This blog will be a more personal one where I will share how I go about creating a drawing, some art history, what makes a good composition and other things about art and my experience with it. At least that is where I plan to start and I know as I write, the blog will evolve. I hope to include my experience as I try to make it as an artist...an unsurmountable task I feel at times. There are times that I feel totally discouraged and then there are times that I know that I must stay focused, do what I love....and probably get another job (at least a parttime one) in order to survive until some sort of income is established.
The first thing that I did start doing was my blog of a daily painting. I knew in order to get my skills back to where they once were after working for a living as an engineer that I would need to discipline myself on a daily basis to create. It is a bit like riding a bike....I am a little rusty, but once I began drawing and painting daily again, the skills were still there and came back quickly. Things started to "click" and it was not such a chore to get down on the canvas or paper what I wanted to express. You can see my progress over the last couple of months by checking out my other blog "Spirit River Studio".
The second thing that I began was a website. See http://www.maryanncleary.com/ . I used a template to begin with and even with that, setting it up took an incredible amount of time. I know that eventually I will fine tune it add things, redo things, but it is also nice having a place that speaks of professionalism....is it worth doing it this way. I am not sure. The site has only be up and running for a couple of weeks. I also added "Google Analytics" to both sites. It was a little tricky setting it up ~ especially for someone who knows little about all the html script, etc. ~ and I think that I have it so that I can at least track my traffic progress.
The third thing I did was to write an article for EmptyEasel. Initially, I was surprised at it being accepted. It was a "How To" article on making a paint brush cleaner. With that article, the owner of Empty Easel also provided a link to my blogsite and I also had a link to Empty Easel. It did help with increasing traffic to my blog site a little.
The next thing that I have been doing is also putting my small paintings up for sale on eBay and I also have an eBay store. So far I have sold three paintings and I am at least breaking even with all the fees...insertion fees, fees when you sell, fees for paypal, fees for the store..... I really did not think that I would "make it" on eBay, but I did think that it may help with driving traffic to my blog and website. The only thing is people must "google" your name to get to the site since eBay has a policy against putting your blog or website in with your description as it would be considered a conflict of interest....they want all your money. I am also considering putting things up at a lower price...I am not sure if this is a good thing or not. Since I am trying to develop a following, it may be a good thing, but I may also end up "giving away" a lot of paintngs.... I guess it may be better than having a pile of them sitting at home. However, I am building up inventory if I decide to do a show.
What I am finding is the marketing part of this business of art is taking up considerable time and effort so a "Line in Time" will cover not only the drawing line, but the written business side or line of art.
More on tomorrow or the next day or so.
MaryAnn
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