Thursday, January 17, 2013
Painting Rural America: Vintage Country Images
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Marketing your ART:Getting customers for your art .
Okay,. you really don't have to have a marketing major to get customers for your art . All you need to do is go to the internet and find some blogs about marketing your art. There are so many, so go search. Hopefully you have read some or found mine and so I am going to do the best I can and give you some target markets.
FACEBOOK, I know not everyone has 500 something friends but you can get them. Just start with the friends you have on your list and look at their friends list.If you know of them, their is nothing wrong with sending a friend request to get to know them better. When I mean Know of them, I mean you have been involved with them in some social function; your children go to school with their children, you see them at your church or what ever.Send them a friend request if you think they might be a good customer contact.
WEBSITE: you must have an artist website to sell your art online. Find a cheap website that you can set up your art digitally as a gallery. Most of these websites will have an application so every time you post a new piece it also post on your facebook page and your list of friends will see this. I cannot say enough about an artist website. Some of these websites are Imagekind, fineartamerica.artrising and many others. These website will sell your art in any size on any medium and you only pay a annual fee with a commission
.
UPLOADS: upload your work of your art and create marketing tools such as discounts , sales or re-posts options.Upload a painting and list a sale price or discount ,everyone loves a bargain. Re-posts are a technique that artist use to get more exposure and customers.This process consists of listing an painting and the facebook friend that shares or re-posts with the most likes get the painting as a fre promotional item. This will get more people involved in your art and more facebook future friends will see your art and become potential customers. People love seeing art and being involved in the art process so get your list going and get your friends exposed to your art. Good luck and More to come later. Keep watching and visiting.
Emerging Artist Belinda Lawson
FACEBOOK, I know not everyone has 500 something friends but you can get them. Just start with the friends you have on your list and look at their friends list.If you know of them, their is nothing wrong with sending a friend request to get to know them better. When I mean Know of them, I mean you have been involved with them in some social function; your children go to school with their children, you see them at your church or what ever.Send them a friend request if you think they might be a good customer contact.
WEBSITE: you must have an artist website to sell your art online. Find a cheap website that you can set up your art digitally as a gallery. Most of these websites will have an application so every time you post a new piece it also post on your facebook page and your list of friends will see this. I cannot say enough about an artist website. Some of these websites are Imagekind, fineartamerica.artrising and many others. These website will sell your art in any size on any medium and you only pay a annual fee with a commission
.
UPLOADS: upload your work of your art and create marketing tools such as discounts , sales or re-posts options.Upload a painting and list a sale price or discount ,everyone loves a bargain. Re-posts are a technique that artist use to get more exposure and customers.This process consists of listing an painting and the facebook friend that shares or re-posts with the most likes get the painting as a fre promotional item. This will get more people involved in your art and more facebook future friends will see your art and become potential customers. People love seeing art and being involved in the art process so get your list going and get your friends exposed to your art. Good luck and More to come later. Keep watching and visiting.
Emerging Artist Belinda Lawson
Thursday, January 10, 2013
How do we Become a Great Artist? by Emerging artist Belinda Lawson
Any one can become a great artist, but what about a successful artist. Let's look at history. Van Gogh could not sell a single painting in his time because he was different and he had a certain personality. Later in the Yuppie years, Van Gogh became, what I call, famotized and in 1982 his Sunflower painting sold for 32 million dollars. Gran Ma Moses started painting in her 80's and had the nerve to sell her paintings at a local rural country store for a little of nothing . One day a gallery owner was driving by and saw her paintings , he thought they were interesting , bought them all . returned to New York and sold them all. Then he came back for more.
Visit my gallery 'The Country Art loft' on Ebay.com
The secret to becoming a great artist is to advertise yourself. NO one is going to offer you a million dollars for a painting of an unknown artist. Treat your art like a business and set goals .Rome was not built in a day. Neither will you build your art business in a day.
Get your self out there , get your own style , and get noticed. Start small , work hard and end up big.
Get your self out there , get your own style , and get noticed. Start small , work hard and end up big.
Monday, July 16, 2012
How to schedule time for your art!
