The Joy of Digital (or "Why Take Lots of Photos") and an Important Announcement!

 

I've been meaning to make a little post on this -- specifically about the benefits of taking LOTS of photos.

I've created eight large paintings and several small ones from this same "photo shoot" of this herd of sheep I came across somewhere in North Texas years ago. And I still haven't exhausted the possibilities.

I must say, when the conditions are just right - the light, the subject, the time - you'd best run with it, and keep snapping!  Good fortune smiled upon me when I found these sheep.

On this public Patreon post you can read some tips on scoping for photo refs, more about how I found these sheep, and a little gallery of all the paintings (15!) I've done so far from them. ...Be sure to read all the way to the end, for my favorite features in a camera and a terrific digital camera reviewing site!

Now for an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

The Feedburner team announced that their email subscription service will be discontinued in July 2021. As a result, Blogger’s email subscription widget, also known as FollowByEmail, will be turned off. Specifically, the email subscription system will no longer work and subscribers to Google blogs will no longer receive email updates.

SO! If you're receiving this post via email, I thank you for your subscription, but you will no longer be getting these delivered to you from my Google Blog after next month. 

But don't despair! There's a way you can still get my Art Journal musings in your inbox! Simply follow my public Patreon Posts. Sure, Patreon is a subscription-based creative support platform, but you don't have to pay anything for my public posts, and just about all of my new work gets posted on my Patreon page, along with occasional art tips and extra info like this post.  CLICK HERE to go to my Patreon Page and right below the membership levels, next to a button that says "share" is a button that says "follow". It's that easy! (Browse around my other free posts while you're in there..)

Thanks so much for following my blog. Here's to many more years of following my Patreon, and to many more years of creative thinking!

On Judging Shows...

 

I recently had the privilege of being a judge and/or juror for three pastel exhibits and I wanted to share my experience with you! 

I love judging art! I feel like I have fairly good judgement when it comes to recognizing what is a strong work of art based on certain basic criteria which I will talk about in the link below. Plus, it's fun to have the power to decide the fate of an entry and to imagine how someone will feel when winning an award!

Read my comments on the six winners of the MidAtlantic Pastel Society on this public Patreon post, along with what I look for when judging artwork, my experiences judging the animal category of the Pastel100 and jurying for the Pastel Society of New Mexico.

Getting Ready for the WWAF - with free interior photos

 I'm Photoshopping my art into copyright free interior pics for the Woodlands Waterway (virtual) Arts Festival!

A friend told me about a couple of useful websites for copyright free photos. Unsplash.com and Pexels.com. If you do a search in these sites for "interior decorating" all kinds of interesting pics will come up, that you can sift through and find some with walls that will suit your artwork! And these sites really are copyright free and free to download the images! No attribution required.

Then, with the magic of Photoshop (or any photo editing app with the ability to adjust colors and create a drop shadow) you can "hang" your art in these beautiful rooms to stimulate the imagination of potential buyers!

Here are the above photos as I found them, before hanging my art...

 

I Photoshopped these at last Saturday's Virtual Open Studio day. I've been busy trying to do this with much of my current painting inventory to prepare them for the Woodlands Waterway [Virtual] Arts Festival coming up. (...Seems like "virtual" has become the world's favorite adjective these days!) 

(I've also been taking evening walks with the hubby while the weather has been so nice, so my time for these [virtual] tasks has been kinda short lately! But winter will be here soon enough. Gotta enjoy these temperate days, especially in south Texas!)

The recording of this Photoshopping will be available soon on my Patreon page (at the Bunny Buddies level.) Oh yeah, I haven't yet mentioned my new Patreon page on this blog yet! I'd love for you to check it out! I hope to make it my general blog/vlog with art tips and news, plenty of public posts, and all things Pastel! Right now it is anchored to my Virtual Open Studio Days (born out of the Covid stay-at-home) and my two main levels on Patreon have access to all the video recordings from the Studio Days. Lots of pastel demos!

I'm thinking I may slowly blend this blog into the Patreon page (as public posts) so I'd love for you to follow my Patreon page ("following" gets you the public posts, kinda like a blog.)

Who's the Boss?

