What I Know Now About Art Festivals

This past weekend I was in an art festival, The Queeny Art Fair.  It's run twice each year by the local art organization, Greater St. Louis Artists Association.  I'm a juried member.  This was my fifth art fair and I'm learning a lot.  This time I was able to borrow a professional booth from my artist friend Jean McMullen. Thanks, Jean!

I think this made a huge difference in presenting my work to the public.  I did learn, however, to make better tags next time.  I printed short blurbs about each piece (with the price) and taped it to the panel.  The tape didn't stick very well, so I spent a lot of time putting them back up.  Next time I'll attach the tags with velcro (duh).  I loved this set up and wouldn't change a thing.

Talking to clients - I'm learning about that, too.  I feel much more comfortable selling myself and my work, now.  However, there were a few times I think I could have closed the deal, but I let the client walk away.

Talking to the juror - The juror was very nice and professional.  She only spent a few moments in my booth and asked me to describe my work (in a sentence or two).  Next time I'll have my "elevator speech" ready!  I don't think I did a terrible job but I can do much better and it may make the difference in winning an award (I didn't).

I'm looking forward to the next art festival!  What have you learned?

Three Ways To Feel Successful At An Art Show

I participated in my third show last weekend.  It was two days of being on an emotional roller coaster!  Looking back though, I think there were several things that made it a success.

A lot of people came into my booth.  I ran out of promotional cards about my house portraits!  I talked to so many folks about my art and that felt great.  Hopefully down the road, some of those people will remember my work and commission or buy a painting.

I met a lot of wonderful artists who gave me terrific tips on selling and booth display.  They were encouraging and helpful.  It felt wonderful to be part of that community.  Many of those artists belong to the same local art organization and were glad to see me participating.

I made some money.  Not a lot, but I made my booth fee and more.  I'll definitely try it again, for the exposure, the comaraderie and sales.

 

To Watermark Or Not?

Ok, I decided yes.  I read a tutorial on Fox Hollow Cottage blog and it didn't seem very difficult.  I decided not to go back and put watermarks on all of my colored pencil paintings.  So, I'm starting with this one:

                                                        Old Courthouse, Old Glory 8 x 10 nfs

Not for sale, yet.  I'm entering it into the Midwest Color 2012 exhibition sponsored by the CPSA Chicago district Chapter.  This painting of the old courthouse in downtown St. Louis, MO. is a reflection in a nearby window. .

I've been taking photos all around the St. Louis area, for a series on local landmarks.  Here's my current work-in-progress:

I'm saving working on the Gateway Arch last - I want to make it stand out.  I fiddled with the watermark on this image, making it larger.  Do you use watermarks?

I'm In A Mood

It's been one of those weekends.  My husband and I have been talking about some business decisions and I'm exhausted.  You know how when you're in one of those moods you just think about the same thing over and over?  Anyway, this book that I ordered arrived!  I've already read most of it..  I'm starting to feel better!

 

I've been thinking (over and over) that while my colored pencil paintings are good they're lacking in emotion. Watercolor and mixed media artist Gerald Brommer gets right to the point:

An artist who makes pictures that look good but express nothing is like a writer whose words sound good but have no meaning.

Cheers to emotion!  Meanwhile, here's my latest work-in-progress:

Any thoughts about how to communicate through art?

Three Art Galleries I Love

I just got back from Seattle (that's why I didn't post last week), visiting my kids and grandkids.  Great time, terrible weather.  But my daughter and I managed to drive out of the city to Edmonds.  This is such a darling little place.  Cute shops and lovely art galleries.  This time, we went to two galleries:  Semantics and Cole.  We visited Semantics last summer for a colored pencil exhibit.

                                                                   Semantics Gallery

                                                                    Cole Gallery

This time we included Cole gallery because Eileen Sorg has a special exhibit of her colored pencil works.  I'm blown away by the talent of these artists!  Excited, too, because she's offering a workshop in October.  Gotta try to go to that.

We also went to the Women Painters Of Washington exhibit, "Encounters".  I'm envious of this group and wish there was something similar where I live.  Their gallery is located in downtown Seattle.  There were various mediums, just one colored pencil piece.  I'm always thrilled to see other colored pencil work up close.

Have you been to any exhibits lately?

What's So Great About Blogging?

 I really didn't want to write a blog, because I thought I'd run out of things to write about.  It has happened a couple of times, but for the most part I do come up with ideas.  Blogs are easy to set up. You can even write your post ahead of time & set to publish whenever you want at a later date.  There are templates to choose from for the design, colors, fonts, you name it.  It's actually fun.  After I got the hang of it, I added widgets.  I just created a new banner - what do you think? 

 Blogs help artists reach beyond the canvas or the computer screen and make contact with other people all across the world.  Blogs provide any creative-minded individual the opportunity to share their work with the world. Blogging, combined with social media and online art communities offers artists a unique opportunity for self-promotion, expanded viewership, and ultimately, contacts with buyers.  Although galleries are still important, most folks realize that the internet is where it's at.  Blogs allow artists to show works-in-progress. You can receive feedback and criticism before the work is finalized, make changes, and contemplate new ideas and suggestions.  Blogging can help bring the world to your art, and your art to the world.

