Monday, March 31, 2008
Sigh
I haven't been blogging...or, doing anything else for that matter - because I have had the flu. I had the flu shot back in late September, but some strain that wasn't included in the flu shot got me. Just like Little Guy, I had fever up to 102. Even right now, I don't really feel up to doing anything. I am just wiped out. I haven't done any artwork in at least a week. There's a Dick Blick art supply catalog on the desk in front of me and I'd really like to just lay my face down on its nice cool pages (pathetic!!!) I think I will be fine in a couple of days.
Friday, March 28, 2008
MySpace Tip Reunites Mother with Kidnapped Son
We hear bad things about MySpace, but this story is a reminder that very good things can happen on MySpace too.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Incredible Velcro Boy
Little Guy (two years old) has been sick the last couple days.
When he is feeling really bad, he turns into "Velcro Boy." He clings to me like crazy. I can move 12 inches away from him and he'll cry. It is really tiring for me, but I must admit I like swaddling up and cuddling that pink-cheeked boy who adores his momma. He doesn't cuddle other times, because he tries to act like a "big boy" like his big brother.
He's been running a 102 fever. I could manage it better if he would only accept the liquid children's Advil or Tylenol. They don't taste bad at all, but he throws a fit when he's not in control and doesn't feel well. We actually had to hold him down to give him his medicine. That makes me feel really bad, but it's for his own good. As long as his temperature is manageable, I don't worry too much, and I make sure he drinks a lot of watered down juice.
The local power company conducts a free home energy audit and I had to reschedule that. I know I will find out some things I don't know, but I also think I will find out things I already know - like, that our house has the same insulation R-factor as a Marcal paper napkin. But it will be good to get trouble spots highlighted and fixed.
Well, I need to go. Little Guy is asking for Pop-Tarts. There are no Pop-Tarts in the house. Ruh roh.
When he is feeling really bad, he turns into "Velcro Boy." He clings to me like crazy. I can move 12 inches away from him and he'll cry. It is really tiring for me, but I must admit I like swaddling up and cuddling that pink-cheeked boy who adores his momma. He doesn't cuddle other times, because he tries to act like a "big boy" like his big brother.
He's been running a 102 fever. I could manage it better if he would only accept the liquid children's Advil or Tylenol. They don't taste bad at all, but he throws a fit when he's not in control and doesn't feel well. We actually had to hold him down to give him his medicine. That makes me feel really bad, but it's for his own good. As long as his temperature is manageable, I don't worry too much, and I make sure he drinks a lot of watered down juice.
The local power company conducts a free home energy audit and I had to reschedule that. I know I will find out some things I don't know, but I also think I will find out things I already know - like, that our house has the same insulation R-factor as a Marcal paper napkin. But it will be good to get trouble spots highlighted and fixed.
Well, I need to go. Little Guy is asking for Pop-Tarts. There are no Pop-Tarts in the house. Ruh roh.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Talented Colored Pencil Artist Karen Brannon
"Family Devotions" by Karen K. BrannonKaren K. Brannon's artworks are colored pencil, and they aren't completely realistic, but I think that is what gives them a special charm. They almost seem like colored pencil with watercolor, but I think they are only colored pencil.
Karen's faith is also evident in her artwork, and I think it's neat that you can really feel some of the artist's personality in the art. I feel like I am peeking in on someone else's life, but that they don't mind.
You can see more of Karen's artwork at her website, www.karenkbrannon.com.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Another Top 10 Artwork
I received another email this morning that an artwork made it into the Top Ten on Artwanted again. It really makes my day. Here is the artwork, a commissioned portrait of a little boy. I should take a good digital shot of it, so the whole artwork can be shown I thought the outer background areas looked pretty cool, but you can't see all of that in the scan. I need to start working smaller or get a larger scanner! I shaded in the background and then used kneaded rubber eraser to bring out some light into the background.
I hope I can get some artwork done today. So far, my day has been filled with driving kids to school. I had a conference with my daughter's teachers.
Little Guy is making a habit of taking his Pull-Up training pants off and wanting me to put them back on him. I have lost count how many times I have helped him put them on. I stopped counting after about 15. I keep telling myself that someday I will laugh about this.
I hope I can get some artwork done today. So far, my day has been filled with driving kids to school. I had a conference with my daughter's teachers.
Little Guy is making a habit of taking his Pull-Up training pants off and wanting me to put them back on him. I have lost count how many times I have helped him put them on. I stopped counting after about 15. I keep telling myself that someday I will laugh about this.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Our Easter Day with Photos
Oh my goodness, I must admit I have chocolate overload today but I'll try to type a decent blog post...
Here's how our Easter went.
We started the day with an Easter egg hunt in our yard. Mental note to prepare more eggs for next year. It keeps slipping my mind that I need to upsize everything now that we have four kids! They're all getting bigger by the day so they need a lot of eggs to hunt!
We went to church early because I had volunteered to be a greeter. It means getting to church about an hour early. I conscripted my daughter to help. She is really shy, but I think she did fine! It was really funny when another greeter came to us as the prior service was letting out, and she asked us if we had heard that we should be "un-greeting." Huh? UN-greeting? It meant saying "bye, thanks for coming, hope to see you next week!" and that sort of thing. Oh, I was just being nice to people! ... so we ungreeted and then greeted. Lots of the kids leaving Sunday School had received Easter treats. I couldn't get one kid to give me any. I don't know what they are teaching those kids at that church! They were meanies. Don't they know I need candy?!? LOL!