"Parked Tree" (pastel, 12x9 inches)

Well, a week ago I said I'd take the Daily Painting thing one day at a time, and I made it a week. I had an epiphany yesterday while working on my newest batch of underpaintings, and I realized that when the pressure of the Daily Painting Machine was creating Stress in my life, then it was time to stop taking it so seriously! I mean, who's the Boss here, huh? Ok, I know I have workaholic tendencies, and I'm very serious about living up to the goals I set for myself - and most especially the Goals I post online for all to see! (...which is sometimes the only way I ever get anything done, lol.) And I've done 30-in-30's before with no problems (or at least no problems that prevented me from getting it done) so on the one hand I couldn't understand why this first month of my new open-ended Daily Painting Goal should be so difficult.

Really! But several things coalesced yesterday in my mind and foremost of those thoughts was the simple and pure Enjoyment I was getting out of working on the new batch of underpaintings. So much that when my stressed out workaholic pointed out to me that if I didn't pause this batch process and get at least one of these pastelled to the finish for yesterday's post, I wouldn't have a post for the day.

yesterday's batch of underpaintings... first layer finished

UGH!! That thought was SO annoying that I only gave it about 5 seconds of consideration before replying, "Shut. Up! I'm HERE. In my STUDIO. WORKING, and ENJOYING it. And how DARE you interrupt me and tell me what to do!!"

So, I continued to finish the first underpainting layer on all 19 new little paintings-in-progress, then I went back to the house and made dinner.

After dinner, my competitive left-brained workaholic needed to justify my flippant decision to skip a post, so I looked up a few of my favorite Daily Painters and collected some data...

I was happy to find out that Julian Merrow-Smith had posted 267 paintings in his first year, and an average of 203 paintings per year across the 15 years that he's been posting his famous Postcards From Provence. Carol Marine, my personal introduction to Daily Painting, posted 319 in her first year as a Daily painter, and 225 per year average across 13 years. And so just out of curiosity I checked on Duane Keiser, the "original" Daily Painter, and found that he had a whopping 388(!) posts in his first year, but an average of only 111 posts per year for the following 14 years.

It seems my impression that "Daily Painters" actually post daily on a continuous basis has been a myth all along. (Although starting off strong seems to be key!)

I'm so relieved!!

To top if off, this morning on the way to the grocery store, someone talking on NPR who had written some book was saying that these days it's important not to stress yourself about work. Just do what you can and make sure you allow yourself time to just "be." I only heard a snippet of the interview but that part really hit home.

So, my new revised Daily Painting Life Goal will be to paint and post as often as I can enjoy doing it, and just try to beat my 13 posts/month average as much as I can.

And, oh yeah, NO STRESS!!

Have you had any recent arguments with your self over how to use your time or what you think you need to do vs. what your soul cries out for? (Sometimes what you really need to do IS what your soul cries out for!) I'd love to hear from you!

.

Careful What You Wish For

"Mooove Back!" (pastel, 16x8 inches)

Our times have changed so dramatically in such a short time. Just two months ago I was sketching portraits for my 25th year at the San Antonio Rodeo, surrounded by hoards of people (well, on Saturdays at least!) Then I woke up one day in March and it seemed as if my entire calendar for the foreseeable future was wiped clean.

For the first couple days of cancellations, I was frankly shocked and a little depressed, wondering where my income would come from. But at heart I've always been one to take life as it comes and follow the opportunities that life presents to me. An idea from another artist prompted me to have a Studio Sale, which has been quite successful thanks to my wonderfully supportive clients! (You know who you are, and Thank You!)

In week 2 and 3 of these strange isolated days, the new reality has begun to settle in, and I've been seeing this as a golden opportunity to handle those critical actions that have constantly been pushed to the bottom of the to-do list since 2016... namely CLEAN UP THE COMPUTER, and the surrounding office! 😂 (and next.... the Master Closet!?)

But humming just beneath the surface of all this domestic activity is the strong, pervasive desire that has been plucking at my mind for months, digging it's way through the frustrations of juggling several businesses and scheduling conflicts. That little voice is telling me "I just want to be a Daily Painter!" In the tradition of Julian Merrow-Smith, Dwayne Kaiser and Carol Marine.......... Drop the events, the craft shows, the festivals... I just want to paint, and post, and see where that leads.

