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

Arrrrrrgh! Pirates Landing, Beads in the Streets

Arrrrrrgh!!!

As I write, fireworks fill the skies over Tampa Bay and Jose Gasparilla pirates are again claiming the city and paying with beads. Those silly boys will be boys! Streets are filled with children this weekend and next weekend we get the full invasion, with the adult parade down Bayshore Boulevard and booze and beads everywhere! Everything goes remarkably well and clean up will be done by daybreak after each event. Invading Pirates

Island Winter Series high Noon

Today I planned to work for a short while on getting my website art descriptions cleaned up, actually writing more than 1 short sentence about my works on the Fine Arts America site. See my prior blog from January 11th Importance of your descriptions. It took all afternoon for me to do only a page and a half of the three pages of listings. It is such a tremendous improvement. I worked on standardizing my tags, as well,  while I was at it, so that my coastal and mountain works are each defined with the attention they deserve. Still a long way to go.

Island Winter Series Low Tide

I uploaded 5 new Winter beach field studies today, and will have 1or 2 more uploads from this series.

This painting of the low tide on a winter morning doesn't fully capture the breathtaking beauty of that low white line across the horizon. We do have color changes with each season, and Winter is gorgeous!
This low tide, low horizon scene makes you feel as though you are but a grain of sand in this expansive universe - beautiful!

Winter Morning

This painting depicts a clear crisp January morning on the bay last week. The colors are the deepest I've seen this year. The water was actually a much deeper diplomat blue, it was cold. It's high tide, and no boat traffic because the winds are too high.





Enough of my works for 1 post. Hard to write with the party 2 blocks away and sirens and canons blasting.

Looks like Etsy has lost my Aspens painting that should be in the sidebar widget. It's not on the site anywhere - oops! Guess I'll have to shell out twenty cents to re-list it and write one of my verbose descriptions so it will sell!

Comments always encouraged. Or, if you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post your links here.

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

Is Abstract Art Really Art?

Appalachian Spring Study 2009

 Abstract art, 
not a favorite of the retail masses, is my favorite of all visual art. In putting together my websites and building my brand, I've learned that I must differentiate and fill a need. Currently, I offer abstract and traditional paintings, in markets overflowing with really good art of all genres.

Perhaps we have to grow into abstract appreciation rather than having it grow on us. The imagery may not be recognizable, requiring our mental engagement to understand why we are either drawn into, or repulsed by, abstract works. Abstract art conveys the artists' psyche, bliss or torment, as no other genre will. This review of a recent de Kooning retrospective, by Tom Ferrara, offers an interesting perspective on his art de Kooning at MoMA Review. Be sure to read the "didn't get it" comment, too.

Calder - link

 Though I don't actually have a favorite work, Rothko is a favorite painter, along with Kandinsky, Mondrian, and Miro. Alexander Calder mobiles are child's play to wonder over. After years of fascination with all the European Impressionists and love of Van Gogh, I'm ready to admit I love abstract art. It's easy to appreciate Impressionism with it's easy on the eyes colors, recognizable forms, and primarily happy themes of intimacy. Abstracts, however, can be difficult, a tough love.

Sunset on the Pier 2011

I've painted a tremendous number of small abstract acrylic art studies to populate my new websites over the last few months, and begun to produce larger traditional oil paintings for my new domain gallery site. Days of painting on the beach are drawing to an end as my inventory grows. I have a dozen more to upload now. It's been a state of pure bliss for me to spend hours on the shore, lost in my abstract depictions of beautiful Tampa Bay. But is it art? Gail Kent at Fine Art America

Three larger oil paintings are nearing completion: a hillside harbor view; a mountain lake, and a mountain dirt road in Fall. These beautiful colorful images, somewhat impressionist style, painted with palette knife and a little brush work are definitely fine art. No question. The small field studies I'm offering on my FAA site will ultimately become larger studio traditional oil paintings, as well. But is it art bliss? 

Forest Oil Study from 2005

My traditional art is fun to create, and challenging when there are color or composition issues to resolve, but it isn't my bliss.  I believe my two styles are transitioning into a new mix of the genres. Artists who paint in both styles will often say their traditional work is just to prove they have the skills coupled with knowledge to create pretty pictures. I have to say mountain scenes are a regionalism that lends itself to the "pretty pictures" approach rather than the simple colorist approach I use in abstract coastal subjects.