I planned to take the family out to eat, but by the time we got home, everyone just seemed like they wanted to veg out. So I ordered take-out from a wonderful local place called Joes to Goes.
Love, love, love, love them! Fantastic burgers that do not taste like takeout, and steak fries. Lots of calories but well worth every bit of it.
A little while after that, we had a yellow cake with chocolate frosting that I made yesterday. I washed some small plastic eggs and put them around the top for decoration. Yes, it was slap-dash, but it impressed suitably.
We executed 3 chocolate bunnies. Wow, that sounds harsh, doesn't it? But they were chocolate so no real bunnies were harmed.
That's about it. Let me know how your Easter day was!
Here's how our Easter went.
We started the day with an Easter egg hunt in our yard. Mental note to prepare more eggs for next year. It keeps slipping my mind that I need to upsize everything now that we have four kids! They're all getting bigger by the day so they need a lot of eggs to hunt!
We went to church early because I had volunteered to be a greeter. It means getting to church about an hour early. I conscripted my daughter to help. She is really shy, but I think she did fine! It was really funny when another greeter came to us as the prior service was letting out, and she asked us if we had heard that we should be "un-greeting." Huh? UN-greeting? It meant saying "bye, thanks for coming, hope to see you next week!" and that sort of thing. Oh, I was just being nice to people! ... so we ungreeted and then greeted. Lots of the kids leaving Sunday School had received Easter treats. I couldn't get one kid to give me any. I don't know what they are teaching those kids at that church! They were meanies. Don't they know I need candy?!? LOL!
I planned to take the family out to eat, but by the time we got home, everyone just seemed like they wanted to veg out. So I ordered take-out from a wonderful local place called Joes to Goes.Love, love, love, love them! Fantastic burgers that do not taste like takeout, and steak fries. Lots of calories but well worth every bit of it.
A little while after that, we had a yellow cake with chocolate frosting that I made yesterday. I washed some small plastic eggs and put them around the top for decoration. Yes, it was slap-dash, but it impressed suitably.
We executed 3 chocolate bunnies. Wow, that sounds harsh, doesn't it? But they were chocolate so no real bunnies were harmed.
That's about it. Let me know how your Easter day was!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Monetizing your art site or blog
If you have an art-related website or blog and have wanted to give affiliate marketing a try, there is a new affiliate network on the block called PepperJam Network. I have tried several affiliate networks, and PepperJam Network seems to be easier than most to use. The network is new, so they don't have as many companies to link to as others, but it seems to be run by marketing geniuses, so I don't think it will be very long before there will be a great variety of links and companies available. It is free to try, and if you would like to, here is the link to join:
Join the Affiliate Revolution. PepperjamNetwork.com
Currently, I think two companies within the network that would be great for artists to link to would be: The Fulcrum Gallery and Overstock Art. The Fulcrum Gallery has a huge variety of fine art prints, and site visitors have the ability to try out different mats and frames on the prints. OverstockArt has a good variety of art prints, but the selection is a different fare than what the Fulcrum gallery has, so you can easily offer both. OverstockArt offers hand painted art reproductions of classic works.
Fulcrum Gallery offers affiliates 15% of the sales, with a 45-day cookie. No, not chocolate chip. What that means is that if someone clicks through the link you place on your site, and they look at Fulcrum Gallery's offerings, but then they click out and don't buy that day, if they come back to the site within 45 days of that initial visit and they do buy something the second time, or even the third time (yipee!) you would still get 15 percent. You could buy a lot of real cookies with that kinda dough. Sorry, feeling punny today! If you are a super-marketer, you get rewarded. If you generate sales of $500 or more, your commission will increase to 16 percent. If you generate sales of $2,000 or more, your commission increases to 17 percent, and if you are the master of traffic and promotion and get sales to $5,000 or more, you will earn 18 percent!
OverstockArt offers affiliates in the Pepperjam Network a 10% commission on all sales, with 15 return day cookie. So a visitor would have to come back within 15 days for you to still get the commission. Bring sales of $500 or more and your commission will increase to 15%. Help generate sales of $1,000 or more and your percentage increases to twenty.
So you see, each company that signs up to advertise within the PepperJam Network has different offerings. Pepperjam Network will pay you every 2 weeks, just like they pay employees. With other affiliate networks I'm in, my earned amounts must reach a certain amount of money before I get paid. It will be fun to get paid more often.
Certainly, as you look over the ads in the network and choose which companies you think are a good fit with your site or blog, you take into account how much they will pay you. If you look at my site, you can see that Fulcrum Gallery is listed on the main page of my site. Overstock Art is a better fit for my links pages. But both are great sites to link. It's worth the bother to put in affiliate links - most reproductions of oil paintings on OverstockArt seem to be in the $200 range. So if someone shops through my link, I stand to profit $20 each time.
