to Southern California joining with Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts--Los Angeles, it was renamed California Lawyers for the Arts. There are more than 30 VLA programs spread around the states. Lawyers for the arts is not a single organization, but a network joined by similar vocations providing a range of free or low-cost legal services and educational programs to tackle the needs of artists and arts associations for all genres of art and artists
Each organization functions independently. Most of them are nonprofits but some are affiliated with arts councils, arts service organizations, bar associations or business for the arts programs.
Several of the platforms include
• Legal services through referrals and sometimes on-site consultations;
• some host legal clinics; alternative dispute resolution including mediation and arbitration;
• accounting services;
• law student internships who are usually a lot less expensive to use and can overlook contracts;
• educational programs on topics like contracts, copyright, estate planning, taxes and nonprofit incorporation;
• Most of them also carry publications on a broad range of issues.
In CALIFORNIA, if you are looking for an attorney, you can also go to: http://www.CaliforniaAttorneyReferral.com, or you can try someone from the list below:
• Beverly Hills Bar Association Barristers Committee for the Arts 300 S. Beverly Dr., Ste. 201 Beverly Hills, CA 90212 (310) 601-2422 http://www.bhba.org/Committees_Sections/Barristers-Comms-10-11.htm
• California Lawyers for the Arts (Sacramento) 1127 Eleventh St. #214 Sacramento, CA 95814 (916) 442-6210 http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/
• California Lawyers for the Arts (San Francisco) Fort Mason Center, Building C, Rm 255 San Francisco, CA 94123 (415) 775-7200 /http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/
• California Lawyers for the Arts (Santa Monica) 1641 18th St. Santa Monica, CA 90404 (310) 998-5590 http://www.calawyersforthearts.org/
• San Diego Performing Arts League 110 West C St. #1414 San Diego, CA 92101 (619) 238-0700 x. 16
Please keep in mind that some of the address and phone numbers may have changed. Since I have never used any of these firms, I have no idea of their quality, fees or abilities.
Even if you don’t see the need to have legal advice on every little thing, there are some issues you need to make sure are covered in any contract you enter into.
• If this is a commission sale, when is to be completed and how soon afterwards are you paid?
• Is the Gallery or Agent requiring exclusive rights?
• When are payments due from consignment sales?
• How long does the consignment last?
• If there is a reception who pays for it?
• Who hangs the art?
• If the hanging causes damage who pays for the repairs?
• If the gallery or venue goes out of business make sure your art cannot be considered part of the gallery assets or they could be sold to pay business debts in which case you won’t receive any payment for your work.
DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION IN THIS BLOG IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY; IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE. EACH SITUATION IS SPECIFIC; CONSULT YOUR CPA OR ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR SPECIFIC BUSINESS QUESTIONS.

How Do Copyright Laws Affect You As A Visual Artist?