Is Abstract Art Really Art?  Yes, it's marvelous art.

Now I have to hunker down and  finish up GailKentStudio.com - actually I have to start it again - had to have something to put in the gallery besides my photo and logo. 

What are your thoughts about abstract art?  Are you working in this genre or do you agree with the "didn't get it" comment in the MoMA review? Do you paint realism to "prove" you can?


Comments always encouraged. Or, if you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post your links here.

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

The Artist's Eye and Perspective

( This post edited 01.26.2012 to replace photos lost in creating Google+ Page.)

There's a great German word, which has also become a great English word, though you don't often hear it  outside academia. The word is weltanschauung. Literally, translates as world view. Figuratively, you could apply it to almost any inner or outer view of  "things" from your own perspective. Weltanschauung was my immediate reaction to the following article on GigaOm.com today Jobs and Eames Many similarities in these creative designers.

From the same site, a great classic video from the creative genius of Charles and Ray Eames that is a beautiful expression of placing things in their proper perspective. Eames Powers of 10 Film  From EamesOffice: "In 1998, "Powers of Ten" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

My numbers career focus, coupled with visual artistic endeavors, have resulted in an unusual perspective of time for me. My view of things runs along a continuum that is also circular. Not double speak--think of a mobius strip. I'm certain that every event of our entire past life experience is/was another block leading us to where we are in the present/future, and that we tend to go in circles in our life cycle events. Some blocks are cornerstones, others are "extras" that fill-in or add-to.

During the December holidays, a birth and a death on the same day touched my family. These life cycle events have touched every human being who ever walked the earth. An amazing concept to me since the birth of my children brought it into clear focus. One minute there is a vibrant being who leaves us; another minute and there is a new human being in the world to begin a new journey. Amazing.

Sigmund Freud, regardless of errors he made about the human psyche, gave a great lecture on weltanschauung, which was really about religion, philosophy, and psychoanalysis. It's a short read, pretty much in plain English, Freud's Philosophy of Life Lecture

Listening to Israeli Skies

Freud on art: 
"Art is almost always harmless and beneficent, it does not seek to be anything else but an illusion. Save in the case of a few people who are, one might say, obsessed by art, it never dares to make any attacks on the realm of reality." Silly me, I thought all artists were obsessed by art.

Adom

Freud on religion: 
"The religious man’s picture of the creation of the universe is the same as his picture of his own creation." Oh, well, we do have a lot of unique religions.



 

In the Beginning

Freud on science vs. religion:
"Earthquakes, floods and fires do not differentiate between the good and devout man and the sinner and unbeliever... it is by no means the rule that virtue is rewarded and wickedness punished, but it happens often enough that the violent, the crafty and the unprincipled seize the desirable goods of the earth for themselves, while the pious go empty away. Dark, unfeeling and unloving powers determine human destiny..."

He's saying Science governs the world, this physical world, which may be true. Are fractals (we learned about them in elementary science class) just scientific accidents of nature that repeat, repeat, repeat? 



The painter's eye sees much in simple subjects, and reduces the complex to simple imagery.
Our perspective is whatever we decide to make it when we begin a new creation. We can be "harmless and beneficent" or we make powerful visual statements as Picasso did. We wholeheartedly attack "the realm of reality" when we choose to; at times we are obsessed because we soak up our environments, process the input, and move on to create. A few are so obsessed, they achieve to the level of Jobs and Eames in creating. Awesome!


Comments always welcomed. Or, if you're following great blogs, feel free to comment or post your links here.

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

Iran, China, Oil and Fine Art Painters

(This post edited on 01.27.2012 to replace photo lost in creating Google+Page)

What's an artist to do when even a tiny painting is affected by world leaders' global oil games and the value of a dollar or a yuan? Stock-up when you get all those sales e-mails in your in box.

Fortunately, we don't job cost our works by the cost of raw materials, which just increased, and time at minimum wage rates which also increased today.

How Iran, China, and the price of oil will affect your purchasing power at your favorite art supply house:

1.  Painters need surfaces, likely a natural product not locally produced, prepped with a ground. My canvas is sourced in several countries, I don't recall buying any US-produced recently. Whether you're painting on canvas or other surfaces, freight costs will pump up the cost. Canvas is produced in the US, but it's beyond my price range.My grounds are almost always acrylic paint undercoats of blue, grey, or lavender. Acrylics, synthetics, are petroleum based products, though they aren't "oil" paints.
Gamblin's site -they're a long way from my home and shipping costs will affect pricing.