(I've been half-heartedly attempting to paint daily since 2011, but my average has dropped off. Sure, the unwritten "rules" of Daily Painting are not as firmly followed as in the early years of the movement. Even the big names don't paint/post EVERY day any more. But most of them did - for years!)

So the little voice is saying "..What are you waiting for? We've cleared your schedule... "

I'm filled with sadness and regret that it has taken a global pandemic to finally bring this little voice to the forefront. But that just firms my resolve to make this opportunity worth the effort. I'll be taking this adventure one day at a time, and we'll see how far it goes.

I sincerely hope you have not had any friends or loved ones severely affected by this virus. How have the forced stay-at-home rules and the changed situations affected your daily life and your future goals?

Today is Day 1 of April. I invite you to follow along with my journey and I'd love to hear from you!

Follow my Daily Paintings

Background Binds (What to Do?)

"Mondo" with photo reference

I recently had an inquiry from a friend about what do do with backgrounds.

Hi Rita, 
I just discovered your art recently and I love the colors and the expressions of your animals, just beautiful. I am struggling to learn to paint in pastels myself, and deciding when to use which color is especially difficult for me. I was wondering how you determine which colors to use in your backgrounds for your animal portraits, do you have any tips?


Color is a complicated question, and one that I've learned is answered best by "value and temperature." I recently wrote an article on my Art Journal Blog about this, see here: http://ritakirkmanjournal.blogspot.com/2014/11/value-and-temperature-or-how-do-i.html

Backgrounds can sometimes present the greatest challenge in a painting. Especially when the painting is of a recognizable subject that holds its own as a center of interest and is easy enough to paint using a reference. But what about when your subject is surrounded by other objects that you don't want to include?

Sometimes, in my reference photo, I find that the background is perfectly lovely and I want to paint it exactly how I see it (..This doesn't happen very often!!) Usually, I have to use artistic license:

"Azul" with photo reference

I usually ask myself when I'm building up my under painting, "Do I want this subject to stand out boldly from the background, or do I want it to harmonize subtly with the background and the painting as a whole?"

If I want to be bold I use contrasting values. (dark behind the light parts and light behind the dark parts.)

"Bianca" and "Inky"

If I want to be subtle and harmonious (a more recent goal of mine,) I try for analogous colors and very close values from subject to background:

"Paella" and "Mr. Frost"

And usually, my subjects are outdoors, so in what I call my simple "default" background, I habitually use the standard laws of atmospheric perspective, and use cooler (and sometimes lighter and/or more neutral) colors in the far background, and warmer landscape colors in the closer background:


I've also gotten into the habit of keeping the backgrounds "fuzzy", meaning no crisp edges anywhere in the background. This helps with the feeling of  a soft focus that sets off the subject by contrast, and remains "farther away."

As a last point,always try to use some of the same colors in your background as in your subject. This will help assure color harmony, no matter which other value contrasts you're aiming for.

After a while, you'll learn how to completely ignore what's in your image background, and create a background that will best support your star subject!

(Personally, larger compositions have tended to give me the most background troubles. If you'd like to read more about my struggles with backgrounds, here's a perfect example from a while back. I wrote about "Leader of the Pack", in two posts:
http://ritakirkman.blogspot.com/2010/08/newest-cow-painting-progression-photos.html
and
http://ritakirkman.blogspot.com/2010/10/leader-of-pack-finally-really-finished.html)

"Leader of the Pack" (2010, pastel, 32x32 inches) first finish and final finish

Thanks for reading! I'd love to hear from you if you found this helpful!

 .

Judging the PGE Member Show

A few weeks ago, I was asked by Dorothea Schulz of the Pastel Guild of Europe to be the judge for their "Get Dusty" Online Member's Show for the month of April.  I was honored to accept! Past judges from the shows include Jacob Aguiar, Adrian Frankel Giuliani, Jude Tolar, and Christine DiMauro, among many others.

April's theme for the competition was Baby Animals. Awww... who could resist? And based on my own work, I guess I was eminently suitable for judging. Dorothea sent me the link to the entries last weekend, and I enjoyed viewing them for a couple days before making my choices.

