A Smile in the Making

Working on some items and during a break was surfing through some sites/connections. I had posted a link to the White Bear Lake Open Canvas yesterday, but I hadnt realized they updated the website.

There are more photos from the two events they held. Take a look at their site and the photos from 2005 & 2006 to get an idea what the event is like. Brought back fond memories. White Bear Lake Open Canvas

Also take a look down the page at the promo videos Mike Judy did. I guess if you appreciate goofy humor you will get a kick out of them.

I had passed up on a tall dresser at the Newark Marshall's last week and when I went to get it it was gone. Even tho I have a studio upstairs and a room with the computer, I find myself wanting to work in the breakfast room which has a lot of light as it has windows on three sides. So I needed something for storing things so they didnt stay on the table.

I was out and about today and I stopped at the Marshall's in Wilmington just to see what they had and I found this dresser that had larger drawers and was cheaper. I didnt care that it was black (I can always paint it) and the drawers are made of canvas -- what better for an artist to paint?

As I stood in line at the check out, several of the people in line commented on it. I generally am not that impulsive and I had driven the Beetle today, so I wasnt sure I was going to get it home.

BTW, that is my friend Margaret Hearden's painting on top. She does wonderful paintings of fruit. This is of peaches. She uses the paper wrappers from real peaches and paints on gallery wrap canvas. Her work can be found at Blue Dolpin House in Door County Wis.

Other interesting things happened today. Will post about them later.

PSS. Just a note. Brett Favre isnt going to retire. At least 8 articles on today's Green Bay Press Gazette online. None on Philly.com. I am a little saddened by that. But then I also am glad not to have Packer news constantly lead the local tv news. Much easier to be a Packer fan out of state as it isnt in your face all the time. Plus I am learning to look at the colors green & gold in a whole new light. :-)

Friday when I was out, one of the places I stopped at was Gallery One on Baltimore Pike in Concordville. It is across the street from the Briton Lake Shopping Center. I had passed by it several times on the way to I-95 and I had always wanted to stop.

I talked with the owner, Lanette Badel for quite awhile. Very nice lady. I did find out that techincally they are located in Concordville, but officially it is Glen Mills. She had gone to school in Iowa, so she was very familiar with grid vs spaghetti road challenge I am faced with here.

I was quite pleased to see a variety of art. Traditional, contemporary, bright and somber. I saw some pieces by an artist named Markov. Heavy textured earthtones with shots of bright cadmium reds. I asked if it was caustics (melted pigmented wax), but Lanette said that it was oil.

She also sells alot of Mitch Lyons work. He does prints using clay as a base. His studio is not far from where I live. I had stopped at his open house over the holidays. Thought he had an interesting technique.

I was surprised to find that Lanette does printmaking & engraving, but also does large sweeping abstracts. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. I would think that it would be a bit of a challenge to go from fine detail to broad strokes -- hmmm. Maybe not a challenge to go from one to the other, but a challenge to keep the styles consistent.

The gallery definitely had an artists feel to it. I would have liked to stayed and talked more, but it is a business after all. So I left when some customers appeared at the door. I am sure I will be back.

Went in to Philadelphia today. Was suppose to meet with some other creative business types. Ended up being cancelled after I had already left home. Fortunately I had arranged to meet another artist, Kim Senior, beforehand. (More on her later).

We decided to go to a restaurant in her neighborhood, Pizzicato on 3rd & Market.

It was right on the corner, lots of windows to see the street outside. Warm golden faux finish on the walls -- not overly done. Our waitress was quite pleasant and patient with us. We had tea and salad and good conversation.

Towards the end, the manager, Jack, came over and asked how our meal was etc. Nice engaging guy. Kim & Jack talked about Venice and Italy. And we got to talk about our art and other artists. Even talked about Brett Favre and conspiracy theories (tho not at the same time).

An older couple came in as we were getting ready to leave. Sounded like they were regulars there and from my experience tonight, I can see why.

The Decorative Painting Apprenticeship Program will be holding workshops on various painting techniques at St. Cornelius Church at 160 Ridge Road in Chadds Ford starting in March and running through August.

Kim Senior will be teaching a workshop on murals.

Working on a new piece. I don't know why I didnt take pictures of the progress sooner.

This is all done with acrylics and rubbing alcohol. I have lost count, but I would say it probably has about 6 layers of color with clear coats in between each.

This is just the background. Going to add some more elements after sanding.

Had trouble posting on my other blog this morning. So going to try copy and pasting.

Top photo is where the painting is currently. I applied some red glazes to the top part of the structure and used a plastic bag held in an accordian fold. I kind of helped it along by applying the glaze in some strokes beforehand.

Bottom photo I decided to play around in photoshop some. I struggle with wanting to make things look like something and was getting away from my intention to just "suggest". I felt like the bottom right needed something more than just some splattering of reds. Right now it kind of looks like a winky face with a smirk. Probably will try taping off a shape of some sort.

Decided to try and work on getting things on Cafepress. Why is it that some things look so easy to do? I had already set up an account. Just needed to get some product in it. So I chose a mug. I thought I would have that available for my fish images.

Took time last night to set up images on the template they provide. Got the basic template set up with my name and info on one side so all I had to do was change the artwork on the front side. Saved it as a PNG file as that is what was recommended by Cafepress and put them all in a "mug" folder on my computer.

Well, by the time I figured out how to upload and choose I product, I realized that I could only have image per product in the free shop. A premium shop which would allow multiple images per product would run about $5-$7 per month depending upon length of commitment. I may give that a try.

