Wednesday, February 29, 2012

It's All About Art, Timeline, Plus, and Info Universe Gods

Okay, so I previewed my new Facebook Timeline today. I liked it, published it, and now I'm learning how to tweak it.  It's all good. We have to keep telling ourselves these changes are good for us, as well as the gods of the info universe. Someone gave me Arundati Roy's book The God of Small Things a long time ago and I often think how fortunate I am to not have a thousand gods to appease, especially when tweaking all my internet sites and tools.

Go for it with Timeline--you'll like it! Professional Pages are okay--here's mine Gail Kent Studio Page with Timeline. I wasn't prepared for the extra banner-type photo, but found a temporary one to use for now.

I wanted to get in another post for February so I'm welcoming the extra day. An article I read earlier this week Obama Poster Image Copied relates to an earlier post about copying and thieves who will download your art-- steal your art. This is a tragic case of a gifted artist who used his gift, along with another artist's gift without permission, he got caught, it made the headlines. I strongly believe we have to put this issue out to all the sites we use. Anyone who has the talent to copy, has the talent to create original work. Thief Copied Your Art

Savannah Sunrise
Georgia Marshes



That's all I had on my mind for this post, but I do want to mention that new works were uploaded to my FAA site yesterday, and I have several Spring pieces to photograph for uploading--need yet another new camera.
These two studies are from photos snapped on a drive from the Florida Gulf Coast north along the Atlantic Coasts of Florida and Georgia and up to the North Carolina mountains.




Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios



Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Internet Is Not Free, Users Get No Free Lunch

Pundits and blog techies are jumping all over Google's latest apologies for snooping. With scare tactic headlines designed to capture our attention, they will increase their own revenue. One blogger labels it an arms race: Internet Privacy

Yep, Google is out to make a buck. Surprise! As is Twitter. Facebook, Apple and everyone else in the game. Their entrepreneurial founders may have been young, but they were far from stupid. These companies will generate revenue through marketing their products and their services--information provided by users.

You and I give providers all the information they need

Free Flowers?
We're tied to our internet which we consider "free." Sorry, there is no free lunch. I snapped this photo at my neighborhood hardware big box store. It was free. Well, not exactly. Every time I shop there, I feed them bits of data on my housing, decor publications, and income profile. Before I shop there, I surf the web (free) for the one item I intend to purchase--more data shared!




Imagine the Information Visual Artists Share in Searches and Shopping




Next-to-Free Frame
Recently, I met with my banker to question a medical charge on my bank card.  He cast a sideways glance my way as he searched, questioning assorted thrift shop charges. "Why, yes, those are valid, I'm an artist," I said, as though that explained everything. The "medical" charge was actually a hospice thrift store, one of a half dozen I frequent for "arts and antiques" fixes. All of my picture frames are recycled thrift purchases along with most subject vases and props. A lovely hardwood black frame for this small study cost me forty cents. That's in my profile!

We Thought Internet was Free Because They Said it was Free

Remember when AOL sent out all those free disks to every mailing address in the county? It was free. Other than wonderful academic sites, there was little on the internet then. That was pre "monitizing" marketing moguls.

Remember when you signed on for a free artist site or to research materials for your works? Wasn't long before you were paying to get the full monty.

Similarly, when I bought my auto some years ago with pricey extended warranty they said all my service, car washes, tire rotations, etc. etc. were "free." I just discovered that service 1 is about $300 and service 2 roughly $500 now that the warranty is out and Nothing is Free--that's for an oil change and if nothing is broken. My luxury auto is in my profiles along with my thrift store picture frames. How funny is that--"I'm an artist."

Build the Profile You Want and Bury the Old Stuff You Don't Want

For decades I did everything possible to stay invisible because I'm a private person. Change was necessitated by my online art studio presence. Old bits and pieces of my personal life crept into the web over the years and is now way old in internet profiles. As I built sites and posted, I made sure it was business-focused data with a little commentary that surfaced in searches. And I kept the data flowing-mountains of data. Many artists post daily just for this reason.       Keeping your imagery and data flowing will gradually build your chosen profile. When you search the web, use privacy settings and remember you are never alone on the web. Every click, every stroke of your data is being targeted for sales to marketers. Have fun with it, build a really interesting profile!

User Fees for Services and Information Are the New Norm

Nothing is Free. Not the internet, banking, news, my car washes, your airline baggage, Nothing. We have the freedom to search the web because we have already paid the price of admittance. Artists who want to put their works online must also pay the price to reach all those eyes out there. Protect your privacy and protect yourself from unscrupulous thieves who will download your images--web search a how-to site for free!



GailKentStudio.com Update: This new site is not yet live as I need to see what Google is doing with Plus to see SEO implications, and I'll have a larger space this summer to paint much larger works. Meanwhile, I have many works on my Fine Art America site at FAA Website

Comments are always encouraged. 
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 


All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Lucian Freud, Renoir, and Pretty People Portraits

Figure Class Pastel Sketch - 1990
Number one rule for an artist's website blog is make it beautiful

 Pretty counts far more than content if you want to capture visitors who linger. There are many art magazines and books in my home, most filled with pretty people and pretty places. I'm guilty of appreciating pretty images and avoiding ugly in my art. Today, I dug through a dusty old portfolio to find a few pretty faces for this post. This lovely image created over 2 decades ago is still a contemporary work of a very pretty and intriguing face.