Think of your site or blog like a retail store. In a retail store, the cash register area is the spot for impulse and high profit items. In a grocery store, the most expensive items are at eye-level. The lower priced items or lower profit items are kept on the lower shelves. Your web pages are similar...put the products and sites that you are most interested in and that are a good fit with whatever is on that page of your site.
For more information on affiliate marketing for artists, please see this page I created on Squidoo.
Join the Affiliate Revolution. PepperjamNetwork.com
Currently, I think two companies within the network that would be great for artists to link to would be: The Fulcrum Gallery and Overstock Art. The Fulcrum Gallery has a huge variety of fine art prints, and site visitors have the ability to try out different mats and frames on the prints. OverstockArt has a good variety of art prints, but the selection is a different fare than what the Fulcrum gallery has, so you can easily offer both. OverstockArt offers hand painted art reproductions of classic works.
Fulcrum Gallery offers affiliates 15% of the sales, with a 45-day cookie. No, not chocolate chip. What that means is that if someone clicks through the link you place on your site, and they look at Fulcrum Gallery's offerings, but then they click out and don't buy that day, if they come back to the site within 45 days of that initial visit and they do buy something the second time, or even the third time (yipee!) you would still get 15 percent. You could buy a lot of real cookies with that kinda dough. Sorry, feeling punny today! If you are a super-marketer, you get rewarded. If you generate sales of $500 or more, your commission will increase to 16 percent. If you generate sales of $2,000 or more, your commission increases to 17 percent, and if you are the master of traffic and promotion and get sales to $5,000 or more, you will earn 18 percent!
OverstockArt offers affiliates in the Pepperjam Network a 10% commission on all sales, with 15 return day cookie. So a visitor would have to come back within 15 days for you to still get the commission. Bring sales of $500 or more and your commission will increase to 15%. Help generate sales of $1,000 or more and your percentage increases to twenty.
So you see, each company that signs up to advertise within the PepperJam Network has different offerings. Pepperjam Network will pay you every 2 weeks, just like they pay employees. With other affiliate networks I'm in, my earned amounts must reach a certain amount of money before I get paid. It will be fun to get paid more often.
Certainly, as you look over the ads in the network and choose which companies you think are a good fit with your site or blog, you take into account how much they will pay you. If you look at my site, you can see that Fulcrum Gallery is listed on the main page of my site. Overstock Art is a better fit for my links pages. But both are great sites to link. It's worth the bother to put in affiliate links - most reproductions of oil paintings on OverstockArt seem to be in the $200 range. So if someone shops through my link, I stand to profit $20 each time.
Think of your site or blog like a retail store. In a retail store, the cash register area is the spot for impulse and high profit items. In a grocery store, the most expensive items are at eye-level. The lower priced items or lower profit items are kept on the lower shelves. Your web pages are similar...put the products and sites that you are most interested in and that are a good fit with whatever is on that page of your site.
For more information on affiliate marketing for artists, please see this page I created on Squidoo.
Counterfeit signed artist prints
"A ring of art counterfeiters has sold thousands of prints since 1999 bearing the forged signatures of Picasso, Miro, Dali and other famous artists to buyers around the world.
Reuters
"Thousands of people will learn they ... bought a fake," said Chicago-based U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who announced indictments on Wednesday charging two Americans, a Spaniard from Barcelona, and two Italians from Milan and Monsummano with multiple counts of fraud."
...."Sale prices ranged up to $50,000 for counterfeit prints that came with forged artists' signatures and fake certificates of authenticity that were sold in galleries, at art shows and through Internet auction site eBay"Reuters
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Drawing and all kinds of art instruction DVD
If you have ever wanted to learn to draw or paint by watching a video, and you've tried to find them, then you know first-hand like I do that it's not really as easy as it seems. There are so many that are only available by VHS (still!) and even then, they have been very expensive (around $90 sometimes.) Occasionally, they can be found in the local library, but it can sometimes be a frustrating search. It's also nice to actually own the video or DVD, so when you want to reference something, you can view it when the spirit strikes you.
I think you will enjoy this websites offerings, CCPVideos.com. (Creative Catalyst Productions)...I like how they have DVDs organized by skill levels: Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced, so I can get right to the level I want to use. I can also just click on "Drawing" and only see the DVDs they have that have to do with drawing and sketching.
Some of the drawing DVDs I have seen there are:
Drawing with Pastel and Charcoal by Craig Nelson, $39.95; Drawing the Duotone Portrait, also by Craig Nelson, $39.95; Drawing Gesture in Charcoal and Pastel, $29.95; Drawing with Confidence: from Basic to Brilliant with David N. Kitler, $39.95.
I think the prices are very reasonable. I am probably going to buy some of these. I am also very interested in a DVD I saw there on Watercolor portraits. It is really intriguing me, and as you know, I like to try different things to keep from getting in my artist's rut/block. The paintings shown on the Watercolor DVD look absolutely gorgeous!
You can view Previews of some of the DVDs right on the CCP Videos site
TIP: If you have a friend who is interested in some of the same DVDs that you are, you could go in together on the purchase and trade the DVDs back and forth.
If you have an art business, remember that educational supplies that help you improve your skills should be deductible on your taxes (consult your tax pro!) I just love how the Government helps support my art addiction!
