New look on the world "wild" web

New website, new look

It's live, after a lot of time, very little glitches (there will be time for them I'm sure), my new look website is up and running. I can't tell you the level of excitement!!

It is me, it is professional and I am proud of it and its content. I have a lot to learn yet to maximize the results, but I have learned to ask for help and I have found places where people are there to help starting businesses like mine. My local enterprise board has been very supportive and I hope to keep referring to them for further assistance.

Just in time for Christmas, one last push for the last minute shoppers before a well deserve break, even if I do say so myself 😊 

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Get online they said!

Get online, they said!
This year, is the year I've put over 30% of my time on my online presence. Building a branded instagram account, expanding a facebook page and finally, working on a better website (yet to come, hopefully in the next couple of months).
It makes and awful lot of sense of course. I can reach many more people at an increased frequency on social media sites. Unfortunately, these take a lot of time to yield collectors and sales. A fully operational ecommerce website is the next step, because frankly, without sales, there is no business. It is costly and time consuming, but done at the right time in this process I think it can bring me to the next level.
Vlogging and live video post
Sorry, I had to draw the line there for now. I can write, I can post pictures or videos of painting process, I can even put photos of myself from time to time (apparently very important to put a face to the artist I'm told), but the camera is not for me. It has been with me for many years, I actually think it stems from family gatherings, at the infancy of the amateur video camera, where Christmas parties became hours of self-consciousness, being unknowingly stared at by these little black boxes people were holding. Will I change in time? I doubt it. I'll stick ti writing for now anyway!

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Making Art a business

It has been a while...
Should be the start of all my posts, but here's the thing, I can only speak the truth: I am a solo worker. It takes me tremendous efforts to remember to blog, remember to post on social media, remember to keep it personal, and even harder is to talk about myself and what I'm up to.
And that is all part and parcel of making Art a business.
So as other people must drive themselves to work and maybe sit behind a desk, I must give myself some drive and sit myself behind the desk for some reflection on what will I write next. What will I announce next? And what if nothing particularly interesting happened that week, what if I've been bogged down in commissions with nothing I can show the world?
So for the past year, I have worked on making social media a habit, leaving this blog aside for a bit. But here I am to pick it up again and give it my all.
Making Art a business is no mean feat. One must accept that there is thousands of artists out there.
For me, instead of being discouraging, I get great inspiration from the journey other artists have been on and where they are now. And observing them is part of the process in determining where I want to be.
It is hard work, this business thing, hours spent on paperwork, research, account, hours spent not painting!!! But between all of that, things are getting clearer and directions are appearing to me little by little...
To be continued
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Art or Craft, are we splitting hair?

I have come to ask myself the question because, living in a small rural Irish village, I have used the outlet of "crafts markets", "Christmas crafts fairs", etc. to promote and sell my art.

The very first year, I attempted with paintings and limited edition prints, but one thing was clear, people were there to spend a few quid yes, but not to make an investment in an expensive art piece. In fact, in the several years I have taken part in those fairs, I have only ever sold 1 original framed painting. And although I used these outlet as a general promotional tool as much as anything else, it is still supposed to be a revenue making exercise. 

Being flexible and inventive is what I had to be.

I started hand painting miniatures that could be used as ornaments (and many more things I've tried, but with time, I realized that I needed to stay focus and not multi-task in other mediums and styles).
And now comes the question, are these Art or Craft?
I never do the same painting again on canvas, but for my little miniatures, I reproduce the same pictures (now they never really are exactly the same but close...) as many times as it will sell. Would that qualify as craft and not art...
I've looked up a few descriptions, some say Art is all about expressing emotions, while craft is a form of work with a tangible output...
Or that craft, historically anyway, is associated with the production of useful objects and art with useless ones!!
Others say that in craft, there is a planned, known outcome...

 I'm none the wiser really, and I'm not sure it matters.
The reason I've asked myself the question in the first place, was that my miniatures have evolved from simplistic little ornaments, to mini oil paintings deserving of their rightful place in a frame... and was I taking anything away from them by not giving the exclusivity of a "one-of" piece... and how should I price them then...

But really, it only comes down to what the customers are willing to pay. Would they pay a premium price for a 4" painting because it's a "one of". You may get two different types of customers in Art galleries, the investor (the clue is in the title) and the art lover who has money and buy because he loves what he sees. In the craft market, there is only the one who loves what he sees, maybe somewhat influenced by the fact that it is handmade. Those are my customers and my only concern when creating for them is to make something they will like at the price they will want to pay!

So call it crafty or arty, in my quest of becoming an artist (one who's actually making a living at it!), it all boils down to what is commercially viable, full stop!

Giving back has given me even more!