You're already reading blogs...do you write one?

                                  Two Cherries, 3 x 3 on miniature easel Buy this on Daily Paintworks

How Do You Sign Your Name?

 I've seen a few paintings that don't have any signature at all.  The last time a Monet exhibit was in St. Louis, I learned that the family signed for him.  I thought those signatures looked too perfect (they were a stamp)!  When I began doing my colored pencil work and framing them for the gallery I signed my whole name:

                           
                                                  Three In A Jar 6 x 6 Buy this painting on Etsy

Lately, I've been playing around with my signature.  I looked at a lot of other artists - wow, what an array of styles!  Initials only, last name only, first name only, you name it (sorry for that).  I thought about a qr code:

                                                 
How cool would that be?  But I finally decided on using my initials:

                                                 Blue Butterfly 8 x 8 Buy this painting on Etsy

How do you sign your name?

Best Free Art Exhibit Spaces You Haven't Thought Of

I just installed ten of my colored pencil art paintings at a local library, the St. Louis county library Daniel Boone Branch. for the month of April.  They were super nice and I love how my art looks among the book shelves!  The Greater St. Louis Artist Association has many opportunities for juried members to display their work in a variety of venues.

Call your local library to find out whether or not you can display your art - sometimes there is a waiting list, but they're very happy to have your work.

Last year I had an exhibit of my work at a local nursing home, Brooking Park.  This was also for one month.  The residents enjoyed seeing original art.  Many visitors came through the show as well as staff members - all potential buyers!  I was able to leave business cards and information about my custom house portraits.

I displayed my paintings in a local coffee shop for a month.  Unfortunately this one wasn't satisfactory for me - the owner took my paintings off the walls to put up another artist's work without telling me.  My paintings were sitting on a back shelf with the coffee for two weeks.  Ugh.  I still think this is a great idea, though.  I'm looking for a little restaurant or cafe next time.

I just heard an idea about showing art in a home - creating a private exhibit - on the Artists Helping Artists radio show with Leslie Saeta.  Sounds like fun, maybe wine and cheese?

So...think outside your art exhibit box...

Sold!

                                             ACEO  "Two Cherries"  Susie Tenzer on Etsy

Underpainting: Get Your Glow On

I love using an underpainting. Sometimes I use a yellow wash of colored pencil before layering other colors.  Here's an example of a recent painting of green apples which I began with yellow:

Apple Juice, 11 x 12 

See how the yellow shines through the layers of color to create a glow?  I've used this method with other colors as well.  If I'm not sure whether or not it will work (or look good after a lot of layers) I use a scrap piece of paper to work out the order of the colors.  I write down the names of each color so I'll remember what I did in case I stop and come back to it the next day.  Give it a try, I think you'll like this technique.

I want to thank the folks at the Greater St. Louis Art Association for having me present a workshop this past week.  It was a pleasure to speak to his talented group of artists.  I gave them my top tips for selling online as well as some of my favorite colored pencil techniques.  If you're in the St. Louis area check out their juried Art Fair at Queeny Park, March 30 - April 1

Playing With Paintings And Children

Ahhh...the sound of silence.  I love my grandchildren, don't get me wrong, but after a week of preschoolers, I'm happy about my silent house.  My two grandsons from Seattle visited over the Martin Luther King holiday (no school) and when they returned home, it snowed (no school again).  My daughter turned her house into a mini art studio!  They painted on the glass patio doors and made cookie crayons.  So adorable!  I think they had a great time playing with art.
Meanwhile, I'm playing with my own painting.  Awhile back I took a lot of photos of ducks and koi fish at the Missouri Botanical Garden, so I had one enlarged.  I usually try to take excellent photos and pretty much draw what I see.  This time, though, I'm changing things around because the photo is awful and I think I can do better.  I cropped it so it will be 10" X 10".  I'm kind of into the square format lately.  I want the water to be grayish blue (not yucky green).  I'll make one bright orange fish as the focal point.  The two ducks are Mallards, but I'm making them male (mating season) so they have more color.  I found some nice reference photos online so I can get the colors right.

                                        I'm using my photo (above).  Here's my drawing (below)

                                             

I tend to work all around the paper, doing some background, then some of the focal point, adjusting values along the way.  So far, I've done a bit of the upper left corner of the water, with some of the orange fish.  I've laid in some blueish green for the Mallard's distinctive head.  Back and forth it goes.  What's your process?  I'm off to check my inbox, maybe there are more photos of my grandkids playing with art...

What Makes A Painting Remarkable?

