Widbrook Common

 Writing a blog post is on my to-do list and, as I have just had some work come in, it seems best to do it now. I have been having a clearing my mind day before I am trapped at my desk for a while. Working is always easier to do with a clearer head. 

This has mostly just meant posting a reel on Instagram, checking to see what I need to do to visit Cuba in a few months (yes, I am going to Cuba!) and putting a new painting up for sale. 

I am not entirely sure the new painting is completely finished. It seems like it might need an extra focus, either in the form of a sun or some birds, either in the sky or on the fence (the birds that is, not the sun!). I thought I may as well share it as is for the moment, and go from there. After all, if someone wants to buy it as is, that has to be a good thing. I have also just had another commission request approved, this time of Yosemite, so I am looking forward to seeing what view they want me to paint. It should be a good one! 

In the meantime, here is the new, possibly finished, possibly not painting: 

It is of Widbrook Common, which is a twenty minute walk from my house and a view I see often! 

Empire State of Mind

 So I have been busy. 

I have completed a few card and mug orders, painted the Empire State Building and more importantly finally finished my art website! All links are present and correct, the mobile website is working and I have successfully taken some orders so all systems are definitely go! 

Next stop is to try and work out how I can get some more traffic to my site and tidy up some of the settings and how it is registered on Wix if I can work out how to. 

It seems like there is always still something to tweak. Including my prices, postage costs seem to be a bit crazy at the moment, so after completing some orders at the beginning of the week I have had a minor adjustment to a few things. But hopefully that is all done and I can concentrate on painting and generating some orders! 

Speaking of painting, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, I have recently completed a commission of the Empire State Building. It was from a specific photo from the client, so whilst it is just about in my usual style it isn't necessarily a usual composition for me - I tend to avoid putting the main piece quite so central, but it seems to work. So here it is..... entitled Empire State of Mind. 

Times Square

 I thought I would be shocking and make shortly today! I just put the New York painting up for sale across all my sites, the last place being here, so without further ado, here it is!

I have painted this scene before, but over ten years ago, so it was interesting to revisit it. I had an enquiry a couple of months previously about whether I had any paintings of New York still available, by someone who already owns two pieces of my work. I didn't at the time, but thought it was an idea worth pursuing on the off chance that seeing the piece would encourage them to buy it. They haven't seen it yet so who knows. They are clients I know via an online external gallery so unfortunately they aren't the easiest for me to contact.  Either way it seems like you can't really go wrong with a painting of New York and Times Square in particular. Next stop, the Empire State Building. Coming soon(ish). 

Shortly

 I am enjoying the fact that I mentioned blogging twice a week in my previous post. I feel like I must have written that and then forgot about it completely. But this isn't bad as it has only been two weeks since my last post, rather than two months. Progress of sorts. 

There is no major news to report. The half finished painting is complete, and one of the New York paintings has been finished too as well as being photographed in progress, in the hopes I can put a social media reel together with the material. I think I need to try some news things to keep it interesting and to motivate me a bit more. I have been stuck in a rut for a while and need some newness. 

Other than that I am changing my routine to paint in the day rather than the evening, and hoping to start the second New York painting next week. I will share the first one on here shortly. 

However long shortly turns out to be.....

Maybe...

 I feel like my last post sounded like a turning a corner post, but then I obviously turned too many corners and got lost again. I have managed a few paintings since 'The Guitarist' but I keep forgetting to blog about them, or in fact blog about anything. 

My website is back up and running now and almost complete. I just have the cushion and card section left to do and to sort out why it isn't currently registering as a secure site. I am worried about the cushion pages as setting them up seems impossible using the new website provider. It appears that I may need to learn some JavaScript to get them to work; Having only just about got the basics of coding together I am not looking forward to trying to figure this out! Although perhaps I will email Wix first and see if someone there can help me. 

As part of my refocus and getting back on the art horse I have just set up my photography on a secret Instagram page. For some reason I feel as though I need an art thing just for me, with no expectations, no familiarity, no judgement. Not that anyone does judge, except probably myself. So maybe that is why it needs to be lowkey to start with. It is linked up to my Fine Art America page in the hope that I might get some sales via it. Wishful thinking possibly, but I worked out I can do two posts a week for 3 years with the stock I have so I may as well try! I know some social media success comes with consistency and reminding people you exist. It is why I always sell more paintings when I am painting. Keeping things fresh is important.