So then I was looking at what I did manage to upload into the shop. I clicked on a larger image view and there is a little note saying you get exactly what you see. What I saw was some blurriness. I set it up the way and DPI they had recommended. Now I have to go back and figure out what I did wrong. Arrgghh.

Waiting on approval for sketches on a small illustration project.

Thought I would share a bit about illustrationg. I am represented by Wilkinson Studios out of Chicago. They deal primarily with educational materials publishers.

I used to think it would be so great to be an illustrator. Dont get me wrong, I like doing it, but it is not what I had expected. I see posts on some of the art message boards about how they would love to illustrate a childrens book. I watch Desperate Houswives and Susan (Teri Hatcher's character) is suppose to be a children's book illustrator. Well, I dont know how she can afford that big house of hers with all the running around she does. Hardly ever see her working. She must have a trust fund somewhere or got a good deal on her divorce! :-)

It's alot of work, when you have it. You dont have to be the greatest artist (look at the books out there), but you do have to meet deadlines and be flexible.

It also helps to be able to draw people/characters in action and doing things. I struggle with this part alot and I think it is the hardest part of illustrating.

You have to get in the client's brain sometimes as sometimes they are specific and sometimes not. And even when they are specific, you wonder what they were thinking.

It helps to know industry terms. I was not trained in that field and so I ask alot of questions from my rep.

Later, I will post about how I got represented.

Several years ago, I found out about the Artists & Graphic Designers Market resource book. It comes out annually and lists companies in different businesses (book publishers, greeting cards, etc). It gives a brief description of the company, what they are looking for, who to contact, etc.

I would always either check for a website/email or send a letter with a self addressed stamped envelope requesting submission procedures. To those who responded, I would send a large portfolio of my work plus return package & postage. $20 and sometimes months later, I would usually get a thanks but no thanks reply.

Finally I decided to just send out brochures. So I made a small 5x5 brochure with 8 pages. It fit perfectly in a CD envelope which also had a big round window. I included a SAS postcard for a reply. I made sure to include the return address of where I sent it so that I knew who replied. Oft times they would just write a quick note and I would have to guess who returned it.

I sent about a dozen out to the artist representatives that were listed in the A&GDM book. Got alot of thanks but no thanks. But Wilkinsons replied that they liked my style and said they would keep the brochure on file.

Several months later, I got a call from them to get my approval to submit my work to a client for a project. I was not the only artist they were showing the client, but one of many.

They sent a contract allowing them to use my brochure. I signed it and sent it back. Didnt hear any more.

Several months later, same thing. Do we have your permission to submit your work to a client. Made some changes to the contract and sent it on. Didnt hear anything.

Several months after that, I get a call about another project coming up. It then occurred to me that they were only submitting my little brochure to the client -- that they didnt have access to my portfolio.

So I sent a copy of my portfolio and a few months later I got my first freelance project. I did a couple more and then was asked if I would want to be fully represented.

I didnt write a lot about Zazzle But I ended up putting up a shop there. A Planet Named Janet

I found it fairly easy to set up -- especially after having roamed around Cafepress for a while. Opening up another window into someone else's shop while you are setting one up helps you understand what settings, etc to use. Just easier to flip back and forth instead of going to the Help section for alot of things.

Another reason for choosing Zazzle was that it is free. Cafepress has a free shop available, but if you want to put different images on the same product, you have to pay. Tho apparently you can get around that by opening up several different shops with one design each. Just thought that would be too much work. Plus the profit margin would probably amount to the same after fees -- tho you can set your own price on Cafepress. Zazzle sets the price and pays a percentage.

Once you get your image uploaded, you can do some editing in Zazzle -- such as add text. I also liked that the product page had better image quality than what I had on Cafepress -- tho I am told that sometimes that is just a glitch for certain products.

The other challenge again is to generate traffic. While your shop may show up on a random search or certain keywords that you can apply to your page, you really cant count on it to be your only source of getting your name out there.

There are blog exchange sites. I dont know how much they really work. But commenting on other blogs/sites will generate traffic. Some that I like to comment on are Dr.John's Fortress and The Sartorialist and The Foo Logs. I check comments on my other blog, A Planet Named Janet. I will take a look at your site and leave a comment. At minimum "Thanks for stopping by my blog". Generally those I leave comments on will reciprocate.

I also post on message boards like WetCanvas -- tho you cant come right out and advertise, but you can talk about what you are doing with your site. Most will let you put links to your sites in your signature.

I have yet to utilize Craigslist . There are rules about what you can and cannot post, but most of the time that is left up to other posters moderating -- ie, they can flag you (ie, send a notice to the board moderators) and your post will either be removed or if you do it ALOT -- then you get banned. It is one of those online communities that can be a bit "brutal" and "raw", so you might want to develop a bit of a thick skin -- or at least think really carefully about your post.

So off to find some more places to comment.

"Finished" the barn piece. Just have to sand and varnish.

Got the go ahead for that small illustration project. Should be finishing up today. Very simple, tho lots of stuff to put into it.

Seeing an accountant on Saturday. Hoping we dont get socked too bad with the recent move. Need to find out about sales permit in Pennsylvania.

This is the start of a new piece. It is about 16x16 inches. Yellow ochre base and a layer of metallic gold. You can see the effect of the rubbing alcohol on the close up.

For those of you who read the posts from the other day (now deleted). I think I might have gotten kicked off the search engine rotation as a result. I still dont fully understand all that stuff. Hopefully, it is just a temporary thing.

Regarding my visit to the accountant. Didnt find out about the PA sales permit yet (tho I am sure I will need one for direct sales). I do need to dedicate a room for my work. I am pretty sure it can be a studio or an office (tho my husband thinks strictly office and of course we didnt get clarification at the time). It's a matter now of which room to choose from.