I think you will enjoy this websites offerings, CCPVideos.com. (Creative Catalyst Productions)...I like how they have DVDs organized by skill levels: Beginning, Intermediate, or Advanced, so I can get right to the level I want to use. I can also just click on "Drawing" and only see the DVDs they have that have to do with drawing and sketching.
Some of the drawing DVDs I have seen there are:
Drawing with Pastel and Charcoal by Craig Nelson, $39.95; Drawing the Duotone Portrait, also by Craig Nelson, $39.95; Drawing Gesture in Charcoal and Pastel, $29.95; Drawing with Confidence: from Basic to Brilliant with David N. Kitler, $39.95.
I think the prices are very reasonable. I am probably going to buy some of these. I am also very interested in a DVD I saw there on Watercolor portraits. It is really intriguing me, and as you know, I like to try different things to keep from getting in my artist's rut/block. The paintings shown on the Watercolor DVD look absolutely gorgeous!
You can view Previews of some of the DVDs right on the CCP Videos site
TIP: If you have a friend who is interested in some of the same DVDs that you are, you could go in together on the purchase and trade the DVDs back and forth.
If you have an art business, remember that educational supplies that help you improve your skills should be deductible on your taxes (consult your tax pro!) I just love how the Government helps support my art addiction!
Another picture made top 10 list
This new baby portrait I did made it into yesterday's Top Ten on ArtWanted! Thank you to everyone who visited and commented, it really is appreciated. Anything that can bring more attention to an artist's work is great.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Playing with markers
My Owl sketch needs you to visit him and comment. Owl is lonely, and jealous of the little girl pencil portrait that is getting all the attention. He thinks it's because of the blob of ink near his ear, but he's not sure. I think he is feeling as if only the realistic owl pictures will ever get any attention.
If not for his sunglasses, everyone would see his little birdie tears streaming down.
I feel responsible for his mental health, because I created him as an example for possible publication for children. He was so looking forward to all the kids enjoying him, but he has been totally ignored. No response. Nada. Tsk, tsk! His mommy should learn to not draw until she gets paid, because that's the policy, but it still did not put her in a "fowl" mood, because mommy wubs her wittle owlie sketch a lot.
(ummm...) yeah...
Visit Owl here
If not for his sunglasses, everyone would see his little birdie tears streaming down.
I feel responsible for his mental health, because I created him as an example for possible publication for children. He was so looking forward to all the kids enjoying him, but he has been totally ignored. No response. Nada. Tsk, tsk! His mommy should learn to not draw until she gets paid, because that's the policy, but it still did not put her in a "fowl" mood, because mommy wubs her wittle owlie sketch a lot.
(ummm...) yeah...
Visit Owl here
Art Award of Sorts
One of my portraits made it into the "Top Ten Club" of all the 422,733 images on Artwanted.com yesterday. I think they get into the top ten by the number of views and comments (or maybe it's just the number of comments, I'm not sure)It is really exciting to see an artwork rank on there...after all, there are more than 21,000 artists showing their artwork on that site. Here's the drawing. I would love it if you would comment, because maybe it will rank again!
What's shown isn't how the portrait looked like in the end. I added sort of a ruffled edge to the young lady's shirt. It was amazing how just one small thing like that really improved it. I added the ruffle at my client's house after we discussed it, so that's why I didn't get a new scan of the art.
I don't go to all of my client's homes, but if they are within about 20 miles I try to do that.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Somewhat productive day
Our 4 year old is home from Pre-K school today because he has a fever. A high enough fever to keep him out of school, but not high enough to keep him out of my hair (all you parents will know what I am saying!)
First, we did finger painting. When the fingerpaints ran out but we still had the need for craftiness coursing through our veins, we did some crafts from some stuff I happened to have stored in the garage. Using different sized fuzzy craft balls, craft foam and craft glue, we made little chicks. They are so cute. I could only find one pair of stick on googly eyes though. That was a bummer. So only one out of five of the chicks can see anything.
Today, I am glad to say I am getting close to being caught up on my artwork. I worked on the colored pencil portrait for Mrs. H, and I have to say that I am definitely not ready for prime time myself - as far as colored pencil is concerned. It is difficult to get the likeness and get the skin tone smooth as I would like it.
I did get the likeness corrected quite a bit, but I think I can't really do any more on it. I am afraid I will take that one-step-too-many and mess the whole thing up. Gotta know when to quit. I'm not offering colored pencil portraits anymore - except for certain animals now and then - because I feel my skills in it are not up to par yet. They also take so much time for me to do and I am having a hard time getting enough art time in as it is right now.
I have started a black and white graphite pencil portrait of the same subject, and I will send it along to her at no charge. She has waited so long and patiently for me to get the colored pencil portrait right, it's the least I can do.
Even starting that was difficult today. I had it to the blending stage and something in the chamois scratched the paper with some graphite. It wouldn't erase. I decided that taking the artwork (that was useless now anyway) and ripping it up into shreds would really help my stress level. Oooh, it did! Very cleansing. ;-)
Then I brought out a nice fresh sheet of Strathmore Bristol, and started again. This time around, the drawing went along a lot more easily. I'm past the blending stage now, and I hope I can finish it up tonight.
