Blog

Lake Oswego fine artist and photographer, Anna Porter of Anna Porter Artist has been chosen as the October/November Featured Artist at Cascade Sotheby's Lake Oswego. The Opening Reception for the artist's solo exhibit will be held on the Third Thursday, October 20, 2016 from 4:00PM to 7:00PM and is open to the public. The exhibit will feature the artist's works of art from nature, including her brilliant watercolor and acrylic paintings and photography from her beautiful gardens, Anna's Gardens, at her home studio in Lake Oswego, Oregon, as well as paintings and photography by the artist from other public gardens in Portland, Oregon, and favorite places throughout the Pacific Northwest. 

 

 

Recently, Anna Porter was one of the participating artists in the Lake Oswego Plein Air Paint Out from September 22-25, 2016.  An annual event sponsored by the Arts Council of Lake Oswego, local Lake Oswego artists paint outdoors "en plein air" at locations throughout the city. Three of her paintings from the event will appear in the Arts Council of Lake Oswego (http://artscouncillo.com)'s Lake Oswego Plein Air Exhibit at 510 Museum & ARTSpace, located at the corner of B Avenue and Second Street in Lake Oswego, Oregon from October 7, 2016 to October 28, 2016. 

 

Many of the artist's works recently were featured in her first showcase in the RAWArtists Portland Showcase VERVE at The Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon on September 29, 2016. An active member of Oregon Society of Artists, Anna Porter's paintings and photography appear regularly in group exhibits in the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists in Portland, Oregon, where her stunning abstract realism painting, In Full Bloom, won Best in Show at the 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show, and her beautiful ethereal painting, Harmony at Twilight won Honorable Mention at the 2016 Portland Rose Festival Art Show. 

 

 

Anna Porter is thrilled to have the first solo exhibit of her professional artistic career in Cascade Sotheby's beautiful offices in the city of Lake Oswego, Oregon, where Anna has resided with her artist husband, George Porter, for over 25 years, and where the couple raised their only daughter, Christina Lynn Porter, who is currently completing a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado.

 

"I am so excited to be able to share my love of nature, and especially the images from my gardens at my home in Lake Oswego, Oregon, where I truly feel blessed to have lived all these years. My hope is that my artwork will help people notice and appreciate the beauty that is all around us, and that they will experience the same sense of awe and tranquility that I do in nature. I hope they enjoy looking at my art as much as I did creating it." ~ Anna Porter

 

Known for her use of vivid colors and a high key palette in her paintings, and the ability to capture brilliant colors and details in her floral photography, the show is sure to brighten the grey days of late October and November frequently experienced here in the Portland area.

 

 

Anna Porter invites you to join her for the Opening Reception of her solo exhibit at Cascade Sotheby's, 310 North State Street, Lake Oswego, Oregon 97034 from 4:00PM to 7:00PM on Thursday, October 20, 2016. The exhibit continues through November 16, 2016 and is open to the public during normal business hours, Monday to Friday 9:00AM to 5:00PM.

 

 

I am pleased to announce that the Advance Ticket purchase deadline for RAWArtists Portland Showcase VERVE at The Roseland Theater on Sept 29th at 7:00PM has been  extended and you can buy tickets from Anna Porter Artist at http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist THROUGH SEPTEMBER 28th.

 

SAVE $5.00 OFF THE DOOR TICKET PRICE AND GET A FREE RAFFLE TICKET!

 

Save $5.00 off the door ticket price and get a free raffle ticket for a free limited edition fine art print by Anna Porter Artist WHEN YOU PURCHASE YOUR ADVANCE TICKETS ONLINE AT http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist BY SEPTEMBER 28th !

 

You could win a beautiful signed limited edition fine art print of one my artworks featured in the show! 

 

 

 

 

For more information, please check out my RAWArtists Profile at http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist. Use the BUY TICKETS button there to purchase tickets from me and then simply pick up your free reserved raffle ticket at my booth upstairs at The Roseland Theater, 8 NW Sixth Avenue, Portland, OR 97209 on Sept 29th and enter it in the drawing at the show!

 

Doors open at 7:00PM. 21+ ONLY PLEASE!

Please join Anna Porter Artist at RAWArtists Portland Showcase VERVE on September 29, 2016!

PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS ON MY RAWARTISTS PROFILE PAGE AND SAVE at http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist!

 

 

Roseland Theater

8 NW 6th Ave

Portland, OR 97209

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

7:00PM TO 11:00PM 

RAWArtists Portland Showcase presents: VERVE 

• Art
• Film
• Photography
• Music
• Performance Art
• Fashion
• Jewelry and Accessories
• Hair/Makeup

Portland Artists from every genre under one roof for one night only!

 

PURCHASE ADVANCE TICKETS ON MY RAWARTISTS PROFILE PAGE at http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist

AND RECEIVE A FREE RAFFLE TICKET FOR A LIMITED EDITION FINE ART PRINT!

