friends forever: internet and art
This story was passed on to me, Artists take paintings to masses - USA Today. It is a great story about how much the internet has affected the art world. Check it out:
"...Keiser once was one of those artists lucky to sell a couple of paintings a year. Now he's something new: artist as blogger. Every day he makes a postcard-size oil painting of something he sees around town or of a still life he arranges here in his studio in the warehouse district of his hometown. Then he posts an image of the painting on his daily blog, DuaneKeiser.blogspot.com, under A Painting a Day.
You like it? Want it? Click on it.
Thousands have done so, on Keiser's blog and the blogs of scores of other mostly non-famous artists who make small original paintings nearly every day and sell them for as little as $100 each. It doesn't make them rich, but it allows them to make a living as an artist, and it could make some of them famous....
* The blogosphere has doubled every six months for the past two years to 51.9 million blogs, according to blog tracker Technorati.
* Online art shopping has grown as a complement to gallery hopping and art-fair shopping.
* Interest has increased in original contemporary art as an inspiration for interior design.
* Acceptance has grown of original art for gifting." USA Today
posted by art blogs are fun at 11:02 PM
6 Comments:
Sure would help pay the heating bill this winter and fill the gas tank!
More so than that, it lets anybody that wants to, buy, own and collect original art. Duane is an inspiration to many artists that have begun to use blogs and interent auctions to sell their work. I started my blog page at the end of March and it has been more fun painting these little pieces of what we see everyday but don't really look at.
Those paintings are incredible! I want that peppermint one, or the blueberries. Too bad I don't have $100, and they are sold anyway. What a great idea. I set up a blog, but nobody was really reading it, so I stopped posting. I'll post more when I'm in france though. There must be some way to get sponsorships for these blogs that people read a lot. Like DetroitArts. It becomes much like a part time job...and Ann works really hard to keep us all informed. It's a shame that she doesn't get paid for it. People get sponsored for skateboarding, and NASCAR and stuff like that...why not blogging? And I wish I could get sponsored by a paint company to get free paint by using their brand. That would be awesome.
here, here!
john I can't wait to see pics that you post while in paris. Bill Hafer moved to santa fe and I love following the art scene through his blog.
Just as soon as I can, I want to do this. Even though I work with a few galleries and currently have a show up, I would love to explore this kind of venue as an option for showing work that is not offered in the other places.
I have a friend who moved to the West Coast a number of years ago who sold small works through her website. They were inexpensive, and their small size enabled her to save monies on shipping costs. These sales supported her and also spread her name around.....to the point where she got gallery representation from the exposure. At this point she closed her website to sales.
I have always felt that artists could make a comfortable living from their work, if they could just tap into the multitudes of folks who would love to have original pieces at affordable prices. Thats one of the reasons why I make work of all sizes---it does me no good to have a studio full of my own stuff. I also make it clear to prospective collectors that even a more expensive work could be acquired via a very liberal payment plan. I would then send out monthly invoices.
The majority of artists that I have known have always been as creative at supporting themselves as they are at creating their works. This was the example that was presented to me when I was a young art student, and are the examples I try to share with my artistic collegues now.
It can be done!
endorsements are available for blogging: look at "snakes on a blog" or "oneredpaperclip".
I used to pose for Danskin's costume catalogue ads in exchange for ballet shoes. I went through 2+ pair a week and at $80 apeice free shoes was the most valuable thing that Danskin could offer. It was a win/win situation.
Unfortunately, it's up to Ann (and each individual) to come up with a strategy for finding sponsorship. Gone are the days when you could just sit back and do what you do and wait to be discovered. That never (or rarely) happens anymore. But on the flip side, this is an age where you CAN make a living doing what you love. You just have to be saavy about it.
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