Happy Halloween!
Today I received notification of my acceptance into the International Guild of Realism. Acceptance is a juried process based on portfolio review. I'm excited about the exhibition and network opportunties that come along with being a member.
Tonight we stopped by the Paper Kite Gallery for the opening reception of their second anniversary free art show. There were over 80 pieces donated from a diverse group of artists, and it was fascinating to see all of the different types of work represented. Those who attended can complete cards and return on Sunday to choose a piece for free, which they'll be able to take home after the show concludes in a few weeks. Here's a few pics from the reception:
Seriously. This upcoming Friday, August 21st is the artist's reception at Paper Kite Gallery for the "This Year the Art is TWICE as Free Exhibit". As the title suggests, if you like any of the pieces in the show, you can have them for the bargain price of absolutely free. This is a yearly exhibit which Paper Kite Gallery does to give back to the community, and all pieces are donated by artists. I have prints of "Blue Nude" and "Haven" in the show. You can read all about the show at Paper Kite Gallery's website.
Google Analytics is a must if you run a website, since it shows how many people are visiting your site, where from, and how they got there. One of the interesting exercises to do is to check up on how all those link exchanges or forums are doing for driving traffic to your site. For my site, I have listings on Artspan, Top of Blogs, Blog Catalog, Top Pencil Artist, Colored Pencil Central and the CPSA website. I occasionally post to the art forum Scribbletalk, and to Prismacolor's gallery forum, and also have a link to my website from my Facebook page. So how's all this stuff doing? Here's the current breakdown from most referring traffic to least:
- Toplisted Pencil Artists
- The Colored Pencil Society of America
- Scribbletalk
- Artspan
In spots 5-10 are other colored pencil artist's websites who link to mine, mixed in with search engines like Yahoo and Altavista. Coming in at 11 and 12 is Colored Pencil Central and Prismacolor's gallery. Top of Blogs and Blog Catalog scored a whopping zero. Something to noodle on if you're looking to drive traffic to your site.
This past Friday at the CPSA Awards banquet in Atlanta, I received my CPSA Signature status certificate and pin.
5" x 7" Prismacolor colored pencil on gray pastelbord. Completed 2009.
I'm very excited and honored that "Crescendo" has been selected as a finalist in the Portrait/Figure category of The Artist's Magazine 26th Annual Art Competition. My name will appear in the December issue of the magazine, with the other finalists.
A while ago I added my blog address to a few link listing services, including Blog Catalog, Top of Blogs, and Artspan. One of the quirks of increased traffic to your site is...well, increased traffic. I received my first art scam email about two weeks ago, written in bad, broken english offering to urgently buy two of my works. This is a variation of the "Nigerian prince" scam where a check is sent for more than the selling price, you are asked to return the difference, and then the check bounces. If you're really unlucky, you've also shipped the artwork during that time. A good example of sample scam letters, and how to properly respond to them can be found here. Fortunately I immediately tossed it into the junk mail folder.
The email I received last week wasn't a scam, per se, because most likely the author would have delivered on what he pitched: a two page spread in a compilation book of artists. The first alarms went off for me, though, when I read that I was pre-accepted for a juried competion, where a as a winner I could pay to have my artwork featured in a two page spread of their "best of artists" book (now, why have a juried competition if you've already chosen some of the winners just by surfing to their sites?). An internet search of their "best of" series showed that it did not exist on Amazon.com, or anyplace other than their website (that I could find). So, as far as I could tell, this was a variation on the vanity gallery, where the artist pays a fee to be included (in this case, in their book, which is sold only on their, or their affiliates, websites). Which leads to the third email....
I received a "link exchange" email - where I link to the author's site in exchange for a return link to mine. Although it's generally bad form to directly ask a blogger for a link, there are worse things than a link exchange. In addition to the link, the gallery indicated they were representational and, upon portfolio review, would represent artists for a promotional fee. A perusal of their site shows hundreds of artists listed. Although it's unclear what their review criteria is, it was clear that, once accepted, you would pay a fee regardless of sales. So in this sense the gallery behaved like a vanity gallery, where you pay for wall space.
Sometimes the allure of a vanity gallery or vanity book is tough to resist. I'm still not entirely convinced that a gallery which takes 50% commision off sales is really better than one that charges a flat fee for wall space, other than the principle that commission galleries usually accept you only on merit (your work or resume suggest that your pieces will successfully sell), while vanity galleries usually hang anything as long as you pay your bill. I suppose at the end of the year you would compare sales minus expenses for both, and if A > B, choose A, if your goal is to make money. If your goal is prestige, the equation changes. This leads into "what is your goal for your artwork?" - but that's a whole topic in itself.
I've just started working on a new piece, and snapped a photo of one of my favorites parts of the process - working out the color palette. If possible, I'll lay down the swatches on scrap pieces of the actual paper I'm using (in this case, black Colourfix). If I like the color, I'll put the pencil aside into my "palette box" for the picture. Hopefully I'll also remember to label the color - something I don't always do when I'm rapidly trying many colors - so I can reference it later on. It's also a nice sanity check to look at all of the colors in the piece at once as swatches - if they have good harmony, then I'll feel more confident about how the final picture will look. Here's the pic of the working palette for my new piece:
I received notification that with this summer's CPSA 17th Annual International Exhibition in Atlanta, I will receive CPSA Signature Status. There is an awards banquet on Friday, July 31st at the Marriott Atlanta Gwinnett Place, where new Signature members are announced.
"Crescendo" was accepted into the Colored Pencil Society of America's 17th Annual International Exhibition. Show dates are July 9 - August 29, 2009 at Jacqueline C. Hudgens Center for the Arts, Atlanta.
Eight months after our wedding, it's time to take down the wedding webpage - but we really liked it, and decided to archive it here on my site. You can view it here.
The Colored Pencil Society of America's magazine, "To the Point", included an article on John Smolko's workshop during the Seattle convention. The portrait I completed during John's workshop appeared in the article. Here's the link to the picture, and my blog post after the convention.
This past weekend Kiersten and I put up the tree. Happy Holidays!
"Bias" was awarded First Place in the Graphics category at the Wyoming Valley Art League's 2008 Fall Member's Show. The show continues through December at the Midtown Gallery in Wilkes-Barrre.
After our warm-up last weekend, today Kiersten and I carved our pumpkins. Now they're outside guarding our front steps.
Today we stopped by Kiersten's parents on the way back from Jen and Mark's wedding, and carved pumpkins with Neil and Mary. Aftwards we lined them up on the fireplace for a ghoulish get together:
Congratulations Jen and Mark! The wedding was beautiful, and we had a terrific time sharing your day with you.
I will be exhibiting at the Vgogh Gallery, 281 Wyoming Ave Kingston, PA in a group show, "Point", with photographer Nick Ouellette. Artist's reception is Friday, September 19th from 6 pm - 9 pm. Show runs throughout September.