Getting Back to Selling Art

Well hello everybody, I have been on a semi vacation from my blog for a couple of weeks.

 But I hope everyone is well and okay.

This summer has been so much fun for me and I have really gotten a whole lot of sells with my novelty paintings.

I guess people are getting ready for the fall closer to August   and getting ready for Christmas gift buying. And not to mention the fall activities.

Like this pumpkin truck  painting I did. This is my husbands favorite painting, cannot wait til the fall .

Just a few pictures of my Summer activities.

We live on a three acre place with the family farm about 60 acres. so We are country people and like to just do country things. And my granchildren, as well, like to ride in his funny car around the property.

Also, my painting classes have been going well  every Monday Morning with some little tykes.

Sometimes we have painted some old windows and they have really enjoyed this.
Here is one we did of owls .

So, now is the time that you need to make goals of what you would like to sell and create an inventory.

Are you ready to do portraits, or Santa paintings, or Deer paintings or fall paintings and how are you going to market them.

As you know the number one paintings sells are in landscapes. so that might be an market for you.


Many people are wanting landscape paintings with fall colors and also  moonlit scene is popular.

But how do you get exposure?Well you can try to sell on esty, ebay , or craft markets or facebook.


Doing all of these I have had a lot of success with ebay but the profits were low.
Esty, I have great sales but the sales were low.


However Facebook is very good and sales keep coming in with placing the painting on local Swap shops.


My advise to you is to open a Facebook page and sell. Also you can  go to craft or art markets and sell.
 Using the swap shops on Facebook are a great to get exposure.

Still keep your online accounts like ebay or esty  because these online store will store our sales and let you know what is popular. However it takes a long time to get a following.


Get out there, get exposed and good luck.

Next post is about painting a truck and steps. See you soon. Belinda

Vintage Gas Station Painting of a town Called Lucky North CArolina

This is a recent watercolor of a vintage gas grocery store  from a town called Lucky in North Carolina.

I love painting these old gas stations.


I feel like I capture a bit of history and add flavor or color to it.


If you like it  Give me a thumbs up . 

 

Selling your Art at open Markets-Little Rock River Market

Well people and fellow artist , I have talked about selling your art  at craft fairs and open markets .

And let me tell you  I made a lot of money for the week of the fourth . Well  into  the four digit concept. I was successful by posting on the local swap shops, In my area. on face book.

Let me tell you how  I marketed myself .

First  I posted  one of my commercial paintings of a local football mascot and some paintings of
Themes that are very popular in kitchen decor.

Now I went to Facebook and I searched for swap shops in the four area towns , surrounding  my address.

I  invited them to come to the art or craft fair I was participating in on the Fourth of July.And I used the pictures of my popular sales on the swap shop.

I brought several of my landscape paintings , window paintings, and unmatted watercolors in plastic covers. And along with this, I brought my  business cards.

As some people were leaving early I was the last one to stay

Because my booth was booming. I had a lot of sales, but the ones that did not buy , I created a friendship.
I created this friendship with them by asking what they liked or what kind of art  theywere interested in.With this attitude I got many commissions that have been a domino effect for July.

So let me tell you the markets work. Craft fairs, art fairs, are very willing to have you set up a booth and you can make money.

Now what do you think about selling at  produce markets

Well I was out today at the Little Rock River Market.

This is  a pic of the  Little Rock River market with my family

In Little Rock my state Capitol  . On Markham street , this is the old part of Little Rock next to the river , we have a river market that sell vegetables and other produce .

Much to my surprise , we also have other artist there. They sell jewelry, woodwork , artisan basketry, and pottery. But guess what .we have artist that sell art: paintings , photography, and other stuff.

Check out theses other booths.

So guess what the fee for the booth is cheap, and the traffic flow of people is a zillion

Because the area has bars and restaurants and a water park for kids . This is a popular date night area too.

So I am going to set my booth up there in the next week and see where we go with sells

And by the way , I am going to advertise in the Little Rock swap shop on face book. Just like I did for my fourth of July art fair.




Wish me good luck , this will be an adventure.

So tell me what do you think and have you been successful with open markets.

And another thing there was a snake women up there . I am going to post a picture.

She as so stinking cool . I think I would just like to have a booth up there to be around her. Hah.

Love it!




my family and I had a great time.

Tell me what you think???

Primitive Home Decor Paintings for Art Sales

So we talked about target markets .

 And one target market is the buyers of primitive collectibles and this includes home decor.

 And home decor means primitive. 
Example my painting of the Crow and his pumpkins:

Listing on ebay : Http://stores.ebay.com/County-art-loft

   Now what I would like to say is , you can do your fine art painting but sometimes if you want a good income coming in, a side line target can help.

  So selling primitive paintings are a growing market.

  Painting crows, pumpkins, scarecrows, aerial landscapes and just anything country or primitive . 

This is where your online research will help .

 You can google primitive paintings or folk art and see what is selling . 

