a couple of days back i discovered the website emptyeasel.com and read an interesting article on artists and blogs, called Nine Reasons Why Every Artist Should Have Their Own Art Blog after reading something on ArtBizBlog.com’s website, but ArtBizBlog was full of broken links so i couldn’t access any of the archived articles, maybe i’ll try again later.. emptyeasel seems to have many well-written articles for artists, and searching for art-related advice and information is quite straightforward.. anyhow, my aim on this website is to have an artist journal separate to my art portfolio, to explain artwork and express my ideas as they develop, an artist blog that seamlessly matches the overall design of my website..
at the time, blogger.com looked ugly, and with wordpress you had to pay extra to fully customise the style of it.. even so, i signed up to both blog platforms, even though i already had this portfolio website set up under my domain name, and i wanted a blog that fitted in with the website’s graphic design and easy page navigation.. i’m now beginning to directly hotlink images of paintings in the portfolio pages to articles in my artist journal that explain more about the creation of the artwork.. this is all hard work when i tinker with raw html, a straight off the shelf artist blog would have been much easier.. i looked into exporting my blog, but as emptyeasel said, it makes sense to have your art portfolio and art blog in one place.. and it makes it easier to display your paintings for sale right on your own website..
[green hues triptych - mixed media on paper.. click to view more]
however, not networking with or linking to other artists blogs (now, thanks to the spam bots, no feedback here) has put me at a slight disadvantage in promoting my art to a wider audience of artists, art appreciators or art buyers.. and so, this has turned out to be a quiet place for artistic musings, thoughts on contemporary art, some creative reflection, an art journal of ongoing ideas, the things that preoccupy me as a contemporary artist, works in progress, materials and working methods, exhibitions and other art-related activities.. it’s still a form of promotion that you can always link back to, artists need to be a bit egotistical (look here at what i do), but the internet has become so ’shouty’ of late.. sorry, but i think myspace is just awful for art – please someone, just turn the music down or off preferably, the fussy backgrounds, endless comments with ridiculously large images attached, and with media heavy pages which take a minute or more to download on a slow broadband – where’s the art in all that glitzy gumpf? i don’t think i’ll be visiting again soon…
i can’t sign up to twitter as jazzgreen as it is already taken, but he/she doesn’t say very much… and the silent twitter jazz, who has never tweeted and not made good use of the name..? by the way, if you are a like-minded artist (with a website) and likes to link back to other artist’s websites or art blogs, i often add painters & artists to my painting links page; it might be good one day to write an article or do an interview with an artist that follows a similar environmental landscape theme… an artist interviewing an artist, a dialogue, a creative exchange..
i need to work much more on networking, promoting my artwork outside of the area, getting my work represented by established galleries in the long term, not just occasional exhibitions… i need to draw more frequently and use it directly in my work.. i need to book myself time to create a specific body of artwork, such as small prints , and not get too distracted by creating pieces that take me months to complete.. i need to finish all the books i have started reading.. i need to know enough about art to talk about it and have an informed opinions about it, but not so much that it influences me to the point that i lose my own vision, i need to be consistent and focused, on what i plan to or will do in the days, the months, the year ahead.. i will try not be distracted by the worthiness or high ideas of other artists, i will keep motivated by being true to my interests.. occasionally, i will allow myself be a graphic or web designer and not be the painter..
over the weekend, i spent a few hours (unpaid) on a new logo for a display postcard for the local shop art window displays, part of the waveney arts festival… will the other artists approve of my retro style graphics design? the blank red starburst is for the shop number and looks a little like the price signs you see on market stalls, the concentric circles or target echoes an eye, window shopping, shopping with a purpose, shops that are linked, marking the town centre, of coins and the exchange of money, but it is in fact based on the original mod target (taken from the RAF apparently) indirectly referencing all things British.. it will help local businesses with a few more curious window shoppers.. a mix of typography mirrors different shop fronts linked together in the street, the art word appears like a drawing or sketch, with the usual artist’s method of dating artwork (with a little red dot for luck)…
in retrospect i doesn’t explain everything about the event; i haven’t designed the art labels, shop quiz sheet, press release or flyer, creating continuity in the publicity which a professional designer would do… a bit too late for that, a rushed job, but it’s eye-catching and will link all of the participating shops with an identifiable badge.. maybe next year some earlier planning and objectives will turn it into a bigger art event.. i haven’t studied graphics since the unit on my art & design diploma; back then it was all hand-drawn in layout pads – art without computers.. which reminds me, i need stop typing and calmly step away from the computer..
