2016 is Here! Planning, Planning, Planning...

Left Brain Kicks In

This time of the year, I look at my new calendar straight in the face. Looking at the entire year at a glance can be daunting and really drives in the thought that time is short in this life and we may as well live, do, work, travel, and make art!

Being an artist this year began last year when I applied for some art shows and exhibits; the good ones always have applications well ahead of show time. 

Like a row of booths at sunrise, the year awaits to open...

And since I enjoyed my residency here so much, I also applied for a residency at a National Park. Applying is a game of chance; jurors like what they like and at any given time, luck may strike. I always tell artists to maximize their chances by putting their best foot forward every single time. Try, anyway. Reading applications and carefully following instructions to the letter makes me squirm, but that's how the game is played. 

Frames are on the way and preparations have begun for early March, when I have an opening in Oakland California for a month-long exhibit that promises to be awesome. Here is the information:

Peace Puzzle Print (plus!) 

Event On Facebook: Opening Reception for Exhibit 

Aside from art festivals and the occasional exhibit, I really don't do much more in terms of art networking. My personal business model is rather simplistic: make art, sell art. Sometimes I like to teach art. All the while my online shops seem to have gained traction at are now producing some (amazingly) consistent sales results. I guess persistence pays off.
Once the applications are out, I don't worry about them too much and crawl back into the magic realm of the studio. 

Right Brain Screams!

All the time I spend looking at calendars and filling out applications, my right brain is flying about...sometimes an endless glide over a canyon or an ocean, sometimes a frenzied bouncing like a pinball. Eventually, I have to release the unruly beast and get back in the studio. 

Entre Viento y Sol

This year I have some unfinished business with the desert, a set of 8 blocks that have been drawn for years are now, almost embarrassingly demanding my attention. Dutifully, I will carve. 

I am also feeling drawn to the figures in nature series again, with my figures reduced to tiny proportions surrendering humbly to the awe of Mother Nature. 

Fool on the Hill

Aside from that, planning what art I will feel like making next month is like planning to fall in love--just doesn't happen that way. Art, like love, just appears and flourishes at the will of some unknown and irrepressible force. I just let it take me.

Stay in touch!

1000woodcuts Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts 
Maria's Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener 
Maria's Twitter Profile: https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts 
1000woodcuts YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

Scrambled websites! My marketing manager has gone mad!

Wacky Web

Oh how things have changed since my first website! First of the year and I find out my marketing "people" (that would be me) have all gone totally mad. In an effort to streamline web presence and make my life easier, something I attempt to do at the beginning of each year, I have changed things around a bit. Here is the recap:

Website

http://1000woodcuts.com
Still there but the index page now redirects to my more dynamic blogger blog, which is easier to update on the go and provides me with a nice mobile alternative. According to stats, almost 70% of web traffic is now through mobile devices. Celebrate simplicity!

Links to various pages still work and I will endeavor to link to things from the blog (you are reading the blog, if you are reading this). The only thing missing right now are the Projects and the browsing galleries but my shop is just as good for that. I just don't have the time or brain power any longer to keep up with the latest web standards and such. Out with the old, in with the new!

Blogs, er...blog!

http://1000woodcuts.blogspot.com
Ay ay ay! Sometimes my manic phases really complicate my life, I blame "that other" Maria. To start this glorious year, I am hereby happily reduced to ONE blog. That's uno, un, ein...that's it. Sigh.

I nixed the artfestival blog, kaput, bye bye. I merged the former puzzleprints.blogspot.com blog into this one. Posts are indexed by category on the left navigation and so you can read all about puzzle prints by clicking on the puzzle prints category. And so on. I will try to do a better job categorizing stuff.

Facebook and Twitter and YouTube, oh my!

I'd rather be outside!

Various ways to connect have not changed, although I'm mulling combining my FB page and profile just as soon as Facebook allows such a thing. The 1000woodcuts follows me everywhere so I'm easy to find.
You can LIKE my page, FRIEND me (it's a verb, trust me), FOLLOW me on the tweety bird and SUBSCRIBE to my YouTube channel if you are into silly printmaking videos. I tend to cross-pollinate posts as I see fit and all my Facebook posts magically appear on Twitter without my intervention.
For direct messages or a printmaking emergency, Facebook or Twitter allow messaging and my annoying iPhone lets me know immediately when someone is knocking at my virtual door.

