MY ART FOR SALE

Thursday, April 28, 2016

How to choose the right brand of Acrylic Paint!



     You know , we get into this nit pick about ,what brand  and type of Acrylic paints should we use on our paintings.

 And some artist suggest a real expensive brand while other artist will paint with very inexpensive brands.


  We'll not all of us are sure what to use. But this is what I know and this is how I figure the brand I will paint with  my paintings. 


 The facts are these:

       1. Some acrylic paints will dry fast and  some will dry slower.
 Many Acrylic brands come in what they call, soft body, medium body and heavy body. This is some of the reasons why the acrylic paints will dry faster than others.

This means  if the paint is soft bodied it is more likely to be  thin paint ,translucent or near translucent. It is basically used to glaze or create a shadow effect over your paintings ,where you need shading. It will not be thick enough to cover another color .  And it will not leave a texture that you might want to create with a brush or  a painting knife.  This type paint will have  a pretty light fast drying time. Some artist like that and some don't.

The acrylic paint that is ,medium body paint is a little bit thicker . It can be used to mix with other  colors and it dries fast but not lightfast.  It can be used in different techniques but will not have very much texture and not recommended for knife painting. And it will be able to be mixed with another color to create a different .

The  heavy body acrylic paints are very thick. They are usually used to paint knife paintings and used  in  specific painting .most artist that  want to create a texture to their painting will use the heavy body paints.  Some artist that do not paint with paint knives or do not  want a texture , will use this type of paint for coverage. I mean they will use this thick paint to cover over existing paint in the picture because that is their style .However, if they are not trying to cover another color they will use an acrylic liquid mix called a medium with this paint to thin it  and make it more flowing.  Some of  these heavy acrylic paints will set up fast, but still take a long time to permanently dry.  So the style of painting that you  do  ,will depend on whether you will like using the heavy body paints.

A lot of artist will use heavy  bodies acrylics , thinking  they will thin them with water or an acrylic medium and last longer . Economically  this is a good idea, but  they some times do not use them up and sitting for a long time will dry them out.





2  Another thing we know about acrylic is that  sometimes the colors will yellow over time.




Acrylic brands of paint will  tell you they have a longer lasting use and will not yellow.

These are the paints to buy. The brand that grantees the non yellowing paint are sympathetic to professional artist needs.


Artist don't want their names tarnished with  customers complaining about yellowed paintings after a couple months.

3.    Acrylic paint is sometimes inter- mixable or sometimes not.


Whether its the intense color or whether it is to translucent . Always look at the description of the brand to see if it is capable of mixing  or not, with other colors.  And sometimes once again this will depend on if it is a soft body, medium body, or heavy body.


What is most important  is to  choose the type of body of  paint  that is perfect for your style, technique and for your needs to create your paintings.

Do you need a soft body paint?

Do you need a medium body paint?

Do you need a hard body paint?

Remember soft body is for glazes or painting acrylic like a watercolor.

Medium is for a traditional artist that wants to cover other colors on their canvas ,but have no texture or very little texture on the canvas

 Heavy body paint is for artist who like texture in their art work and  or  create with paint knives.

 Always consider your intensity and hue of the brands paint. If you love rich and bright intensity in your paintings , go for the brand that grantees this and grantees no yellowing after time.

If you are the artist that likes the painting to mellow out after painted then you will not use the high intensity brand. Go with the flow.

I have my own personal that meets most of these requirements.

I will not disclose this brand because I would like to get your feedback on your favorite brand and why.

Go ahead tell us.








 

Monday, April 25, 2016

Selling Art Smarter and Better!



Are you a Smart Seller?  Are you a Better Seller?

Do you Have the Know How to sell your art?

Do You have the know how to market your art

 Are you frustrated? Are you searching for some kind of strategy?
Are you worried your a good artist or just a flop?

Can you see a solve  your problems to  Have a successful career in art .

Well , lets just step back a minute, look and what your doing and see what you can do to be better and smarter?.

The Best way to understand if you are marketing your self smart  and selling better is to ask your self a couple of questions?

 1.What has been my income in the past six months? 

