Have you ever seen those little paintings called Artist Trading Cards? A few years ago, I used to go to a ATC club, and it was fun. Artists and non artists alike were having fun, decorating little 2.5 by 3.5-inch pictures and swapping them. I stopped going because a few artists took all of the fun out of it by making it too serious. I don’t know why they had to be such party poopers, but there you are. I’ve started back up again, because I believe that they are great marketing tools. Selling them for $5 each at art shows could prove very lucrative, as they are business card sized, and at the same time, original artwork. Usually people share their treasures with other people, and they in return give a referral. Each card can take about 10 minutes or more depending on how much detail you want to put on them. I’ve shrunken mine to size 2 by 3 inches, just for the simple fact that I can make 24 cards out of a 9 by 12-inch bristol board or watercolor paper. Instead of going the business card glued on the back route, I purchased a customizable stamper. The reason being is because, it enables freedom to write whatever message on it, like new websites, phone number changes, little quotes, etc. It costs about $20 at a stationary store.

The technique of beginning a painting by blending white into the background can pose many problems, however if done correctly, it can produce beautiful effects.
Golden Acrylic Paint Manufacture doesn’t create mixing white. So, if you are a Golden fan, there has to be away around this…. Ah, yes, use some gesso and water, with a touch of glazing medium. This will blend without lightening the colors too much. Much of the time, you are just blending distant trees for landscapes with this technique.
In order to do this technique without complaint, spray the canvas with an atomizer, and load your brush with gesso and a bit of acrylic glazing medium and crisscross the brush across the top of the canvas, gradually getting less and less toward the end of the canvas.
It should stay wet for at least a half hour in more moist areas, like Oregon, and about 15 minutes in dry areas like Southern California.

Too many artists and teachers say you should only paint for yourself. Their reasons for this all differ. I don’t agree with most of their reasons. I think it is extremely selfish. I believe you should paint for the world beyond yourself, to affect others in a positive way. When you paint for other people, you are in affect painting for yourself too. To paint for others doesn’t mean painting pretty pictures to please others, especially images you don’t like. I mean paint for others in the only way you know how. Doing this IS good enough, regardless of where your skills are in the art of painting, and people will take notice of your work, and will appreciate you for it. If you are giving your all to your painting, and you feel that it will affect people positively, that is what I mean by painting for the world beyond yourself. Paint for the world, because your paintings touch other people, and your paintings may outlive you.

Looking past the first splats of paint can be difficult if you are new to painting. You look at the picture right in front of you and see chicken scratches, or dabs of nonsensical colors. The object of the game is to have a sense of what it should look like at the end of the game. Keep that vision in mind. This is the most important thing.
So, how do you concentrate on an image in your head for hours upon hours, and staring at something that looks completely different? Welcome to art. I would like to say there is a formula, but there really isn’t because everybody is different. However, there are exercises you can do in order to hold the image a bit longer in your head. One is to make thumbnail sketches to reference. This gives you an idea of what you first intended, and usually recaptures the “ah ha, that’s it” factor. Then there is staring at something for a few minutes, then doing practice sketches without looking at the object. See how closely you can get the object correct.
The beauty of art, is that every artist does it differently. Have you ever watched another artist paint, and kept saying to yourself “no! that’s not it, don’t do that! It’s wrong, EEEEK NOT THAT COLOR!!” This is an awesome thing, it gives you taste and uniqueness as an artist.

Ordinarily, I do not use naughty words, but in this situation, it works very well.
Many artists do not realize that when painting, true feelings and insecurities show in the work like a sore thumb. It is a fact. I was visiting a fellow artist yesterday and was looking through her art work. She had many paintings and most were very good. She was having mental complexes and I was there to help her work through them.
There was one painting that caught my eye like a beacon. The painting was incomplete, but the best I’ve seen her do. I asked her if she said “f” it when she was painting that piece. She said yes, at the time she felt relaxed and didn’t care about the outcome of that painting. I showed her how her lines of this particular piece was absolutely perfect compared to her other works and how the colors harmonized. I then showed her several of her prized pieces where I could see major anxiety in her attempt at perfectionism. The lines of those pieces were jagged, there were feeling of constriction, and her colors were unharmonious. When she saw this she was amazed.
When you approach your own work, you too should have an “f” it mentality, because it puts you into a state of relaxation, and this will enable you to produce better paintings. I saw this in my own work, which is why it was easy for me to see it in her art as well. Most of my strive-for-perfection paintings I threw away because they were not high quality as my own “f” it paintings.

When 10 people create a taco with five or more ingredients, you get 10 different tacos. Each person will choose which ingredients they like, and discard the rest. And even more diverse is how the amount of each ingredient used. Now imagine how unique the artist’s palette truly is. Artist’s have a minimum of 40 color choices from any one paint manufacturer. Each artist meditatively pick colors and put them into their paint boxes. A very select personal color range. Even when an artist has the same color choices as a fellow artist, they will mix the colors differently, add more of one color and less of another. It is an amazing, beautiful personal trait to observe in any artist.