1000woodcuts Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/1000woodcuts

Maria's Facebook Profile
https://www.facebook.com/maria.arango.diener

Maria's Twitter Profile
https://twitter.com/1000woodcuts

1000woodcuts YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/1000woodcuts/videos

That's it! Here is to keeping up on the go!

New (Old) Projects Published on Website

Website Update Alert

I have been working hard to update my "deprecated" website and now have new galleries and some projects updated! It is slow going but that just shows how long it has been since I polished up my web skills. Grumbling and growling, I'm learning as I go. Deprecated, I have learned, is a word that web design techies use to make us web-amateurs totally miserable. Deprecated sounds scary but really just means that some codes are no longer in use...which is a total lie fabricated in order to preserve the job security of aforementioned web design techies, because old websites still "look" fine on 98% of browsers. But anyhow, I am slowly seeing the beauty of efficient web design, sort of.

Quest 100

One of the first areas that I upgraded was my Quest for 1000 Woodcuts. In the process I seemed to have lost a few woodcuts, but who's counting? Oh wait, I am!
I found a nifty program that makes me efficiently designed galleries so, for now, that's the format I'm going with. I figured in about 20 years deprecation will catch up with me again. Deprecated...hmph...
Anyhow, my website: http://1000woodcuts.com and a direct link to The Quest Galleries: http://1000woodcuts.com/quest/index.html

Updating all those pages reminded me how much I worked in past years and makes me wonder if I will ever pick up the pace again. Sigh. So much to do, so little time.

Projects: The Cairn

And of course, my other "love" are the projects that keep me driving and driven all at once. Some of the projects that continue to tickle my fancy are the Puzzle Prints. I upgraded the second project: The Great Baren Cairn for no good reason except that the old pages seemed better organized and I felt like tackling them just now.

Direct link to the new home of the Cairn:
http://1000woodcuts.com/projects/cairn/index.html

Next puzzle project in the horizon, I have set a secret date to begin already. Meantime, enjoy the new dress on the webpages!

Websites and such other annoying technothings

If you are into art festivals...

I hinted a while back on my Printmakingstudio Notes blog that I was redoing things a bit on the web side of this artist's life. In the meantime I got a bill for another art related website that I was NOT maintaining and so I killed it. I know, kind of radical but that's the way I do things. Since I had my regret-bone removed a long time ago, I just keep going forward wide eyed through life enjoying every new moment and leaving the past where it belongs, waaaaaaaaaaaaay back there.

So I'm now kind of enjoying this not having to relearn web technology every time the "industry" decides to upgrade the xhtml level or make yet another thing I learned obsolete. Now mobile devices make old website cringe and I'm not revising thousands of pages yet again.
So there, now I'm letting Blogger keep up with all that and I will better concentrate on writing stuff and making art.

So here it is, the new and improved Art Festival Guide!

http://artfestivalguide.blogspot.com

I will be uploading excerpts from the book as I revise and make a new edition. I will also add links and books pertinent to the art festival world, something I firmly believe every artist should try once or ten times if only to appreciate the value of making a dollar solely as an artist.

Should be fun, something else to do in the evenings and one less website to maintain! Win win!

Two Exhibits

 

Geographical Divides: Finding Common Ground October 24th, 2012 - January 5th, 2013 The Art Institute of Las Vegas Gallery

2350 Corporate Circle, Henderson, NV 89074

702.369.9944 school main number

 

Gallery Hours:

M-Th 8:00AM-8:00PM

Fri-Sat 9AM-5PM, closed Sundays

 

Reception

Thursday November 15th

6:00PM-8:00PM

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Merrily merrily into the season

So here we are, the best sales month of the year for those of you who sell, get your listings out there in the world wide web (www)!!!

Value sets, great trick for the holiday bargain shoppers!

This year I have three shops open and so far the sales in September are up, well in two of them. Listed below with a tiny review of each in case you're thinking of taking the ecommerce plunge. No reason not to, really, good way to empty out those flat file drawers.