October 3rd, 2012

How Do Copyright Laws Affect You As A Visual Artist?
The visual arts category on the U.S. Government website, involves pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including two- and three-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art. Examples include paintings, photographs; original prints; art reproductions; cartographic works (maps, globes, and relief models); technical and mechanical drawings; and architectural drawings, plans, blueprints, or diagrams. Copyright protects an author’s specific expression in literary, artistic, or musical form. Copyright protection does not extend to any idea, system, method, device, name, or title.
The United States Copyright Office was created to serve the copyright community of creators and users, as well as the general public. Here you will find all key publications, informational circulars; application forms for copyright registration; links to the copyright law and to the homepages of other copyright related organizations; news of what the Copyright Office is doing, Congressional testimony and press releases; the latest regulations.
Copyright Basics - US Copyright Office U.S. Copyright Forms
Form VA - Copyright form Visual Arts Form VA with instructions
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
Due to fast-breaking developments in the electronic storage and transmission of images, an artist is expected to have a good understanding of copyright law and how it is interpreted in our rapidly changing social and high-tech landscape. "The complex and challenging issues of copyright are now part of the daily reality of all artists who work with images".
Two basic aspects of copyright as it applies to visual artists are: what rights the artist or designer has to their own work, and what accountabilities they have when using the creative work of others. Unlike pre-internet days, images are now being broadcast all over the world and it is difficult to hide copyright infringement. Using copyright protected images to create art cheapens your portfolio; it isn’t good for your artistic integrity and you can be sued. Digital cameras now cost so little that everyone can take their own reference photos. Artists can also search the internet for photos that allow re-use (just check the “owner allows re-use” in your search filter).
With the creation of Flicker and Facebook among other photo sites, Visual artists can’t help living in an environment saturated with images. As Artists we are influenced, whether consciously or unconsciously, by everything we see around us in books, magazines, TV, the internet, and in advertising. If you use photos as reference images, you should use your own photos or public domain images. Look at the photo for inspiration but add your own creativity and "artistic license" to make the final image your own. Make sure that your image is not an exact copy of the photo. A word of warning: the “10%” use doctrine touted by many as a defense can be very subjective in a court of law and I wouldn’t want to depend on it in front of a judge. For more information on this subject, I recommend:
http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/197870/Trademark/Not+All+Is+Fair+Use+in+Trademarks+and+Copyrights
To Review
• These days, almost all things are copyrighted the moment they are written, and no copyright notice is required.
• Whether or not you charged money doesn’t make any difference to Copyright violations; only the damages you might have to pay out will be affected by how much money you made on your sale.
• Postings to the internet are not automatically in the public domain, and the fact you found it there doesn’t grant you any permission to do further copying except maybe the sort of copying that might have been expected in the ordinary flow of the net and only a judge can make that decision.
• Fair use is a complex doctrine meant to allow certain valuable social purposes. For more Information on Fair Use, go to http://www.copyright.gov. Ask yourself why you are re-doing what you are working on and why you couldn't have just used the subject in your own style.
• Copyright is not lost because you don't defend it; that's a concept from trademark law. The ownership of names is also from trademark law, so a name can’t be copyrighted although it may still be protected under Trademark laws. If you want more information on Trademarks vs. Copyrights go to: www.uspto.gov/trademarks/law/tmlaw.pdf.
• For those writers among you Fan fiction/slash and other work derived from copyrighted works is a copyright violation; while the owner may ignore a few fun stories presented on their characters or story lines, if you try and sell it the owner will have to take notice in order to protect their copyright.
• Copyright law is mostly civil law where the special rights of criminal defendants you hear so much about on TV don't apply. Watch out, however, as new laws are moving copyright violation into the criminal realm and who knows what the future may bring. Remember all those people who went to jail or got fined millions of dollars from downloading music?
• Don't rationalize that you are helping the copyright holder by using his or her stuff; often it's not that hard to ask permission.
• While posting E-mail is technically a violation, revealing facts from E-mail you got isn't, and for almost all typical E-mail, nobody could wring any damages from you for posting it. The law doesn't do much to protect works with no commercial value.
Watermarking for Digital Images
Watermarking your work can be a way to protect your art from pirates, but nothing is foolproof. There are a couple of different types of watermarking you can use: visible and invisible.
Invisible Watermarks: Can be used for copyright protection and recognition of digital images. Unfortunately an invisible watermark may slightly alter your image. Also the technique is so new that there is not yet an “industry standard.” Please be aware also, that watermarking has not yet been tested in the court. However, most commercial printers such as Kinkos and Copy Max’s Impress use software that can detect watermarks and will refuse to make copies when they detect them. Eikonamark is one of the Software programs available for casting "invisible" watermarks on digital images and detecting these watermarks. However, I have never used it so I don’t know how much distortion it will cause to your images.
Visible Watermarks: Putting a visible watermark on art that you post to your website identifies it as yours and hopefully discourages pirates. If you have Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, look under the “Security” section of the setup dialog. You can add a semi-transparent overlay to many images automatically when you use the Web Photo Gallery Creator feature. Watermark Factory is one of the software programs to help you to protect images. You can add a visible watermark to your digital images and photos. The watermark can be your copyright or the URL of your site or your logo or just about anything else you choose.

Books on and about Copyright
The Permission Seeker's Guide Through the Legal Jungle by Joy R. Butler
All About Right for Visual Artists by Ralph E Lerner & Judith Bresler
The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook by Nancy E Wolff
The Writer's Legal Guide: An Authors Guild Desk Reference by Tad Crawford & Kay Murray
Digital Copyright By Jessica Litman
DISCLAIMER: THE INFORMATION IN THIS BOOKLET IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY; IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE. EACH SITUATION IS SPECIFIC; CONSULT YOUR CPA OR ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR SPECIFIC LEGAL OR TAX REQUIREMENTS OR QUESTIONS.

