White Oak Studio

I am struggling with keeping my own excitement going in my art career, much less my clients interest. Have you ever felt this too? What did you do?

When I owned a working studio with public gallery I had to get certain things done every day in order to be ready for customers. I spent the winter months coming up with new ideas and works of art before we opened in May.  I had to fill the gallery with some 30 to 40 pieces of new works (handmade paper on canvas) each and every season! Then when work sold, I had to make more work to fill the empty spots on the wall.

Now that the gallery is closed, and art is moving v-e-r-y slowly in Michigan’s lousy economy…I’ve lost my incentive, my internal drive for keeping the artistic wheels moving forward. I am in my first ever art slump!

When I was a writer, I’d read about writers block, but in all honesty I never actually experienced it. While I read about it “intellectually,” it cetainly did not speak to me personally in the same way as having experienced it is now doing.

WHAT HAVE I DONE:

• I have been looking for a 3-D papermaking workshop to help lite the fire under me, but have not been able to find the one I want. They are all to basic and for beginners.
• I’ve been looking for an apprenticeship experience to grease my wheels…but have come up dry.
• I’ve set a goal of finding two news galleries every year. I find them but either they close or they disappoint me as either they do not take enough work to make it worth the work to be allowed to exhibit there. Or it costs so much to drivethere (when not enough work is selling) that I can’t justify the expense.

One of my art goals this winter is to do better at my blogging. So I’ve been doing some preliminary research on how to do just that.

I found one article, “Writing A Better Blog Post” written by Art Coach, Alyson B. Stanfield alyson@artbizcoach.com NOTE: All the credit for this great article goes solely to Alyson.

I “think” what I am writing is of value for other artists…but how do I know this for sure?

Write a Better Blog Post

Someone–perhaps I–told you to get a blog. And you did it. Now, you aren’t feeling the love. Your traffic is almost nonexistent, and your posts are boring even you. If you’re intent on building traffic for your blog, here are some tips for you.

1. Write with respect for your readers.
You can write anything you want in your private journal, but if you want traffic to your blog, you can’t forget your readers (or potential readers!). If you want to write about what you had for breakfast, make it the best darned post about breakfast food in the history of posts about breakfast food.

5. Write with illustrations.
Don’t forget to post images of your art and images that help illustrate your topic. We like pictures and we want to see more of your work. Got video? Post it to your blog, too!

I received a telephone call today from one of my galleries, Khnemu Gallery www.khnemustudio.com to tell me that a 12″ X 24″ canvas titled,  ”Season of Sasafras” had sold. How do you spell excitement! She said that one her regular customers had been in the gallery and saw the canvas and just fell in love with it. This confirms what I have been suspecting this year, that there is a trend happening; and that the more unusual size canvas’s are selling right now instead of the more common, larger sizes of the past.

I had a “feeling” that smaller price points would go better in this current economy and as a result began to work on 12″ X 24″, 16″ X 16″  and 5″ X 5″ square canvas’s and that is what has been selling the past two years.

After a piece sells I always want to be the “mouse in the pocket” to go into the buyers home and see where and how the piece has been hung. Thank you!!