Little Skater Acrylic Sketch - 1979







This little Pretty Face image, now  over 3 decades old and well-travelled without a portfolio to protect it, doesn't even show the face. It's a pretty image, though. The image is captivating because of the colors, movement, and what we read into it. I asked the model today whose big baggy yellow jacket she was wearing. She replied "Mom, it was a red jacket, you painted it yellow." I'll take her word for it.




Lucian Freud's portraits will not make your website blog beautiful

I've been thinking about how to structure this post about two exciting portrait exhibitions for a week or so. Shock and Awe with Lucian Freud's work above the fold, or pretty first and last to ease the shock? Pretty won. I'm inserting 2 links in the post to share Freud's images Lucian Freud Portraits Video and a review that is text with only one picture. Lucian Freud Review  These links are adult and should not be opened at work. Not that you would read art blogs at work unless you're in your studio.

As most of the images in these two links are extreme in the reality of aging anatomy and posing, I've elected not to include any of the works in my post images. For a comprehensive understanding of why Freud painted primarily not-in-the-least pretty people, I highly recommend the second link from Prospect Magazine. Freud's paintings included in the video are incredible and they are magnificently executed. I do recommend staying with the video beginning to end.


Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Portraits were of Fashionably Beautiful People

http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/renoir/
Beautiful, full-length portraits, but, as with fashion of any period, the costumes date these gorgeous images. Renoir at the Frick I've always loved Renoir's art for his skill in execution, for the colors in impressionism, it's French, I could go on with accolades. Would I hang such art in my home? Probably not. My taste is  too contemporary to be surrounded with those old pretty people living their pretty lives. I much prefer studying Freud's every brush stroke to Renoir's.

Two marvelous portrait exhibitions to visit and appreciate the differences in how the artists rendered the human form. I wouldn't want to spend my days surrounded by either of these master painter's works, but brief visits are wonderful.

Comments are always encouraged. 
Portraits as Fine Art are again "Trending" Are you marketing portraits?

If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 


All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios









Saturday, February 4, 2012

In Search of Excellence in Fine Art

This week we learned that Qatar had recently purchased one of five Cezanne Card Player paintings for the record-setting price of $250-million. At first glance, we may wonder why this affluent royal family would want imagery of peasant card-players. It's not the image they've purchased. The Cezanne name and the work as part of a series puts Qatar in a very exclusive club of owners of the other four images, as they purposefully purchase works for their museums. Qatar Buys One of Cezanne Card Players


Whether or not we find these five paintings meet our taste for excellence, excellent works they are. Once again, we see that mundane subject matter in the hands of a master painter can produce extraordinary imagery that will rank excellent at some point in it's existence.

We each have our own reasons for appreciating someone's creative expression, and for our own expression in our works. I believe that it's okay to paint for the joy of painting even if I never create a masterpiece. I'm not sure any of the masters knew their works were masterpieces, except for Clyfford Still. Clyfford Still Museum Denver. He was absolutely certain that he had created excellent art and that it must be shared with those who would appreciate its excellence.

Red Tulips in Spring Snow
I had the good fortune of painting a few hours every day this week working on a series of Spring images from the mountains to the coast. As I worked at the beach, tourists and locals stopped to chat. To some I gave a business card so they could view my "beach" pieces online.

These new works are expressive of my feelings at the time I planned them, regardless of the actual locale in which they were painted. Red tulips in snow are typical for an Asheville flower garden when snow comes late in the year.



Red Maple in Bud



A Montgomery red maple tree is gorgeous in all seasons, but especially when the buds cluster and take on the appearance of brilliant red flowers. We also have red maples in Tampa Bay, but they don't put on as dramatic a Spring or Fall color show as those in cooler climates.





Mountain Home Spring





 





Another view of Asheville in Springtime. This is much later in Spring when flowering trees are rejuvenated in their pale green colors and Carolina blue skies are reflected in the many mountain springs, lakes, and streams.

Along with this serene view, I painted a half dozen mountain farms over the last few weeks that are in my Spring series studies. Most of these will be painted in more detail as larger oil works.





Water Iris
And one little tropical image completes this post of many pretty pictures. I strove for excellence in each of these small acrylic studies as I painted to capture the essence in each subject.

We tend to be a little selfish with our Florida gardens. Though we can't grow tulips, or crocus, or Iris, we buy them in pots to celebrate Spring's arrival, and do have them in art works or art deco pieces around the home.



These works, along with other pieces completed in the last few weeks, will be available only as prints on my Fine Art America site (first link below.)

Comments are always encouraged. How do you strive for excellence in your works?

If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 


All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios