My journey on "how to sell art prints"

Good morning

and I hope everyone has a good week.  As for me, sure, it's been good.  Ask me that a few months ago when I was trying to figure out how to get artwork made into art prints....I would  have had a different answer. 

"Get prints made" they say....

"I want a print" they say...

"I'll buy one when you get your prints"  ....you get the picture

Who knew making prints was soooo difficult!  What type of paper would you like to print on?  What kind of ink should I use?  Should I use canvas to make prints?  

How is the best way to package these said prints?  Oh and don't get me started on the pricing!

What a mess of confusion. 

Four print processes later and a wee bit of money later...I am figuring out what works best for me.  It wasn't an easy or cheap journey however. I am still on the cheaper side of print making than some artists I know.  We haven't even touched the giclee' printing process!  So, I am here to share my findings with whomever wants to learn....

First things first, Create art!  Make what you want and put in on paper, canvas, board or whatever your flat surface medium you choose. Paint to your hearts desire and let your emotions run wild within the piece.  Fill it with love and laughter and smiles or whatever you feel at that moment.  Just get it out and down for others to enjoy.

Secondly, Finding a printing place to best suit your needs.  If your piece is large, you will need to make a "Digital Copy" of it.  I took my pieces to a photo processing place in Anchorage to get my digital copies made.  They were professional and they were good to personable as well.  I was given my images on a cd with a high resolution image, a low resolution image and a TIFF image.  I really don't know what that means, but hey, they did.  One image is for making prints, one was for uploading and making prints online and one was for uploading to social media.  Sounded so much better that way!

From there, I was able to take my digital images and find a printing company.  There are a ton in Anchorage to deal with, and I drove around town stopping at all of them and asking questions.  I found a good printing place that had quality work, but their customer service was less than quality.   The guy seemed to know what he was talking about, but conveying it to me....yep...me...wasn't his strongsuit.  He and I just weren't on the same page.  I left.  I found another print place that I could understand and the guy made a lot of sense.  I left my images there to be printed. One thing with printing companies, they specialize in certain types of print.  This one just so happened to be in the photo prints! I received my prints on photo quality paper.  They were vibrant and printed well, but for my taste...I didn't like the on photo paper.  It wasn't what i was looking for. 

Back to the drawing board.

I found a printing company in Fairbanks that has great customer service and does great work. Artist quality work;  I dropped off my originals to have prints done.  The thing with this company is they will make prints from small pieces of work.  Nothing bigger than 11x14 roughly.  If your work is bigger than that, you will have to get digital copies. 

So for now, I am still going to try new places and new papers, as well as, new ways to make prints until I get something paved down.  I would suggest doing the same for your prints.  Try textured papers, matte paper, canvas!  Try digital copies of your work and look up places online.  Printing online is a little cheaper, but be cautious because you don't know what you get until its in your mailbox!

Best of luck and I will keep you updated on my progress!   

New blog post.....Here goes.

 

I haven't updated my blog in over a year and a lot has happened since then.  First off, a year has gone past and I am a much better artist than I was a year ago.  I have had some new doors opened and some old doors closed.  I started a class last year called "the documented life" and it was such an eye opener for me and my skills.  It was based on art journaling and writing out your ideas for weekly prompts and drawing techniques.  I was able to incorporate mixed media  and art journaling techniques into my art.  

 

Let's see, what else has happened...The family and I took a vacation to Oregon for visiting the Grandparents.  They were great; both the grandparents and the kids!  They spent their time chasing grandma's chickens, playing with bugs, running in the grass and catching snakes! yep! catching snakes! They are so much like their dad in many ways.  He spent his childhood doing the same things. We went to downtown Portland and it was awesome! Just let me say...Portland is a pretty cool place! I can feel the creative vibes rolling out of that city.  I fell in love with the graffiti on the buildings, as well as, the local shops selling local hand made gifts. 

I was inspired by Portland. 

 

What else has happened within this year? This summer, I was asked to be an artist in residence at the local coffee shop! how very exciting can one girl be?  This girl can be super super excited that's for sure! I was in the right place at the right time and I am so thankful for the opportunity.  I have to give praise and thanks to the Lord for allowing me these chances.  I hope to honor Him with my talents.  My gifts given to me.

 

So, that brings us up to now....what a great year and I will do my best to keep you posted on my happenings.  Until then, I will be continuing my routine of..."staying up late, doing artwork, listening to headphones and updating my blog" Creativity never sleeps! Why should I!

    



Art???

Photography???

or Both! 

