Should I or Shouldn't I?

I joined Deviant Art website but am real hesitant to upload and sell images through them. The part I personally am having difficulties with is the giving up of copyrights in order to have a third party print and sell my art. I like having control over what I have created. So, I will consider but not rush into a decision. I will explore other ways to have prints made and sold.
Meanwhile, I still continue to do what I love - paint! I have a new graphic painting all planned out and ready to begin work on today. A happy day is one in which I can paint. 

Abstract Expressionism

The two paintings I was working on yesterday came together quickly. I am pleased with the results. I really enjoyed my experiment with abstract expressionism. Now on the something different! How easily I get bored. Maybe I should change mediums and do some watercolors? Or go back to the graphic style which was evolving nicely? We will see. View the photos below of the new abstracts.

A Happy Day Is A Painting Day

I actually have a day with nothing on my agenda that needs to be done. I can devote most of my day to painting. That makes me extremely happy. I have some old abstracts that I will work on. I was never happy with them. Will get out my palette knives and express myself. I really enjoy abstract expressionism. The more that I paint in that manner, the better my paintings will become. Practice makes perfect! So here I go - having fun, practicing my art, and hopefully perfecting my technique.

Abstract Finished

I have finished reworking my gold and silver abstract painting. One of my abstracts was fine "as is" so I listed it on my etsy.com shop. The second abstract in gold and silver, I wanted to have a different look and decided to sell them separately rather than together as a diptych or two panel painting. I am pleased with the balance of color and the feeling of movement and energy in this painting. View the second abstract painting shown below.

Attitude Of Gratitude

I had no sales as a result from the promo slot I had purchased on etsy.com. I did have lots and lots of activity - lots of people looking. I did have a conversation with one person who was trying to decide which of my paintings to buy. I hope she follows through and purchases something. I took time to thank all the people who looked at my paintings and marked them as favorites. I am grateful for each one of them. I received lots of compliments and encouragement and that is one thing that keeps me doing my art. I am able to paint. It makes me extremely happy. I have so much for which to be thankful. I have an attitude of gratitude.

Carpe Diem - Seize The Day

It really pays to seize the day, to make the most of every day and the opportunities that come your way. Last night I was preparing dinner when we got a call to join someone for dinner in town. Rather than say "no" I am preparing dinner. I was spontaneous and decided the dinner would keep until another night. I put everything away and went into town. After dinner we walked in town. Now we normally walk every morning but I agreed to walk another time. I have looked around in the shop that moved into the same location where I had sold my paintings before. Well, last night when we walked in Bernie asked the man behind the counter, "Are you the shop owner?" And when he responded "yes" I explained about having shown my art there before. We had a very nice conversation which has resulted in him giving me his email address and asking to have me send him a few of my images. He is open to showcasing my work in some way. He often has parties and trunk shows. He doesn't appear to have much wall space in his shop. And the art I see is prints, not original paintings. Who knows how this will develop? I had recently gone into the shop and talked with a salesperson who had shown no interest or offered any information as to how to contact the owner. It was fortunate to go into the shop and talk with the owner. Moral is: Be spontaneous. Be open to opportunities.

The Change Is Good

I am reworking a couple of abstract paintings. The change has been good for me. I am thinking more about composition, line and color and less about representing something real. It is a good exercise to go through from time to time. I am painting a little and then rotating the canvas a quarter turn and working some more. That way I keep the color and composition balanced and pleasing to me. I am very much enjoying this process.

Let's Do Something Totally Different

Sometime you just need a break from what you've been doing. You need to go in an entirely different direction. I am feeling like that today. Even though I have recently done some painting using a graphic technique rather than my impressionism, I still feel I need a change. Several years ago I did three different two panel abstract paintings. I sold one on eBay. It was fun in that it was not representational and more expressive. I have two that did not sell. I may work on those and add texture and areas of interest. Will see where it leads. I am thinking rather than sell as two panel paintings and selling in a set I may take each panel in a different direction and sell them as separate pieces. I think it will be fun. I may even make some of them into mixed media works. I think doing this will renew that creative spark.

Restocking Supplies

This week I made some necessary purchases to restock my supplies. I traveled up to Palo Alto to a better art supply store. I can get most of my usual supplies close by, but this shop has a better supply of various size canvases and paint. It's just fun to look around in and see what's new. Since I had to mail out two paintings, I also needed to stop by an office supply store and restock my shipping materials. I'm restocked with all I need now. Now I'm ready to paint again. And when something sells, I'll be ready to ship it out.

Positive Feedback!

I am still getting all sorts of positive feedback about my paintings. I just shipped out the two paintings that sold. I have been getting a lot of interest in my other paintings. I took high resolution photos of the paintings that sold. I will investigate having prints made so that I can sell the image multiple times at a reduced price. I will also investigate having note cards or greeting cards printed. I had one person who loved my paintings but could not afford at this time. I can definitely identify with that. Money is tight for most people right now. Just very, very grateful for the positive feedback I've been getting and for the two recent sales. It is very encouraging.