Dealing With Vilification Of Character Or Work On Social Network Sites

October 1st, 2012

Dealing With Vilification Of Character Or Work On Social Network Sites

What response do you make when some person posts a negative opinion of you or your work on your website or a social network site? Some tips on what you can do about this without starting a major public feud and how to turn a negative into a positive action. Congratulations. You now have a brand new web-site (or blog site). You have spent hours designing it and putting into it everything you think will help you make it popular. Whether you created this site in the hopes of developing an audience for your writing, selling your art, promoting a non-profit organization, business or for some other reason your new site is precious to you and you need to share it with the world at large. There are so many ways to do this beginning with sending e-mails to friends and family, advertising on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google AdWords, etc.
Most of these sites have suggestions as to how to reach other members to tell them about your new site. After you have followed instructions from these sites to publicize your work, in a couple of days when you call up your site to see if anyone has actually looked at it, and among the positive comments posted, you discover that someone has written something ugly either about the site, your work or you and posted it on your site. This is a little like having someone kick your baby and you are justifiably offended. The question is what do you do now?
In answering this I’m going to make a couple of assumptions: 1) you haven’t done anything to the negative poster to make them want to embarrass you by publicly posting ugly comments to your site, and 2) this isn’t someone you know well because obviously if you were well acquainted with them you wouldn’t have sent an invitation in the first place. If you are like me your first impulse would be to slap back at this person. This is entirely a normal reaction and it is a perfectly understandable, human impulse to strike out at what injures us. However, I urge you not to give in to this impulse. If you start an insult slinging match by posting a nasty response to the negative comment on your site it will only increase the adverse impression of your site with potential customers and visitors that this person has created. It also will make you look unprofessional and probably detract from your sites message which should be about the work or ideas you have presented there.
You can take positive action when this happens, but first you need to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Your first action should be to find out a little about who this person is and how they came to visit your site. When you do find out this information I advise you to resist the itch to retaliate by posting something ugly in return on their site. I understand you would like them to know how you felt but this will only escalate matters, so don’t do it! Once you know who they are, simply remove the comment from your site and if the site offers this feature, arrange to moderate any future comments posted. If the person posted the comment using Facebook or Twitter, you may need to change those settings also to require comments to have your approval before being posted.
You should realize that if this person received an invitation to view your site the invitation may have come from you, especially if you were innocently following suggestions to increase your circle of influence put out by LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Google. All of these sites encourage members to make new connections by checking out other members who are interested in the same things, belong to the same groups, follow the same companies, etc. and send out invitations to connect. These suggestions are not necessarily bad; in fact you may make some valuable acquaintances and good friends by using them. Please be aware however that the old adage about kissing frogs also applies; you may also have unintentionally reached out to some people who practice behavior my mother used to call “rude, crude, and socially unacceptable”. You won’t be able to screen these folks out ahead of time because this kind of character reference does not get posted on their self-created profiles! Hateful people exist and they just love to spread their discord and repulsive behavior onto others. The positive thing you can do I mentioned? Sometimes it helps to visualize yourself blowing a big, noisy, fat raspberry at this person, and then start a “Do Not Send” list and check it before you send out invitations to view your work. Good luck!
Gail