 Then get your style.
 You would be surprised  how well you do selling primitive paintings .

 Good luck and make money from your art 

  Check these paintings out on my eBay website at the right and corner of my blog.

Listed on esty: Http://esty.com/shop/Belinda57

Step by Step Painting Of A Blue Chair and Florals with Hat

How to paint this lovely blue chair .

 I hope everyone is having a great summer. I know that it has been a couple of weeks since my last post, but I am  working real hard  with commissions, doing art fairs, marketing , and kicking up my heels with the gran kids. Oh yeah, and my art classes also.

This was the latest painting we did in the art adult class in June.

This wonderful blue chair .

I think this is one of my favorites.

So that being said, I will try to give you the step by step on this painting.But I want you to know, I really didn't get enough pictures.  So bare with me cause I will explain, What I didn't get in a image

You will need :

Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt blue,

White , Medium yellow, Yellow ochre,

orange and red 

A canvas 

a liner brush and a square 3/4 inch 

or a conical brush 3/4 inch 

 and water

When your changing colors alway wash out your brush and wipe with a dry towel

You know we have talked about Background in your painting or under painting.

This is the under painting  of this  artwork.

I painted the whole with a dark green, then I went back after 10 minutes and put in some yellow at the bottom, left side, left top , and some in the middle. I tried to randomly place yellow in the painting. Also I mixed cobalt blue with green and a little white and place it in the top left corner. then came the orange In two areas I just slapped on a couple of brush strokes.

Now let this dry.

After it drys, come paint the chair in with the Cobalt Blue and a white mixture to your satisfaction. Paint the chair in  like  your drawing.

While you are waiting for the chair to dry a little . Start painting your leaves behind the chair.
I mixed up cobalt with dark green and drew the shape of oak leaves.Let dry 10 minutes.Then I mixed up a medium yellow with  dark green .  I then painted this on top of the blue leaves and let them mix together wherever it happened. I let dry then mixed the yellow with orange and made some blotches on some leaves randomly. I also did this with some white and the yellow. Later when they were absolutely dry ,I went back and made leaf line on them with ultramarine yellow.

Now go back to your cobalt chair and take ultramarine blue and mix with your cobalt and white you made.   Then with a dry brush,paint it like the image. Notice I painted under the chair the board in front on the seat and under the arms.

While you are waiting for this to dry. You need to get some of your yellow green and make a bush my dotting your paint brush on the canvas. Remember dot a couple of times three , stop and look at it. If it look like a bush don't dot paint anymore.

The next step are the flowers.

Take your dark cobalt blue and dot some flowers in . Then come back after 10 minutes and dot in a light shade by adding white . You will need to mix up three values of the cobalt and use the darkest on the underpainting.

Do the same for your flowers at the bottom.. Three pinks: light, medium, and dark. Always the dark at the back, or painted first.

When these dry go back and paint your white flowers with pure white. Then come back and mix white with blue to create your shadows. 

And for the green leaves  mix Dark green and  light yellow green. .Paint one side dark , the other  side a light yellow green 

The other side of the chair do the same with the pink flowers and the  white bell flowers and green leaves .Same thing you did on the right one side dark , one side lighter
yellow green.

To paint the tiger lillies  You will need to make petals with  white and orange paint. Mix it first, and get your desired color.After you paint the orange white petals , mix the orange with a touch of green.
 A touch of dark green and go back and paint your shadows in your tiger lillies.
When it drys make dark green dots in the middle of your flower. And when this drys go back and put tiny white dots on top of the green.



Now this is the secret to your painting the Highlights of the chair.

Take a look at the places I place the white and cobalt mixture. This mixture is almost a white but not.  I place this on top of the arm chair. Just a couple of brush strokes on the back top. In the middle of the wood at the back of the chair. One the side of the vertical wood. And carefully look at the bottom. Making your shadows and highlights on your chair will make it a success.



Also go back and mix a dark ultramarine blue with cobalt and green, This will make a dark shadow color. Place line on the front bottom of the chair. Top bottom of the chair and on the legs where you see the darker color.

After that dried I went back and made a light yellow and just made a couple of brush strokes on the chair. The back top and seat.   
Also make shapes on the back of the chair with the dark blue for the leaf shadows.

And last,the hat.

Mix up some Yellow ochre with white. Paint the hat . the whole thing the same color of the yellow ochre and white.  Mix up some blue with you yellow ochre and white. With this mixture place a curved line in the middle of the brim. Also the top of the hat make a upside down u and a short line in the middle. Make a line going around the hat for the ribbon. Let all this dry for about 10 minutes.


Now mix up your yellow ochre a little light with white . YOu use this color on the top part of the hat on the right hand side . Hope you see the light color in the picture. Also paint this same color under the dark ribbon line.  And around the edge a thin line of this white . Use a thin brush. then mix a little blue and paint a line goin around the middle just like you see.