Oh, and I noticed that lately my kneaded rubber erasers kept disappearing. I suspected 2 year old Little Guy, but today when I tucked him in for his nap, I found a piece of it in his bed. That little stinker! Luckily, I buy the stuff in bulk, so I have plenty to work with, or else he would put me out of business with his rubber eraser embezzlement.
First, we did finger painting. When the fingerpaints ran out but we still had the need for craftiness coursing through our veins, we did some crafts from some stuff I happened to have stored in the garage. Using different sized fuzzy craft balls, craft foam and craft glue, we made little chicks. They are so cute. I could only find one pair of stick on googly eyes though. That was a bummer. So only one out of five of the chicks can see anything.
Today, I am glad to say I am getting close to being caught up on my artwork. I worked on the colored pencil portrait for Mrs. H, and I have to say that I am definitely not ready for prime time myself - as far as colored pencil is concerned. It is difficult to get the likeness and get the skin tone smooth as I would like it.
I did get the likeness corrected quite a bit, but I think I can't really do any more on it. I am afraid I will take that one-step-too-many and mess the whole thing up. Gotta know when to quit. I'm not offering colored pencil portraits anymore - except for certain animals now and then - because I feel my skills in it are not up to par yet. They also take so much time for me to do and I am having a hard time getting enough art time in as it is right now.
I have started a black and white graphite pencil portrait of the same subject, and I will send it along to her at no charge. She has waited so long and patiently for me to get the colored pencil portrait right, it's the least I can do.
Even starting that was difficult today. I had it to the blending stage and something in the chamois scratched the paper with some graphite. It wouldn't erase. I decided that taking the artwork (that was useless now anyway) and ripping it up into shreds would really help my stress level. Oooh, it did! Very cleansing. ;-)
Then I brought out a nice fresh sheet of Strathmore Bristol, and started again. This time around, the drawing went along a lot more easily. I'm past the blending stage now, and I hope I can finish it up tonight.
Oh, and I noticed that lately my kneaded rubber erasers kept disappearing. I suspected 2 year old Little Guy, but today when I tucked him in for his nap, I found a piece of it in his bed. That little stinker! Luckily, I buy the stuff in bulk, so I have plenty to work with, or else he would put me out of business with his rubber eraser embezzlement.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
ArtWanted.com
I just renewed my subscription to ArtWanted. It is really a good value at $39 a year, or you can subscribe monthly at $5 a month. I went for the years' subscription. It's a great place to put your portfolio, great advertising because it gives you a link to your site - and who knows who is going to see your art there. I put it in my taxes as an Advertising Expense.
You can see my ArtWanted portfolio here: ArtWanted.com/darligraphy
I think there might be more art on there than on my actual website!
If you are an artist and you have wanted to have a portfolio/website but you don't know the first thing to do, then an ArtWanted portfolio would be a great start. You could use it as your main website when you are just starting out. Then, when you get a more elaborate website, it can still serve as an advertising place for you. If you end up hiring someone to do your website, then the Artwanted portfolio would make it very easy for the webmaster to pull your images from there to set up your website.
You can see my ArtWanted portfolio here: ArtWanted.com/darligraphy
I think there might be more art on there than on my actual website!
If you are an artist and you have wanted to have a portfolio/website but you don't know the first thing to do, then an ArtWanted portfolio would be a great start. You could use it as your main website when you are just starting out. Then, when you get a more elaborate website, it can still serve as an advertising place for you. If you end up hiring someone to do your website, then the Artwanted portfolio would make it very easy for the webmaster to pull your images from there to set up your website.
Art is not a get rich quick scheme
I saw a gift site that is outsourcing pencil portraits to an artist. I was shocked at the prices they want for the pencil portraits. Some of the prices were higher than mine! How can I say this... and I don't mean this in a rude way, but the art "wasn't really ready for prime time."
I felt that perhaps I should email them and in a nice way tell them that they are not going to get those prices for the artwork. After all, they have them listed to make some money, but the portraits were the quality that could demand perhaps $40-$75 area, not in the $200-$300 price range. The artwork was flat looking, and frankly I liked the reference photos more than the art! (that's a bad sign.) I put hours and hours into each artwork, I use professional grade materials, and that goes into why I charge what I do. I am also a published artist, so that adds to the value of the artwork. See this page I have on What to Charge for Pencil Portraits for more pricing information. I have a survey on prices that over 30 artists have taken.
But back to the website....I looked further down at the step by step instructions for ordering pencil portraits from the site. I recognized some of the wording...ahah...they have been to my site and "borrowed" some of my ideas and text. I must admit that I have had so much stuff stolen from my site lately, (in addition to the earlier post's person, there's a father and son team from the Bahamas who have taken text off my site now)
I'm not feeling very Christian about it anymore. Decided not to email 'em with advice about the prices. I clicked "X" out of the browser. Good luck with your business. <--- ooh, Darla got sarcastic...
Maybe I am just grumpy because my 2 year old is lately in the habit of waking up at 2:30 am.