2. Painters must have brushes, knives, and all sorts of tools to apply their chosen media. These tools are primarily imported from China in all price ranges for natural and synthetic. Trekell Brushes  are a US product that I don't find in my stores, but I'm a knife painter who doesn't take care of fine brushes and must use disposables when I do use brushes these days.


3. Painters select their media for many reasons including preference in application, pricing, allergies, etc.  Most paints we use are affected by the price of oil, even if we paint with "water-cleanup." My artist's grade paints are $20 per tube or more when oil is $100 a gallon. Oil is 10% higher today.  Crude Oil Pricing  Maybe even higher in the very near future. I use linseed oil, white spirits or turpentine with my oil paints - other petroleum products I must have.  Artists' Solvents

4. Painters love to travel for subject matter and workshops - need I say more?
Wherever you go, you may pay a premium to get there, especially for international travel.
     

Morning Fog

The future's looking a little foggy today, and, if headlines can be believed, may get worse before it gets better but we'll get through it.

I won't be painting in Europe or Israel for awhile, but I do have photos for studio work, and beautiful surroundings that I can paint every day of the year. If oil paints get too pricey, I'll switch to water color or pencil renderings.
An artist has to create.


Morning Fog is a small acrylic field study original offered only on my Etsy site.   


If you're following great blogs, feel free to comment or post your links here. Comments always welcomed.

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

Artistic Souls and Genetic Eccentrics

(This post edited on 01.27.2012 to replace photos lost in creating Google+ Page)

From a Scientific American article earlier this year: "Not all eccentric individuals are creative," seems to be the premise of this article, but it really asks if all creative types are eccentric and profiles us with a brief list of our weirdness. It seems we're born that way! I'll admit to about half of these traits, but I'm not telepathic, don't hear voices or music, and I've never been a square peg--I can fit in anywhere!

This article really is worth the read and a fresh perspective on an old topic of great discussion and exploration. Carl Jung comes to mind. And the book Physics and Art. And the book Goedle, Escher, and Bach. Yes, artists can be capable of exploring all sorts of realms. Why Creative People are Eccentric

For years I sang with two choral groups and discovered that many of us were creative in visual arts. Did creativity include eccentric or weird? Far from it. There were several physicians, economists, lawyers, and "numbers" people galore who sang with both groups. Many of us also play several musical instruments or act, in addition to the focus on vocal performance. Most of us speak several languages, which goes along with the numbers bent and a musical ear. I had was fortunate to work with all of these singers--all perfectly normal, at least to me, a member of the group. We weren't born to sing, we worked very hard at it. Hours of practice went into each performance.

We've all heard stories about how great scientific or technological breakthroughs came to fruition due to problems being worked-out in dreams. I don't know visual artists who dream their imagery, but many painters do stand before a canvas and lose all sense of time as the image creates itself. Writers often describe creating characters who take over to flesh out themselves in fiction. We have the good fortune of experiencing "happy accidents" that move us along as we create. Everyone is born creative, most of us have happy accidents, and a few of us develop eccentric habits. Again, we work very hard at building a strong foundation of skills that give us a predilection for having happy accidents while creating.

After several hours of "Alpha Activity" this afternoon, I have to move on to a little "Gamma Activity" and get some real work done today. All my alpha activity is cerebral, though, as I've been researching great blogs and got sidetracked by a Happy Accident. My genes made me do it.

I'm trying to get to the skill level I need to build yet another website, my own domain gallery, another creative venture that simply isn't in my genes. I have to work at it since it's the hub of all my art sites. The choices to be made are strictly left brain and the right brain must create new paintings to go on the new site. Or is it the other way around? Whew! Is there smoke coming out of my ears?

Snow Day!

This photo is from my Montgomery studio window about a year ago.

Our Florida temps aren't cold enough for snow, but we've had to drag out the jackets. We'll be in the 40's tonight. So, time inside, to research my online studio activities. Time for a cup of hot tea.



Please take a few minutes to read the article if you're a creative soul. I'm sure you'll find points to agree with and points for disagreement. I did. Comments welcome--please share with friends if you find the article and post interesting.

This is my last post for 2011. Have a very healthy and prosperous New Year!

