Blog

While watching the multiple species of birds at Riverhaven, this curious oriole stopped for a moment to allow me to capture his picture. He is in our children's book, "Real Butter is Best" from the "Baby Calves Adventure Series". ~Jan Stommes

How do you increase your art exposure? Are you marketing through Facebook, Instagram or other platforms? Do your galleries have online shows that include your work?  Are you doing open studio sales? Virtual studio sales?

One way I market my paintings, indirectly, is through our children's book series. I researched online and I had great difficulty locating children's picture books that are illustrated with fine art. My paintings now have a function or purpose and can be viewed by the many folks who have purchased our books. It takes between 30-40 paintings for these books. Collectors who have purchased paintings that are in the books enjoy knowing that they have the originals. 

My paintings have been juried into some exhibitions this year, both virtually and walk-in.  There will be some exposure in these shows, however, I believe blogging, but more importantly, generating newsletters are the way to connect, especially during Covid-19 shutdowns.

I would love to hear what you do to gain visibility for your creations. 

Our computer was not hooking up to the Internet tonight for some unknown reason. Our son helped us reconfigure it by phone, but now it is quite late. Visiting old friends earlier tonight gave me a late start to blogging, and when I came home, I found out about our computer difficulties.

I am a night writer. I write my blogs in the evening and do my final proofing over coffee in the morning before studio time. It’s a pretty tight schedule that I keep, but I have been going by a tight schedule for many years while I was teaching. I had to, because at that time, I was teaching and painting. My artist friends would tell me that I got more done than they did working full-time in their studios and would ask me how I did it.

Problems come up, and you can count on it that they will. You just have to go to plan B, C or D. Make sure you have a plan B, C and D or panic will set in because plan A didn’t work out.

Tonight’s blog will be short and sweet, just like this painting, Self-indulgence. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. If things don’t go as planned, you have to adjust. I had to do that when I was teaching, and I have to do it now that I am my own boss.

So tonight I am going to tap into my own self-indulgence and go get some sleep. Keep on trying, push through the difficulties, and don’t give up hope. I hope you have a great weekend and that you have a chance to create some beautiful art!