See the entire show here!

There were only 16 entries. They are a small group - but very talented!! It was quite as difficult to decide on the placements as it would have been with 10 times the entries, mainly because almost all of the works were of equal quality, with a variety of strengths in different artistic ways. 

I wanted to share with you here my picks for First, Second and Third Places, and the three Honorable Mentions that were allowed. All of the entries demonstrated strength in values and draftsmanship, so I'll be commenting on the additional qualities that made these six stand out in my viewings.

First Place - "Harley" by Claudia Chimenti

The composition was the first thing that struck me about this precious puppy portrait. The variety of flowing diagonals, enhanced by the strong warm light and the relaxed and trustful pose of the puppy make this a powerful painting. Chimenti is also wise in her choice of a limited palette, using shades and tones of whites to set off Harley's brown patch. The reflected light blues in the shadows are very well done. The simple, un-fussy handling of the background and sleeve fabric are the perfect frame for the more detailed rendering of this adorable face, while the bits of warm salmon-brown color pervading the entire painting allow his brown patch of fur, as the one main area of vibrant color, to still harmonize with the whole.

Second Place - "Explorer" by Dolores Saul

Light, color, texture, and a moment captured in time are what I see first in this little wild Explorer. The subtle handling of the warms and cools within the various tones of fur are masterfully done! The wonderful textural contrasts of the finely detailed fur, to the ripples of the water, the middle-ground grasses, and finally the very loose, gestural rocks in the background, create a convincing sense of depth. I like the unconventional pose withing this otherwise traditional portrait composition (the subject centered within the area of the painting.) The cat is looking off to the left, as if something there has caught his attention, and in a moment he will leave the frame. But this doesn't encourage our eyes into leaving; the sunlight streaming on the cat's face holds our eyes, and the bits of dark along his shadowed side and in the background bounce our eyes around and down the right side, and back up the sunny side to his face...

Third Place - "Triplet" by Elisabeth Blass

This one got the "Awww!" response right off the bat for me, but I might be a sucker for ducklings in the light. Then the more I looked beyond that initial cuteness, the more I liked. The arrangement of shapes and patterns within this square come across as refreshingly spontaneous without being awkward, which makes me suspect they may have been very carefully composed. Even though the two ducklings closer to us are offset in high contrast by the shadowed rock, our eye still jumps back to the duckling above, who, in spite of being mostly the same value as the water, appears to be more strongly bathed in the bright warm light because of the temperature contrast of the blue around him.
Fresh and spontaneous describes the pastel application as well!

Honorable mention - "Ducklings" by Karin Kießling

Balance, contrast and harmony. Incredible color harmony for one; the entire painting looks like it may have been done with shades and tints of just three colors. The balance in this composition is sweetly calming, just as the visual of these ducklings are for our eyes. Almost symmetrical, but not quite. Held in place by the reflection which touches the bottom edge. The amazing detail of the wet feathers is contrasted by the smooth, calm surrounding water.

Honorable Mention - "Guarded Childhood" by Eva Schläfli

Yes, baby animals -- what's not to love? This painting perfectly exemplifies a mother's love and a baby's safe haven. Once again, wonderful color harmony. Excellent detail without looking overworked. The close cropped view with the chimp's face centered is another almost-symmetrical composition, but the subtle variety of angles created by the hand, arm, and head create a sweet cocoon of comfort for this baby chimp, and pull us back to the expression in the face, and most especially, the eyes.

Honorable Mention - "Puppies" by Ute Farr

Speaking of expression... These are the happiest puppies I've seen in a long time! This one's all about the JOY and the FUR! In fact, in spite of there appearing to be no discernible light source (the reference may have been a flash-front photo?) Ms. Farr was able to create a wonderful depth of fluffiness within the subtle varied tones of warm and cool whites, blues and violets that make these coats so believably thick. The simplicity of the background and the sofa edge support the strength of this traditional portrait pose.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed the show, and check out the rest of the Pastel Guild of Europe's site!

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How to Start Pricing Your Artwork

So you want to sell your art, but don't know how much to ask? 

I recently had a question from another artist who wanted my opinion on what price she should put on a particular painting. It took me a few days to get back to her because I didn't have any ready answer to her question. The short answer is, "It depends."