Advance Purchase Ticket Price: $15.00 plus $2.95 online fee

Door Ticket Price: $20.00

21+ Only Please

 

Your advance ticket purchase on my RAWArtists Profile helps support my participation in the show.

Everyone who purchases an advance ticket through my RAWArtists Profile will receive a free raffle ticket for a fine art print of one of my works featured in the show. Drop by my booth at the Showcase to fill out your free raffle ticket and enter it in the drawing.

 

Thank you kindly in advance for your support! It is going to be a fun evening and I am looking forward to seeing you at VERVE! 

 

Anna Porter

Fine Artist and Photographer

RAWArtists Portland Showcase VERVE

http://rawartists.org/annaporterartist

Contact Anna Porter Artist

Spring Fling, limited edition fine art print, copyright ©2016 Anna Porter Artist (http://annaporterartist.com). A stunning image of a gathering of pink camellias from the artist's gardens in Lake Oswego, OR, Spring Fling, digital photography by Anna Porter, copyright ©2016 Anna Porter Artist (http://annaporterartist.com), is now available to purchase in a limited edition of 25 on the artist's website at http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/2013955 . Printed on high gloss aluminum with a float frame attached on reverse, it arrives ready-to-hang, proving a contemporary "frameless" floating look for your home or office. Priced at $200.00 for a 16" X 24" limited edition (1 of 25) fine art print on high gloss aluminum. Other sizes, substrates and optional framing are also available. For more information and a complete product and price list, please contact the artist at [email protected].

Aqua Dreams, limited edition fine art print, copyright ©2016 Anna Porter Artist (http://annaporterartist.com). The artist created this lovely image of spring flowers in her studio gardens in Lake Oswego, Oregon, from a photograph taken with a Canon EOS Rebel SL1 that she edited with Aviary photo to create the lovely colors in this unique and beautiful fine art print. Aqua Dreams is now available in a limited edition of 25. Printed on high gloss aluminum with a float frame attached on reverse, it arrives ready-to-hang, proving a contemporary "frameless" floating look for your home or office. Price shown is for a 20" X 20" limited edition (1 of 25) high gloss metal print. Order online on the artist's website at http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/2013959 . Other sizes, substrates, and optional framing are also available. For more information and a complete product and price list, please contact the artist at [email protected].

Red Rose Duet, limited edition fine art print, copyright ©2016 Anna Porter Artist (http://annaporterartist.com).

This beautiful digital photograph of two backlit red roses taken by fine artist and photographer, Anna Porter, in her artist's gardens (http://annasgardens.org) in Lake Oswego, Oregon,  is now available in a limited edition (1 of 50) fine art print. Red Rose Duet is professionally printed on high gloss aluminum and mounted with a float frame on the back. The metal print arrives ready-to-hang without framing, appearing to "float" 1/2 inch off the wall for a clean, contemporary look.

 

Red Rose Duet recently was featured in the "For the Love of Red" Exhibit at the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists, February 7-25, 2016, and is now available for purchase on the artist's website HERE: http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/1989229 . Press the "Buy Now" button to order. Red Rose Duet will be professionally printed-to-order and shipped directly from the printer within 3-5 business days of receipt of order and payment.

 

Price shown is for a 16" X 24" limited edition (1 of 50) metal print on high gloss aluminum and includes shipping in the continental United States. Other sizes and substrates are available. Sizes above 16" X 24" require special crating for additional protection, and will incur additional shipping charges. For a complete list of products and prices, please contact the artist.

Drift Creek Falls, watercolor on 140 lb. cold press paper, 25" X 19" (framed dimensions), copyright ©2016 Anna Porter Artist,. 

 

Recently featured in the "Urban & Rural Landscapes" Exhibit at Oregon Society of Artists in December, 2015, Drift Creek Falls by Anna Porter is a contemporary abstract landscape in watercolor, painted by the artist in her signature palette of clear high key colors. The painting is now available for purchase on the artist's website here: http://annaporterartist.com/workszoom/2006341.

 

The 19" X 13" watercolor painting is matted with a white bevel cut single matte and professionally framed by the artist in a 3/4 inch dark cherry wood frame. Framed dimensions are 25" X 19". 

 

Price shown includes shipping in the continental United States. For shipments to Hawaii, Alaska and international orders, please contact the artist for a shipping quote. 

I am honored and thrilled to have some of my paintings and photography included in Concordia University’s Tribute to Oregon Society of Artists, January 17 to February 26, 2016, George R. White Library & Learning Center, 2800 NE Liberty Street, Portland, OR 97211. Please join us this Sunday, January 17, 2016 from 2PM to 4PM  for the Opening Reception. The exhibit and catered reception are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Many of the works on display are available for purchase, and 30% of the proceeds benefit Concordia University's Multicultural Arts & Events program. For more information, please contact Linda Church, [email protected], (503) 493-6370.