Okay, so you have baseball games on friday, soccer on thursday, Football on saturday, and church on sunday. WELL lets see , What ever the day you have free your exhausted , right? This certainly creates a negative impact on your time for creativity but you can schedule this.(>)
For beggining artist decide what type of art you want to pursue. watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink etc.
If you are out of practice go to You tube and search for some lesson videos to watch and make your decision .(>)
After you decide or if you already know, Get your supplies a week before and be ready.(>)
First, during the week, while cleaning or doing laundry, set up you place or easel and get your materials ready. Have them on hand for your free day or night. (>)
Plan this day or night, its your day , you need it, and stick to it. Tell the family in advance this will be your night . Tell them you want to do art and you need time without interrruption. They love you and will understand. (>)
Everyone in the house should be instructed to find someting to do ,besides need you. Have the children participate in a quite time. This could be time to watch t.v. ,view a video or read a book.Maybe even catch up on home work.(>)
Schedule a simple meal such as; sandwiches , pizza, or a can of soup. If your lucky you could have your husband cook that night. Hah!(>)
Sure, the first time you will be interrupted but don't give up. Have a designated telephone person to answer the phone , take a message, and tell the caller you will call them back later.(>)
The first time, try to work on your art for at least an hour. If you have to break for an emergency and I am talking about children . Come back and try a few more minutes.(>)
I also know that when you paint some times the children will want to paint.
This is what I do. I buy the cheap little watercolor 8 colors
horizontal palletes from wal- mart. Get them a little jar of water and typing paper. You can have a t- shirt ready for them or let them strip to their underwear and have- a-it. I mean paint. Some may paint for an hour while others will only last 10 minutes . But this cuts out the pleasssssssssssse mommie for a while.(>)
If you try this once and it does not work, don't feel defeated.
Keep trying and always have a place you can put your work up so it will not be damaged or disturbed until you return.(>)
Its okay to paint once a week or even twice a week. But remember this is feeding your creativity and it sometimes is therapy for your person. It will build self esteem and make you a more pleasurable person to be with. You are not only doing this for your self but your family.
Good luck arting. Send me some comments and let me know how it goes!!
For beggining artist decide what type of art you want to pursue. watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink etc.
If you are out of practice go to You tube and search for some lesson videos to watch and make your decision .(>)
After you decide or if you already know, Get your supplies a week before and be ready.(>)
First, during the week, while cleaning or doing laundry, set up you place or easel and get your materials ready. Have them on hand for your free day or night. (>)
Plan this day or night, its your day , you need it, and stick to it. Tell the family in advance this will be your night . Tell them you want to do art and you need time without interrruption. They love you and will understand. (>)
Everyone in the house should be instructed to find someting to do ,besides need you. Have the children participate in a quite time. This could be time to watch t.v. ,view a video or read a book.Maybe even catch up on home work.(>)
Schedule a simple meal such as; sandwiches , pizza, or a can of soup. If your lucky you could have your husband cook that night. Hah!(>)
Sure, the first time you will be interrupted but don't give up. Have a designated telephone person to answer the phone , take a message, and tell the caller you will call them back later.(>)
The first time, try to work on your art for at least an hour. If you have to break for an emergency and I am talking about children . Come back and try a few more minutes.(>)
I also know that when you paint some times the children will want to paint.
This is what I do. I buy the cheap little watercolor 8 colors
horizontal palletes from wal- mart. Get them a little jar of water and typing paper. You can have a t- shirt ready for them or let them strip to their underwear and have- a-it. I mean paint. Some may paint for an hour while others will only last 10 minutes . But this cuts out the pleasssssssssssse mommie for a while.(>)
If you try this once and it does not work, don't feel defeated.
Keep trying and always have a place you can put your work up so it will not be damaged or disturbed until you return.(>)
Its okay to paint once a week or even twice a week. But remember this is feeding your creativity and it sometimes is therapy for your person. It will build self esteem and make you a more pleasurable person to be with. You are not only doing this for your self but your family.
Good luck arting. Send me some comments and let me know how it goes!!
Making money from art and the economy.