Excellent Day

I woke up today to several pleasant surprises. One of my lavender field paintings in my etsy.com shop was listed in a email newsletter which etsy.com sent to all interested members. It featured items of Provence. All the exposure from this e-newsletter brought me two sales and many, many people to my shop. I had not sold any paintings recently and the extra income from the sale of these two paintings is a very pleasant surprise indeed. The fact that people are viewing and appreciate my work makes me feel wonderful. Every artist wants people to like their work. It's an extra special bonus to have them like it enough to purchase it. Photos of the two paintings that sold are posted below.

Artist Websites

Well, it certainly gets confusing when you look at all the different websites to display and to sell your art. I've had a shop on eBay before. Sold quite a few paintings but most of them at discounted prices. I will occasionally try to sell a painting on eBay auction, but for an online shop I am now showing my art on Etsy. Having a shop on etsy is free. I think I paid $16.95 a month for an eBay shop. Free works better for me. Adding an item to your shop costs 20¢ for a four month time period. Not bad at all. I recently joined another artist website called DeviantArt. I joined at the standard "free" level. I haven't determined if a premium membership is worth the fee. I know that you can upload art to their site and a third party prints and ships the art prints to people who purchase your art and you get a percentage of the price. I have several paintings that I think will work to reproduce and will try it and see. Nothing ventured; nothing gained.

Better, But Still Not My Best

I did manage to improve the palm tree painting. The sunset helped add some color to it. I am still not excited about this painting. I will not waste any more time on it. Some paintings only end up being "so so" paintings. There are other paintings to be painted. See completed painting below.

Too Blue

When I step back and look at my painting, there is one thing I immediately notice - it's too blue, almost monochromatic. There are a few elements of the painting that have improved. It now has a more pleasing arrangement of the palm leaves. It looks better with the island removed and the sailboat implied on the horizon. The big problem, in my opinion, is that the painting has too much blue. Boring! I plan to take the sky and change it to a sunset and that will add a bit of drama. See the progress of the painting in the photo below.

Best Of Intentions

Today I started out with the best of intentions. Today I was going to paint most of the day. Well, life happened. Interruptions, and other pressing issues got in the way of my doing any painting. It is already 4:00 in the afternoon. Where did the day go? Will I at least squeeze in 30 minutes of painting? I really did have good intentions. Let's see if I can get an extra spurt of energy and get over to the easel.

Change The Composition

Don't be afraid to change your composition. In this palm tree painting the background island was competing with the palm tree in the foreground. I lightened up the sky to help the palm tree stand out but also removed the island in the background. It is an improvement, but may need something small on the horizon line, perhaps a small sailboat. The painting still needs quite a bit of work but is going in the right direction. See photo of painting below.

Adding The Wow Factor To Your Paintings

Today I plan to work on a painting I did and try to improve it. It is a nice, sweet little painting. It is pleasant to look at, but no real draw or appeal to me. I want and expect more from my art. I love to use color to create a "wow" factor. This painting needs more color and it needs more contrast and interest. The original painting can be seen below.

It's Better Now

I had recently completed a painting of redwood trees. It was okay but I still felt it wasn't quite right. Well yesterday I added a few more strokes to the canvas and realize it looks much better now. All I needed to do was add a little more thickness to the bottom of the smaller tree trunks to give the illusion that we were looking up at the trees. It looks much better to me now.

A Day For Inspiration

Today we broke our routine up a little. We usually go out for coffee and walk. As I walk I normally look into the window of an art gallery and see what's new. Today we went to a completely different area to walk and browse. We purposely went to a furniture and decor retail store and looked at the paintings. We also went to decorator shop and gallery. I was able to get lots of ideas for a variety of styles of paintings. It was a very good day. An artist needs this kind of day from time to time. It was a day full of inspiration.

Extreme Sale?

I noticed yesterday that one of the artists that I follow on DailyPainters.com was selling his paintings on an eBay auction starting at the ridiculously low price of one dollar. Yes, auction starting price is $1. Of course that sounds extreme, but just because the price starts out very low does not mean he isn't making money. Now, from having sold on eBay in the past, I know that you can set a reserve price and if the auction amount doesn't reach that amount, then the item doesn't sell, even if it has bids on it. He paints every day so that gives him 365 paintings a year. Of course he sells some but it is certain that he has a lot of inventory. He does small canvases, around 6 x 6 inches. He includes a shipping fee. So, it is possible he comes out ahead. At least he is getting rid of some inventory. And a lot of his paintings are studies for larger works which he sells for much more. Will I do an extreme sale? At the moment my answer is "no."

Painting Idea

Yesterday I was in a local coffee shop. This local shop encourages local artists and even allows them to show their work. This month's artist had some interesting paintings. There was one painting in particular that had an off-centered composition of a flower. It was rather representational in the middle of the flower but as you moved out from the middle of the flower the pedals changed into triangular geometric shapes. It intrigued me. Perhaps I can take this idea and turn it into something that can work for me. Perhaps I can start with another type of object and have part of it representational and part of it abstracted into geometric shapes. Ummm, perhaps a tree? Perhaps clouds? Who knows? Be inspired and let your imagination go. See where it leads you.