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

Hot Artists, New Artists and Gail Kent on the Horizon

(This post edited on 01.27.2012 to replace photos lost in creating Google+ Page)

For 2012, we can expect to see record prices for several contemporary artists, most notably Gerhard Richter. Painters understand (or envy!) the values in fine art auctions, sometimes, but how does an investor select the objets d'art and fine paintings to lust after to make their lives complete?

Investing in art is a combination of knowledge, emotion, acquisition means and skills, and of great advisers who will scour the markets for just the pieces to add to or complete a collection. With any investment, there are good years and bad years, and perhaps a lifetime to enjoy these special acquisitions and then pass them on. For many investors, it's strictly business and the numbers are the game they're playing. Odds are, they'll win.
 

Richter's Kerze

This is one of Richter's kerze (candle) images with the link to the website where I found it:  Richter Kerze image

This is truly timeless imagery touching us on many levels. It's about as minimalist as great art comes, though I'll admit to admiring much less in imagery. It's tranquility is atypical of Richter's "more German" abstract high energy, even disturbing, works of photography and painting.

How much would you pay for this image? Christie's sold a kerze work in October for  US$16.6-million. And investors eagerly wait to buy more.



“Richter is going to play a huge role in the market for years to come,” Jonathan Binstock, a New York-based senior contemporary-art adviser at Citibank NA, said in an interview. “Collectors are going for artists with proven reputations.” Bloomberg - 2011 New Buyer Sales at $1.7-Billion



Back to the real world where the rest of us live.

Maybe luck has a little to do with sales, or maybe not.

     - Are you working on your masterpiece?
     - Are you painting because art, painting, is your raison d'être?       
     - Are you shouting "Hey, World, look at me, my work is great, too!"?
 
 Keep painting, every day if you can, and promote, promote, promote. Success is built on hard work and comes on many different levels. As painters, most of us would like to sell our art, not pocket a chunk of the global economy.

Gursky Photo

Some time ago I posted an image/link on my studio Facebook page about another contemporary art piece that sold for a record price Awesome Photo - $4.3-Million worth of Awesome. 

This photo is in essence a minimalist expression similar to the Kerze piece.






 

Dark Waters

 If you know my abstract field study low horizon beach pieces, such as Dark Waters,  Dark Waters-Gail Kent Canvas Print, you'll see similarities in imagery and a sense of tranquility in each that convey peaceful feelings found in these two recently auctioned famous works.  In essence, mine are great paintings, too. But that's where the similarity ends, I'm still painting every day. 


What great images are you working on and how are you promoting your works?



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

Painters Creating Great Art Blogs

(This post edited on 01.27.12 to replace photos lost in creating Google+ Page)

A Great Art Blog I'm exploring as I surf around other artists' sites is Artists Helping Artists.

The AHA blog was linked to me by another painter when I started my blog and I knew right away it was a keeper. Two painters, Leslie Saeta and Dreama Tolle Perry, have done a marvelous job of getting their art out there and in helping the rest of us achieve success in selling our art, too.

Today I listened to one of their older radio blogs on creating a popular blog which reiterated in artist-speak what I've learned from Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett's book, ProBlogger, ( Problogger Book Link ). I'll enjoy more of AHA's posts and broadcasts after I get my domain site up in the next week or so.

The holidays have been a productive period for me as I paint larger oil works to put on the new gallery site. After listening to this broadcast on blogging, I've decided to sell the original small acrylic field studies, as well as sell them as prints currently offered at Gail Kent at Fine Art America. Though these studies are abstract and the new works are traditional, they complement one another and each has a market.

There were a lot of great ideas in this AHA broadcast, with participants also discussing favorite artist blogs and the reasons they visit these popular blogs: 
     - great instruction
     - informative tips 
     - consistent artwork
     - and voice the bloggers use in their writing--they are themselves. 


I'm looking forward to developing my blog into a helpful favorite resource, too, as I learn from pros like Leslie and Dreama. I'm gathering a list of blogs that I'll share and Artists Helping Artists will be at the top of the list.

Old Crows

Meanwhile, this was my audience yesterday as I waited for the fog to lift so I could get in a few hours of painting. I'm not sure where these old crows (or buzzards) came from or where they're headed, but this roof is definitely not their home and they're not in my painting.

Fortunately, the fog burned off around lunch time and it was a beautiful winter day.
 