What is it worth to you?

The long answer is complicated, and might not tell you what you want to hear. There are a lot of variables that can go into the pricing factor. If you're new to selling work, and you have no other examples of size/quality/price from any sales you've already made, than the simplest way to go is to ask yourself what is it worth to you? Make sure you are getting a return on your supplies and your time, and then add a bit more for how good you feel this one is compared to other work you've done.

What's the size?

Once you have a few sales under your belt, you can begin to price on size. For example: You sell an 8x10 acrylic on canvas for $200. Then any other similar paintings (genre, level of detail, etc) in 8x10 will be $200. You can then set your other price sizes based on this price per square inch ($2.50.) When demand begins to exceed your production, you can raise your prices a bit. 

What's the Venue?

It can also depend on the selling venue, and what other artist's paintings are selling for in that same venue. For example: If you are in an art festival or gallery where the average painting in your genre/size is selling for $800 to $1200, then your $200 8x10 is at the risk of being viewed as inferior by the collectors shopping there, because most collectors at a certain level believe that artwork is worth what they pay for it, and they'll think you must not value your work if you price it too low, and that there must be something wrong with it. (This mentality took me YEARS to finally "get"!) 

On the other end, if you're in some small town crafts fair where the range of merchandise price points is between $10 to $75, then $200 for an 8x10 panting might be out of the customers' price range. However, that wouldn't necessarily mean you couldn't still have the $200 price tag on an 8x10 original there, but you'd do better selling simple, small paintings, and prints in the lower price ranges.

If you're not selling in any venue that includes other artists, it becomes more subjective. For instance, if you're just selling to a friend, you need to weigh your need for an income with how close is this friend, and how much can they afford? In my experience, friends and family usually want a really good deal* (*i.e.: free.) In essence, you'd need to weigh the value of the friendship against the value of the painting. Some fortunate artists have wealthy friends who appreciate the value of the artwork. ;)

What about Online?

If you're selling online, the venue (some kind of art-selling site? Or just off your own blog? Facebook?) can sometimes have an impact on price, but not so much I don't think, because of the sheer volume of public out there that can have access to your art if they know where to find it. Online art buying does tend to be lower priced than other more traditional outlets (gallery, art festival, brick-and-mortar art show). Usually because of the high level of competition that artists face on the internet, and the low overhead (almost all of the sale price goes to the artist, except for payment fees, like paypal, site fees if listed on a subscription-based site like DailyPaintworks, etc, and any other brokerage type fees, if in a web-show that takes a cut, for example.)

How to price your art on the web, if you haven't sold your work before? 

I would recommend one of two methods:

1) Fast method: What did the materials cost you? How much time did it take? Consider materials plus $20 - $50 / hour depending on how fast you work. Then round to the nearest "easy amount". Example: the 8x10 canvas was $6. You bought the paints for $60, but expect to get a lot more use out of them, so maybe just factor in $3 of paint. You put a $50 frame on it. The painting took you 4 hours. So that's $80 - $200, plus supplies is $139 - $259, which you can round to $150 - $250.

2) Time-consuming method: Research! Look around online at other artists work that is similar to yours in genre, medium, style... When you find artwork that has prices listed, read up on the artist's website to determine their level of experience. Collectors might also be looking at this data to determine whether this artist's work is a good value. Artists with more experience, awards, shows, commendations, gallery representation, etc, will have a higher perceived value. When you have come up a list of artists who's work is similar to yours, and have noted their prices for certain sizes of work, you can make an estimation of value for your own work, comparing to your experience level to theirs.

Perhaps this method will leave you more confused and unsure than ever. I've not done any research like this online, but can imagine, especially having seen sites like DailyPaintworks.com, which has pretty huge pricing variations between artists, and an endless variety of artists from beginner through professional. (That site might be a good place to start a research actually. Many of the member artists have their own websites as well.) Just know that for a beginner, you have to start somewhere, and it's easiest to start low, and increase your prices as your experience, quality, and clientele increase.

A place to start..