The Lost Paintings Are Found!

Several weeks ago I was surprised to find that some of my small paintings were missing. In actuality the paintings were not missing, they were mislaid. Yesterday when I was looking through closets looking for the tripod for my camera, I discovered 3 small paintings which I thought I had lost. One painting in particular was a small 5 x 5 impressionist painting of a lavender field. I had it in my online shop, but when I could not find it I had removed the listing from the shop. Now it is in my etsy shop once more. Happy to have found it again!

Photographing My Paintings

Today has been a little intense. I can be a perfectionist at times. Bernie had to help me in order to figure out a way to shoot the paintings so that I would have the best photos possible. I have been trying to get some high resolution photographs done of my paintings so that I can do some prints and greeting cards. I concentrated on shooting ten of my paintings today. I then put them on the computer and cropped them. Some of my digital files I have decided to upload to a website that can make and sell prints of my work. I've decided to upload the three graphic lighthouse paintings and see what happens. When I go visit my sister, who has a nice printer, I will print a few cards or prints. I may discover that uploading my files to an online store may be a more cost effective way for me to get prints. I may also find that there is a local business that can do these prints for me. It is important to keep the cost down but still produce good quality prints. I'm going into unknown territory. Never had prints made of my work. Meanwhile, for the next several days, I will be busy photographing my paintings.

Organizing The Chaos

I have started a journal. In the journal I plan to put printouts, photos and descriptions of ideas that I have. I get lots of ideas. Just need to organize them. At those times I need ideas or inspiration, I will refer to my journal.
The new journal was one that I bought on my trip to Atlanta while visiting the High Museum. It is very appropriate to put down my art thoughts and ideas. It has a painting by American Impressionist Mary Cassatt on the cover. She's a female artist whose work is very inspiring.

Painting Break

I seem to have plenty of unsold paintings sitting around. Have decided to take a couple days break from painting, but not from my art. I need to look at all the unsold pieces and determine if any are good quality paintings that have not sold because of price. Then I need to photograph those paintings and have prints and cards made. I could sell the prints at a reduced price. At least that is my plan.

Finally, I Think It's Finished!

I had to make very few changes in my painting. I simplified a few areas and it is much more pleasing. Like any artist, I reserve the right to go back later and make changes or improvements. But, I am pleased enough to have signed the painting and put it to the side.

Better, But Not My Best

The lighthouse painting is improving, but I am not completely satisfied yet. I need to continue to look at my work critically over the next few days and make the necessary changes to make this painting the best that I can make it. I am trying to balance large graphic shapes and smaller areas with more pattern and design. I enjoy this analytical part of painting as much as the process itself. It makes it an intellectual endeavor and not just an expressive act. Not that expressive painting is not a valid way of painting. Of course, it is.
Well, here is the painting thus far.

Analyze This

Way back in the olden days, when I was in college and majoring in art, my professors would take our drawings or paintings and put them up on the wall and we would analyze or critique them. Well, I am to that point with my painting. I could say it is finished. It is a nice little painting, but like my sister says, it lacks that WOW factor. I think that I possibly overworked it. So, looking at the painting, how can I fix it? How can I bring some drama back into the painting? I selected this particular composition because it was dramatic. A mistake I possibly made was altering the lighthouse because of the optical illusion that it was leaning. Well, I've decided to keep the lighthouse as it is and "de-clutter" the composition. I think that when I make more of a contrast using dark purples and yellows in the cliff and take the sky and remove some of the clouds and simplify things, I will like it much better. I also want to emphasize the winding road and the winding shoreline. I added some white to some areas in the road and cliff. I will remove the white and add the yellow back in, which was much more effective.  So, the painting is nearly finished, but after analysis, there is still some work left to do. Don't skip this process of analysis of your work. Try to look at it objectively. Your work will improve if you can learn to view with a critical eye and make the adjustments that are needed.
Painting thus far, "sans" the corrections, can be seen below.

Stages

Yesterday was a very productive day and I hope today will be as well. I worked on the foreground of the painting. The next step will be to do the lighthouse. I have recently roughed in the changes in the lighthouse but still have the painting of it left to do. I photographed my painting yesterday at different stages. I think each stage is rather interesting, with the addition of graphic shapes and color. See the different photos below.

Optical Illusion

Yesterday I painted the background ocean and sky in various blues. Upon doing that the optical illusion that the lighthouse was leaning was hard to escape. I know it is just the angle at which the original photo was taken. I know the lighthouse is not leaning. The horizon line is horizontal. The left side of the lighthouse is vertical. But the optical illusion needs to be dealt with when I start painting the lighthouse itself. I will have to make the base on the left side larger and taper it some toward the top.
See yesterday's progress below.

A Painting Day

Yes, after days of interruptions (and interruptions today as well), I finally am having an afternoon full of painting. It feels wonderful. Will show you the progress tomorrow. Let's see how much I can get done in one afternoon.