 

 

I have had the privilege of being a member of Oregon Society of Artists since 2012, and I show my work in the OSA Gallery at 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, OR 97205 on a regular basis in monthly group exhibits. Oregon Society of Artists is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the education and nurturing of talent in the arts. For more information about Oregon Society of Artists, or to apply for membership, please visit www.oregonsocietyofartists.com, drop by the OSA Gallery, email [email protected], or call (503) 228-0706. 

 

My hope is that my paintings and digital photography in Concordia University's "Tribute to Oregon Society of Artists" will help you notice and appreciate the beauty that is all around us, and that you, too, will experience the sense of awe and tranquility that I do in nature. I hope you enjoy looking at my art as much as I did creating it, and that you enjoy the show. 

I am thrilled to be participating in the Tribute to Oregon Society of Artists Fine Art Exhibit in the George R. White Library and Learning Center at Concordia University located at 2800 NE Liberty Street, Portland, Oregon 97211. 

 

 

This exhibit features 2D and 3D art created by members of Oregon Society of Artists, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the education and nurturing of talent in the visual arts. 

 

Please join us for the Opening Reception of Tribute to Oregon Society of Artists on January 17, 2016, 2PM to 4PM in the George R. White Library and Learning Center at Concordia University. The exhibit and catered Opening Reception are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

 

30% of the proceeds from the sale of artwork benefit Concordia University's Multicultural Arts & Events Program. 

 

A few of my paintings featured in this exhibit include:

 

In Full Bloom, watercolor, Best in Show, 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show

 

Fiji Dreams, watercolor,  featured in "stirring the waters" by Colleen O'Sullivan, Tui Motu Interislands Magazine, September 2015 Issue

 

Double Peony, watercolor, featured on the poster for the 2013 Palouse Watercolor Socius Four State Juried Watercolor Competition

 

Self-Portrait, watercolor, 2005 William Dyas (Bill) Garnett Memorial Award, Portland Community College, North View Gallery

 

Also featured in this show are several paintings by fine artist George Porter from his recent solo exhibit "After the Masters: Light in the Landscape" at Stone Center, Inc., May-Nov 2015, as well as new works by the artist:

 

Luminism:

 

Hopi Village-Arizona, study by George Porter after Thomas Moran

 

Green River Cliffs of Wyoming, study by George Porter after Thomas Moran

 

Evening on the Seashore, study by George Porter after J. Hamilton

 

Impressionism:

 

Bridge at Argentuille, study by George Porter after Claude Monet

 

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, study by George Porter after John Singer Sargent

 

Bouquet of Flowers, study by George Porter after Edouard Manet

 

Tribute to Oregon Society of Artists will be on display in the George R. White Library and Learning Center through February 26, 2016. Please contact Linda Church, Multicultural Arts & Events, Concordia University for more information.  

 

I am thrilled that my painting, "fiji dreams" has been featured in an article titled "stirring the waters" by Colleen O'Sullivan in the September 2015 Issue of Tui Motu Interislands Magazine, an Independent Catholic Monthly Magazine published in Dunedin, New Zealand. In her article, author Colleen O'Sullivan "suggests that Laudato Si' is calling us to stir the waters as in the Bethsaida gospel story so that we will discover and respond to the wonder of our universe."

 

I am both honored and humbled that my painting was chosen for this article celebrating the fragile beauty of this earth that is home to all of creation.

 

"I love nature. The amazing beauty and wonder found in nature is what inspires my paintings and my photographs. I am happiest when I am in my garden, tending my flowers; painting "en plein aire"; photographing trees or painting places of natural beauty. I relate personally and deeply to the call to "stir the waters", and I urge everyone to make environmental concerns a priority in their lives, so that future generations will be able to enjoy all that is glorious around us." ~ Anna Porter Artist

 

 

For more information, please read the introduction that I wrote for a reprint of the article (reprinted with permission) titled Introduction by Anna Porter to "stirring the waters" in the Articles tab on my website. 

 

You can download a copy of the Tui Moto 2015 September Issue 197 PDF on the Tui Moto Interislands Magazine 2015 Issues 190-200 page (scroll to the bottom of the page).

 

To subscribe to future editions of Tui Motu InterIslands Magazine, please visit Tui Moto Interislands Magazine.

 

Tomorrow, Thursday, August 27, 2015, is the last day to join me at the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists (Map It!) from 1PM to 4PM to see the group photography and fine art exhibit Not Just Black & White Photography, August 2-28, 2015. This beautiful fine art photography exhibit features works by OSA member artists and photographers. I will be sitting the gallery for the last time this month tomorrow, and I would love to see you there. Gallery Location and Hours: 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon 97205. Monday to Saturday 1PM to 4PM (closed Sundays and holidays). 

 

I am very pleased to have three photos entered in this group exhibit:

 

Mt. Hood from Hwy 43, limited edition (1 of 100) glossy metal print, 16" X 24", unframed. Canon EOS Digital Rebel, edited in Snapseed and Photos, copyright ©2015 annaporterartist. This limited edition high gloss metal print is available to purchase for $195.00 USD HERE on my website.

