Want to be an artist?

Here are just a few tips I would keep in mind when trying to sell work and become an artist.
I wrote this in a forum for another website for artists. These are just a few of many! I also believe this can apply to any form of art.

1. Think outside the box
When it comes to showing work, there are many people that can draw or paint the same picture you can. You have to stand out. Try displaying your work in a different way than anyone else. Use different materials in your work. Really try and put on a show with what you have!

2. Look at what other artist are producing.
These days many people know how to paint and draw, but many are still reluctant to think. Put depth in your paintings, say something! Use your skills to tell a story or express an emotion. People will react to your work.

3. Be as professional as you possibly can.
Try and get to the point that you are making exactly the kind of work that is in your mind. Become a master at your practice. People notice skill and talent, and want to buy art from extremely talented people. 

4. Listen to that inner voice.
I knew exactly when it was time for me to leave my job. I even got an exact date and signs as to when I was suppose to leave. Take time to be realistic and confident in what you are doing. Then listen and make the move when you hear that voice.

5. Never ever stop creating! No matter who tells you your work sucks. No matter how many galleries turn you down, never stop creating.
One thing I noticed when I was looking at one of my favorite paintings, Salvador Dali – Christ of St John of the Cross, I then noticed the date on it, 1951. Dali was born in 1904, he was 47 when he did that painting! It takes time to become a master, but if you give up, you will never get there.

Hope this builds your creative spirit and helps you to get past the hurdles that all of us artist face! Have a fun weekend.

TAP is offering art classes!

The Art Pocket is now offering
Affordable Art Classes.

-small class sizes of 2-5 students
-one hour lessons for $15 and deals for multiple students and hours.
-flexible hours to meet your scheduling needs
-classes available year-round through the summer

The Art Pocket is Evan Hildebrandt and Alison Shepard, a husband and wife team with more than 30 years of art-making experience between them. From teaching to working with interior designers, Evan and Alison are skilled in painting, drawing and printmaking, and are confident to take on any artistic task placed before them. Alison has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting and a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking. She currently teaches Drawing and Figure Drawing at the College of Mt. St. Joseph.
Evan and Alison have teaching experience with students of all ages, from pre-schoolers to retirees.

For more information and to view samples of our art, please visit us at
www.theartpocket.com
Give us a call at 513-921-7511 or email Evan at evhildy@hotmail.com
We Look forward to meeting and teaching you!

Thursday links.

Ok, so I gave you a good website last week that you can stay on for hours at a time. You thought there was only one!? THink again, Art renewal.org is a conprehensive website of some of the greatest master artist in history. This one might actually have even more stuff on it than the last one!
When you get on this site, first check out the artist named William Bouguereau. You wont be let down! Below is a sneak peak at his work. Enjoy!
http://www.artrenewal.org/

Inspirational website.

Ive been checking out this website for a few years now, and it never gets old. Its basically a list of artist that Tim Lowly put together and links all of their sites to his.
This is one of those sites were you can spend a lot of time. Enjoy!
http://www.timlowly.com/resources/tgllinks.html

Tips!

I found a nice little video on the web about how to do oil paintings. Its almost as good as mine;) There are three in the series, so make sure you check them all out.
I love seeing how people work. Most are pretty similar, but all of us have different ideas that we can give to one another.

One other tip from me is this, if you want to be a better artist, seek out other artists to talk to. You wont only get great ideas, but you will meet some great people in the process!
Im going to try and give more of these tips in the future, so keep check back every week for more.

Enjoy!
From this video you can click at the bottom to find the second and third.
http://www.how-to-draw-and-paint.com/oil-painting-tutorial-part1.html

book art

here are some images from an altered book i made a few years ago. i’ve been wanting to make them into paintings for a while, and am planning to start very soon! i’m excited!

altered books are a great way to free up your mind and are a ‘low pressure’ way to experiment with subject matter, texture and media.

with this piece, i did a lot of cutting and abrading of the surface. i taped several pages of the book together and then cut into them with an exacto knife. then i painted them, rubbed graphite, charcoal, pastell over them and made a wonderful mess! lots of fun!
i’m hoping that i’ll be able to mimmick these same effects when i turn it into a painting:)

Epoxi resin

I feel like Ive been asked many times recently about clear coating art.  I use clear coats in many of my abstract paintings.  The best one Ive found, or my favorite one, is called table top Epoxi resin.  It can be found in many hardware stores, but is pretty expensive.  Ive found a great site were you can buy it much cheaper.   http://www.uscomposites.com/kk121.html
Make sure you read all of the instructions very carefully before using this product though, it is the real deal.   

One word of advice I can give, is to stir this stuff really slowly.  Stiring it to fast will give it to many bubles(you may want this effect, so this is two words of advice), and it will make the epoxi look cloudy when you pour it.

It is also essential to have as perfect a 1:1 ratio as possible.  Ive found a way to do this easily without as much mess.  Get yourself a clear plastic container, a large yogurt container will work, its just harder to see through.  Then using water and a measuring cup, pour different amounts into the container and mark the water level on the side of the container.  View pic below;)  This way you can pour the epoxi directly into the container you are mixing in, essentially making your own measuring cup/mixing cup/pouring cup all in one.  Make sure you read all of the us composites website. They have a lot of great advice on it for you!

Here is my newest abstract with the resin poured on top of it. Sorry about the glare

Inspiration

Here is a link to a very inspiring site. http://www.timlowly.com/resources/tgllinks.html I can not even tell you how many times I reference this site. Just click on the visual artist page and have fun. These are links to some of the best artist in the world. Maybe one day we will be on this site;)

Gallery wrapping–the cheaper alternative to framing

Framing your work can be very expensive. When it comes to flat work (prints, drawings, photos, works on paper) it’s hard to escape getting your work framed and matted with glass or plexi. Even if you do all of this yourself, you’re still going to need to invest in the right kinds of tools and materials.
With paintings on panels or canvas, however, there’s a cheaper alternative: gallery wrapping.
Now, I know that there are many modern ‘masterpiece’ paintings out there in museums that have the raw, cotton duck canvas or linen exposed and they get away with it because they’re DeKooning or someone famous. But I don’t care how famous you are, it makes the work look better if you paint the sides of the canvas. There are two approaches:
1. You can just carry the painting image around the sides, as though the image keeps going. If you have already gessoed your sides, you can just continue painting in oils or acrylics around the sides while the colors are on your palette.
2. You can paint the sides a solid color like black. This is great for when you haven’t gessoed your sides, you can just paint them a solid color in acrylic. (*note: if you plan to use oils to paint your sides, make sure you’ve gessoed them.)
Either way, your painting is going to be more presentable and classy. Here are some before and after shots of one of my recent paintings. The first one shows where my paint sort of ran over the sides-kind of messy. The second one shows what the painting looks like after the gallery wrap.

That’s all for now! Have a happy holiday weekend!
Alison