New work

Collection of 5x7 nudes

Around this time last year a good friend of mine convinced me to offer smaller, more affordable nudes to my collectors. After some trepidation, I decided to give it a go and since then have created over 80 of these tiny paintings. The majority of them are 5x7 (all images above are in this format) but there have been a few 4x5s, 4x6s, 5x6s, and 6x8s thrown into the mix. These pieces would look great all paired together on a wall as a few of my patrons have been doing :)

5x7s go for between 52.00 and 58.00 and can be found here. Enjoy!

New work on Etsy

Faces of the City LIX

In The Bay

Holding On

Story Of The Tree Act XVI

4 new pieces listed in my Etsy storefront today with more to come. Also finished a fantastic 4x5 foot piece over the weekend in my kitchen (my husband loves when I create "mine fields" of paint in the kitchen, keeps him on his toes *wink*) and I hope to get pics of that up soon as well. As with the other larger pieces, it is going to be reserved for my upcoming show at Taylor & Mackenzie in NYC.

A peek at all 3 5x6' paintings together

Not the best pic but you get the idea. I love working big. I want to go bigger.... Haha, I should take a pic of me standing next to all of them. That really gives you the full idea of how big these babies are. I have to stand on a chair to paint the tops. Looking forward to seeing them all on a wall :)

The Flame

5x6' oil on canvas, 11/2009

Progress pics below....

The Flame - 5x6 foot progress shots from start to finish

New work

A Crisp Breaze

Approaching

This weekends paintings

Story of the Tree Act XIII

Story of the Tree Act XV

Story of the Tree Act XIV

Blurred Vision VI

All listed on Etsy as of this evening. Click on each image to visit the listing. Hope you all had a relaxing (or productive!) weekend!

Preparing for the Holidays - Segment 2 - Marketing

Here's a super important area we need to address - Market your work - but don't spam! There is a fine line between keeping past and potential customers updated and throwing a big ole' can of spam at their heads 24/7. Be smart with your marketing.

•DO create a newsletter and ask your customers if you can add them to your mailing list.

•DON'T add every email address you have to your mailing list - you must obtain permission first!

•DO send newsletters out periodically with the latest news as well as incentives - offering an exclusive sale through your newsletter will tell you how effective your newsletter is and will keep subscribers looking forward to seeing an email from you in their inbox!

•DON'T send daily newsletters with buckets of links begging your customers to check out your site. Desperation is not your friend and you'll lose subscribers. Try and send out a newsletter no more than once or twice a month.

•DO at the very least try social networking before you write it off. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, they all have quite a bit of power in driving your brand as well as keeping your name out there (exposure is important!) They might not all work for you, but mastering one is a good idea.

•DON'T twitter links to your items every 3 minutes. Short of being a porn bot there's no faster way to getting unfollowed. Temper your business tweats with other content and interact with other individuals in the twitterverse. It's called social networking for a reason. Socialize!

•DO offer strategic sales from time to time. Because people are going to be seeking out deals on days such as Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and Cyber Monday, you might want to offer your own sale - a percentage off, BOGO (buy one, get one), that sort of thing. Sales for smaller businesses though on days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are hit or miss. Last year I only got one sale on Black Friday and zero on Cyber Monday. This year I will be trying out having a sale either right before Thanksgiving or right after Cyber Monday. Timing is everything! Remember - you're in essence "competing" with the big box stores. Sometimes it's best to tackle it in a more tactical manner. We as small businesses don't have the advantage of massive marketing budgets, PR firms, ad spots on TV, radio, and in print...we have to work with what we've got.

•DON'T have a sale every single week leading up to Christmas. You'll find after a while people only purchase on the days they know you'll have a sale. Sales are supposed to be special.

•DO carry around business cards and have them ready any time the topic of what it is you do comes up.

•DON'T scatter your business cards all over the place like some new age Johnny Applesead. It's tacky and really, it's littering :P

•DO leave your business card in targeted areas (depending on what you sell and who your target audience is.) Not on the floor. Not on a desk. Pinned to a public board maybe?

•DO purchase your domain name, even if you aren't going to create a website just yet. You can at the very least redirect your domain name to your blog or online shop until you feel you are ready to get a website set up. A domain name helps with brand recognition and legitimizes your endeavor to your patrons. An actual website takes that legitimacy one step further and creates trust.

•DO secure your username on as many sites as you can. It's all about branding. Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Blogger...and then all of the online venues - Ebay, Etsy, Artfire, 1000 Markets, Zibbet, DaWanda, Shop Handmade - You might not ever sell at any of these places or utilize the websites passed laying down your profile, but you don't want another business taking your name. Here's a nifty little guide of a bunch of popular sites and their classifications I found - http://blogs.oracle.com/jobsatoracle/images/SocialNetworking.jpg

•DO create business profiles on sites like LinkedIN and Ning. The more your username is out there and linking back to your website / domain address, the more traffic you will get streaming in. It's not guaranteed, but with millions and millions of websites on the internet, you have to do what you can to be recognized!

•DON'T then go into those sites and spam the hell out of the public spaces. It just pisses people off. You definitely don't want to piss off potential customers!

That's all for now. Watch for the next installment focusing on commissions and holiday deadlines! Till next time, kittens.

Peek into Taylor & Mackenzie Gallery space, NYC

In a few months time, my work will grace those fabulous walls. Seriously stoked. The space showcases rustic and aged architectural details peeking out behind a modernized facade...think, shiny steel meets peeling paint. There's something truly marvelous about the pairing. Can't wait to see my work hanging in there.

Show Preparation, a preview....

Both paintings oil on canvas, 5x6 feet.

Faces of the City

LV

LIV

LIII

Sometimes I will get into a series of work before I even have a chance to realize how far it's blossomed I have 50 pieces to show for my endeavors with at least as many more to go. It's funny, people had been urging me to create cityscapes (especially my mom!) and I resisted cause, well, nudes were my "thing". I also felt like perhaps, I couldn't say something that wasn't already said (who hasn't seen the impasto, palette knife painted city scenes too numerous to mention plastered all over Ebay and Etsy for what seems like eons? You haven't? Trust me, they're there, and they're everywhere.) But, as I've gotten into the series, I've noticed I actually do have a unique vision to bring to the entirely saturated genre of impasto cityscapes offered on these here interwebz :P