Is a web site necessary for an artist?

Please feel free to add your opinion. I am just giving you information to think about.
I am right 95% of the time, so there is always a small chance that I could be wrong about something,somewhere, at some time.

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I just think that with the advent of blogs, the necessity to have a web site has been lessened.
The whole point of a website is so that people can find you and your work. Right!
Two weeks after I started my blog, my search position on Google catapulted. I can be found much easier now that I have a Blog, than when I had a Website.

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I had a website for ten years and never had a sale on it. I wasn't really trying to sell on the Internet. My web site was really targeted toward the customers that I had at my art shows. Everyone at the show wanted to know if I had a website, but none of them ever bought anything from my website. They wanted to see the art in person, that's why they go to art shows.
After a website has been there awhile and not updated, it gets down graded by Google.

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The Pitfalls

It is possible to have a kick butt website, that is not SEO friendly. Each page of a Website has a title. The person that builds the site needs to manually give each page a title, and add a description of that page ,using Keywords that describes your product. Will the person that builds your site, know what words are the best keywords for your product? Did the person that built your site do this? You'll probably never know. This is done in the background of the programming, it's not something you can see.

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Is your site really fancy, does it have music, scrolling pictures or words, or other such niceties.
These fancy professional looking things, all slow your website down, and frankly are totally unimpressive to most people. They are to busy being annoyed that the page won't load, to notice how impressive your site is. Goggle downgrades sites like these,precisely because the pages load too slow.

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If you have a website built, what are you going to do when you sell, and your Website becomes outdated. How are you going to add new work to your site. This is the problem you will have if someone else builds your site. If it needs changed a lot. It could be a money pit.
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Online Stores

Are you selling your work on some of the online stores like Ebay, Etsy, Yessy , etc. ... If so, I don't see the point of having a website where you are selling the exact same product. If you are selling totally different products then that makes sense.

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The good thing about the on-line stores is that they are already optimised for SEO. After all, if people can't find your work there, you will leave, or you won't sell, and they won't get a commission.

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The second thing, is that it is easy to add new products and revamp your store whenever you deem it necessary.

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Thirdly, the on-line stores already have shopping carts. There is absolutely reason to have a Website that doesn't have prices and a shopping cart. That's just making it too difficult for someone to purchase from you.
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Using Your Website as a Hub

Why?

If your not actually selling from a Website, why have it?

The number one, easiest way to be found on the Internet is a Blog, not a Website.
Because you update a Blog often, and because it is already optimized for SEO,(Keywords).
If you are using your Website as a hub, just to point people to all the places you can be found on the Internet, why not use a free blog instead.
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But I want to keep my name.

www.I'm famous.com

I commonly hear people say that they have a web URL that they want to keep so that people can find them. At one time would have agreed with that. My old site was artistderek DOT com. I gave up that name and someone else has it right now. I just Googled Artist Derek. I came up in the number 2,3,4,5 position on the first page. Nowhere on the first page was the person that has the URL , artistderek DOT com. So who is better off? Every day a couple people find me by searching for Artist Derek Collins. That's the goal, so you can be found. I just Googled Artist Derek Collins, there are 9 spots on the first page, I had every spot but 1. Do you have a website? Google yourself, how easy or hard you are to find?

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What should you do?

1. Start a Blog today
a. A hub to send people to all the places you sell art
b. so your customers can get to know you.
c. It will elevate your search status.

Website?

1.Use one of the online stores as a website and drive traffic to it with a Blog and whatever else.
2.Use one of the services that will let you build your own Website, like Godaddy, then use a Blog and whatever else to drive traffic to it, so that you can update it and have full control over it.
3 Already have a website? Then start a Blog and drive traffic to it.

What kind of watercolor paper should I use?

I am glad you asked! You probably think I'm going to talk about brands and Archival quality, and nothing but the best. You would be wrong. I don't find the different brands to be all that different. The only caveat would be that some brands have whiter paper than others. Having a really bright white might be important to you, especially if your doing a snow scene. But even then it is not critical.

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Hot Pressed, Cold Pressed or Rough

Hot Pressed is smooth, Cold Pressed has some texture, Rough has a lot of texture.

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Hot Pressed

The paper is smooth. So it doesn't absorb a lot of water. The water sits and floats, on top of the paper. When you wet the paper, it makes it very difficult to get the water even on the paper.

