How to pin your photos from Instagram to Pinterest
How I take photos of my paintings – White Roses, Day 4 of 30 paintings in 30 days
A couple people have emailed recently, and asked me how I take photos of my paintings. I set up a photography table in my office with new clip on flex lights a couple months ago. I have one clipped on to the left side of the table, and one on the right. Painting in the center. Doesn’t get any easier. It allows me to take pretty consistent photos, and I can photograph at any hour of the day or night. It comes in pretty handy if you’re a night owl like me. I do my best work at 2am most of the time.
I’m using natural or bright white light bulbs. I don’t have the package in front of me at the moment, so I’m going off memory. You can buy them at the grocery store, tho. I bought these photo bulbs when I ordered the flex lights, but I don’t care for them, and don’t recommend them. One thing, the bulbs are yellowing, so I had to color correct all my photos in Photoshop. And, the bulbs are extremely HOT. You can’t turn these babies on, and leave them to even make a quick bathroom run. I melted some styrofoam by leaving one on for just a few seconds, and that’s when I knew they had to go. Grocery store bulbs are much safer, cheaper, and are non-yellowing.
White rose in black vase
Palette knife painting
Flower Series No 7
Green and pink background
Day 4 of 30 paintings in 30 days
Available for purchase here
Happy PPF! Make sure you check out all my posts from this week. I’ll be posting every day in the month of September.
I believe there is something sacred in art journaling
It took me a long time to really get art journaling. I knew a lot of artists I admired were into it, but it never really clicked for me. I’d do a page, and it felt awkward to me. How do you “journal” with paint and pictures, I’d ask myself over and over again. I mostly used my art journals for practice. I practiced a lot of mixed media techniques, especially when I was just starting out. It’s a lot cheaper to practice in a book than it is to buy canvas. If you mess up a page, it’s easy to rip it out and toss it (I don’t usually waste paper tho, and I just paint over or collage over it if it really bugs me). I practiced painting faces, and abstracts, buildings, and still life. I have books full on my shelves. Practicing seemed kinda of empty to me tho. There must be more to this art journaling than just practicing, I kept thinking.
It wasn’t until this past January that I started the almost daily practice of art journaling, and now I not only get it, but it’s been my go-to activity as soon as I arrive in my studio. It’s “me” time, and I don’t have to worry about anyone liking what I create because much of what I do in my journals never see the light of day. I don’t post it here on my blog, not because I’m ashamed of the pages I’ve created, but because I believe there is something sacred in art journaling. It’s okay to keep some things private. I think we’ve all lost a great deal of ourselves because of social media, and the amount of over sharing we do. Sometimes, the things I see on FB make me cringe. I feel like telling some people to get a grip. Seriously. Are we all that lonely and desperate for attention? I have to wonder, but that’s a topic for another day.
Because I’m not posting my pages or making art specifically to sell, I am free to create whatever I want. I just have to show up, and push paint, pastels, crayons around until..until I get whatever’s on my mind out..until I feel lighter..until I feel there’s nothing left inside me that needs to come out on the page. Ahhh. What a magical feeling that is. I get it! I totally get it now.
I suggest you try art journaling for 10 or 20 minutes a day. Set a timer, if you’re concerned about time, and begin. Let yourself be free. If all you feel like doing is making marks on the page, then make marks on the page. You can figure it out tomorrow or later. You don’t have to start a page and finish it right now. Try art journaling like this for a week, and see what happens. If you like it, do it for another week. Before you know it, 6 months will have passed, and you’ll still be working in your art journal every day, just like me. 🙂 It’s addicting.
Oil palette, painting over a painting, photographing work, PLUS great news! – WOYWW
oil palette
This is me painting over a painting I never liked.
work table
Linking to WOYWW
I just got word last night that my artwork is going to be published in another book! Yay!! I submitted 3 pieces for consideration, and all three were accepted. !!! I’ll let you know more information as I receive it.
How To Ship A Painting
Shipping a painting takes about an hour..start to finish. There are a lot of steps and stuff involved. I make sure I take my time, and don’t rush through the process. The first thing I do is make sure I’ve signed the back of the painting. This is very important! You don’t want your customer returning the painting because you forgot to sign it. That would be a $30 mistake!! I would definitely feel obligated to pay for shipping both ways. Next, I wrap it in waxed paper. This protects the paint from sticking to the wrapping. Those mail trucks get very hot in the summer months, so make sure you protect your painting.
Back side of the canvas, all signed and waxed papered.
Next, I wrap the painting up in off-white wrapping paper. I like my customers to think of their purchase as a gift to themselves. So, I package it, like I would a gift to a friend. If the painting is going to be a gift for someone else, I’ve saved my customer time by having it already wrapped What I do varies slightly from here on out.
I tie it up with ribbon, and tuck a thank you note, along with my business card, underneath. This painting got a little original painting with a note on the back. I don’t always have time to paint something, tho. If there’s no time, I will send a store bought thank you card, instead.
Next, I bubble wrap the entire painting. If I don’t have bubble wrap on hand, I will stuff the box with lots of extra paper for padding. USPS has changed the quality of their priority boxes. Have you noticed? They are weak and flimsy now. I noticed the price didn’t go down, tho. Boo!!!
To give my painting added protection, I cut cardboard to fit inside the box, and slid the painting between the cardboard pieces. Then, I stuffed the sides with paper. This prevents the painting from moving. You don’t want your painting to be bouncing all over the box. That’s how stuff gets damaged. When I’m all done, I shake the box to make sure the painting doesn’t move. I’ve never had one move yet.
I stuff paper over the opening, fold down the flaps, tape the flaps down..don’t forget to do this! I’ve had priority boxes fly open before they got out the door, so lots of tape gets used ever since then. Next, I buy postage + insurance online through Paypal, and tape the shipping label on the box. It’s ready!