PoppyRow

May 25, 2007

This ride may make you dizzy..

Filed under: inspiration, getting started — jen @ 4:58 pm

I have to work overnight at the hospital this weekend, and that’s a bit depressing to me. I need my sleep, for one. And two, it usually wipes me out and I end up being mud for a few days afterwards. It surprises me that I can work the shift pretty well, actually, and it surprises me more than I get through a two-day weekend or sometimes even a three-day stint and I’m still alive. But with a six year-old it’s not easy to get good sleep during the day to recover enough for the next shift. (more…)

March 30, 2007

Your Own Show – Part II – Get the Word Out #2

Filed under: getting started, business, art marketing — jen @ 11:11 am

So, my husband has informed me that my titles to this series are confusing. If I have caused any bewilderment, I profusely apologize! Being the computer guy in the family, he has suggested that I go online and search the web to discover how other bloggers the world over have tackled the multi-part, multi-faceted series. Ed’s philosophy in life is: “If you don’t know it, Google does.” It’s well grounded and often works. Nonetheless, being the impulsive artist that I am, I often choose to trail blaze, leaving a wake of confusion and chaos in my uncharted path. Ed is very good-natured about this, and takes most of my ideas and ramblings in stride, with a grain of salt.

I have more to discuss on the postcard concept- namely, logistics.

Include the following information: (more…)

March 29, 2007

Your Own Show – Part II – Get the Word Out #1

Filed under: getting started, business, art marketing — jen @ 1:50 am

Okay so I think I have this cold finally beat. It took dozens of Sudafed, and even more aspirin, gallons of hot maple cream tea, but today I have only blown my nose a half-dozen times, and I don’t think I’ve even sneezed once. Just in time too, in the wake of some lovely spring weather that we are always desperate for come the end of March here in upstate NY. But, I am sure you have heard enough of my upper respiratory ailments!

As promised, Part Two: Get the Word Out, otherwise known as Invites. I personally like to make up postcards for this type of event. They are cheaply mailed, easily handed out to businesses to put on sales counters, and allow the opportunity to showcase one or more pieces of your work on the front of the card. This becomes a sort of souvenir for many people who know you and come to your show. And the great thing is that it’s very easy to do!

The first thing to do is get at least one image of your work. (more…)

March 25, 2007

Your Own Show - Part I - Preliminaries

Filed under: getting started, business, art marketing — jen @ 11:42 pm

I said a few days ago we’d continue the studio show topic. I planned to get to it earlier, but I’ve had a horrible head cold and have been in bed for almost 3 full days! Talk about feeling completely uninspired for anything but hot tea and soft tissues. I started thinking of a project, actually, something with tea-dyed paper. I am not sure yet. It’d be fun to “assign” poppyrow projects, and post the resulting artwork, say, a month later. I am thinking on the fly here, and I realize its off-topic. Sorry!

 

Okay, back to the studio show. We’ll go over a basic outline, from step one up to opening night. So here goes with Part One of this series: Preliminaries. (more…)

March 22, 2007

Studio Shows

Filed under: getting started, business, art marketing — jen @ 9:16 pm

Do you have a studio? If so, the opportunity exists for you to reach out to the community with your work on your own turf. You obviously don’t need to jury yourself in to your own show, so you have no worries about competition or deadlines. (more…)

March 5, 2007

Reproducing Your Work

Filed under: getting started, presentation, prints — jen @ 11:00 pm

When I began to get my feet wet selling my work, I noticed that a bunch of my artist friends were getting reproductions of their work done, and selling prints. I thought this to be a great idea! After all, I would have copies of art that I had sold, and for those who couldn’t afford an original, they could buy a print.

Everyone seems to go about this process differently though, (more…)

February 28, 2007

Less is More

Filed under: getting started, materials, painting — jen @ 4:31 pm

pots-of-watercolours.jpgI am a stickler for a limited palette. I love color, and I’m hard pressed to decide on a particular favorite. So, when buying tubes of paint, I try to have one of everything. Nonetheless, I don’t attempt to use every color each time I paint. That sounds obvious right? But time and time again, I have seen someone struggling as his or her painting progresses, and they frantically begin adding more and more colors. Colors mix, overlap, and create mud when conscious decisions aren’t made as to which ones will best serve that particular painting.

Here’s an analogy. I like pie. A lot. I like lemon, apple, chocolate, pecan, strawberry, coconut cream, and especially raspberry. (more…)

February 24, 2007

Putting Your Work Within a Context

Filed under: inspiration, getting started — jen @ 8:45 am

So, today I am returning home after a glorious week in the tropical paradise that is Jamaica. I honestly think I could live here! We are staying at Tensing Pen, which we would happily recommend to anyone. The ocean is amazing, the employees are friendly, the cottages are comfortable, and a little grey cat named Princess has adopted us. I have tried to tell her we are leaving today, but she just looks up at us with her sweet pointy face and says “Meow?”

But all good things must come to an end. I leave invigorated, and inspired. I have taken countless photos, wondering how I plan to tackle them. I have a piece at home, unfinished, awaiting my attention. I’d like to finish that, but when I am stuck, I am thinking of doing a series, dedicated to this fabulous place. I like working in series, because it puts you in a particular mode of thinking, which can carry over from piece to piece. And then I like to see the work as a conversation, and a sentence can carry more impact than a single word, a paragraph more than a sentence, and a great work of literature more than just one of its chapters. Why is that? Perhaps it has to do with the idea of context. Sometimes, when looking at a single piece of art, without a title, or a blurb of explanation, it doesn’t feel quite whole. It seems to the viewer that some sort of context is needed to better appreciate what is being viewed.

I am not completely ignorant, I do realize that there are times when it is the artist’s intention for us to make our own inferences and come to our own conclusions. But placing a work within a context can do so much more than just making something pretty to look at. It says something. (more…)