 

Leaf Patterns I, limited edition (1 of 100) glossy metal print, 20" X 16", unframed. iPhone 5, edited in Aviary, copyright ©2015 annaporterartist. This limited edition high gloss metal print is available to purchase HERE on my website for $150.00 USD.

Duck Parade on the Beach, framed fine art print, Canon EOS Digital Rebel, edited in Aviary, copyright ©2015 annaporterartist. This framed fine art print currently is part of my private collection and is Not for Sale. It can be viewed in the "Not Just Black & White Photography" exhibit at the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists, Monday to Saturday, 1PM to 4PM, through August 28, 2015. 

 

I will be sitting the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists, 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon 97205 on the following dates and I would love to see you there to give you a personal tour of this exceptional exhibit: 

 

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Thursday, August 27, 2015

In Full Bloom, Best in Show, 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show, watercolor & Golden fluid acrylic on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, 28 X 28 inches (framed), copyright ©2015 Anna Porter Artist (Website: https://www.annaporterartist.com, Instagram: @annaporterartist, Facebook: AnnaPorterArt, Pinterest: @annaporterart, Twitter: @annaporterart, Tumblr: annaporterartist, Fine Art America: annaporter).

 

So very thrilled that my painting, In Full Bloom, watercolor & Golden fluid acrylic on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, 28 X 28 inches (framed) was accepted into the juried 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show, June 7th - July 10th, and won the Best in Show Award. I was extremely honored to accept this award on Sunday, June 7, 2015 at the Opening Reception for this venerable art show, that is held each year at Oregon Society of Artists (http://www.oregonsocietyofartists.com, Facebook: oregonsocietyofartists). Located at 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon 97205 (on the N.E. corner of St. Clair & Park Place), (503) 228-0706, the OSA Gallery is open to the public Monday to Saturday 1:00PM to 4:00PM (closed Sundays and holidays). This year the juror for the show was renowned sculptor and painter Geoffrey McCormack (http://www.mcsurf.com). The 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show is an officially sanctioned Rose Festival Event (Website: http://www.rosefestival.org , Instagram: @pdxrosefestival, Facebook: PortlandRoseFestival, Twitter: @PDXRoseFestival). 

 

This is a beautiful show, filled with award-winning paintings of Roses, Portland Scenes and Rose Festival Scenes, all part of the "Bloomin Good Time" theme. It is sure to delight everyone who enjoys fine art, flowers (especially roses), Portland and the many fun activities surrounding the annual Portland Rose Festival. The OSA Gallery is located just a couple of blocks below the entrance to Washington Park (Map It!), within walking distance to one of my favorite gardens in the city, the Portland International Rose Test Garden. I will be sitting the OSA Gallery in the afternoon on Wednesday, July 1, 2015 and I would love to see you there!

 

I love roses. They are my favorite flower. I love painting roses, photographing roses, and planting roses. I could not be happier to have my first Best in Show award be for my painting of this beautiful rose. To create this painting, I referenced an original photograph that I took of a beautiful pink rose, titled "Pink Rose Inside". As with most of my floral paintings, I am drawn to the abstract shapes and colors that I see in nature and in my photography. I drew the major lines in the flower lightly in pencil on Arches 140 lb. hot press paper, created an underpainting in washes of watercolor to capture the abstract shapes that caught my attention, and applied glazes of Golden fluid acrylic to intensify and bring out beautiful colors that appeal to me. I finished it with line details in both watercolor and Golden fluid acrylic. The painting is float mounted on an off-white matte and beautifully framed in a cherry-colored wood frame. Sincere thanks to Macadam Frame Central Portland (Website: http://framecentral.com, Facebook: Macadam Frame Central Portland) in John's Landing for the stunning job that they did custom framing this painting for me with a one day turnaround.

 

A limited edition print (giclee) of the original painting will be created at the end of the show, after July 10, 2015, and is available for purchase on my website HERE. 

 

Huge thanks to Oregon Society of Artists, the 2015 Portland Rose Festival Art Show, and juror Geoffrey McCormack, for this wonderful honor. 

"He was not bone and feather but a perfect idea of freedom and flight, limited by nothing at all" ~Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull A perfect idea of freedom and flight, view of Goat Island from Clackamette Park, watercolor and pastel pencil by Anna Porter Artist. This painting, begun en Plein Aire during the Plein Aire Painters Paint Willamette Falls Festival event in Oregon City, Oregon in October 2013, is now on display as part of the group show, Urban and Rural Landscapes at the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists, 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, Oregon, 97205. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday 1:00PM-4:00PM, closed Sundays and holidays. Show runs through January 9, 2015. Anna Porter will be available at the Gallery on the afternoon of January 8, 2015 to answer any questions that you may have about this painting, which was previously featured in a juried show at City Hall Gallery in Oregon City with other paintings from the Wllamette Falls Festival from December 2013 to April 2014. After January 9, 2015, "A perfect idea of freedom and flight" will be available for purchase on the artist's website at www.annaporterartist.com. For more information, please contact [email protected].

