Finding time for Art with a full time Job!!!

Finding time for art and having a full time job can be dis heartening . Even though I have

 a job teaching art ,I sometimes don't have time to create ,do or make,art.

Here are some suggestion for creating time for art:


THE MAGIC WORD-CREATING.

Be creative by making a schedule for your art. If you have a full time job , I sure 

time keeps you from creating art, sit down and make a schedule  to have a time when you

 can do art. Tell everyone that you will be working at a specific time or day.

Graciously ask to not be disturbed.  I know, you will always have a friend or

 family member with some kind of crisis,but don't allow them to take up your time for art.

Remember you have a creative need and it must be fed. If it is not fed you

will not be the artist you were meant to be.

YOU DECIDE WHAT YOU CREATE:

You  might think painting shoes for   friends is your time for art. Or making a yard

sign or mural for an organization is serving your creative need. NO, Stop and

think about this. Once you start doing everybodys art , you will loose your individual

creativity and your art soul will not grow. You will not be molded or

created into the artist you dreamed of becoming. You are doing thier art.

Now don't get me wrong , If you want to be a selling artist sometimes is it neccessary

to do their art. However until you find your technique and market don't sell your

self short by  creating the current art craze.


REMEMBER ITS OKAY TO THINK FOR YOURSELF.

Remember it is okay to take time for yourself. Do art you want to do.

And Create  and  search out new venues. Think of you artist creativity as a child

that has to be motivated, pampered and encouraged to

express. adventure and explore thier abilities to exist.

ENJOY YOUR GIFT.Blawson

How to make money from art: A local market!!

One of the varied ways to sell your art is to market at local branch banks.Branch banking is a unique way of marketing your work.  All you need to do is select a bank and  contact the branch manager. 

The best way to contact him or her is in person and when  you visit them have your  business card with you website and contact information. It would not hurt to have a visual portfolio when you visit the manager. Precede to ask
 him  if  he would  be interested in supporting the arts by exhibiting  your  art work in  his or her local bank. 

You will need a nice easel and  a label with  your title , media , and contact information. Also have cards with  your website and contact  information.

 Believe me , I know this is scarey but to get your name out there and market your self, this is easy. Good luck and  look at the paintings I have marketed at banks and sold.

How to make money form art :What is Signature Art?

It' s hard for some artist to be signature artist. Many of us have a style and may paint the same subject matter and use the same media. How ever  others like to
indulge themselves in various medias, subject and are always wanting to change our style.

 I am one of those artist. I want to seriously have a own style where people can recognize my work but I am constantly not sure of how or what I want to paint. I am constantly jumping from one media to the other and I wonder if this is  callled art attention deficiet disorder. Hah!

 How ever if you are to become a professional artist ,which  is what I want to be ,you must stay the course. Find the style you want and painting technique you are interested in and continue to learn and paint in this media and style.

You will be more recognizable and people associate your art with your technique. I have many times gone to workshops and even watched Youtube videos of painters,  and liked many styles.  I use my technique and try to paint with thier scenario and make it my own.

Learn from them . How do you think DA Vinci became DA Vinci ? He apprenticed from Verrochio.  DA Vinci was taught the trade from Verrochio and he added his own style with a liitle of Verrochio style to make it DA Vinci. Good luck and Good painting. Belinda Lawson

Still Point Art Gallery BLOG: Call for Artists - "We can never have enough of Nature."

Still Point Art Gallery BLOG: Call for Artists - "We can never have enough of Nature."

How to make money form art:You can make money from your art?

Being an art school teacher I have managed to make money and market my art in several ways. Some of these techniques anybody can use , you don't have to be an art teacher to do what we call networking. 

 Networking is building a clientale of buyers for your art and creating a flow of networking from initial  and potential buyers. These are some steps  to art networking and having a successful marketing strategy.


Show casing:
The first thing you must do is to expose your work to potential buyers. Many times I have  brought my paintings to school and displayed them in class . Teachers  bring their classes to my room for their art activites and view my work as buyers and potential buyers.

If you have a place to display your work or can bring photos of your artwork to your work place do so. Prop these photos and art pieces up on display. Show them just like your talking about your kids or grandkids. With this way you can begin a conversation and end with a possible sale.