Giving time for free??? Right! And where am I suppose to find that "free" time to give it?!

I won't be preaching to you, but just share one of the experience I have had recently. You see, I believe that the old cliché is quite true: giving gives more to the giver than the receiver! And I also believe it to be even more true for artists.

   

I might be alone in this, but yet probably not, as a "trying" artist, I live with what I will call a complex of usefulness! The need to justify what I do, the need to be useful beyond providing people with nice pictures...
And it is in that frame of mind, stumbling between that selfish need and some generosity thrown in, that I started a project this summer with people awaiting to be lawfully accepted in this beautiful country that is Ireland. We painted a mural, and what a beautiful result. I hope it gave the people who took part a great escape for self-expression, made them forget a little the situation they find themselves and their family in, and simply gave them a time to enjoy...

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Nourishment & discipline, all a piece of cake!

To continue on from my previous post on preparation: "It's all about the means and the end", once I have my work space prepared and my working head on, I'm talking nourishment. Nothing to do with a specific diet here, although always good to look after yourself, but it will include some edible details.

NOURISHMENT:

First start with yourself. Not giving a cookery or a healthy lesson here, but being hungry will only give you an excuse to escape from the grip of the blank canvas syndrome.

-Plan to start work after breakfast, or lunch.

-Bring along a cup of tea or coffee, or whatever else comforting, I do, so I won't use that as an excuse either!

Nourish the ambiance and your mind, make yourself feel good by what you're wearing, listening, looking at, etc.

-Don't just stagger out of bed into the studio. For me, to feel like it's work, I need to look like it's work. So I pay the same attention to getting ready as I would to go out to work (nearly).

-Put some good music, TIME WASTING ALERT, have playlists at the ready!

-Hang some stuff on the walls. I opt for my own stuff, keep me in the right direction, a white board not overloaded with to-dos, a big calendar, and some inspiring quotes. Change it around now and again.

DISCIPLINE:

If you want to make it work, treat it like work. Coming and going as you please sounds great... for a hobby, it doesn't work with a career.

-Set days and times, sticking to them helps as well!

-Have set break times, leave nothing to time wasting temptation

-Turn off the evil that are social media

-Plan your day from the start: To-do list don't are proven to be ineffective by the simple fact that they are overwhelmingly disorganized. Without being too strict, using a timed diary is brilliant. Allocating approximate time to different tasks to be done will put you under a light pressure and get your productive juice flowing. I fit in phone calls, email and other internet bits and bobs at the start of the day and have a clear finishing time on it as it has potential to spiral out of control.

What are your own tips? Share them with me below I'd love to hear them!

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It's all about the means and the end

Sat down in front of a blank canvas, going cross-eyed, tortured in the realization that inspiration does not come from a divine intervention... We've all been there!

Putting on some well chosen music, feeling a little uplifted, it's a good start, but it probably won't be enough and we know it. I've known it for a long time yet I still sometimes forget that creation needs preparation, nourishment and a certain amount of discipline. I thought I would share a few tips which help me, might help you and will put us all back on the right track!

PREPARATION:

From preparing your work space to preparing your work subjects, there is a lot that can be done to avoid wasting precious time and become more productive.
I personally find that if my studio is cluttered and in a bigger mess than usual (lets be honest here, it's never that tidy in there), I need to sort the mess out before I get to work and even often get distracted in the process. The solution? Well to keep it tidy in the first place would help, as for the rest of the house, but as we all have lives to live.
-Incorporate a tidy up of the studio in the general housework time instead of eating on precious creative time.
 -Fit in, once a month, a bigger clear out, keep the regular tidying up simple using files and boxes that can be sorted out once a month.
For me, it also corresponds with my monthly inventory of stock and material, which means I kill two birds with one stone, and that I have a clear head and a clear work space at least for one day every month!
Preparing the actual work subject is equally if not more important to be efficient. Many a time I have gone up to the studio and started rummaging through hundreds of images in search of the one I would like to paint... after a few hours, I might have deleted a few pictures, but I am no closer to finding a subject for painting and obliged to abandon the day's session having wasted too much time.
-Sort out pics as they come out of the camera!
If you are very organized that will work best, dealing with a small amount of pictures every time.
-Have a "TO PAINT NEXT" folder on your computer desktop, limit the number of pics to less than 10 in this folder. If like me you are of the indecisive type, limiting your options will always work best!
-Be ruthless in your selection. With experience we know what will not make for a good painting, DELETE!
-Have different size canvas prepared. I prime my canvas and boards with acrylic, often bold colors. I like to have a few prepared in advance, again saving time not watching paint dry!
-Have sketches made of your "TO PAINT NEXT" pictures. If you have already worked out your composition, sketching the canvas will be a piece of cake.


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