I am sitting The Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists today. It is a beautiful day to get out and see some art and enjoy a stroll around this beautiful NW Portland neighborhood! Spend a little down time in our gallery and sunny garden! Not to be missed, the "Not Just Portraits and Figures" show runs through October 31, 2014. Gallery open Mon. to Sat. 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM. 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, OR 97205. You can read my review of the show in my art blog at http ://annaporterartist.com/blog/82297/works-in-portraiture-by-anna-porter-on-display-at-oregon-society-of-artists-oct-2014 I have two portraits in the show and I will be sitting the gallery in the afternoons on October 16, 21 and 29, 2014. I would love to see you there! Drop by and see the show. You will be glad that you did!

Photo of Oregon Society of Artists gallery and gardens by Anna Porter, copyright 2014 @annaporterartist, iPhone5, edited in #Snapseed, layout in #fuzel @fuzelapp .

One of the really fun things about smartphones and tablets is the plethora of new digital photo editing and painting applications that are available to turn your digital photographs or photos of your paintings into new interesting works of digital art. Two of my favorite applications are SuperPhoto by Moonlighting.io and Aviary's Photo Editor. I use both apps on my Apple iPhone 5, and they are both available on Apple's new iPhone 6/6s as well. This blog post shows step by step how I took a great digital photograph of a dead dahlia blossom with my iPhone 5 camera and turned it into a finished piece of abstract art in literally a few minutes.

 

To create this piece, I first took a digital photograph of a dead dahlia blossom that I saw on my daily dog walk. I liked the textural nature of the dead petals and felt a pang of sorrow at its passing. Just a couple days before I had taken a digital photo of its sibling in full bloom in all of its shining glory.

 

Step 1 - Take a great digital photo.

 

Death of a Dahlia, original digital photograph by Anna Porter Artist.

 

In this case, I took the photo with my iPhone 5 because that is what I had with me at the time. Had I been on a walkabout with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel, I could just as easily have taken this image with my DSLR camera, although getting it to my iPhone 5 to use my iOS photo editing apps would then take a couple more steps. I would first have to transfer the image from my DSLR camera to my Apple iMac computer using Image Capture, iPhoto or Aperture, and then share it with my iPhone 5 using Apple's iCloud service, or save it to my Dropbox or something similar, so that my iPhone 5 could access the image.

 

While I really liked this digital photograph in and of itself, I decided that I would play with it a little in SuperPhoto to see what else I could create. When I got back to my studio, I opened the SuperPhoto app on my iPhone 5 and selected "New Additions" from the list of possible filters and effects. You can download the SuperPhoto app for free in the Apple iTunes Store. You can purchase an incredible number of special effects from within the SuperPhoto app, and Moonlighting.io comes out with new effects on a regular basis. Or you can use some of the basic effects that come with the free app. There is a very creative group of developers over at Moonlighting.io and the sky is the limit in terms of what you can do by layering different effects in SuperPhoto (and SuperPhoto is only one of the many applications offered by Moonlighting.io).

 

To create this piece, I opened the SuperPhoto app on my iPhone 5 and selected the SuperPhoto "Shattered" Effect. 

 

Step 2 - Open the SuperPhoto app, select the Shattered Effect and the photo that you want to use it with:

 

 

Step 3 - Depending on which Superphoto effect you choose, you will either be given the opportunity to "paint" a part of the original digital photograph that you want to edit using the pencil and eraser tool (Step 3), or SuperPhoto will begin working its magic on the whole image (Step 4). In this case, I was presented with the "Paint your selection" screen below. You can be as finely detailed as you need to be in order to select the part of the image that you want to "paint"  by varying the size of the pencil or the eraser (use the slider with the round white button at the bottom of the screen to change the size). Then simply use your finger to paint the part of the image that you want to use.  If you overstep your boundaries, you can use the eraser tool to remove the unwanted "painted" area. Press the checkmark in the upper right corner of the screen when you are finished.

 

 

Step 4 - Wait a few seconds while SuperPhoto spins its magic. A lovely butterfly flaps its wings letting you know that your photo is undergoing metamorphosis and is about to be transformed. 

 

 

It took about 1.5 seconds to process this edit on my 64 GB iPhone 5 running iOS 8.0.2. ( I had to snap that screenshot fast!)

 

Step 5 - SuperPhoto Shattered effect applied to my Death of a Dahlia Et voila!

 

 

Nice work, but I wanted to heighten the colors a bit. So I saved the newly created SuperPhoto image back to my camera roll on my iPhone 5. I could have applied another effect within SuperPhoto to do this, but instead I decided to use the Aviary Photo Editor app on my iPhone 5. In addition to pre-packaged effects, Aviary has an easy-to-use advanced image editor and text editor so you can sign your artwork in the app.

 

Step 6 - Save the new SuperPhoto creation to your device.

 

 

At this point I could have shared my new creation using the SuperPhoto Share option, or submitted it to SuperPhoto's User Creations gallery to be considered for a feature on Moonlighting.io.  But because I still wanted to work with the image a little more in the Aviary Photo Editor on my iPhone 5, I instead chose to save the new creation to my iPhone 5's camera roll by selecting Save.