It has been a year since my last post and I have sold over 12 paintings. Now ,I will tell you that I am not a millionare but it sure has been nice making the extra money . Lets see, let me tell you how I managed these sales. First selling art is a hit and miss. People in my area , a small town in Arkansas, are struggling to buy food and pay utilities. But some people are out there that will buy your art.
Strategies:
1. advertise, advertise, advertise.
A. Get into a local exhibit and show your art. Whether you have to join an art club or enter the local fair or just ask a bank to display some of your art work , this gets you noticed.
B.Use vista print to make up some cards and spread them around, they are cheap.
When you display any art leave a couple of cards on you paintings to get reconigtion.
C. Donate a painting to a local auction and also leave your cards on your paintings.
D. GET A WEBSITE: you might not sell much on your website . But you have a online portfolio with this , and you can list this on your cards. People will look at your website and call, you can always negotiate your price verbally on the phone..
2. Keep a list of prospective buyers and past buyers.
E-mail address, and local address.
Doctors offices , Dentists offices, any other business. Then once a month send out an
email them or send post cards with pictures of your available art. You can have sales and preferred customer discounts.
3. Look at your online art contest. You can enter alot of online contest . It will cost you a fee but you might make more in winnings and you can use this, these whether you win or not on your art resume.
4. Use State organizations. Your state arts center will have activities for you to enter. Your state will have a state arts council. You can get listed in the artist registry by filing out an application and and submitting your work on CD. This will get you state recognition.
5.Go to art classes, get more practice, and get acquainted with other artist. This helps you to get in the loop and find out who's making money and How. Also you can give lessons to other people for a small fee,plus art supplies of what you learned . Retired people are looking for things to do all the time and it does not matter if they become picasso's . They will love the time to fellowship and the baby boom generation is getting ready to retire and very interested in art
6. Etsy -on Esty you can sell watercolor paintings by just matting them.. The art market is really in decline . How ever, you can take your watercolor paintings and have prints made of them and sell them on Etsy. BE sure to price your art reasonable. A $600.00 watercolor is not going to sell before a $30.00 print.
Good Luck .And Good Selling
Wise Owl lastest art work:
Strategies:
1. advertise, advertise, advertise.
A. Get into a local exhibit and show your art. Whether you have to join an art club or enter the local fair or just ask a bank to display some of your art work , this gets you noticed.
B.Use vista print to make up some cards and spread them around, they are cheap.
When you display any art leave a couple of cards on you paintings to get reconigtion.
C. Donate a painting to a local auction and also leave your cards on your paintings.
D. GET A WEBSITE: you might not sell much on your website . But you have a online portfolio with this , and you can list this on your cards. People will look at your website and call, you can always negotiate your price verbally on the phone..
2. Keep a list of prospective buyers and past buyers.
E-mail address, and local address.
Doctors offices , Dentists offices, any other business. Then once a month send out an
email them or send post cards with pictures of your available art. You can have sales and preferred customer discounts.
3. Look at your online art contest. You can enter alot of online contest . It will cost you a fee but you might make more in winnings and you can use this, these whether you win or not on your art resume.
4. Use State organizations. Your state arts center will have activities for you to enter. Your state will have a state arts council. You can get listed in the artist registry by filing out an application and and submitting your work on CD. This will get you state recognition.
5.Go to art classes, get more practice, and get acquainted with other artist. This helps you to get in the loop and find out who's making money and How. Also you can give lessons to other people for a small fee,plus art supplies of what you learned . Retired people are looking for things to do all the time and it does not matter if they become picasso's . They will love the time to fellowship and the baby boom generation is getting ready to retire and very interested in art
6. Etsy -on Esty you can sell watercolor paintings by just matting them.. The art market is really in decline . How ever, you can take your watercolor paintings and have prints made of them and sell them on Etsy. BE sure to price your art reasonable. A $600.00 watercolor is not going to sell before a $30.00 print.
Good Luck .And Good Selling
Wise Owl lastest art work:
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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
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
Monday, August 22, 2011
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.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
How to make money form art :What is Signature Art?
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
Friday, April 15, 2011
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
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/
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/
Friday, April 1, 2011
Something old can be made new again!
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/
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