I've been thinking about this one.  A lot.  It seems to me that for a painting to be really great it has to have a certain "something", but what in the heck is it?  I found this terrific website written by artist Robert Bissett, "The Secret To Better Painting".  He says, "You must first have an idea, an artistic concept."  To me, this means finding a vehicle such as sharp contrast, unusual texture, drama in lighting, etc., that will help make the painting stand out.  There are plenty of paintings with apples, but what will make your apple painting look remarkable?  Speaking of apple paintings, mine is coming along.  I decided to use strong color along with the absence of color as my artistic concept.  One of my favorite artists, Frank Serrano, gets this just right.  I love how he infuses atmosphere into his landscape paintings with the use of neutral grays and pops of color.

Ok, I'm off to eat an apple :)  Really, though, do you use a technique that sets your art apart? 

How To Make An Art Inspiration Board

  I just finished making a huge 4" X 6' bulletin board for my art studio.  It's more of an inspiration board, because I put all sorts of meaningful things on it, like photos of my grandkids and art awards.  I knew I wanted to put something on the wall by my drafting table - a wall I look at every day.  Then I stumbled on a tutorial about making a bulletin board out of Homosote, which is a brand name for pressed paper board.  It's 1/2" thick and comes in sheets of 4' X 8".  I found it at a local lumber yard & it cost about $30.  Here's the directions to make your own art inspiration board

                                 
I found green/blue patterned material at Wallmart.  It's jersey, so it stretches & doesn't show wrinkles.  I stapled it on the back (added some duct tape, too) & hung it by knocking nails through the board into the wall.  Push pins hold my papers.  Now I'm inspired to work on art!

Flowers, Rain, Macro Camera Shots

I just bought a new camera, a present to myself for my 60th birthday.  Hooray!  I researched cameras for quite awhile.  Have you ever done that?  Wow, too much information!  Anyway, I narrowed it down to two, the Canon Powershot and the Nikon Coolpix.  I bought the Nikon Coolpix L120 on Amazon.  The reviews were great and it was about $50 less than the Canon.  The Canon has a GPS gadget which I think is a waste.  I actually don't care where I am when I'm taking a picture.  But that's just me.  I found a coupon offered by a local photographer ($35!) for a 3 hour class.  Four people showed up for the class at a beautiful park with flowers, water and a lovely building called the Jewel Box.

I learned how to use some of the settings, but the best thing I learned was how to do macro shots.  I thought I needed to get up close to the subject.  I learned I need to stand a bit further away, press the button down half-way and allow the camera to focus.  I never knew that!  I always  just pressed the button down all the way to take the picture, hoping for the best.  Pushing the button down half-way lets you see icons on the screen that tell you the shot is correct.  Here are two of my favorite shots from my lesson that day:

I'm having a great time learning about my camera!  If you're interested in photography, what type of camera do you use and what are your favorite types of shots?

Red Red Wine

I have my colored pencil drawings scanned at a professional print shop. It's an inexpensive option since my artwork is small. It gives me a permanent image which I can then make into prints or greeting cards. I work closely with Bridget at my local print shop and we've developed a nice relationship. She made me laugh the other day! Sometimes, if I haven't named a piece, she gives it a name. When she emailed me the image of my new painting she had titled it " Red Red Wine". She said she thought of the Neil Diamond song when she saw it and couldn't get it out of her head all day. Sorry, Bridget - great title, though.

Buy this painting: Red Red Wine by Susie Tenzer 8" X 10"

                                                             

Scumbles And Lines

There are several ways to apply colored pencil.  "Scumbling" is drawing in a tight circlular motion.  Hold your pencil lightly, make marks lightly.  The circles overlap and if done consistently, give a smooth finished look.  I have found that if you are planning on putting down a lot of layers, it's better to start with very light layers and build the color.  Don't use less than four layers or you won't achieve a rich depth of color.  For these beginning layers, hold the pencil about half way.  Move your hand closer to the tip to make heavier marks.  One of my favorite colored pencil artists is Ann Kullberg who wrote Colored Pencil Portraits Step by Step.  She often uses vertical lines, especially for filling in large areas.  It's a time saver, but I prefer the scumble method.  See how I scumble in this short clip:

What's Etsy?

It's an on-line store featuring hand-made products from all over the world.  I love selling my art on Etsy and I've met some wonderful people.  It's fairly easy to create a shop. There are great tutorials which take you through the process.  My first shop was named Zigzagarts (I thought this name gave a nod to drawing with a pencil), which I opened in Nov., 2010.  I sold two paintings in the first three months, so I was happy!  I began to realize, though, that it might be an advantage for me to brand my art with my own name.  By the first part of 2011, I was showing my work in a local gallery and entering art competitions.  I decided to change my Etsy shop name to Susie Tenzer which was a bit challenging, because Etsy doesn't allow name changes!  I removed all of my items, one by one, to my new shop, leaving Zigzagarts bare.  Soon after I had my first sale!  In June I decided to reopen Zigzagarts with decoupage art.  Now I'm the proud owner of two shops.  I joined several marketing groups plus a few artists' groups and I find folks to be very supportive.