I've just touched upon these pricing concepts from my own viewpoint, but hopefully have given you a place to start. There are more aspects to be considered, such as when to increase your prices, how to be flexible and still be consistent, and pricing commission work. You can read more thoughts about these topics and more concise info on pricing at these great sites below:

http://www.agora-gallery.com/advice/blog/2016/03/29/how-to-price-your-artwork/
http://www.artbusiness.com/pricerealistic.html
http://theabundantartist.com/5-art-pricing-lessons/
Read more about pricing artwork per square inch on this good blog post I found on artistrunwebsite.com.
And this post on artworkarchive.com explains about three good formulas for pricing your art.

Scan Pastel Paintings for Better Prints

A recent question from an artist friend asked about how I get good image files for making prints:

"I wanted to tell you that I think your art is beautiful and inspiring. I work with pastels also. May I ask you a question: If you do giclees, what is the best way? Is there such a thing as scanning the art, do you take a photo?"

Here's my answer (with a few revisions to make a better blog post!)

Yes! Scan it!

I do scan all my artwork, whether I make prints or not, so that I have an accurate, high-resolution image file for my records. I highly recommend scanning artwork (and pastel is perfectly fine being placed down on the glass.) My current scanner is an Epson V700; it's been the best one I've had so far, and has lasted the longest.
Scanning small works are easy, as they fit well in the scan bed:

I've also learned not to be TOO picky with getting an exact color match on the print (I had a cheap little hp scanner years ago that really captured exact color - except couldn't separate the very darkest values [has to do with D-Max rating]) Every scanner will be a little different and you just get used to learning how to get the best out of it. This Epson came with Silverfast SE software which I really like.

Scan vs. Photo 

Sometimes I will just photograph a painting if I'm away from home and need a quick post. The best way, in my opinion, to photograph artwork (if, like me, you don't have all the expensive photography lights and meters to balance everything perfectly) is to set the painting on a shady porch in daylight and, standing right over it, aim straight down with your camera and zoom in to just around the painting, making sure the edges are squared with your viewfinder. (If the painting is too large to stand over, lean it against the house instead.)

Cameras with better lenses will capture better quality images of your art, but there can be variations in temperature that are hard to manage without professional lighting and know-how. And, in my own experience, the clarity and crispness of the tiny details always seems to fall short through a camera (at least with pastel anyway.) Usually, a good camera photo will be sufficient for an image posted online, what with all the variances in other people's monitors anyway, but I really prefer a scan when I want to make a print.

To show you an example of a painting that I photographed and also scanned, here's "BFF" (16x16 in.) in both images. The slightly warmer image on the left was from the photo. The other is much more accurate tone and clarity (scanned.)

This is even more noticeable at full resolution, which you can see in the cropped images below (click and zoom in for a better comparison.)

Large Pastels on Small Scanner?

And yes, the scanner is just a normal desktop size, but with larger work I scan in sections and splice it together in Photoshop. I actually lay the scanner on the floor, move the painting carefully between scans without dragging, and wipe off the glass every few scans. (A heavy book comes in handy when weighting edges and corners to keep the large painting on the scanner bed.) It is labor intensive but still MUCH cheaper than going somewhere that has one of those huge flatbed scan things. (It's also much easier when working on a stable surface like gatorboard or some other board. A large work on paper would really need to be mounted on a firm surface to keep it flat over the scanner.)

Here is what one of my large paintings look like right after I scan it, and before it's put together. Each of the separate parts is one scanned area. In Photoshop this would be 16 separate layers.

The extra section with the nibbling ear is the first section I scanned. I always start with an area that has the highest contrast so that the scanner can get the greatest range of lights and darks accurately metered. I also overlap each section to give myself leeway when assembling the whole. (And also because when the painting is face down on a scan bed, it's hard to see where its scanning! So I move it in short increments to be doubly sure I'm not missing any parts.)

Then, after it's all put together (that might be info for another post...) ...Voila! A 300dpi full-sized image ready to print.

Breaking out of the Creative Rut

"Lennui" (Boredom) by Gaston de La Touche, 1893

A friend sent me a message last month abut what to do to get out of a creative rut. It was a timely question, as I was just then trying to pull myself out of a 5 month dearth of creation.

She wrote, "My hubby says YOU SHOULD DO SOME PAINTING... I know, I know... I don't know what to do to inspire me... What methods would you use to get yourself out of a rut?"