Tips On Photographing Your Art For The Web

September 14th, 2012

Tips On Photographing Your Art For The Web

Presentation is everything. A poor presentation can make the difference between getting a sale and being accepted into an on-line show. For the judges to get an accurate idea of your art, the image you send must match the colors in the art and be sharp and clear. For many of us, taking a good photograph of our art is hard. Before you send off the photo of your art you should 1) make sure that the size of the photo agrees with the directions given by the prospectus, 2) make sure the image is sharp, clear and not distorted, 3) check the colors in the photo against the actual art to make sure they are correct. I am not a professional photographer, but I do manage to take credible photos of my work without paying a pro to do it for me. Here are a few tips that might help those of us who are “photo challenged”:
LIGHTING:
• Make sure you are taking the photo in an area that doesn’t cast shadows on the work. Personally I use the front of my garage and I do it between 11:00 am and 12:00 noon. I have simply put a nail into the wood at the appropriate height for the camera and then I rest the painting’s stretcher bars on the nails. If you are using paper or canvas sheets you can put the sticky stuff teachers use to hang students artwork on the wall to the back of the art (just make sure it is level).
• Make sure the sun isn’t glaring on the work so there are no shinny surfaces to reflect back at the camera. If you are working with watercolor or pastel then take the photo before you frame it because glass will reflect back at the camera also. Personally I also take the photo before I varnish acrylics to cut down on the glare caused by the varnish.
DISTORTION
• Make sure that your camera is aimed squarely at the art. It helps to use a tripod; you can align the front two feet of the tripod squarely with the art so that you aren’t taking the photo at an angle that will cause one side of the art to be larger than the other. If necessary use a tape measure to make sure the feet are an equal distance from the art. A tripod also helps to prevent blurring is caused by your hand shaking. Most of us don’t think our hand moves when pushing the button, but it does.
• Use a small hand level to ensure that the camera is not angled either down or up when taking the photo as this will also cause distortion.
CAMERAS
• You don’t need an expensive camera to take photos of your art. Canon makes an excellent quality digital camera for under $300; it is very user friendly. As a plus, the newer models also take video so you can use this setting to record art shows and then upload to Facebook, U-tube and other social network sites.
CAMERA SETTINGS
• When taking the initial (raw) photo of your work, be sure to set your camera to take fine or large files and take at least 3 exposures of each artwork.
EDITING YOUR PHOTOS FOR THE WEB
• The least expensive and easy to use photo editing program is Photoshop Elements. It has tutorials and is fairly easy to learn.
YOU SHOULD HAVE THREE TYPES OF IMAGES
• A large resolution image (between 1 and 2 MB) to use if you decide to make prints of your work
• A medium/low resolution image to put on your website (between 1 – 2 KB). This size is usually too small to encourage attempts to pirate your image because it probably won’t make prints any larger than a 5 x 7 without blurring, but you can add digital watermarking with Elements.
• A small image (between 200 and 125 pixels) for thumbnail images and record keeping.
• You should keep photo log with both high- and low- resolution photos of your work separately from your desktop computer. A working copy can be kept there, but be sure and back up your files each month onto a separate disc or jump drive. Be sure to keep the back-up copies of these items in a separate place and up-date your back-ups monthly. Once your records are lost due to computer crashes, natural disaster or any other reason they are gone. Good Luck!