I felt that perhaps I should email them and in a nice way tell them that they are not going to get those prices for the artwork. After all, they have them listed to make some money, but the portraits were the quality that could demand perhaps $40-$75 area, not in the $200-$300 price range. The artwork was flat looking, and frankly I liked the reference photos more than the art! (that's a bad sign.) I put hours and hours into each artwork, I use professional grade materials, and that goes into why I charge what I do. I am also a published artist, so that adds to the value of the artwork. See this page I have on What to Charge for Pencil Portraits for more pricing information. I have a survey on prices that over 30 artists have taken.
But back to the website....I looked further down at the step by step instructions for ordering pencil portraits from the site. I recognized some of the wording...ahah...they have been to my site and "borrowed" some of my ideas and text. I must admit that I have had so much stuff stolen from my site lately, (in addition to the earlier post's person, there's a father and son team from the Bahamas who have taken text off my site now)
I'm not feeling very Christian about it anymore. Decided not to email 'em with advice about the prices. I clicked "X" out of the browser. Good luck with your business. <--- ooh, Darla got sarcastic...
Maybe I am just grumpy because my 2 year old is lately in the habit of waking up at 2:30 am.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Tornado in Atlanta
The National Weather Service has confirmed that it was definitely a tornado that hit downtown Atlanta last night. It ripped a hole in the roof of the Georgia Dome, broke windows out of the Equitable Building, and did a lot of damage to CNN Center. Chairs from the Omni were in the street. It's so rare for a tornado to hit a city area. I think that the tornado hit the upper portions of buildings and bounced around up there kind of like a ball in a pinball machine. You can view pictures of the damage here.
I was pretty sure it had to be a tornado, and not something like just strong gusty winds - from seeing the news footage of so much twisted metal. Even a strong thunderstorm wouldn't do that kind of damage. I stayed up really late because there were so many storms in the area.
Atlanta Journal Constitution story about the tornado
Can you imagine being on the street when that blew through, and the glass breaking out of windows above and all that mess coming down on you? That must have been extremely frightening!
Now we're under a tornado watch until this evening. They expect more storms to come through here at about Noon.
I was pretty sure it had to be a tornado, and not something like just strong gusty winds - from seeing the news footage of so much twisted metal. Even a strong thunderstorm wouldn't do that kind of damage. I stayed up really late because there were so many storms in the area.
Atlanta Journal Constitution story about the tornado
Can you imagine being on the street when that blew through, and the glass breaking out of windows above and all that mess coming down on you? That must have been extremely frightening!
Now we're under a tornado watch until this evening. They expect more storms to come through here at about Noon.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Name the grumpy lady
Yesterday, I bought a set of 15 Rembrandt brand soft pastels and a Strathmore pastel paper pad of assorted colors. So I had to play with it a bit. I've found that if I get in an art rut, it really helps to get something new to fiddle around with. It re-energizes me to do better in what I normally do. It gets me excited about my art again, like a kid playing with art supplies!Now don't judge this too critically...I was just playing around and this was just done with fingertips to blend and no erasing at all. I'm not posting it here pretending it's an important art piece!
My friend "Andrea the Arteeste" says I should keep working on illustrations, because - [quote] - "that's where the money is." So I decided to do this little doodilly illustration - it's not representative of my mood yesterday at all. Although I was just goofing around, I like the way this grumpy lady is so seething, and dark - and yet she has this vibrant red hair with curled up ends...like she'd like to be a fun person but just can't do it. LOL!
Maybe I will create a series of funny characters and write about how they relate to each other. Then we will write a book about them. What do you think? First we will need to name this grumpy lady and decide where she lives and what she does for work and hobbies.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Running in mud
I have been busy all day, but I don't know where the time went! Have you ever had a day like that?
I went to Kohl's Department Store to return jeans and a shirt - that went, except that Kohl's puts their Return Department in the far back corner of the store, so I had to pass many displays of stuffed animals and Easter decorations to get there....not a problem, unless you have a 2 year old child with you like I did!
Little Guy is a very tactile learner. He had to stop and look/touch everything. I saw other people heading back to the Returns Department - if I didn't have to stop and show Little Guy every item on the way to the returns desk, we would have been first in line...instead, we were third. I think they put the department in the back of the store so you see tons of stuff you will be tempted to buy on your way back there. Evil! Evil and brilliant. I have to admire that.
Then I went to cash a check at BB&T Bank. While I was there, I considered possibly opening a checking account with them - after all, free unlimited checks! The only catch is that you have to keep a balance of $25,000 in your account all the time so your account is free. (sorry, I just fell down....) Just how much do they charge for those checks, anyway...that you would need to keep $25K in there to get free checks?!? Hey bank, give me the free checking and let me pay you for the checks. The lowest priced option was $15 service fee per month, and I think with that you need to keep $1,500 in your checking account at all times.
The reason I want to get a checking account for my business in Snellville is that I have a credit union membership, but the only offices for it are in Marietta, which is on the other side of the Atlanta area from where I am. I have never physically been in a location of my credit union. I have done everything by mail or online. I guess I will continue. It's free, truly free, except for the checks.
Ok, let's see...what else did I do?
Oh yes, went to eat at Wendy's, where the burger was not salted enough and the french fries were over-salted. I considered putting the french fries inside my burger. Didn't though. I shouldn't have been eating french fries anyway.