I choose both.  

     Photography is considered both an art form as well as a science.  It takes skill and knowledge of the equipment as well as learning the camera.
  

  The definition of photography: the art of science and practice of creating images by recording light. 

Guess what??

I am not here to talk about science! I am here for the ART! I am an artist at heart and my background is in art; so I am naturally drawn to creative pieces.  I love to pour my heart into a painting or sketch and naturally I want to do that with my photos as well.

Here are just a few ways to "evoke emotion" within photography. 

  Color

Subject Matter

Contrast

Expression

     Color can evoke emotion by being BOLD and FIERCE… If I were to put on that shade of lipstick!!!  Well, my high heels better be matching my lipstick and I expect a nice glass of wine to go with my steak dinner! Yum!!!  

     Including RED within a photo or painting can present the piece with boldness! 

(maybelline ad)

On the other hand…adding blues or greens can evoke the opposite…

This photo is calming and soothing in comparison to the top photo. 

(photo by: Eleaca Young! my fav!) 

Contrast is my next point…

this can be an aggressive element in an image. 

 Contrast shows strength, boldness and ultimately…emotion!

When painting, sketching or photographing; the objective to see the contrast can be crucial.  

Tip* Squint! It allows you to see the HIGHLIGHTS and the LOWLIGHTS of the subject.  

(art instruction blog)

Go ahead…SQUINT! You can't resist! 

You will see the dark shades of the sphere as well as the light on the top half of the sphere. 

 In drawing, you would shade the darker. 

 In photography, you would be paying attention to the light source and where you want that light source to be on your subject.  

(photo credited to Becks)

I know…I know…Another Red Lipstick! But this is a sketch and the contrast is amazing as well as the artist used red to evoke emotion!  A DOUBLE WHAMMY!!

Here is a photo I took of my little guy…I think it evokes emotion by using light for contrast.  

The photo seems to have emotion due to the contrast from light to dark. ..or dark to light.

(whichever way you choose to look)

Having all that said….

We shall have to continue with the other points next time. 

 I hope you go out today and squint! Go ahead and try it!!  (but not while you are driving! Yikes!) 

Squint and see objects for their contrasts as opposed to seeing them as objects only.  See their lightest lights and see their darkest darks and think about that when taking pictures or even sketching! 

How can you give that object/subject matter "emotion"?

Until next time...

My fancy schmancy Art Class….

   

      Since this is a new year and like many folks, I have taken on some new ventures for myself.  One of which was to eat better…cleaner if you must say.  I have been doing great so far! I have cut out all of the yucky processed foods like pop tarts and hot pockets! (that wasn't too difficult) I also have widdled my way down from sugar and into a "cleaner" form of sugar….Raw Honey! It's yummy! and better for my body since it is a natural form of sweetener.  So…changes can be slow…but changes are happening and I like how I feel!
   

     Moving on….

     I joined in with an art class/group and it has been loads of fun! I have really gotten the hang of the "mixed media" and am really starting to like the journaling aspect of it.  Each week, the head ladies give us a prompt and we are to go 'wherever the creative mind wanders'…and boy does mine wander!  I have improved on my art in the 3 short weeks time we have been doing this and it's allowing me to add "sentimental" memories and get it all out into a sketchbook and not in my head or scattered all over my house! I was able to add old postcards, old love letters and 4 leaf clovers that I was saving for over the years.  Now they are all compacted into the pages of my sketchpad! I hope that one day, the boys can look over my sketchpad and see all of my memories.  On that note…here are a few pics….

…simple sketches make a big impact sometimes..

…this was my motto for my night.. the teabag told me so! :)

...what a year...or few that is! eek! I see I haven't been on this blog in quite some time...like 2 years! Here it is 2014 and I am finding myself wanting to update this old horse'! so for all of my 12 followers...here goes! I hope to keep up with it and update it with all of my happenings and then gain more followers! I mean...who wouldn't want to get insight into this crazy family and lifestyle!!! we are a wild bunch! so...having all that said...I will plan for a major comeback into the blog world with this beginning post! (this explaination..is it!) Tons have changed since the last post, but to save us both the hassle...we will leave it at that!
    Have a blessed day and wonderful week and I will begin my updates on the blog and post pictures as well! Starting....now.... !!!  Tootles!

Seniors....Seniors...and more Seniors!   I love them all! I made it back to Kotzebue and was able to take pictures of my first Kotzebue Senior!  It was great...she was the cutest girl I have ever seen and she was sooo easy to work with! She and I had fun and I think her pictures showed the fun and carefree time we had.  Here are just a few of my favorites!