You Can Find My Art Online At These Sites And Here Is Why I Use Them

August 31st, 2012

You Can Find My Art Online At These Sites And Here Is Why I Use Them

Do you have an internet presence? If you do, are you getting value for your money? Do you have only one site, or do you use many? I use about 5 – 10 sites regularly and I selected most of them for specific reasons which I have given below. Why do I put art up on so many sites? Well, frankly, I do it for the same reason Ann Landers syndicates her column in so many different newspapers: so I can get more exposure for individual art pieces. The more widespread your art is throughout the cloud, the more chances it has to be seen. This also gives me the experience of looking at the individual sites and seeing what different artists have done with their sites.
Though painful (and expensive!) experience, I learned to analyze each site I use and to check out how much traffic they actually draw. Some lessons I learned along the way: not to use sites that demand a lot of money up-front, not to depend on the site to promote my work no matter how much I am paying them. Why not depend on their marketing if I am paying for it you ask? Well, just economic basics really. Each site is in the business to make money the more artists that use them the more money they make which means I am not their only customer. Although most of these sites have automatic promotions for their artists, it doesn’t guarantee you will reach potential buyers.
Reason number one for using multiple sites is exposure, exposure, exposure. Reason two is while most of my sites do have some features in common which creates overlap, they are also a way I can increase my Google presence by linking them together. Reason number three is that we all have favorite sites where we look for things, so by using several different sites it increases the potential of reaching more prospective customers. Reason four is more problematical: I want to be taken seriously as an artist and one way to do this is to have a business presence, and investing in an internet web site is a lot less expensive that opening an actual gallery. If you want to check and see if you are being taken seriously as an artist, ask yourself if when friends and family talk about your art usually they say you have a hobby. Then ask yourself if your name would be the first one thought of if they are looking for art for their home or business? I will just bet you that it isn’t. Sad but true and one way to impress upon customers that you are a “real artist” is to spend money on a business presence.
My Sites
GAILDALEYSFINEART: GailDaleysFineArt is my own web site which I use to promote information concerning my art, my activities and myself. At one point, I paid lot of money for an “on-line store web site” which sold relatively little; despite all the SEO (search engine optimization) stuff the host site recommended I simply wasn’t reaching very many buyers. I also discovered several drawbacks to selling original art on-line; the most exasperating of these was shipping costs. I once sold a small painting to a customer in Canada and found that it cost as much to ship out of the US as I made on the art! I had the same experience when I sold a print. So I simply put up a notice on my site that originals were only sold inside the continental US. It was a tough decision, but I also scaled back the site to a more informative platform. I can still sell art from it, but I now negotiate each asking price, and I found an alternative place to sell prints of my art.
FINE ART AMERICA: GailDaleysPrintShop . Fine Art America is a great site for prints; you set a base price for the sizes of each print and FAA posts a price that includes their commission. Customers can choose canvas prints, Wrap Style: Black, White, or art prints with any kind of fine art paper. I can sell more prints at lower prices because FAA can print cheaper than I can locally. If the customer orders a frame or mat, I also get a commission on the sale of the extras. The site also offers prints of my work in cards individually or in sets. Shipping and sales tax is automatically computed and doesn’t come out of my profit. Whenever I post a new painting to the site, I can automatically up-date my Facebook page and twitter as well as several other sites, like Stumble on and Pintrest. As a bonus, the site also has a blog that I use. It is relatively inexpensive $30/year.
ARTID: I chose ArtId principally because of the no-cost link to E-Bay store as I discovered early on that listing art on e-bay can be costly. Either prints or original art can be posted. E-Bay is enormous and the competition is fierce so any method I can use to get my art posted not requiring a fee is a plus. ArtId is easy to use if you aren’t very familiar with the internet and it does have some nice features. While it has a free membership, with a “Silver” membership (around $20/month or $240/year) you can unload an unlimited amount of images and also get to list your art free on e-bay. It has links to PayPal, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube; the site also has a blog feature.
ARTISTSITES ArtistSites.org is a site I discovered when I was first exploring the internet. It is free and it also has a blog. Unfortunately if you are a buyer it is not a particularly easy site to use or find a particular artist. For one thing, there is no search box where you can put in an artist’s name, and while the artists are divided by last name, (for me you would look under D), once you reach your designated letter the artists aren’t in any particular order. It also appears to be used mainly by other artists. However, I do maintain it and I find the comments from fellow artists both helpful and interesting.
SELL-ARTS Sell-Arts.com is another free Site. It is also user friendly, and it has links to PayPal, a blog, a forum for artists that apparently isn’t used very much, and, probably the most interesting feature, an Art News section featuring articles from local/national/international newspapers and magazines. I maintain it because it increases my internet presence.
ARTISTSLIKEOURSELVES: The site was created for artists by artists that I discovered in my early internet days. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a high Google presence; when you search for it oftentimes you get an error message, so I while I maintain it, I don’t list it with other links on my personal web site. This isn’t an easy site to use for a buyer either; when you do find it, like Sell-Arts, there is no artist search. It is designed for use by visual artists, writers and performers. The site more or less forces you to interact with your fellow artists because while it doesn’t cost money to become a member, in order to post art you need a certain amount of “credits” which you obtain by viewing and commenting on other artists work on the site. Artists like Ourselves uses a 'credits' system to promote expression of both art and the artists' opinion of others' art. When you sign up, you are given 50 credits immediately. Each time you upload a picture, painting, musical piece, poem etc. you are charged 10 credits. This means that you are able to upload 5 pieces immediately. To earn extra credits, you can send feedback to other artists about their work. Each time you send a comment to another artist, you earn two credits, so in order to upload one new painting, and you need to look at 5 from other artists.
ARTANDDESIGNONLINE ArtandDesignOnLine.com is another site with dual type membership: Free and paid. I found it in Artist’s Magazine. Although I set up a page on this site I don’t utilize it much. However the search engine is super easy, and with a free listing you are given a basic account with up to 4 photos, a subscription to Art and Design Online Newsletter, a personal My InnerCircle © account, full access to comment or network with fellow artist's/gallery listings, a personal Event tool and Calendar, and basic access to the Email Blast tool. The paid membership is relatively inexpensive around $10/month or $120/year.

Why Do I keep mentioning Blogs as a plus when choosing a site?
I have a whole blog on promoting my art which I will cover later. Just be aware that blogs are another way to let people know about you, about your art, and what you are doing with it.