2. What have I been selling in the last six months?

3. Do I sell more seasonal Items ,at seasonal times ?

4. What months are my highest sales?

5. What items by subject or technique ,am I selling most?



How do you come up with these answers?

 Tracking and Record keeping?

Ughhhhhhhh! and AHHHHHH!


I know , I know!  This is time consuming and sometimes we think we need to spend more times making our art!


If you are not recording what you are selling, through an online sales website or just writing  down  your sales in a notebook, especially local sales . Then you need to.


Record keeping will help you decide what you are selling and what you are not selling.


It can even tell you when to sell certain paintings or not to sell certain paintings.


And it is an outstanding marketing answer to your survival of your business.




So , Let me give you a few steps to getting a answer to your business questions by recording your sales.



You will need to list your Sales by these Categories:


Description

Style or technique


Date /Especially month


Buyer /Email and Address


Reason : Christmas, Fathers day, mothers day,
 Valentine,   Discount Sale,
Football ,Fourth of July, NA,  Back to school

Season : Winter, Fall , Spring, Summer


Price/Size


medium:  Acrylic, Watercolor, Etc.




                                                       Smart ART
                                  TEMPLATE/CHART



Below I have a blank template for  recording your sales .

And another for summarizing your  records.





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These categories will help you understand what your selling and also build your clientele.


                                   DESCRIPTIONS


Descriptions of what you sell, what style , medium, and size will

 tell you art work  your customers are wanting. This will also


almost determine your target market group. Once you get an

 overall  record of at least six months, you will be able to identify

 who you are selling to and what they like to buy.


If you are starting out or starting back to marketing, and business is slow, research the first six months and then go onto a 12 month record.

                                       PRICE

The Price  you sell your art ,will tell you what your market is willing to pay for your art. 

  Okay , I know that we all want to make a lot of money on our paintings , NO longer are there artist that paint a picture and wake up to sell it for a million dollars.

 It takes time and a lot of ,one on one mingling ,through galleries and High class consumers , before you become a millionaire artist. 

 You can make a descent income and a good income if you offer the public good prices for your art.

  There are so many artist out there selling these days. So the competition is high.

  And the ones that are successful are the ones that are the smart marketers tracking their sales.

                              Buyer Info

Not only will this give you an opportunity to have  repeat buyers. It

 gives you the chance to make newsletter, email lists, and discount

 sales event flyers.

Your buyer info will  tell you what your target group likes to buy .

And you can come up with all kinds of  marketing strategies of what to paint and that  sales.

    Even  ,when to paint and sell, where to paint and sell, and why.

 You can even ask for a survey form your customers and offer

a free painting for their info.


Later I will discuss in another blog post surveys and what to ask  to

get all the marketing ideas you need.


                               SEASON , DATE, REASON

Tracking the date and season  of your sale , will help to build inventory for your seasonal sale such as Christmas , fathers day, Mothers day,etc.
 
Even tracking the date will tell you when to have your specific  art

 ready. When will they start buying. When do you need to send

flyers to your customers about placing orders.  Or when to launch

 your Newsletters informing your customers of  what you are 

 offering for the holidays: Halloween, Christmas,  Easter, Fathers day, Mothers Day.
 etc.

Why I use the reason category is to let me know , if there is any other kind of  marketing opportunities I need to address.


Such as ,the end of July  and First of August I sell a lot of College

Mascot paintings to college students  for dorm rooms.  And I sell to

 a lot of students  going to school for the first time or back to

school.  So I will list these sales as  back to school mascot under

 the reason.

Another reason category are weddings: Many people want wedding

 portraits, or just wedding tree paintings of their initials.

This lets me know of the possible popular month I might have

opportunities to sell wedding painting items.



                             Technique / Style


I list the items as Cow paintings, Truck paintings, Tree painting, Birds Paintings,Sunset paintings, Red barn paintings , Chicken paintings.

 A lot of times this helps me realize that some things I sell all year and I need to always have some painted on my website.


Then , Style is important too. If you have any special style you are

 painting , such as , abstract impressionism, sling painting, sponge

background , etc.