Rocky Raccoon

This little guy stopped by last week. Picnic Island is his home and I am his guest. I've named the little mischief-maker Rocky, and taught him that he has to look elsewhere for his breakfast each morning that I'm painting.

Other guests last week were "snowbirds" from Michigan who found it curious that I was painting mountains not the beach before me. They complimented my work and moved on laughing about the 30's back home.




If you're following great blogs, feel free to comment or post your links here. Comments always welcomed.

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

Untalented Thief Copied Your Art Again!

What else can you say? 
They have no original talent, and they are thieves who risk copyright infringement. Yet, they make money selling your imagery on their canvases.

It happens to visual artists who put their work out on the internet. You can watermark or protect your images in a number of technical ways, none of which will deter them. Fakes, copies, knockoffs-- a huge problem for this country and others when copyrights and trademarks aren't respected. Consumers foot the bill for it because there is no free ride. If you're any good at your art or craft, you will be copied.

I recently got a little suspicious of some of the hits on my works that didn't quite fit the profile of my market--multiple hits from same source addresses was curious, too. Without searching for "similar" imagery, I decided to take a look at another less professional site many professional artists join that is heavily populated with a great variety of talents, skills and techniques.

Bingo! Look at all that copying going on over there! No respect for others, and ignorance of trademark laws, too. Do they not know that if you paint a portrait of an angry bird, you'd better have a license. Guess not. Do they not know they cannot lift my image from my website, change a little color in a little line and call it their art? Guess not. Here's a link about copyright Art Legalities. Professional artists copyright their art and give notice of that fact. We don't contact thieves, our legal teams do.

Funny thing happened on my way to that other site, so funny that I laughed all afternoon over it. I posted recently about a fellow on a paid website who had 12,000 images Keyword Worth a Thousand Pictures and I have to admit, I find it hard to believe but it's true, the works are all his original works. His style is totally unique and reflects his training. Evidently, he has been copied by the untalented thief who also copied my images.

But wait, there's more! The untalented thief who copied me and the other fellow was copied by another very successful untalented thief on that same website. Both untalented thieves "toot their own horn" quite loudly about their talents in their profiles. Amazing.

A few years ago I was in an interior design store when their "Art" vendor arrived. He pulled his truck to the back of the store and unloaded dozens of paintings in the parking lot for the design team to see. Being an observant and curious painter, I followed along and got into a discussion with the vendor about the art and the pricing. Of course I didn't tell him I'm a painter.

This load of paintings was sourced offshore for pennies on the dollar and sold to designers for "wholesale" as original art. These paintings were blatant copies of European masters. Though both the quality of the painting and framing were ghastly, they were "original art" and would be sold for top dollar. This link is an example of higher quality "original art" from one of many offshore sources michael-wolfs-copy-artists. (My old favorite, Vincent, is in this batch.)

You, too, can have your works produced offshore. Sadly, though, you probably won't be aware that a thief has taken your work. Should you discover you've been ripped-off, domestically or offshore, you can do as I did and have a good laugh about it, or you can get tough with the thieves right away. I prefer to wait patiently until they've built a very strong case of infringement. I haven't traced down the offshore multiple hits I'm getting. Yet.

Please don't hesitate to share how you've dealt with this unpleasant business on your sites, or link your blogs.

Harbor Sunset

Update on my domain GailKentStudio.com : 

Year-end; Holidays, Not-Quite-There-Yet Skillset, Perfect Florida Weather, - I'm working on it! 

Plan is to list large traditional paintings done from the small field works, such as Harbor Sunset, that I've posted this Summer. I have 3 beautiful landscapes almost completed with more to come, painting daily - 

I'll have the site up soon.



All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studios

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

Art Marketing Fun and Magic

Today's post is postponed due to the weather (only half joking on this rainy day), instead,
I'm sharing a link that will entertain and plant some creative seeds for marketing your art:

This is a wonderful Ted Talk about art: "Using three iPods like magical props, Marco Tempest spins a clever, surprisingly heartfelt meditation on truth and lies, art and emotion." Takes only about 5 minutes to watch, but you can't watch just once. If you love your ipod, ipad, or iphone,  you'll appreciate it even more. Marketing Magic.

Yesterday, I happened upon a YouTube piece about one of my artist friends. It was nice to see him in different venues; his work showcased nicely, but the entire video was static, all pictures. Maybe his marketing crew just needs to play with an ipad for a few days, then create another video for him. You did watch the Ted Talk before reading on, didn't you?