I replied:
GOOD QUESTION! Especially now when I'm kind of in a painting drought myself. However, mine (or so my excuse goes) is not a creative rut, but a lack of time. Weeks ago there were other variables involved, but now it's become an unfortunate habit to fill in the days with 'necessary life functions', previously-ignored household and business chores, and newly-developing family obligations. Couple that with getting older and moving slower and the days seem like they're each about 2 and a half hours long! Before I know it another month is gone.

But I'm not helping much in that last paragraph! Sorry!

When I'm in a creative rut, the best thing to do is something different. When I was tired of painting cows etc one summer I did a little series of road sketches from photos out the windshield on vacations.

If you're having difficulty actually getting started, then start with a list. Over wine (or coffee, or your favorite refreshment, or bubble bath) have a little relaxation time and let your mind wander. Think about "what ifs..." what would you like to paint/draw if there were no obstacles, scheduling conflicts or painters block. This is easy to imagine because you can let it be a fantasy... When you're not actually in front of your blank canvas there's no pressure! Just imagine.

Now, write down all your ideas and go to bed.

If you're lucky you'll dream about actualizing your art ideas, and the next day you'll be excited about getting into some of them!

If you still can't just jump in, let your list of ideas brew for a few more days while you make a schedule of 'drawing/painting time' and put it on your calendar (put it in all the empty places after all your immovable priority necessary life stuff is written in). Then go back to your list and start planning. Visualize. Set goals.

Then, when it's time to jump in, you'll be a little bit more prepared. It still might be difficult but the starting is the hardest, as you probably know is true of so many things in life. Once you start the rest is easy and you'll wonder what took you so long!

A favorite quote from James Wyeth: "I do more painting when I'm not painting; it's in the subconscious."

Some other anti-rut ideas:
Visit a museum, walk in a park, browse art magazines, see a ballet or symphony, visit a zoo (my favorite!), take a road trip, watch a demo, take a workshop, browse youtube art videos, join a plein air group, enter a theme-specific art show, browse through your 300+ gigabytes of photo files (my other favorite!)

Well, sorry for the book here. But thanks for giving me an excuse to exercise my creative art-writing brain! (And I might actually use this as a blog post... multi-tasking, yea!)

Good luck, hope this helped!
Rita

PS: this post might have some helpful info also: http://ritakirkmanjournal.blogspot.com/2013/01/what-inspires.html

Does an Artist Need a Website?

I had a conversation with a friend the other day, about whether a professional artist really needs a website.

Kira asked: "Rita, may I ask you a side question? Does a professional artist need a website? How can I argue that I really need one? My husband is software engineer, so I can use his help, but he is not sure that a website is more useful than a couple of social networks."

I replied:

Kira, that's an excellent question! I suppose one's attitude might depend on one's budget. But in my opinion, an artist can't afford NOT to have some online presence where they can showcase their work. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to pay for a professional site. There are many free or low-cost options including blogs, etc.

(Tip: Google "free or low cost websites for artists")

Another important point is that if, as an artist, your goal is to sell your work and make a living as an artist, then you will do better to take advantage of ALL avenues of exposure that are available to the limit of your budget and time. After all, as marketing genius Eric Rhodes (of Fine Art Connoisseur and Plein Air Magazine) says: "No one will know who you are unless you tell them!"

In this day and age, if an artist doesn't have a place online where prospective clients can go to see their work, they're missing out on a huge chunk of possibility, because really, where else is someone going to see your work without traveling to a gallery, a show, or your studio? ...The internet is the queen of convenience!

Another thought... professional sites such as FASO.com may seem expensive to someone who's never paid much for a website, but a site like this pays for itself in the life of a professional artist by saving time, ease of use, and a professional image which many collectors respond to.

As for a couple of social networks being more useful... Personally, I think blanketing the social media sites on a consistent schedule (daily! or almost daily) is a LOT more valuable that just having a website alone. But I also think having a place where people can go to see all of your work easily in one place is a valuable tool. I think that could be done with a blog too... I've seen blogs that have various 'pages', but I've never looked into that with mine (from Google Blogger) since I also have a website. I think most blogs are free? I know Google Blogger is free and very easy. 

I think a website is like a business card. It's something to give people (a link to) where they can see your work and contact you, but also read about your accomplishments, see what you're up to (like the sites that have integrated blogs), and even sign up to receive emails (newsletters, or website updates) from you.

You should be the judge of where you are in your career and whether it would be justifiable to add the effort/expense of a website. You may want to start a blog at least. Lots of people like to browse through blogs, and that can also be a way to interact with your public with demos, and casual conversations about art and how you do what you do. Prospective clients love being able to get into the mind of an artist, through writings that you can make about your work.

I like to use my Daily Painting blog as a 'jumping-off' point for all my social media posts, and frequently include a link back to my blog so people can see progress shots of the work I'm posting that day. And then, on my blog I have links for my books, workshops, and other sites.

There's no such thing as too much free advertising, and IMO, every avenue of social media / online posting/sharing/blogging that there is, is one that you should to try to fit into your schedule.

As an added reference, you might want to read another of my posts, which includes a run-down of most of my marketing habits...

Good luck!
:)

Spring Cleaning (the pastel box)

IAPS 2015 Pastel Convention Next Week!! Yay!

I'll be driving up early in hopes to be pulled off the wait list for the Sally Strand pre-convention workshop, but in case I'm not, I'm looking forward to some mornings plein air painting in Old Town. 

A quick decision had me cleaning out my travel pastel box (a Heilman backpack box) last evening, mainly because after I'd cleaned it out four years ago (before the 2011 convention!) I'd noticed that I'd put the cool colors at the front and the warm colors at the back.

my box in 2012

See the little holes near the hinges in the middle? The convenient easel slides in there, so that's actually the back or "top" of the palette. Since I like working with my warm colors closer to me, this arrangement makes it inconvenient to use the attachable easel.

I wish I'd gotten a photo of my box before I cleaned it last night. (this shot's from at least 3 years ago) I hadn't realized how desperately it needed cleaning until I got all the pastels out and started slapping the foam strips against the inside of my trash can... Woah! Time to turn the air cleaner on Turbo! I ended up taking the vacuum cleaner hose attachment to each strip as well as the lids. Since I didn't have time for soap and water, it worked well enough, and by flipping the foam over it was almost like having a new box!

I also ended up with a huge pile of bits (almost) too small to use and shards of old pieces that were buried in the cracks...

A few of these are old favorites, so one of today's tasks will be to (try to) find the other halves of these among my extensive backup stock, if I still have them.

I've made a little box of cherished gems that I know I will need to search for at the IAPS "Candy Store" since I'm pretty sure these are the last bits of these colors I have...

Yea... any excuse to shop for new pastels! Lol!


And here's my clean box, ready for some plein air painting, and with plenty of space for some new colors in there among the blues and greens maybe...

So tell me... Am I the only one who goes years between cleaning out the pastel box?? When was the last time you cleaned yours? I'd love to hear from you!

Gallery Talk and Reception in Rockport, Texas

Last Saturday, May 16, was the Reception and Gallery Talk for my show Beauty of the Beast and multi-media artist Billy Keen's show Sacred Voices, at the Rockport Center for the Arts, in Rockport, Texas.
Billy has the Main Gallery,

and my work is showing in the Garden Gallery, the lovely room added in 2000 to this historic building.

Lisa Baer of Estelle Stair Gallery and Taylor Hendrix (Director of Operations at the Art Center) did a fabulous job hanging the shows. If you have the opportunity to visit the Center in person, it will be well worth it!

The Gallery Talk, hosted by Lisa, was a lot less stressful than I had feared (sitting in front of dozens of people and speaking!) thanks to Lisa's thoughtful conversational guidance. And I was lucky enough to loan my camera to a volunteer who caught the whole thing on video!

Here it is, after 3 days of editing in Windows Movie Maker. I added still shots of the shows at the end of the video talk, and found some beautiful music to accompany. Enjoy!

(I tried to update the thumbnail to a not-so-blurry shot, but it's stuck on this one! Two or three blurry moments in the whole thing, and it had to pick one for the thumbnail! Huh.)


Here are some more shots below...

Billy's show:

And mine:

Reception Night:

Before the Talk

Me and Billy