                               ------------------------------------

So , these are   my strategies on being a smarter and better marketer

of  your art .  Hope it helps and I am sure you will be able to

develop a perfect business plan  to make lots of art mula! Good

luck !! LOL














Tuesday, April 19, 2016

HOW TO PACKAGE AND MAIL YOUR ART ECONOMICALLY!


 
 
 
There is no big secret to  mailing your art work safely . Packaging and taking care of your work is a  practical idea for you and your customer. The better you package your art the more people appreciate it and you. It looks more professional and helps your art business to become reputable.
However, shipping and packing affordably, can sometimes  be  a little bit of a hassle.
I try to market and  sell my art economically by cutting my shipping cost . Shipping can be  expensive if you do not watch your cost of supplies. 
Cutting costs by being frugal and sometimes preparing can help from spending lots on your packaging.
 
So let me explain what I use and give you a list of materials I keep on hand for  packing and shipping.
 
 
Materials List
 
 
1. 1 inch masking tape
2. One jar rubber cement.
3. Business cards
4. Bubble wrap /a big roll
5.One large envelope
Preferably 17 x 19 inches
you can buy these at Walmart cheap.
 OR if the painting is larger get some
brown paper rolls.
6. Card board
you can find these as boxes and cut them up
with a box cutter and save them .
7. A box cutter.
8. 2 inch packing tape or clear tape
clear tape is cheaper.
9.Scissors of  Course. LOL
 
 
These are the  steps to creating  your shipping and packaging.
 
 
I categorize my paintings into two types : large and small paintings.
 
 
Large paintings: range from 16 x 20, 18 x 24,  22 x 28  ALL THE WAY TO 40 x 50.
 
Small paintings: 5 x 7, 8x 10 , up to 11 x 14.
 
 
 
Small paintings I usually buy large envelopes at Walmart to ship them.
And precede with the steps below.
 
Large paintings I use the brown paper rolls .
That means, after the process steps below, I wrap the painting with the brown paper .
I then place the
shipping label on the outside.
 
 
 
 
 
 
So lets begin
 
 
 Three good rules to shipping are:
 
Backing on painting
bubble wrap
card board
bubble wrap again
then envelope or brown paper
shipping label
 
 
 The shipping process:
 
 
Backing
 
 
It is always important to place a backing on the back of your painting.
You can use rubber cement to glue the brown paper on the back or construction paper . Depending on the size of the paper.
The smallest construction paper is 9 x 12
 
 
 
Cover each corner  with the brush full of rubber cement  and sides.
 
 Then Cut  your appropriate  size of paper to fit your back.
 
 





Place the cut paper on the back and remember to go back and glue the paper where it is not pasting to the painting.





When this is dry , place  rubber cement on the corners , sides and  on top of the paper you just glued. This will help the tape to stay on the paper






 
 
 
 
After you have placed the rubber cement on top of the backing or paper  ,place your tape on the edges of your painting.
Make sure you cover the paper and painting with the tape.
After taping,  cut  the ends off of the tape on each edge.
Please be sure that you have applied enough rubber cement to have the tape  adhere.
 
 
 
 
 
Last  step for backing , tape your business card on the back with 2 inch clear tape . This last for ever and is a marketing tool for your business.



 



                                  
                           Bubble Wrap

Take your bubble wrap and wrap your painting with  it once. Then tape it with masking tape.




 
 




                                                        
                                                               Card Board


With your Salvaged Card board , Cut two pieces the size of your painting.

Place one on the front  and tape it to the back. I always place a bigger one on the front to save the painting.

Then place one on the back and tape it around the front to the back in a circular motion. The back one can be smaller because it is not a bigger risk of damaging the painting

          Do this vertical taping  on both sides.





                               Bubble Wrap 2


                                 Next Bubble wrap again 
                     taping the middle.
 
View the picture . It is ready for your envelope or brown paper wrap.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Envelope or Brown Paper,
 
Remember , always  put this into an envelope or wrap with brown paper. Then tape  the brown paper with clear tape or packing tape.
 
 
 
This is the most effective and economical  way to package and ship your art work.
And it is the safest and most professional .
You will get a lot of great reviews from your customers using these safe professional steps.
 
 
 
Good luck shipping and packaging.
 Happy Arting from Belinda Lawson
 
Living the Art Life!
Hope I could help!