Join a local art organization .

When you join a local art organization you will have leads to networking . Some art organization have websites and will display your work on the organization website. They will also have  public art events and this will help you  exhibit your art work locally. This will introduce your art work to the public and you can emerge as a selling artist.

 Online websites:
The internet has many websites that you can join and pay an annual fee. They will let you download your paintings to their sites as your own gallery Then they will sell them for you in many formats: canvas, paper , framed, etc..

 You will however, have to give them a percentage of your sell, inorder to create your site. But you will have traffic to this site and an online inventory of your work that you can buy back from them. 

Buying back your paintings is a relief if  you ever need another copy of a painting for anothe buyer .Some  of these websites are : fineartamerica.com, imaginekind.com, etc.

Another website which  is free is Facebook. You can create a photo gallery of your paintings and list a contact for purchase. This is a good way to expose your work, but I would have a link to your purchased website so they can buy your paintings online and shipped to them directly.

Mailing List:

 Always have a mailing list of potential and past buyers.  And in your potential buyers llist you can place business' that have a lot of people traffic. These business' that have a lot of traffic are : dentist offices, doctors offices, and optometrist offices.

Even e-mail address' can be used to email updates on your art work and exhibits or sales you will have. With my  list  of address'I have postcards printed up of current works and mail them out to these potential buyers. This is a mailing event in the spring , summer( aug) and november for christmas sales.

Art Festivals and craft fairs: 

Believe it or not you can make a lot of money targeting your art to specific art festivals and craft fairs. 

You will have to invest in an inventory of prints of your works that you think you can sell. The process of this is to go to a  professional printing business and print various art works in different sizes .

Place these prints in mattes with plastic covers and stick a price sticker on them. Selling art at an art festival takes some investment of your art inventory, display items ,and travel expense.

The biggest thing is to do your research. When selling at a festival research the traffic of population that visit this event.  The more traffic the more likely you are to sell your art .Especially ,if you are near a metropolitian area. You will pay more for the booth at a bigger art festival but you will sell more.


Business Cards: 

Have some business cards made with a picture of you or your favorite painting. On this card ,list whether you will teach art or speak about art. \

Also list your website, blog site , and your contact information. You can list your facebook photo gallery.

You can't have to many business cards. And always be ready to hand one out to a potential buyer and talk about  your art.

Well this is a beginning strategy for marketing your work try this and I think  you wil eventually be able to tweek it to your business and selling specs. Good luck and Good Networking. Visit my website at http://belinda-lawson.fineartamerica.com/

Something old can be made new again!

A couple of years ago I spent a hot summer Saturday afternoon at an auction.

I managed to  obtain some beautiful chairs and a couple of old windows taken from a demolished house in  my winning bid.

After painting and decorating the chairs .I really got wild and decided to paint the windows. These windows had to be sanded and in some places and  caulked to keep the glass in the panes.

 Also, I  had to scrape some  caulk from the windows. Having cleaned all the glass and sanding the window wood frames  slightly, (you don't want to make them real smooth because of the vintage effect) .

I painted  the frames with an exterior latex semi gloss paint. This began the whole process of design and a whirl wind of decorative windows. I then went back with craft acrylic paint and painted designs on the wood frame, swirls, dots, curly  Q's etc.

  Next I went to the window glass panes. YOU can buy specific window paint, however why do you want to increase your budget when you can use some regular acrylic craft paint.

I painted purple pansies and  vines.When I finished and the paint was dry (make sure its dry)

 I sprayed it with a clear acrylic laquer. This seals the paint and three coats make it easy for cleaning.

This became such a hit that I have painted ; mermaid scences, phasants, peacocks, bees, owls. and others. What a great way to  begin a hobby and an art form.

I have painted  with my children at my public school and we have five  decorative  windows hanging in our room and hallways.

 For many of my windows I have used tole decorative scroll designs and that seems to be very attracting to buyers.

 Especially if I paint the tole decorative scroll with gold antique craft paint. Come look at my web site to see some windows. Check out my website http://belindalawson.fineartamerica.com/