 

Next I opened the Aviary app on my iPhone 5. The Aviary app immediately goes to your camera roll by default to let you upload a photo for editing. You can tell it to go to other albums by pressing the album button at the bottom of the screen, or you can take an original picture with the camera button at the bottom of the screen. I selected the SuperPhoto creation that I had just saved to my camera roll. When you download the Aviary app from the Apple iTunes App Store, it comes with a several original effects for customizing your photos, as well as simple and advanced editing tools. You can purchase additional effects, frames, stickers and bundles from within the app. I really liked what I did already with the SuperPhoto app, so I just used the simple Enhance options at the bottom of the Aviary Photo Editor screen.

 

Step 7 - Open Aviary app and select the SuperPhoto creation from the camera roll.

 

 

Step 8 - Select Enhance from the Photo Editor main menu at the bottom left of the next screen that appears.

 

 

Step 9 - Select the Enhance effect that you want to apply to your image:

 

(a) Hi-Def

(b) Scenery

(c) Food

(d) Portrait

(e) Night

 

 

From left: Step 9 - Enhance options (a) to (e) applied to my SuperPhoto creation.

 

For this image, I really liked Option 2 - Enhance Scenery, so I selected it and then pressed Apply at the top right of the Aviary screen. As I am writing this article, Option 5 - Enhance Night is also calling to me, and so I think I will return to the app and save that version at a later time as well. Had I chosen Effects, Frames or Stickers instead of Enhance, in Step 8 above, I could have applied any of the myriad of effects, frames or stickers that either came with the Aviary app, or that I purchased later from within the app. All of these effects can be applied at the press of a button and the Aviary Photo Editor provides an instantaneous preview of the edited artwork.

 

One of the things that I love about the Aviary Photo Editor is that it not only has great filters and effects that you can easily and quickly apply to your photos, it also has an advanced image editor and text editor built into the app, so you can do more complicated edits like:

 

▪️ adjust the brightness, contrast, warmth and saturation

▪️ improve the sharpness

▪️ change the orientation

▪️ crop the image to several standard sizes or a custom size

▪️ alter the focus of the image with a radial or linear tool

▪️ create a color splash by removing all color in the image and painting the color back in selected areas

▪️ whiten (bleach) selected areas

▪️ fix a blemish or remove red-eye in a portrait, or de-emphasize an area by blurring it, PLUS

▪️ you can sign your newly created artwork right in the app without having to export it elsewhere for text editing.

 

Step 10 - Select Text from the Aviary Photo Editor main menu.

 

Since I was happy with the heightened colors provided with the Enhance - Scenery effect, all that was left to do was sign my new masterpiece, so I scrolled the main menu at the bottom of the Aviary Photo Editor screen to the right by swiping my finger to the left, and selected Text.

 

 

Step 11 - Once in the Text Editor you simply use the options from left to right to:

 

(a) choose your text font

(b) choose your text color

(c) enter your text

(d) position your text by dragging it where you want it to appear; and

(e) size your text by sliding the white button with the double arrow on it.

 

From left: Step 11 - Aviary Text Editing Options (a) to (e) above.

 

Then simply press Apply at the top right on the screen to apply the text to your photo, then Save to save your finished work.

 

Step 12 - Apply text and save Photo.

 

 

 

Step 13 - Share your new artwork.

 

When you press Save, the Aviary app brings up the Share screen that allows you to share your artwork on social media (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter), email it to a friend, print it at Walgreens, send it in a Text Message, etc. If you want to save your new creation to the camera roll, simply press Done.

 

 

Step 14 - You did it (or in this case I did it)!

 

 

Death of a Dahlia Abstracted, digital painting created in Superphoto and Aviary from a photo of a dead orange dahlia blossom near my artist gardens, annasgardens. 

 

Fine art prints of Death of a Dahlia Abstracted  are available for purchase in my Fine Art America Gallery in various sizes, printed with archival inks on acid-free stretched canvas and fine art papers to create museum quality works of art that last a lifetime. Choose from prints on professionally stretched canvas, acrylic, metal, fine art papers (framed or unframed), greeting cards, and iPhone and Samsung Galaxy smartphone cases. Prices start at $22.56 for an 8 x 8 inch unframed fine art print on luster photo paper, not including shipping. Various sizes up to 36 X 36 inches are available for this image.

 

Please click on this link: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/death-of-a-dahlia-abstracted-anna-porter.html for a complete list of products and prices. You can also download the PDF Sales Sheet for Death of a Dahlia Abstracted. 

 

 

So thrilled to have two of my paintings included in the Group Show "Not Just Portraits & Figures” in The Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists from October 5, 2014 to October 31, 2014.

