Promoting Our Artwork

Kindness trumps greed: it asks for sharing. Kindness trumps fear: it calls forth gratefulness and love. Kindness trumps even stupidity, for with sharing and love, one learns.  ~ Marc Estrin ~

Lately, there has been much discussion on the Fine Art America forum about the pros and cons of having a Facebook presence to promote artwork.  Some people are opposed to it, considering it to be a fruitless waste of time and they worry about privacy.  Personally, I disagree with the opinion.  I think artists must promote their artwork in all ways that are available to them.  The internet and social networks in particular provide a vehicle not otherwise possible to talk about art, network with artists, collectors and reach a very wide audience.

I enjoy Facebook although I do know there are many privacy concerns.  I don't let it get me down.  I've made lots of friends and contacts on Facebook.  It's a great place to learn about art related opportunities and meet like minded people.  We get what we put into it.  As for privacy, I believe it's good to exercise prudence on what is shared and the pursued activities online.  There is no privacy on the internet.  Everyone has to know it and if they don't they should be aware.  I tell my kids this all the time.  When it comes to the internet, nothing is scared.  We have to take precautions to safeguard passwords and basicially not do much of anything you think someone will raise an eyebrow or pass judgement.  Of course, that doesn't stop some people from doing unscruplous things.

I've created a space for my art on Fine Art America.  They offer varied printing options for art including reproducing work on canvas.  My work is offered via FAA on high quality prints in formats I'm unable to reproduce from my studio. One of my recent pieces is "Sculpted".  I created the art by first making a pencil drawing on Bristol.  I captured an image of it and digitially enhanced it in Corel Paintshop.  I like the mixed media effect I achieved using the tool.

Every now and then, I'll digitally manipulate a piece of my art.  It's interesting to see the different effects that can be achieved.  All digital work is collected in print form.  Using a resource like FAA makes these print offerings a breeze.  Art collectors will enjoy the reasonable prices.

Do you have a favorite place to sell and/or purchase artwork?  Please do share it here.  If you have an opinion about social networks or a favorite page or artist you want to share, leave your comment on this blog.

www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.BarbaraGiordanoArt.Etsy.com
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www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
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The Creative Soul

"A quote can change the way you think about challenges you face."

   ~ Catherine Pulsifer ~

Lately, I've been studying mixed media and collage art.  In my journey of learning more on this interesting art form, I came across a blog.  On it, I found the following article that for me, sums up what it is to be a creative person.

Dreaming Goddess, Mixed Media by B Giordano

10 Attributes of Creative Types

Written by:  ~ Alease Mitchell ~

We all have heard it before, "You are one of those Creative Types". And typically my response is, "Yes I am, so I'm to assume you are not". The statement of being creative can come across as condensing or sympathetic , like we have problems. Others just don't know how to deal with us. Like we are a mystery.



But honestly the other types are the people I sympathize with. Being creative is a freeing and joyous experience. Creative people live creative, colorful, self reflecting lives. We love spending time with ourselves - because we can entertain ourselves with the most creative things. We enjoy being around other creative souls because we feed off of each other.

I've listed 10 of those attributes and have provided brief explanations of each.

1. Creatives are highly intuitive, big picture visionaries. We are at our best when we are working with abstract, analytic work that utilizes our divergent thinking. We can envision possibilities that don't exist, connecting the dots and recognizing what's missing in a given situation.

 2. Creatives are agents of change. Because of our divergent thinking we often see problems before they arise. And this thinking on many levels places us in roles of critics or evaluators.

3. Creatives want and need to be seen and appreciated for their uniqueness. We have an unusually high need to be seen and heard. We often work in companies that are small or in small groups. We need to be recognized and appreciated for being forward thinkers.

4. Creative are nonconformists. We like to do things our way. We like to define our own work and be able to take action without asking for permission. We hate to be micromanaged and we can feel stifled in companies with strict norms of behavior, excessive amounts of rules or large bureaucracies.

5. Creatives have their own internalized standards of quality. We may often outperform other employees, but this is because we have a personal, intrinsic commitment to work and feel creative ownership over our work and personal projects.


6. Creatives have a strong need to believe in what they do. Our engagement with work is first and foremost must have a sense of purpose and meaning for us. New projects, creative freedom, and unlimited resources are high on our wish list. If we are not stimulated and engaged in our work, we can in fact "Rust Out" - present a lack energy, sleeplessness, loss of creative ideas and withdraw from others, resulting into a debilitating depression.


7. Creative have many talents and enthusiasms. We tend to have 3 to 4 highly developed skills and enthusiasms far many more activities than most. As soon as we loose interest in one area, we move on to the next subject with great enthusiasm.


8. Creatives have an insatiable appetite for learning opportunities and new challenges that utilize their diverse talents. We need a place where our intellectual and creative boundaries are limitless and where there is an abundant of opportunities for self-expression and personal and professional growth. Many times if our day job isn't satisfying us, we have to seek other ways to express ourselves with hobbies and projects outside of our day -to- day work lives.


9. Creatives like variety and dislike routine. We like to use different skill sets on evolving projects. Rarely do like repetitive work. Working on an assembly line would just kill us.

10. Creatives often have acute sensitivities. It's very common for creatives like us to have one or two areas of hypersensitivity. We can have anything from a strong intuition, an appreciation of nature to an extraordinary sense of taste or smell.

Well, Do you see yourself in any of these attributes? I did! I totally understand why I do what I do. 
 

~ ~ ~

 
Thank you, Alease.  I remember once during a brief encounter, a person referred to artists as "quirky".  I don't know, I honestly do not see myself in that way.  What do you think?  As an artist, how do you see yourself?
 
www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.BarbaraGiordanoArt.Etsy.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
http://SunfluerDesigns.Imagekind.com

Little Journal

One must learn by doing the thing, for though you think you know it, you have no certainty until you try.  ~ Aristotle

I've taken an interest in bookcrafting.  This is the 2nd art journal I've made using a different techinque.  It's done with mixed media where I used stamping and collage on archival card stock paper.  It's a small book that fits in the palm of the hand.

It's very cute and semi functional.  I made the book with book board and binding screws.  It makes the book very sturdy but also rigid.  The front cover opens about half way.  It has a secretive feeling to it like when a kid uses their arm to cover up their work in school.  At least, that's what comes to mind.  I imagine it would be great if you wanted to jot down notes to self or sketch something while obstructing the view from onlookers.  Inside, I used sketching paper cut to size.

At this stage, I'm experimenting with the craft trying out different techniques.  Mostly, I'm having fun learning something new.   Book binding is an art form which there are many different methods from simple to complex.  The artist is only limited by the extent of their imagination.

www.OffTheCuffArt.com
www.BarbaraGiordanoArt.Etsy.com
www.SunfluersJewelryDesigns.com
www.Zazzle.com/Sunfluer
http://SunfluerDesigns.Imagekind.com