I hear constantly of artists beating themselves to a pulp with negative words. This is a downward spiral to which I am not immune. However, I’ve learned to deal with the good and bad. Oh and believe me it takes effort if you have a big ego.
How would you feel (as a hard working artist) upon discovering a young artist fresh out of art school, who has bigger and better paintings than you do? You three choices in this situation. 1. Be pissed off and say “I suck, I’m going to throw away all my brushes….(not an option really).” 2. Nitpick the hell out of the person and/or their work… 3. Do something more constructive….. “He is great!”
By choosing the more positive response in that situation, the subconscious mind reads great artists get praise. Therefore, being a successful artist imprints a positive image. Basically, do unto others as others do unto you is not just an old adage. It works. If you beat others up mentally, you are more likely to beat yourself up, as well as imprint a negative image towards successful artists. A perfect example is beating up Thomas Kinkade…. Come on, I know you heard other artists speak of him right? “He’s too this, he’s too that, he sucks.” What sucks about him the most? That he has his own cloying little gallery in every town in America? He’s a household name? He is happy due to the fact he makes his living from painting? Oh, for shame! You wouldn’t want that for yourself would you? To be well known, make a living off of art or have a gallery in every town? Nah, you couldn’t want that…. right? (Sarcasm alert.)
Focus on the positive.
It is not enough to say this person is great, you need to mean it. Why did this particular artist grab you so much? What was it about the work? Was it the colors, the technique, the subject matter? Was it the artist’s good sense of marketing, manner, professionalism? All of the above? If it was all of the above, which was the one that grabbed you first? Focusing on the positive works even on art that is of questionable quality. Admire the artist’s marketing skills that managed to fool the art curator to get the art in!
By focusing on the good stuff about a successful artist, gives your mind a positive image of success. Ultimately, in doing so builds your confidence and self esteem.

Artists are experimenters. Customers, investors and gallery owners like to see consistency. This is a conundrum. You as an artist hear all the time that you should choose a style and stick with it to make it in the art world. To say that an artist should stick with just to one style is the equivalent of telling a chef to make only recipes that resemble one dish! When I got into that kick, I painted astronomy art for years…. I recently thought to myself “how boring is that? I want to experiment, have fun, paint whatever I feel like!” Now I have many styles, but I still have my voice. Just like a writer who wrote a fantasy book then turns around and writes a murder mystery, a painter can have the same freedom. To satisfy the art world’s homogenized belief system in art, create a series of 8-20 paintings for each style. This practice will also help develop your new style.

Most of painting, you will discover, comes from you. Nobody else. You can learn some points and principles, but largely, it is you who are the deciding factor of what goes where, how, when and why. This seems like an obvious statements when you think about it, but it is good to call this to your attention. When you watch a video, say like Bob Ross painting, don’t you say in your mind, “No! Not there!! What are you doing!??” You are the deciding factor when you paint.

OK, so what I am gathering is that art marketing books and seminars (at least the bulk of them) are full of sh–! The bulk artists and teachers who preach their books, have not made their goals, nor have they put their artwork into any good galleries or any gallery for that matter. I USED to teach that swill (doing what I was told basically), however, it will be no more! I will no longer teach what I have been told, I will only teach what I can prove! Tried and true from now on!
So the next question, is how? How do you get your art into the galleries? How do you sell your art? I cannot answer the first question as I’ve only done shows and sold art, but never had gallery representation. However, I can tell you the second question at least the one that has worked for me time and time again!
I’ve been going by the books for the past five some odd years at no avail. When I do sell my artwork, it is always by word of mouth or direct conversations. Go directly to the people you know well. Talk to them, their friends, employers, or anyone who seems to be interested in art. Those are the people who are likely to purchase paintings from you or at the very least give you a commission to paint their kids and pets. This is what I know for a fact that has worked for me for years. Web sites are great, but only as an ongoing, constantly updated portfolio. You can show anybody your art, answer questions, and show new works at any time. You can even sell on the Internet, however, this hasn’t worked out for me yet. It is recommended by me to update your Web site with new works about once per week. Meaning, add new works, put up a blog (hence this journal). Another one is to get a MySpace account, add people daily and TYPE TO THEM! Develop relationships, and market the hell out of your work to the people you can. You never know who will enjoy your work! I do not paint very classically or fine arty. I paint more metaphysical, sci-fi and creepy (even for me sometimes). But my customers are so different from what I have ever expected. I was expecting gothic chicks and metal heads, but surprisingly, they are mainly wholesome middle-aged people with their mom and pop shops or something to that effect.
New experiements will be held and will be written here. This is my personal online journal, so I can learn from my mistakes and accomplishments, as you can too.