In other news, I just put a new painting up for sale. I have two paintings of New York to do and there is a half finished canvas that has been sat on my floor for a week. Finishing this off will hopefully be on the agenda for next week when it is a bit cooler and hopefully my architectural drawings are complete. 

I feel like I am getting there, but boy is it slow. I have started yoga every day again, maybe I will try to blog twice a week. Maybe I will be an endless selection of maybes again. But fingers crossed this time I can actually motivate the old me into resurfacing. 

And lastly, the current thoughts are also towards a gallery showing in Maidenhead. Lots of people have shown interest and I am thinking it would be good to get my teeth into something different. I also have quite a few paintings I could show at the moment, and it might give me a kick up the backside to do some local ones which I also get asked about a lot. 

So as usual, a busy, positive blog post full of promises that may or may not materialise. 

Place your bets....  

Which Direction?

 Gosh, 

I am not sure where I have been. I have made website improvements although it is still offline and I must correct this sooner rather than later. Tomorrow will be dedicated to trying to get some of it up and running, even if it is just my original paintings for the moment. 

Other than that, too much time has passed. I have completed two commissions, one I was worried about and I have three more commissions I need to start working on. I have also managed to paint a few random things and I am starting to feel more inclined to do so. This feels like a good sign, so I hope it means my art mojo is slowly beginning to resurface. 

It still always seems like there are endless and overwhelming amounts to do though. 

Let's go with a distraction first, and a sharing of my most recent commission. I was pleased with how this turned out in the end after procrastinating over it for a good few months. It was definitely out of my comfort zone but then turned out to be quite an enjoyable challenge, and other than a repaint over the face a few times, easier to complete than I expected. 

So here goes - The Guitarist. 

I guess I needed to get a few other things under my belt before I felt ready to tackle this, but then ironically I think doing it reminded myself that I can paint and I should stop worrying so much. Post lockdown is a strange place. It seems like everyone needs to rediscover themselves a little and be reminded of who they are and what they do. Joy and ease seem hard to find, and tiredness is around every corner. But it feels like it is getting easier, at least it does today. Days still easily swing from ok to too much. 

But I am starting to remember that art is my compass. 

Etsy to the Rescue!

 I feel like I cursed myself with my previous post as I have only managed to paint one thing since I think and my website has officially completely broken. I need to do quite a lot to fix it which will be the task of this week and possibly next and hopefully not many weeks after that but I wouldn't like to say. 

On the plus side, I have sold the odd print, and extra large puzzle, I have a commission to do and possibly another one as an enquiry came in this morning. It always seems as though once I pay art attention it generates something. I just need time to give it more attention. I have also finished some serious restocking; Canvasses are in, cardboard packaging is in, mugs are restocked, as are puzzles, I just need to set aside some time to make some prints and then we are organised and good to go.

As to my website it is a mess and currently offline with directions to visit Etsy, which is now my one stop shop. I am beginning to wonder if I should have just used Etsy in the first place and never had a website, but I kind of like the fact that the website is entirely in my control. Although it admittedly it doesn't feel like it is at the moment. 

These things are sent to test us I suppose, and at least I am good at working through large tasks. Quite often it makes my focus better as I can work consistently at it, assuming and hoping, I don't get too busy with other things. 

So watch this space, maybe casually, just in case there is no news for another month.  

2022

 I remember this! It has been a while. No Happy New Year message and no new news for ages. Neither of which reflects real life, but there has just been a lot of other stuff going on, plus the worlds largest painters block. 

But.

I think it is clearing. I have just ordered some phone cases for a bespoke order, I have created two new paintings relatively recently and I have just ordered some sample notebooks as I would like to add them to my available items to purchase. 

More importantly my art website has also finally been transferred over to my new provider. I haven't been able to use it for the last few months so it is rather out of date. It also has a much more user friendly mobile editing version so I am looking forward to getting my teeth into that. I just hope I manage to find enough time to sit and work at it properly, and that the interface is easy to use. 

I also completely tidied my office over the Christmas break so it feels very zen to be sitting here at the moment. The only benefit of not painting for a while is that I have sold enough paintings to finally have some more storage space; But, I am very much hoping to paint a lot this year, or at least try and do one a week, or every other week. 

We'll see. 

So let's hope for an easy year. A bit less stop / starty, more generically consistent and less complicated. 

AMEN.