Works in theory....

Today seems to be one of those strange days where everything happens at once. Actually the last couple of days have been like that. After giving everyone a months heads up for possible price increase, I managed to sell 3 paintings, have 1 on hold and a request for a viewing.

I have put the 'Pepper' the dog commission up on Facebook today and now may possibly have an enquiry about whether I paint cats. Do I? I guess I haven't tried. I have also been contacted earlier on today, to feature in a 'Bath Life' 'arts special' magazine (a magazine about Bath the place I hasten to add, although I did have an amazing bath yesterday...). So, all-in-all, it seems like a good few days, or at least a bizarre day today. One of my friends also put me forward to a journalist who is looking to speak to artists who sell their work online, so it will be interesting to see if anything comes of that. At least all these things will help when I fill in my publications/exhibitions section on my website. The only problem at the moment is that the questions for the Bath magazine are actually quite tough. Well, not tough per se, but will require some actual thought about what I do.

Answers on a postcard...

All of these things happening, really does press on the urgency for me to hurry up and get my website up together in a more view-able place, across all platforms. I think it might be time to get all of it serviceable except for the 'print shop' as this is what will take the time, that way I can get it up and running and add the print shop on at a later date....

Works in theory....

     

5 minute warning.

I finally managed to work out what to charge for my paintings. I say worked out, probably made up is a better choice of words, but I am pleased with what I have come up with so far. I gave Facebook a heads up about my impending price change and then managed to sell 3 paintings almost instantly which seems pretty impressive!

So if you are even vaguely thinking of buying a painting from me, I advise you to get purchasing within the next month, things, or at least prices, are only going to get more expensive from here! You have been warned.....

Pepper

I am trying to tidy up some art odds and ends today and do some general sorting. Unfortunately I keep doing too many things at once which is getting slightly confusing. I think I am vaguely in order though, kind of, maybe, is that true!?

Hmm...

The next step is to check my stock levels for canvasses, paint and mount boards as I think I am missing a few bits, and I want to order a few trial pieces from Fine Art America, and then that will be a few more bits off the to-do list that I keep threatening to burn because it is too long.

In other news, I have completed my first commission of the year, which will soon be on its way to its new home, just up the road from me. It seems ironic to have been asked to do another portrait of a dog - maybe this will end up being one of my specialities after all, no matter what I say. So without further ado, meet Pepper the dog.

She came out much better than I was expecting, and in a shocking turn of events, I wouldn't say no to keeping this one on my wall...

HVD

Just in case no one has said it to you yet, I just wanted to say HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! And use today as an excuse to share this photo with you that I took a few years ago in Laguna Beach, California. I miss that place.

I am now going to head to zumba and hope I am not the only person not having a date night.

I'm finally Special.

So it seems like the print sales are continuing as I sold another one at the weekend. Let's hope this streak continues.

In other news I had the results back from a competition I entered the other day called 'Cityscapes.' It was just an online competition, where the 'gallery' in question displays your work and links to your website for a month, and sends information out to other galleries and websites. They have a pretty good footfall, or rather a good visitor count so it should be a good place to garner some publicity.

I didn't get a place in their top ten artists but for once in my life I did get some attention as I received a Special Recognition Award.

This is the first time I have received any official recognition for my work, well, other than the odd publication; Let's rephrase - this is the first time I have ever received an award for my artwork. Literally ever, a guy at school always won the yearly Christmas poster competition when I was small (yes, I carry this with me) so I was pleasantly surprised by receiving this.

Maybe 2018 really will be my year. It is a good start at least!

You can see the rest of the winners (and me) in the online gallery here.

Steady....

This last week or so seems to be a bit strange. Strange because I have sold a print on Fine Art America, a print on Society 6, a bag to someone at Zumba, a painting and another print in real life, not to mention the earlier commission request....

Busy.

I also went to the Tate Modern to visit an exhibition, and deleted some important bits of my revamped website that I needed. So busy and frustrating.

I am now residing somewhere between disorganised and confused. Not helped by having a friend over for a few days and going to a gig to see Natalie Imbruglia, whilst preparing for a spa weekend away with the girls. Seriously. This week....

BOOM!

I am at that irritating stage where I want the website to be finished. My prices to be chosen and my promoting to begin, but I am still a long way off from this being the case.

I definitely need a time turner this week.

Or to find some patience.....

Animal Instinct

2018, so far, seems to be all about the animals. I have two commissions thus far - one to paint a dog, and another to paint a Unicorn! (Yes, that one will be interesting!)

I have been website updating on and off for the last few days. This is mostly very, very good, except that it resulted in an inability to sleep on both Monday night and Tuesday night. This was mostly because I started thinking about all the things I needed to decide upon, to sort certain pages out, and then these points went round, and round, and round, and round in my head for what seemed like an interminable amount of time. Fortunately, I now seem to have decided what I am doing (theoretically), and I have started to tackle the easy to sort pages. This means, that the 'portfolio' section is done, minus a few tweaks and the 'originals' section is well on the way. I will worry about sorting the more complicated pages out later, and they are only complicated layout wise, bar the 'Terms and Conditions' page, which as yet I have no idea what to write on. Fortunately this time, I have found a few artists that I want to pitch my work level at; This has been rather useful, as I have been looking at how they have structured their website, prices and various other bits and pieces, to give me an idea of what to aim at. This is vastly different from the other two times I have website redesigned where I have mostly made it up as I have gone along.

One of the main dilemmas at the moment, and pretty much as always, is still price. I am pretty sure someone didn't buy a piece of work the other day because they thought it was too cheap. A friend pointed out to me, that when they are looking for jeans, they discount the cheapest ones, because they think they will be of poor quality. They ignore the most expensive ones, because that is a ridiculous amount to pay, so that leaves the gap in the middle, which art-wise, is probably pretty wide. This seems like good advice, I just need to somehow work out what that middle level is for me.

Watch this space. (It might be advisable to buy a painting soon, if you are thinking about it!)