Today I'm researching website hosting for my next artist site. It's a difficult decision because one option under consideration is Microsoft Office 365 for the small business. I really like the 365 option. It really doesn't feel artsy, it's business. We need both artsy and business to market art. I'll address this in a future post, and maybe touch on left-brain vs. right brain functioning when an accountant just happens to be a painter.

Another rainy day color sketch

I'm also photographing some drawings from one of my old college sketchbooks today to do a post on the importance of a strong drawing foundation for visual artists. Some painters can dive right into a blank canvas with brush or palette knife while others require fully drafted images to get the studio produced composition right. Most of us fall somewhere in between.

Please share the fun Ted Talk with your artist friends, and any comments on considering MS Office 365 as an artist site would are welcome.


All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studios

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 (in process)

Marketing to Your 69 Billion Facebook Friends

That's right, 69 Billion potential customers for your art! This post is about the Six Degrees of Separation which Facebook has now reduced to 4.7 degrees.

If you're not yet marketing your art using Facebook as a tool, you might want to give it some thought. It's one of my most powerful tools, yet some of my Etsy artist contacts are "scared" to give it a try. Someone might scam them. Someone might scam them at the local car wash, too, as happened to me several years ago when my bank card was swiped on an employee's personal scanner. I'm taking my chances with Facebook.

I held off using Facebook for the Studio because of software changes Facebook was making and I had no information on how to setup Gail Kent Studio, but it all worked out. I setup a personal page with 2 friends on it for several months, then made the transition to Artist Page Account. It was fairly seamless and I love having the Facebook Artist Page Account as a professional page.

Most of us have experienced psychologist Stanley Milgren's Six Degrees of Separation theory in which we meet people who know people we know, and we think "what a small world!" The world has indeed gotten smaller with worldwide internet usage. This morning I looked at the traffic on one of my artist sites to see, as usual, an international trail posted with visitors from Holland, England, India, South Africa, Kenya, and half a dozen American cities.



Here's a link to one article about the Facebook effect on the Six Degrees theory. http://gigaom.com/2011/11/22/six-degrees-what-does-it-mean-to-be-facebook-friends/. This reinforces my earlier post about marketing your art on Etsy and other sites and the importance of search engine optimization (SEO) as you choose your tags or keywords. http://gailkentpainter.blogspot.com/2011/11/marketing-your-fine-art-on-etsy-for.html.

With 10% of the world's population, 721 million sets of eyeballs my friends, as active users, Facebook has determined there are 69 billion friendships established according to the above article link. Whether weak connections, or strong, each one is a potential exposure of your artwork to someone who may be moved to actually connect with you to acquire your art. They may "trail" you for a while before buying in a way they couldn't before. They will know you; they will know your art. They will buy your art.

Before our US Thanksgiving holiday, I'll photograph and upload eight or ten new small works painted specifically for my reproduction site and put the small paintings on Etsy as affordable art for holiday gift-giving. They'll most definitely go onto Facebook, my number one marketing tool.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studios

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 (in process)



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A Keyword Worth A Thousand Pictures?

How about a word worth 12,000 pictures?

Keyword importance in marketing your fine art cannot be overstated! We rise to the top or get lost based on our tags choices.

In my previous post, Marketing Your Fine Art on Etsy, we explored some steps in deciding on the best way to approach generating sales through your online presence:
1) selling your paintings in an Etsy shop 
2) offering your paintings on hosted artist websites 
3) creating your own art website domain yourself or hiring the talent

My own offerings are through Etsy and several other sites. I'm trying to find the time to setup my own domain--slow going since I like to paint, too!

About those hosted sites--as I said in a prior post, we can't just post beautiful pictures and expect the orders to pour in. Websites aren't designed that way, not Etsy, not the artist hosted sites, no sites work that way.

If you've already setup a site, do a search for your art. Don't be surprised if in a matter of hours after uploading your work, you are buried behind hundreds or thousands of other beautiful pictures. Where did your images go? You input all those keywords based on trending words and your images aren't there. "Google" yourself under both the web and image tabs, not much there either if you haven't expanded your presence through links and words.

Last week I searched for my own art on one of my paid membership hosted sites. I'd always been able to bring up many of my painting and photo images under multiple keyword searches. Not this time. I went 20 pages deep, 25 pages, 30 pages--Nothing! 