 

 

duck parade on the beach, watercolor and acryla gouache, 2014

I created this painting from a photograph that I took of a flock of canadian geese and ducks parading on the beach at Clackamette Park in Oregon City when I was participating in the Willamette Falls Festival Plein Aire Artists event in October 2013. I was captivated by the beautiful ducks who let me get very close to take the original photograph. I decided to paint the scene in a more contemporary manner, with the rock shapes more abstract and the ducks more realistic. I kept the colors bright and vivid, using layers of transparent watercolor for the most part, augmented with acryla gouache for depth of color and opacity as required. The painting is 12 in. x 12 in. and is painted on professional quality 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper, unframed. It is available for purchase on my website for $400.00 USD unframed plus shipping. Framing is available for an additional cost. Price and shipping costs shown are for the unframed painting. Please contact the artist at [email protected] for a quote if you would like it framed.

I am pleased to announce that I am participating in the October Fine Art, Photography and Print Show at Oregon Society of Artists, 2185 SW Park Place, Portland, OR 97205  for the month of October, 2013. In addition to the three prints shown here that are featured in the show, I have a canvas rack with an assortment of my original artwork, collector photography books, photography prints, canvas prints and fine art cards available for purchase. Now is your chance to get some great prices on amazing artwork by all of the participating artists in this month's show at the Gallery at OSA.

I will be sitting the OSA Gallery on Tuesday, October 15, 2013 and Saturday, October 26, 2013 and would love to see you in person then to answer any questions that you may have and to give you a private tour of all of the exceptional artwork on display this month. Show runs through November 1, 2013. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday, 1:00PM to 4:00PM. Closed Mondays and holidays.

fall leaves-portland japanese gardens-orange maple leaves 2005, canvas print, copyright 2013 annaporterartist

annasgardens-magnolia, 2011, canvas print, copyright 2013 annaporterartist

Abstract Rose in Fuschia, Yellow and Orange (A Rose by Any Other Name), 2013, acrylic print, copyright 2013 annaporterartist

Anna Porter, Fine Artist and Digital Photographer, will be sitting the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists this Sunday, September, 22, 2013 from 1:00PM to 4:00PM! Meet the artist to view and discuss her painting, textural plantings, watercolor and watercolor crayon, and get a personal tour of all the beautiful artwork on display in the 2013 Fall Juried Show! Mark your calendar! 

Note from the Artist:

I am so thrilled and excited that my watercolor and watercolor crayon painting, textural plantings, was accepted into the 2013 Fall Juried Show at Oregon Society of Artists, 2185 S.W. Park Place, Portland, OR 97205. Gallery hours are Tues. to Sun. 1:00PM to 4:00PM (closed Mondays and holidays). Show runs from 09-08-2013 to 10-03-2013. Hope to see you this Sunday afternoon 09-22-2013! I am looking forward to meeting you at the Gallery at Oregon Society of Artists, where I will be available to discuss my painting in more detail and answer any questions that you may have. I am also delighted to be able to give you a personal tour of all the beautiful artwork on display in this year's 2013 Fall Juried Show at OSA! Don't miss it! 

This original painting is available for purchase $500.00 USD. Contact [email protected] for more information.

A poster for the painting is available for purchase in my Instacanv.as Gallery here:

http://instacanv.as/annaporterartist/piece/538769493010568782_33853476

Anna Porter

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

email: [email protected]

website: http://annaporterartist.com

prints: http://instacanv.as/annaporterartist

facebook: https://facebook.com/AnnaPorterArt

instagram: http://instagram.com/annaporterartist

pinterest: http://pinterest.com/AnnaPorterArt

twitter: http://twitter.com/AnnaPorterArt

art blog: http://annaporterartist.com/blog

photography blog: http://annaporterartist.tumblr.com

Garden Delights-Summer is a new collection of beautiful digital photographs in my Twenty20.com Gallery that have been personally selected by the artist for how stunning they look when printed on iPhone cases for the iPhone 5S/5 or iPhone 4/4S.

These iPhone cases are made with a hard plastic shell that protects your iPhone 5S/5 or iPhone 4/4S; yet still allows you to use all of its buttons and functions. You do not need to remove the case for charging, etc. The beautiful floral images wrap all the way around the case, providing you with a unique and beautiful piece of art in the palm of your hand.

Shown in the photo are:

                    Glazed Blue Hydrangea iPhone Case                  Summer Peach Rose iPhone Case                  Heart's Desire-LadyBird Red Rose

To order any of the iPhone Cases shown here, simply click on the link below each photo.  

Lessons Learned Painting the Colors of Winter

in a workshop by Nancy Smith Klos at Klos Studios

By Anna Porter Artist

When Nancy Smith Klos at Klos Studios posted a flyer at Oregon Society of Artists earlier this year announcing a new workshop that focused on painting the colors of winter, I jumped at the opportunity. Long a fan of Claude Monet’s beautiful and subtle winter scenes, I was thrilled to learn that one of the paintings that we would be studying in the workshop in order to analyze the colors of winter was his famous La Pie (The Magpie).