In the restaurant, Little Guy was fascinated by the fake flower in the glass vase on the table. Before I could stop him, he had taken the flowers out and put the opening of the vase into his mouth. Then he wanted out of his seat, and I wouldn't let him, so his next comment was to loudly say, "I n'go poopie!!!" I didn't believe he truly needed to go to the bathroom, so I called his bluff. By the time I got to Home Depot, he had indeed "go poopied."
Mental note - believe him next time.
So I changed him inside the car and we went into Home Depot to look for an aerator for my kitchen sink faucet. The hunt was unsuccessful. They do carry them, but there are several different sizes, so I will have to go back. The trip to Home Depot made me realize that I really need to win or be given oh, $50,000 to $75,000 for the home renovations I would like to do! Yep, yep, that should about cover it all. I saw so many things I liked.
I went to Kohl's Department Store to return jeans and a shirt - that went, except that Kohl's puts their Return Department in the far back corner of the store, so I had to pass many displays of stuffed animals and Easter decorations to get there....not a problem, unless you have a 2 year old child with you like I did!
Little Guy is a very tactile learner. He had to stop and look/touch everything. I saw other people heading back to the Returns Department - if I didn't have to stop and show Little Guy every item on the way to the returns desk, we would have been first in line...instead, we were third. I think they put the department in the back of the store so you see tons of stuff you will be tempted to buy on your way back there. Evil! Evil and brilliant. I have to admire that.
Then I went to cash a check at BB&T Bank. While I was there, I considered possibly opening a checking account with them - after all, free unlimited checks! The only catch is that you have to keep a balance of $25,000 in your account all the time so your account is free. (sorry, I just fell down....) Just how much do they charge for those checks, anyway...that you would need to keep $25K in there to get free checks?!? Hey bank, give me the free checking and let me pay you for the checks. The lowest priced option was $15 service fee per month, and I think with that you need to keep $1,500 in your checking account at all times.
The reason I want to get a checking account for my business in Snellville is that I have a credit union membership, but the only offices for it are in Marietta, which is on the other side of the Atlanta area from where I am. I have never physically been in a location of my credit union. I have done everything by mail or online. I guess I will continue. It's free, truly free, except for the checks.
Ok, let's see...what else did I do?
Oh yes, went to eat at Wendy's, where the burger was not salted enough and the french fries were over-salted. I considered putting the french fries inside my burger. Didn't though. I shouldn't have been eating french fries anyway.
In the restaurant, Little Guy was fascinated by the fake flower in the glass vase on the table. Before I could stop him, he had taken the flowers out and put the opening of the vase into his mouth. Then he wanted out of his seat, and I wouldn't let him, so his next comment was to loudly say, "I n'go poopie!!!" I didn't believe he truly needed to go to the bathroom, so I called his bluff. By the time I got to Home Depot, he had indeed "go poopied."
Mental note - believe him next time.
So I changed him inside the car and we went into Home Depot to look for an aerator for my kitchen sink faucet. The hunt was unsuccessful. They do carry them, but there are several different sizes, so I will have to go back. The trip to Home Depot made me realize that I really need to win or be given oh, $50,000 to $75,000 for the home renovations I would like to do! Yep, yep, that should about cover it all. I saw so many things I liked.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Wake Up, Mommy!
Thanks to Jonathan Bailey telling me about BitScan, I did find more people stealing text from my website. I will be working on totally re-writing the first page of my website. I want it to stay unique. The uniqueness is important for search engines. I will continue to fight for my rights against people stealing my site's content, but I guess it's a good time to have new text anyway. I think I can make it better. It's just a matter of finding time for it.
Little Guy (2 yrs old) now has Croup. I am feeling a bit under the weather too - and the flu is going around the Atlanta area. I have heard of several adults who have had to go to the hospital because of high fever with the flu. Scary! As long as I get some sleep (eventually) I am okay. The hard part of a toddler being sick is that they are whiny and clingy. We cuddled up under a blanket and watched Toy Story for the 13,468,290th time. As long as I appear to be looking toward the television set, I can sometimes catch a little cat nap. But if Little Guy notices I am sleeping, he will say, "Wake up, Mommy!" and touch my cheeks and I am forced into consciousness again. I can't say no to him when he has those pouty lips and rosy cheeks from being sick.
Little Guy (2 yrs old) now has Croup. I am feeling a bit under the weather too - and the flu is going around the Atlanta area. I have heard of several adults who have had to go to the hospital because of high fever with the flu. Scary! As long as I get some sleep (eventually) I am okay. The hard part of a toddler being sick is that they are whiny and clingy. We cuddled up under a blanket and watched Toy Story for the 13,468,290th time. As long as I appear to be looking toward the television set, I can sometimes catch a little cat nap. But if Little Guy notices I am sleeping, he will say, "Wake up, Mommy!" and touch my cheeks and I am forced into consciousness again. I can't say no to him when he has those pouty lips and rosy cheeks from being sick.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Artists stealing from other artists
I found another artist has copied the text from my website word-for-word (again). I would love to say this is not the first time....but it has happened several times. The good news is, the more it happens, the better I am getting with dealing with it efficiently.