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It also dries faster and not as evenly. I am sure you are aware that watercolor can be hard to control. If you use Hot Pressed, smooth paper, you are just adding another element that you have to try to control.

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The up side to the smooth paper is that is is much easier to put fine line detail work, because of the smoothness of the paper. If you are doing a lot of wet on dry, sharp focused realism, then Hot pressed could be your choice. If you want to paint wet on wet, then stay away from Hot pressed. If you are an inexperienced painter then that goes double for you.

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Because the hot pressed doesn't absorb as much water, it is harder to get intense colors. Since it doesn't absorb as much water, by default it is absorbing less pigment. Hence, less color saturation. I like intense colors, so it is an annoyance to me. If you want intense colors you will have to build it up in layers. I am a professional artist, and even I have to work harder to control the Hot Pressed Paper, especially wet on wet

Here is a painting that was painted on Hot Pressed Smooth paper.

Notice the Red, how it appears to be sitting on top of the Blue

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This painting was painted on Cold Pressed paper

Notice the red in this painting, how it merged and mingled with the blue.

Also how much freer and more impressionistic this painting is.

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Cold Pressed

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The amount of water that you have on the paper is critical when painting a watercolor. Cold pressed paper has some texture, little grooves in the paper. These little grooves cause the water to spread. This may not make sense, but this is what makes Cold Pressed easier to control than Hot Pressed.

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Listen closely! Remember, Cold Pressed absorbs more water. The water doesn't sit on the top, like it does with Hot Pressed. The key is that is absorbs the water more consistently. So while the watercolor will run, it will run in a more consistent manner. Making it easier for you to predict what will happen. Then all you have to worry about is the amount of water on your brush. Trust me on this one.

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As I said before, because it absorbs more water it absorbs more pigment, allowing you to get more intense colors more easily. Cold pressed is the number 1, selling paper, there is a reason for that.

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Rough Pressed

It is really a lot like Cold Pressed, just more of the same. The grooves are deeper. So it requires boldness. You will have to be willing to use larger brushes as it will absorb even more Water and Pigment. It does allow you to add more texture in your paintings. Not for the timid. Cold Pressed is still the safer choice, as it is more versatile and the fine detail work will be easier because the paper isn't as rough. Rough might be the choice for more abstract or splattered impressionist paintings.

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If you are wondering what kind of paper you should be using, the answer is Cold Pressed. It is the most versatile of the three. It bridges the gap between Rough and Smooth, and gives you the best of both worlds.

If you are a new or frustrated watercolorists, please switch to Cold Pressed now, Before it's too late.

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I beseech you!

Develop Thick Skin - How to be an artist

I often say, I didn't know what depression was until I became an artist, or maybe when my kids became teenagers. It is hard not to take your art personally. When you are selling, you are on a high. When you are not selling, you can't even see the top of the mountain, because of all the haze around you.

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It is a roller coaster ride sometimes. You have to have a thick skin. There are people who just won't like your work. That's a given! If you take your work to Galleries, some of them won't like your work. If you do juried art shows you are putting your work out there for people to judge. And judge they will. You become invisible, there as so many tents with artists, that you become invisible. People will stand right in front of you a say what they don't like about your work.

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I don't hear a lot of negative comments anymore, but when I was starting out I certainly did.

Some of these comments can actully help you, if you can take your bruised feelings out of the equation. There are always things that we can improve in our work. Art is an aspiration. It is a lofty place that we are attaining to get to. Always out of our reach, like a Mirage in the Desert.

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Listen to comments and learn though them. Don't let them become distractions.

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Develope a thick skin!

Eagles, Deer, Hawk, Crow, and Egret - My fishing trip

I went fishing yesterday with my oldest son. Male bonding! It was quite the day. I had a new Battery that apparently is a bad battery. An old Battery that also tuned out to be a bad Battery. My connector for the oars had broken off. Why would I need them anyway! I have 2 Batteries for my trolling motor. So we spent the entire day paddling a 14 foot boat across a 400 acre lake.

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We saw 9 deer up close and personal. One was eating moss out of the water. We saw an Eagle dive down to the water to scoop up a fish. Two 2 crows trying to steal food from a flying Hawk.

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Buzzards flying around, maybe they thought we wouldn't survive the heat.
A Wild Turkey, Squirrel, and a variety of birds.!