A couple of tips or three:

1. Research the online hand-pulled prints world, search for woodcuts, see prices, see how others list, study the store's policies, etc.
2. Branding is important so make sure your shop's name is same/similar across the web.
3. Take decent photos, describe well, have good store policies, give great customer service.
4. Promoting is key, the minute you take your foot off the accelerator, sales stop. Tend to your shops, promote items, have sales, change things around, chat in forums, post in social networks, blog, as much as you can stomach.
5. Be ready for ups, downs and below downs, such is the world of sales. And while you're at it, develop a tolerance for scammers, unscrupulous fellow sellers, and other web trolls.
6. Have fun, nothing in art life is doing if it isn't at least a little fun. Find your fit, it's different for everyone.

EBay, the selling place everyone loves to hate:
http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts
By far my best seller, the worst customers, most stressful, easiest to post items, easiest to maintain, most features, did I mention worst customers? Anyhow, eBay is definitely not for the faint of heart but my art sells consistently, who knew? And they have a great free little listing tool that I use as a database for all my other shops, shhhh...

Engravings are great sellers, priced right!

Etsy, the selling place everyone loves to love:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/1000woodcuts
Really much improved over the years, still 1 to 10 the sales to the 'bay but geez, nice people there, huh? Not exactly efficient listing but easy enough, features improving all the time as is traffic. Sales solid this year.
If you chat, feature, build treasuries, send convos and socialize more you sell more. Love that Etsy jargon! Sigh.







ArtFire, the new kid:
http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/1000Woodcuts Just reopened, had zero sales last time but it's an easy import from Etsy items so what the hey! Kind of quirky but they all are really. Good looking studio, more features than last time I was there. Connect to a Facebook Kiosk, good feature. We'll see...

Others I have tried:
RubyLane, much pricier to own a piece of the lane, but higher quality items so if you sell on the high end, go wild there. No sales in a year so I dumped it but maybe I wasn't a good fit. The cheaper sister RubyPlaza did so poorly that it closed.

Bonanza, easy enough, friendly enough, no sales in a year but lots of featuring and all that stuff. Eventually overtaken by cheap repros so I dumped it too.

Anyhow, 'tis the season!

'Tis the Season!!!

'Tis the Season for Shopping and thinking about giving art to everyone you know. No matter who you buy from, think about giving art this season!

Since I took a break off the festival circuit I've been searching for a way to empty my flat files so that I can happily fill them again in the next years. So the cycle begins.
During my "festival period" I was either always getting ready for a festival, going to a festival, in a festival or coming and resting from a festival. The creative spark had to take a back seat.
Now I'm back creating but I missed making that special connection with my collectors. I'm really not a gallery seeker nor an art scene groupie, so aside from festivals, connecting with collectors happens daily through the magic of the internet.

Which brings me to selling online. Definitely not all it's cracked up to be...well, maybe if you sell shoes or ladies purses, but making "a living", even a scant one, selling art online is not at all as easy as cranking out a website and waiting for the shopping cart to fill up.

So far, my best online ventures have been the unlikely wacky world of ebay http://www.stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts and the delightful Etsy http://1000woodcuts.etsy.com/.

Ebay has by far the best traffic but can be a dangerous place; Etsy has a nice charm and is more suitable for fine prints. The price point on both of those is pretty low so I place my smaller prints and I sell unmatted and unframed. I think collectors get a good deal and all I have to do is kiss my prints and place them gently in a mailer and off they go!

But what to do with framed works, larger works and blocks? I started various other online shops through the years and traffic is just deplorable about everywhere. Many online galleries want outrageous amounts of money and don't seem to get the sales to justify the charges.

This year, I found Ruby Lane! Very elegantly done, nice offerings, great people and an overall very classy look to the website. And, very important for printmakers, no reproductions allowed! The price point is higher and that attracts a knowledgeable clientele as well. I started a shop and we'll give it a year or three and see how it goes.
They also have an alternate site, Ruby Plaza, which acommodates the lower price offerings and still (yeah!) reproductions have to be labeled as such. It's really a fine printmaker's heaven.

Anyhow, check it out for yourself. It's definitely worth a look and if you have been searching for an online shop that is classy, you might want to give it a try, tell them I sent you. Here is my Ruby Lane Shop:

NEW! Fine Art Gallery:



Shop Ruby Lane for 1000 Woodcuts 

Maintaining all these little jewels takes time, of course, and I try not to let things get too stale on any one website. Then there's promotion and such things but life is much easier when the booth doesn't have to go up at 3:30 AM...in the wind...and cold...