I won't sugar coat it, it's stealing. People think it's okay to just cut and paste portions of text they like, and pop it into their own websites. After all, it is easy to do that. To many people, it probably seems like "no big deal," but it's so important to have unique content on the Internet, and I've worked hard on my site's content....
If you have a flower in a pot on your porch, a flower you have lovingly tended, watered, covered when it was cold....may I wait until it's in gorgeous healthy full bloom and just take it out of your yard and stick it on my own porch and claim I was the one who grew it?!? The same people who would be aghast at this theft by taking, will cut and paste content from someone's site without a second thought.
I have worked hard on my website (I do it myself) and I have paid an expert to help me with my SEO (Search Engine Optimization - so Google and Yahoo will rank me). I do like to think I am a giving person. If any artist comes to me and asks for advice and help, I will give it generously, as artists like Kevin Candon took time out of his busy schedule to help me when I was trying to build my portrait business.
Of course, artists should be helping each other and building each other up. Stealing their work, whether it's written or visual, is definitely not part of that. I would love to see a world in which artists can trust each other.
Whatever kind of website you have, you should check out CopyScape to see if your content has been "lifted." To use it at the free level, you will need to enter each individual page's URL of your site into their search field. Their service called CopySentry will automatically monitor the pages of your website against everything on the Internet. The CopySentry service is currently $4.95 per month.
This page from CopyScape explains what plagiarism is, why it is a threat, how to prevent it, how to detect it, how to respond to plagiarism, and your rights.
I won't sugar coat it, it's stealing. People think it's okay to just cut and paste portions of text they like, and pop it into their own websites. After all, it is easy to do that. To many people, it probably seems like "no big deal," but it's so important to have unique content on the Internet, and I've worked hard on my site's content....
If you have a flower in a pot on your porch, a flower you have lovingly tended, watered, covered when it was cold....may I wait until it's in gorgeous healthy full bloom and just take it out of your yard and stick it on my own porch and claim I was the one who grew it?!? The same people who would be aghast at this theft by taking, will cut and paste content from someone's site without a second thought.
I have worked hard on my website (I do it myself) and I have paid an expert to help me with my SEO (Search Engine Optimization - so Google and Yahoo will rank me). I do like to think I am a giving person. If any artist comes to me and asks for advice and help, I will give it generously, as artists like Kevin Candon took time out of his busy schedule to help me when I was trying to build my portrait business.
Of course, artists should be helping each other and building each other up. Stealing their work, whether it's written or visual, is definitely not part of that. I would love to see a world in which artists can trust each other.
Whatever kind of website you have, you should check out CopyScape to see if your content has been "lifted." To use it at the free level, you will need to enter each individual page's URL of your site into their search field. Their service called CopySentry will automatically monitor the pages of your website against everything on the Internet. The CopySentry service is currently $4.95 per month.
This page from CopyScape explains what plagiarism is, why it is a threat, how to prevent it, how to detect it, how to respond to plagiarism, and your rights.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Hosting a Portrait Party
Check out illustrator Rama Hughes' very cool blog with information how to host a Portrait Party. This is a great idea. What fun...why should artists pay for models when they should just have a party and draw each other!
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Can't think of a good title
I stumbled across the 'web' today and read some of another mom's blog on the Mummy Chronicles. This post about being hormonal and shopping at Target and all the weird things a woman can buy reminded me of myself.
Except, I don't shop when I am hormonal/PMS. I just know my thought processes are not good during that time. So I stay away from any public place, and especially haircutting scissors - after what I like to refer to as "The Bettie Page Incident" - when I cut my bangs really, really short.
Except, I don't shop when I am hormonal/PMS. I just know my thought processes are not good during that time. So I stay away from any public place, and especially haircutting scissors - after what I like to refer to as "The Bettie Page Incident" - when I cut my bangs really, really short.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
A quiet day
Today, I will have at least two hours of uninterrupted quiet. Mmmm...quiet. What a nice word. You have no idea how good that sounds or what a rarity that is for me.
Ever see the Sponge Bob episode in which Squidward uses the time machine and is finally
"Alooooone"....? Yep, it feels sort of like that, sans clarinet.
Well, two hours if my 2 year old sleeps that long. My problem is that I need to get moving. There are a ton of important things to do with the promise of the two blissful hours.
I have 6 things on my list. Give the bottom 5 things 15 minutes each, and that means I can draw for 45 minutes.
This makes it look like I am very time conscious and organized, but I'm not. I do really try though.
Ever see the Sponge Bob episode in which Squidward uses the time machine and is finally
"Alooooone"....? Yep, it feels sort of like that, sans clarinet.
Well, two hours if my 2 year old sleeps that long. My problem is that I need to get moving. There are a ton of important things to do with the promise of the two blissful hours.
- Draw
- Do a deep clean of the kitchen (taking everything off the counters and scrubbing the whole thing down like it's an infected cruise ship galley)
- Vacuum the living room
- Put the last of the laundry away
- Clean my bedroom, de-clutter - (make history by making the bed for once)
- Clean out the garage in preparation for a church yard sale
I have 6 things on my list. Give the bottom 5 things 15 minutes each, and that means I can draw for 45 minutes.
This makes it look like I am very time conscious and organized, but I'm not. I do really try though.
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