Then I happened upon the culprit. I slowed down enough to read the artist names on each picture and noticed page after page of the same artist. He has 12,000 pictures! I was fuming angry! I couldn't produce 12,000 original pieces of art if I cloned myself 100 times over! So, I thought maybe it's a sweatshop of artists doing the work. Apparently not, but it doesn't matter.

Abstract work from hosted site

My work is lost since my paid hosted site allowed this production line "painter" to post about 400 of his pictures since I posted mine.  His art and my art have nothing in common--nothing but keywords. Not everyone plays fairly with keywords. We're talking money here. Aspen Trees in Fall by Gail Kent is a sample of my traditional work.  Now I'm reasonably intelligent and can figure out how to trump him with my online SEO, but this is within my own website. I can still work around it, but it will take time and energy that I need for creativity in the absence of my 100 clones.


So lets get busy building our presence and crank out our 12,000 pictures! I'm not linking to the 1st guy to get to 12,000. He promotes himself quite well without my help!

Your comments are welcome - share how you've dealt with similar frustrations and resolved the problem on Etsy or other sites you have.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studios

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

Marketing Your Fine Art on Etsy for Profit

Marketing fine art on Etsy can be profitable if you do your homework. I've had several Etsy shops including one now active for marketing my paintings and photography. Etsy bills the site as "The World's Marketplace" and I have to agree that they are now a multinational business. They recently had a marketing blitz in Berlin (one great art city!) and there are French and German blogs that I've bookmarked so that I can see local items and read the local marketing. Links for these sites are for French  http://fr.etsy.com/blog/  and for German  http://de.etsy.com/blog/

Marketing for a flea market stall and selling in Etsy shops are two entirely different arenas and you have to remember that when listing your fine art on Etsy. I frequent thrift, consignment, antique shops, and indoor flea markets at home and when traveling. I have managed to score a few pieces of really good art on my outings, but there is some incredibly fine art to be found on Etsy, too,  and you don't have to leave home to get it.

It's smooth sailing on Etsy

How to begin your homework:

1. Research your work's fair market value
As artists, especially painters, we cannot price our work by the hour. It isn't piece work. Even if you are blessed with divine talent and can whip out a painting an hour, you must price it for the art that it is--unique and extraordinary. We cannot sell a $300 painting for $25 in an Etsy shop because we think we are competing with other $25 items for sale. We are not competing with a knitted cup wrap or a vintage moo-moo someone bought for fifty cents. Though some of those colorful moo-moos could be framed and hung on the wall.

2. Research other websites that offer fine art and compare
There are many artist's sites around with membership prices of "free" to $300 per year or more. Each is different and you just have to start where you're comfortable and get your feet wet. Pay close attention to the genre that is most popular on each site by looking at best sellers. You may want to plan  your own independent website rather than one hosted by Etsy or other sites, if you have sufficient contacts in your personal networks to promote a site.

3. "Convo me" it's how Etsy shop owners network with one another
When you get a shop set up with a few items listed, it's time to interact with other Etsians. It's so easy to do. Just visit other shops and favorite people and shops and then add them to your circle. There is an underlying reason you do this that we'll explore in another blog. For now, you just want to make contacts and have a few conversations with people who create interesting work. I've met established artists from around the world, and a few crafters in this way.


4. You can play roulette or you can sell art
Yesterday, I took a look at my "favorited' items list which brought up shop owner information. One shop had favorited over 50,000 items. Really?! Targeted favorites are what you want to collect. The Treasury list is an excellent way to connect with favorite item and shops. Just jump in and create one. You will be marketing 16 other artisans, but you are also marketing yourself, too. You are not competing with these artisans.  More in a future post.

5. Etsy shops generate web presence through search engines
After you've done all your Etsy shop homework, you need to learn about search engine optimization (SEO) marketing  in order to be successful in today's marketplace. You can very easily make the jump from one little shop to hundreds of your own images and articles available to the public through Google and other search engines.

Now you're ready to Promote, Promote, Promote! Etsy may be just your first piece in the puzzle of how to sell your art.

Here are the links to my shop: http://www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
and to  Etsy USA site : http://www.etsy.com 

and here are sample Treasury lists for you to browse through so you get the idea.

http://www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio/treasury?ref=pr_treasury_more
I post these to my Twitter and my Facebook accounts.


All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studios

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