...And for my Senior Photo shoot number 2..

     Katherine...was super duper cute and adorable and she and I got along perfectly, we toured the city and took pictures all over! We even got jumped by a duck! I will have to post a picture of the duck on a later date, but he did come up to me and snatched at my finger! ha, and then tried to come for Katherine!  The weather was perfect and she was just a beautiful as the weather! Thanks girlie, and I hope your senior year is fun filled!

ok, ok, ok....I have been waiting long enough to post up my senior photos.  I was able to photograph "Brandon" while I was on vacation and I just loved his photos so I will post up my favs! He was sooo funny and I loved that he would shamelessly do as I told him to! It was great..  Thanks for the fun and hope your senior year rocks!

My Boys having fun!

So, we have been on vacation for the month of August and it was great to get back to civilization and enjoy life with driving long distances and constantly putting gas in the car! Ok, so vacation wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, but it was still nice on a few days! On those days...we hit the park and then enjoyed the sun! Here are just a few pictures of the boys playing around.

 

I can make Fireweed Jelly! I am Alaskan!

Ok, so it has been quite some time but I am fully enjoying my summer in the Arctic! I decided to try my hand at making jelly! Fireweed jelly that is...and I must say it was a success. I will explain what a fireweed flower is...well, it's a flower! and it grows in Alaska and it's hot pink and sooo pretty and I love it! It makes Alaska sooo much more beautiful in the summertime! Colten and I went out and picked the tops of the flowers and put them into a grocery bag. My friend had said to collect about 8 cups so we picked and picked and truth be told...i didn't measure it at all; eek; I just guessed. We made sure to pick the tallest flowers in case the dogs got to the flowers and peed on them! Or so I told Colten!
We then took the bag inside and I rinsed off the flowers and let them set...just because i wanted the bugs to crawl out before i started the process. So I put Colten to bed and then cleaned up and bit and then decided to come back to my flowers. I boiled water in the pot and then added my flowers to the boiling water. They boiled for about 10 minutes or so and then they turned this horrible brown mushy color and so I strained the blossoms and returned the pot back to the stove. I let it boil again and then added 2 packages of pectin...it was the Sure Jell stuff that comes in the little yellow box. I had to add two because the recipe called for it! ha...
After that, I added 5 cups of sugar! Goodness me, I didn't know I had 5 cups of sugar in my cupboard, I thought i used a ton of sugar in some sweet tea, but I never knew what 5 cups looked like! Anyways, 5 cups and I had to add it in small increments, I did 1/2 cups at a time and stirred it constantly...if you don't stir it then it gets lumpy and not dissolved. Once it is all put in and dissolved, then I took the liquid and added it to the jars. I did not do any of the fancy pants stuff with sterilizing and what not to the jars. It wasn't in my recipe. I put on the lids and just waited to hear the "pop" of the jar lids! I got a bit worried waiting for my lids...I wasn't sure if I did it right or not, so I just kept waiting...but eventually, they all popped! We had fireweed jelly and toast for breakfast the next morning and it was soooo stinking yummy! so, that's how it's done!

New Adventures....

So I don't really have any photos to post up this time around because I haven't taken any... I will try to come up with something...this is a shot of some swans on the lake...
I have however been doing lots of great fun things and EATING tons of new things! Chris has been shooting all sorts of things and of course...when he shoots it...we eat it! ha. So he shot a sandhill crane the other day and we cooked it up. We rolled it with spices and bacon and then marinated it and baked it with peppers and onions all cut up...It was actually really good! All the rave around the neighborhood! Then he went camping and brought home some seagull eggs! they are big! and speckled and I didn't really want to try that one! Chris ate it scrambled and him and the boys loved it! He said it tasted like shrimp! ew...I wasn't about to snack on it...
Then he went out and shot a swan!!!! ha, he shot a swan! and yes, it is legal in Alaska to do so. He plucked it and that was funny to see! Then we decided to bake it like a turkey or a goose...well, chris went to work and told me to bake it! ha, So i did! It was ok, I thought it was a bit tough and chewy and the meat is a very dark meat...not like chicken or turkey at all...
So, now duck season is over and i guess the guys will be gearing up for caribou hunting next...
...I must say...I will never go hungry as long as Chris is around...I may not like what I am eating, but I will never starve! ...

My baby boy....:)

This is my sweetest boy ever! He is such a ham and he really loves life! I Had to include these shots of him! He was super cooperative and I love it....