Special Delivery to Palo Alto
Posted on | July 10, 2009 | 1 Comment
You may have seen a painting on my Facebook Fan Page a few weeks ago that I called “One.” It was on the small side, 6″ x 6″, but the painting turned out well, so I posted a photo of it.
And what happened next is just one example of why I love social media. A friend of mine wrote me that he really liked “One” but wondered if he could commission a larger size. I thought that was a great idea.
I finished “One” at 14″ x 14″ and delivered it to him today. It looks great on the wall of his office, next to “Highway 7 Postcard,” a wonderful painting by Steve Frenkel.
"Highway 7 Postcard" and "One"
And, after doing a little bit of arithmetic, I have decided to rename the 6″ x 6″ version “Point Four.”
Photoworks vs. Imagekind
Posted on | July 7, 2009 | Comments Off on Photoworks vs. Imagekind
Which is which, you ask?
The original canvas is on the left, Imagekind print at 11″ x 11″ is in the center, and Photoworks print at 9″ x 9″ is on the right.
The files used for both prints were exactly the same with the color profile embedded in the file with no color correction performed by either company. The sizes of print are obviously different, and it looks like slightly different paper was used for each print, even though they both were called “Somerset Velvet.” So, I am ignoring the finish of the paper and any differences in resolution.
Here is another photo for comparison.
Photoworks (Left), Imagekind (Right)
It’s kind of hard to tell on a computer monitor, but the Imagekind print looks comparatively muddy in person (and a bit muddy on the computer monitor as well). In addition, I had some annoying customer service issues in connection with my Imagekind order. The customer service team fixed everything and were incredibly responsive, but I contacted them no fewer than 4 times relating to (1) problems logging in to purchase; (2) problems linking from their site to PayPal; (3) problems with coupon codes; (3) sales tax; and (4) shipping (the last one was my fault–I had lost the tracking number they sent). Had I been anyone else, I’m pretty sure I would have abandoned the idea of purchasing when I couldn’t log in, never mind at any of the other points.
Photoworks was smooth sailing and delivered a great product. But I don’t think there is a way to set up a storefront with them directly.
Oh, to have it all … I will keep looking!
My Kind of Needlework
Posted on | July 5, 2009 | Comments Off on My Kind of Needlework
The thing I love about knitting and crochet are the stitches. All the yarn gets twisted up in such an attractive and uniform way as part of the greater pattern.
I wondered what would happen if I made some pieces with yarn and then painted with them. I had some time this weekend to create a medium-sized swath of triple-crochet stiches, and here’s the result so far in paint.
SF Pride
Posted on | June 28, 2009 | Comments Off on SF Pride
What a fantastic morning at the Pride Parade! So many friendly and helpful volunteers, and the parade participants were fabulous.
I was there with Billibatt Productions. Well-equipped with media passes, we stood right in the middle of Market Street. We got some great shots. Here are just a few.
Recce: San Anselmo Art & Wine Festival
Posted on | June 27, 2009 | Comments Off on Recce: San Anselmo Art & Wine Festival
Me? Spy on artists at other art festivals for ideas for the Tiburon Art Festival? Absolutely.
We headed up to the San Anselmo Art & Wine Festival this afternoon to see how the artists there were doing business. Sadly, we did not see any actual buying or selling while we were there, and we didn’t see anyone walking around with anything they had bought, either.
I was amazed at the number of artists who left the booth unattended, did not clearly post prices and provided no business card or post card available to take away. And if the artist was there, he or she wasn’t talking much, or at all. I really appreciated the time that J.P. Li took to talk to us as we looked at his wonderful photography.
Last but not least, I liked the water spritzer bottle the guy at the wine booth had. It was HOT out.
Prints For Sale!
Posted on | June 22, 2009 | Comments Off on Prints For Sale!
In response to some excellent comments I received to my earlier post about prints, I have set up a gallery on Imagekind.com. Now you can buy prints of varying sizes, and you can frame them too, all at the same time, if you want. Check it out!
Imagekind.com has been getting rave reviews. You can read some of them here if you’d like.
I will be adding to the gallery of available prints, so let me know if there is a particular painting you’d like to see as a print.
More Shoes
Posted on | June 21, 2009 | Comments Off on More Shoes
And here’s the glamour shot from the painting I finished last night.
Dawn
Saturday Night’s All Right for Painting
Posted on | June 20, 2009 | Comments Off on Saturday Night’s All Right for Painting
The latest one … in progress … glamour shot tomorrow.
Inky Goodness?
Posted on | June 20, 2009 | 2 Comments
I’ve been reading a book called Friends, Fans And Followers, by Scott Kirsner . Actually, that’s not the whole title–it has a colon: Building An Audience And A Creative Career In The Digital Age. It’s kind of a continuation of what I learned in the marketing seminar a few weeks ago. It’s a pretty interesting read.
One of the visual artists profiled in it is Natasha Wescoat. She really leverages social media to promote her art. She also sells prints of her work … and this got me thinking. Should I sell prints?
I poked around a little to see how prints are made. It turns out, fine art prints are made by a process called “giclée” (briefly, “zhee-clay” is an invented name for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source using ink jet printing). I also learned you can order these prints on-line or from a brick-and-mortar business for a WIDE variety of prices.
My cousin got me thinking about prints again this week, and she has graciously agreed to be my first “customer.” This means she has to answer lots of questions from me, including, “Paper or canvas?” for a print of “Black Heels.” We’re trying paper on her theory that a photograph should not attempt to masquerade as an original painting on canvas.
Black Heels
But I just got back from Photoworks, and I saw their examples of giclées on canvas, and they looked darn good. So I think there are a variety of options to suit individual preferences.
I can pick up the proof-prints from Photoworks on Wednesday after 6pm. I can’t wait! I’ll be comparing a blow-up to 12″ x 12″ at 210 pixels per inch, and a 10.5″ x 10.5″ at 240 pixels per inch. We’ll see how they stack-up.
“Take-Out”
Posted on | June 14, 2009 | 1 Comment
I worked on the red background to this one earlier in the week … and then I decorated it last night. The flowers continue on both sides of the painting, and the handle wraps over the top.
"Take-Out"