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And then, the most amazing thing of all. We were fishing about 18 feet from the bank. There was an Egret that was walking down the shoreline. He stopped right in front of us. He just sat there looking right at us. When we caught a little fish, we thew it at him and he would eat them. At one point we thew one that landed 5 feet short of him, in the water. He gave one big flap of his wings and pounced in the water to get it. Amazing!

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I only go fishing to provide food for my family. That's what I tell my wife, anyway. With all that drama, we did actually catch a lot of fish. Have to fill the freezer up for winter.
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The art can become an all consuming thing, it is good to get away from it occasionally. "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy"

The Principle of Three - How to paint Trees

Notice the Body: The deep darks of the trees leaves are almost black looking

Notice the Soul: The deep shadowy olive leaves

Notice the Spirit: The bright yellowish green leaves

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The Principle of Three

The Principle of Three, is a basic teaching concept that I have come up with. I believe that you can apply it to your work in a multitude of ways. 3 values, 3 hues, 3 sizes, three objects, 3 color gradations, etc.. This is the first installment

Body, Soul, and Spirit

Let me rephrase that. Dark value, Mid-value, Highlight. The dark value is the body. Think of it as a silhouette of an object, a body without life. It tells you what the object is, be it person or thing.

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The mid- value is the soul. It give the person or object, a Soul, or life as it were. It helps to describe what specific type of person or object something is.

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The Highlight is that which give the person, or object, individual personality.

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A lot of people who find my paintings on the internet, are using searches like: How to paint grass or How to paint Clouds. When you ask How to paint anything, in a Landscape painting, the answer to your question is always the same. Body Soul, and Spirit! If an object is really small you may not always be able to get all three into that small space. If the object is large, it always needs to have a Body , Soul, and a Spirit.

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If you give every object three values, it means by default, you are also giving it three different (HUES) colors. If you do this, to each object, you will be improving that object 6 different ways. Three values + Three Hues. Learn to focus on one object at at time. Don't let the vastness of the painting overwhelm you.

When time allows I would like to show you 4 or 5 different ways to paint a tree. That will be my next step by Step Demo.

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Do you have a preference! Would you like to see a tree done in watercolor or Acrylic?

Unfold - Illustration Friday- Original acrylic modern landscape painting

The Topic Is UNFOLDING

On the website Illustration Friday

Where a topic is interpeted through Art

This is my interpetation of the topic Unfolding

Click the link to see other artist entrys

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This is a picture in time, drama is happening.

A story is unfolding.

What do you think?

Is this a storm that is coming in?

Is this a sunset on a cloud filled day?
Is there any wind or is it fairly calm?

Is it unfolding or has it unfolded?

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This is the Day that Hurricane Ike hit us in Indiana. We had blue skies all day and no rain.

But we also had 90 mile an hour winds,for 3 hours straight. Nearly 1 million people without electricity. Ours was out for 3 days.

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This is the view from my house. I painted this in the evening as the storm was moving out. The winds were still 40 miles an hour. I held the canvas down with one had as I painted this painting with the other. Drama had unfolded!

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"Beautiful and Terrible"

Original acrylic modern landscape painting

In My Etsy Store

Art of Child- original watercolorAceo painting of a boy fishing

"Little Fisherman"

Miniature ACEO watercolor painting of a little Boy Fishing

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It was thissss big Grandma, I swear.

Give the kid a break, the fish look bigger in the water.

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This is my entry for the website

Inspire Me Thursday

Where a topic is given and different artist express the topic through art or written word
Topic this week : ART OF CHILD

Click the link to see what other artist submitted

You might be an artist if !

"Reflecting Light"

Original modern landscape painting

in My Yessy Store

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YOU MIGHT BE AN ARTIST

Would you like to have numerous people criticize everything you have ever created.

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Would you like to sit for 2 days in the pouring rain, in a tent filled with paintings.
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Then, you might be an artist!

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Would you like to work for yourself, so that you can work additional hours for no pay.

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Would you like to sell a product that everyone thinks you are charging too much for.

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Then, you might be an artist!

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If you have paintings in every room of your house, on your refrigerator, leaning against every wall, and filling up a studio.

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Then, you might be an artist!

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Do you believe the thing you just made, is the best thing you have ever made.

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Do you lack the ability to give up!

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Then, you might be an artist!

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Would you like to know how God felt, when he created the world, and then stepped back and said "It is good!"

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Then, you might be an artist!

Artist Joke - Plagerizing

" Gathering Storm"

Original Aceo Watercolor barn Painting

This is a true story that heard a few years back, I promise.