The last thing you need to paint is a pine ribbon on stop of your dark blue line. Then when that dry mix white and pink together and create a pinkish white and paint in the middle of the ribbon.

I know this has been a marathon but your painting will be beautiful.

Don't try to paint all of this in one day. Take your time and it will be great . Have great time painting and yall are wonderful  artist. send me your paintings and I will post them on my blog.
Here are some done in my class.

I love my art ladies!!!!!

Selling art through teaching and facebook

Well, I hope that everyone is having a great summer and I hope everyone is either selling or marketing some of their art.

You know we have talked about art fairs and we have talked about  art contest but  have you thought about teaching some art class over the summer.

And I don't mean classes for six weeks. I am talking about classes that are a one day session.

Having a one session class will give you the opportunity to market on facebook and surrounding areas.

Usually , these are 2 hour night class for working people or Saturday classes.

And you can have two to three hours classes in the morning for the retired or teachers.

Now you have to consider the marketing strategy.

Face book, flyers. swap shops,etc.

 In your search engine on face book  type what ever the community you live in or city you live and place swap shop after the city name. 

You will find a lot of people on these but you will have to join.

So join and you won't believe the inboxing you will get.

Flyers . make up a flyer for your art class and place them in gas stations , church bulletin boards,

courthouse bulletins, and even hospital or doctors offices.

Even banks will let you place them sometimes.

I would certainly start locally.

 This is how you do it.

  

Marketing:

Post it on your status on face book to all your friends.

:List as a one time fee and you will supply the paint.

Send a share discount. If you share this post you will get a 5 dollar discount off the lesson fee.

Make sure you have a email and contact on your students.

In your status post of the art class always include a picture of the painting you are going to paint..

Also include your name and number .

Ask them to inbox you a message so you can friend them on face book in order they get your other post of art class.

Send a share discount. If you share this post you will get a 5 dollar discount off the lesson fee.

Some students will really be interested and end up being  repeaters .

If they like the class  and are learning something they will be repeaters and come back.

They will be clientele for future serious art classes.

The others will only want to come on various occasions like to paint a football icon the razorback,

Santa Claus, and witch shoes etc for special occasions. 

This group will want refreshments and  with no supplies needed. But you can also have a great clientele from this group..

So put them in two marketing list serious and gamers.

Posting:

Also when you post on face book also post on face book swap shops.

Place your notice 2 weeks ahead.

Say , Get registered to get your spot.

Also , keep going back every 3 days to post , So (put the Number) many days left to sign up seating is limited.

Make it exciting and fun that is what will get them to your art class.

Supplies:

Buy the basic paint, we are talking about acrylic in bottles, black white red yellow green orange violet blue

SAX arts and crafts is the cheapest I have found  and you can set up an account and order online.

You will have to teach them how to mix to get various colors .This is an effort to build up your 

student fans(That  is what I call it.)

Eventually you can buy the regular painting colors. And give them as gift or door prizes to your serious customers.

With the  gamers you can have some kind of door prize. I don't suggest art paintings because you want them to come back to paint some of these later.

And when they come they will have a bunch of friends to come with them and that's more seats filled.

Another art supply that is cheap is Misterart.com you can buy these in bulk and cheap.

Have novelties for your gamers like Masks for marty gras, Witches fingers for halloween, etc. you can always think of something cheap.

Hope this will help and good luck.

Next post is of my blue chair painting adult class.

Little Rock Riverfront Water Park in Arkansas

School has been out since June the first, but I seem to be even more busy than ever.

I am presently getting ready for an art fair in July so I am building my art inventory.
And I have a commission to paint, plus two competitions and  my painting for this month' s art class.


But today I took off to take my grand kids to the water park at Little Rock , right on the Arkansas River,
in front of the River Market.

It was wonderful. 

The Park was so refreshing and they loved it just like the other children .

MY Three gran kids loved it . 

The water park consist of water spouts that have a sporadic spray of water in a specific time pattern.


The children were screaming and running everywhere.

Just the fill of the water spouts were an  experience and fun for the kids.

Also the rock foundations had a water fall that exploded on them . It was so exhilarating to watch the children have so much fun.

AS you can see my grand daughter loved the water fall.

But we have a pre teen grand daughter that just thought this was going to be  silly.

And she didn't even bring her bathing suit because she WAS not going to be a kid today. HAH!!!!

 Watch this scenario!!!!!

AT first she resists.

Then she gets closer.

Then  she gets a little wet.

Next it goes all wet . Hah!

 Then the transformation back into a kid!!!

So  guess what, shes hooked on the fun and I get to enjoy watching  her having fun. Oh no!!!!

Teen agers!!! YOU got to love them.

So all in all it was a good day.

And I would love to paint the water fall.

And they had a great time.

MY Last granbaby says goodbye from the rock!!

Summer 2013 Little Rock Water Park

Next post will be a tutorial of my next art class painting.

Come back to view us!!!!

Coming Soon!!!!!!