Should Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus be shown in a Public Venue

August 21st, 2012

Should Paul Rubens Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus be shown in a Public Venue

Should paintings or nude statues be shown in a public setting such as a Library or Mall? As a visual artist who sets up art displays in public places, I am very aware of our American society’s standards of what is considered acceptable for public consumption. All societies have these standards of behavior and yes, the standards do evolve with society. 60 years ago, Tarzan of the Apes was considered too sexy for the libraries! What is acceptable in Europe is quite different than what is acceptable in America also. American standards are usually much more conservative than those prevalent in Europe. In this financially strapped time, Libraries are very dependent on donations to purchase their materials. Let’s face it; donors are simply not going to purchase materials they don’t like and they won’t give money to organizations that do. Just as a person isn’t allowed to scream “fire!” in a crowded area for fear of causing panic, as a society we will always need to make judgments as to what is appropriate for our public libraries to spend their money on. And yes, in the past governments have been very heavy handed on what was considered appropriate. On that subject, the right of Private adult individuals to decide what they will read and see must always be defended. The internet has virtually ensured that free speech will be protected; As long as it exists, artists and book publishers will be permitted to sell these items (in the appropriate venues), and I don’t think we need to be too worried about government imposed censorship.
Is there a difference between a Rubens classical painting and Playboy? Most of us think so. And yet some of his art is probably more graphic than a Playboy centerfold and this image certainly shows violence toward women. Nevertheless most museums would have no hesitation in displaying it in a public venue.
A great many "women’s romance" novels do contain what used to be called soft or “vanilla” porn (sexual situations which are sometimes graphically described although I find the authors usually use euphemisms). These novels ARE purchased by libraries; I have checked them out myself. The main difference between hard pornography and these novels is women’s romance books usually don't also contain profanity in describing the sexual adventures of their heroines, and although the libraries do purchase books, videos and games containing graphic sexual themes or graphic violence, these materials usually aren't kept in the juvenile section. Most county libraries require a parent’s permission for a child to check out materials from the adult section. Is this censorship? Absolutely. Is it appropriate? As a parent, I have think so. Children often lack the maturity to put what they are reading and seeing in context and require adult interpretation to help them do so. If an adult is there to provide an explanation of, oh—visuals of the Nazi death camps or the Manson murders or the books “Helter Skelter” and Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood”, then it can be appropriate for a child to see those images or read those books. Only a parent can truly judge whether or not their child could handle such graphic images, or if the child has enough of a grasp on the difference between reality and fantasy to be allowed to play a video game that is rated “mature”, read an explicit book, look at a Rubens painting or watch such a movie. For myself when setting up a public art display I find the following criteria helpful in judging whether or not reading matter or an art display will be acceptable to the general public: 1) the context in which it appears; i.e. A painting, recording or a book containing graphic sex or violence will be much more likely to be acceptable if it contains historical facts. 2) The age of the audience the video game, book or display is intended for. I agree with the view held by most Americans’ the subject matter should be age appropriate. So Yes, Censorship can be a positive force if used properly.



Learning Your Craft as an Artist

July 20th, 2012

Learning Your Craft as an Artist

Juried art shows are an opportunity to learn more about your craft. In the art world, a “Juried Show” means a show that has an actual judge who has been paid to choose the best art out of the entries. Usually there will be a non-refundable entry fee per art piece, and cash and awards will be given to the winners. Entering a juried show means you are putting your art out there to be judged. You should always enter what you consider to be your best work to date. Keep in mind though, that your art may not be accepted into the show. Does this mean that you are a poor artist? Or that your art is “bad”? Not necessarily. A juried art show is a subjective format and there are many reasons why your art might not have been accepted. It may simply mean that the space to display art was limited. Perhaps the art was good, but your presentation (framing/matting) detracted from your art and the judge preferred art that was better presented. Or maybe this just wasn’t your best work.
If your art wasn’t accepted by the judge, you might consider having an artist whose opinion you respect critique the work for you. Please be careful with this; the person who does the critiquing should be a more experienced artist with some knowledge of technique and the principles of art. We love them, but the opinions of our friends and family who don’t know any more than we do about art really aren’t useful as critiques. In many local shows, the judge will offer critiques as they judge, and a member of the art group putting on the show will have been assigned to follow and write down what is said. If the judge offers a critique, pay attention.
Above all, don’t take this type of rejection personally. Nationally known artists get rejected from shows also. Sometimes the judge just doesn’t like the subject matter or maybe he/she doesn’t care for the colors, or the shape, etc. The point is: don’t ever expect to enter a show and win or even automatically be accepted. You are probably going to kiss a lot of frogs before you get the prize! For some shows just getting accepted is major. Every juried art show should be viewed as an opportunity to learn more about your craft.

 

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