There were these 2 artist who were good friends, they were both painters. There was this third artist who was always stealing their ideas. They would go to a show and see that this artist was there. At the next show, they would see that the artist had painted new work that looked like their new work. He always undercut them and sold it cheaper.



There was this big show in their area. Neither of the two artist, were able to get into the show. So, they got together and went to the show, just to check it out. As they were walking around the show, they saw that the Forgery artist had gotten in the show. They were walking toward his booth, when they heard music blazing and a troop of people marched past them, and into the Forgery artist booth.



He had won a major award! The one artist looked at the other artist and said, "Let's go see which one of us won.



It's true, I swear!

How to improve your painting skills- Put yourself out of business

"Weekend Warriors"

8x10 modern acrylic seascape painting

8x10

Paint, Paint, Paint! Paint every day. It is really good advice. You've probably heard this often. I will tell you why it is important. When you paint infrequently, here is what will happen. You will paint, what you know! Maybe you have a certain thing that you think you can sell. So that is what you paint. You paint the sure thing. Every time you sit down to paint, you paint in this same vein over and over. If you are selling your work, you might be painting only when sales dictate that you need to paint, to replace what you have sold.


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Here is what will happen if you paint every day.


When you paint every day, you will get to a point where you have more work than you need. Now, what do you do? You have now disciplined yourself to painting on a more regular basis. So now, you have the luxury of putting more thought into your paintings. Come up with some different perspectives, use some different color combinations. Paint a different style to sell in a different market.

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There is a saying in the business world. Put yourself out of business, before someone does. The idea is that you have to be an innovator, so that you continue to bring in new customers. A little tweak to your art could bring in a totally new client base and broaden your works appeal.

Who knows, you may come up with the next hot thing!

How to paint a watercolor landscape painting - step by step

Here is a painting demonstration, step by step. This is all watercolor, except the white tree trunks, which is acrylic.

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This stage is just background, be real loose with it. You are going to paint over it anyway

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The road is already finished. I used three different values/colors for the road, from to back. I put them on wet and let them blend together. When it was pretty much dry, I painted the dark tire tracks in the light area (dark against light). In the foreground where the road was dark, I used a damp brush and lifted the lighter area out(Light against dark). When I painted the dark area of the road I continued with that color along the back edge off the road, creating a shadow where the road and the grass meet.

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When you paint trees, think of them as having 4 parts. They have a top and a bottom, a back and a front. The back is darker than the front. The top is lighter than the bottom. You can see on the trees on the left, that I am starting to make the bottom of the trees darker. This will set them down, (attach them to the ground) and give them weight.

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I have added some even darker, redder foilage. I have continued to make the bottoms of the trees even darker. Notice the really dark bush on the left. I put it there, to contrast against the light road (dark against light).

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It looks like I did a lot in this step, but I didn't really do that much . The final details just really bring it to life. I added the orange and white tree trunks. A brighter orange against the dark trees (light against dark). White tree trunks against a darker green value(light against dark). Are you seeing a pattern here? Some brighter green bushes against the dark base of the trees (light against dark). Finally with a fan brush, some dark grass textures (dark against light)

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Now that we are done, I would like you to pay special attention to the road. I painted the road in step 2. I didn't do anything to the road in the subsequent steps. Notice the Light area in the road. Notice in each step, as I add dark values the light area appears to get lighter. This illustrates the importance of making your dark areas really dark. The darker the darkness, the brighter the light.

There you go, a piece of cake!

Paint Like a recovering Alcoholic - Paint with Purpose

No, I am not making fun of Alcoholics. Their mantra is "One Day At A Time". We would all do well to live with that kind of mind set. Why worry about tomorrow, today has enough trouble to keep you busy. The past is done and gone. Just focus on one thing, today. Think about this when you paint, focus on one thing.

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I have given a lot of suggestions. It's too much to digest all at once. When you set down to do a painting, plan to focus on one thing, and one thing only. On this painting the focus is going to be on, Texture, Lighting, creating a sense of depth, etc. Make it a simple goal. Then do your best to exaggerate it, to the best of your ability. If you focusing on (Values) lights and darks, then make the darks, darker than you ever have before. Push yourself, beyond your comfort zone. If you have a simple goal, you have a better chance of reaching a outcome that you are happy with.

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If you focus on the whole painting, there are just too many things that you can be unhappy with.
"One Thing At A Time"