I am the kind of artist that likes to jump in and start painting, so Nancy’s approach to having us first do a color wheel and mix together all of the complementary colors was, well, I have to admit, a little annoying at the time. But I am glad that I did it! Nancy knew something important about the colors of winter — that mixing complementary colors produces a vast array of beautiful neutrals that are very helpful when painting winter scenes.

To create our palettes, Nancy introduced us to a new medium for me, acryla gouache. That’s right! An acrylic and gouache polymer emulsion made by Holbein. In art school I had learned that acrylic and gouache don’t mix particularly well, but apparently Holbein did not get that lesson. This medium mixes well, has less of the margarine-y feel of acrylic that I hate, and DRIES FAST, so you have to WORK FAST! I usually paint slow as a snail so I knew this definitely was going to be a challenge! Nancy had us work from a 12 color Holbein set of acryla gouache. We began by mixing our primary red, primary yellow and primary blue (the set has a warm and cool red in it which we used to mix a primary red and so on). From there we mixed our secondary colors and one color in between each, which we arranged on a standard color wheel. Then the fun began! We mixed the opposite colors on the color wheel in varying degrees to come up with a beautiful array of neutrals.

I loved the next exercise! We looked at photos of winter scenes painted by Claude Monet, Childe Hassam, and Albert Bierstadt (among others) and selected one for a quick study. I selected Snow Impressionism (Fig. 1 below), a photo of a section of La Pie (The Magpie) by Claude Monet that Nancy provided. I referenced it and the color wheel that I had created the day before to create my palette.

 

 

To mix a winter palette that closely represented the colors that I saw in the reference photo, I created a dark by blending my primary red with my secondary green (both mixed from the colors in the Holbein set). To this color, I added white to create lighter versions of this dark, and Payne’s Grey to create my darkest dark. I used this same process, adding Titanium White or Jet Black (provided in the set) or Payne’s Grey (provided by Nancy) to each of the primary colors and complementary color mixes that I had learned how to create in the previous workshop session, to come up with a palette that closely matched the colors that I saw in the reference photo (See my palette in Fig. 3 above). I painted a daub of each color on note paper and made some cryptic notes beside each stating how I had arrived at it. (Note to self - be a little less cryptic and a little more organized next time!) 

That done, I did a quick painted sketch of a section of La Pie (The Magpie) from the reference photo (Fig. 1 above). And I mean quick - that paint was drying fast! I was pleased with the outcome (See Fig. 2 above), even though it was a little too pinkish in the snow (but then I do tend to see the world through rose colored glasses) and my Magpie obviously had been dining a little too well compared to Monet’s graceful bird! While I had not replicated the photo or Monet’s beautiful painting exactly, I had learned how to mix most of the colors. I was excited and looking forward to the next session of the workshop.

For the home stretch, Nancy had us bring in a photo of our own choosing for our final painting. I selected a lovely photo of my artist gardens from my Winter 2008 photography book that I had created for my family and published myself using Apple iPhoto and publishing services.

“In December, 2008 we had an unusual and plentiful snowfall in the Portland, OR area that lasted for two weeks instead of the usual two days, and I thought that this would be a great subject for my painting.”

 Anna Porter Artist

I sketched in the major elements by gridding the photo (Upper Left and Right in Fig. 4 below), then set about mixing my colors. I used some of the colors that I had learned from the Monet study in the workshop and created some new colors on the fly. I was only about half-finished my painting by the end of the workshop (Lower Right in Fig. 4 below), but felt confident that I had learned the necessary skills to finish it in my home studio.

I thoroughly enjoyed this workshop by Nancy Smith Klos and highly recommend that you check out her upcoming workshops at Klos Studios and watch for her announcements in the Brushmarks newsletter published by Oregon Society of Artists. Nancy excels at breaking down a complex process into easily understood bite-size morsels and provides great feedback and individual attention along the way. She recently opened a new studio in Southeast Portland and will be having an open house there on August 22, 2013 5-8PM.

I will be sitting the gallery at Oregon Society of Artists on August 15, 2013 from1-4PM and I would love to give you a personal tour of all of the paintings on display in the Student-Teacher show, and talk to you more in person about my painting. The gallery is located at 2185 S.W. Park Place, Portland, OR 97205 and viewing hours are Tuesday to Sunday 1-4PM, except holidays. Call (503) 228-0706 for information.

You can download a copy of this blog post in PDF format here.

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art & Digital Photography

Visit my Website!

Sign up for my Blog!

Like Anna Porter Art on Facebook!

Follow my Pins on Pinterest!

Get my Tweets!

Follow Anna Porter Artist on LinkedIn!

Contact me!

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Recently my partner, George Porter, the Managing Director of Lake Oswego Consulting Group shared a few tips on what it takes to sell art. I have been getting a fair amount of feedback on my blog post, Advice for a Newbie, Revised, that was syndicated by Fine Art Studios Online and published in their Fine Art Views Blog on 2013-07-15. Some of it is from artists who seem to be confused about the difference between selling art and marketing art. And you can substitute the word “art” with “product of your choice”. Here, in his very succinct and tongue-in-cheek fashion, are the Five Essential Elements Necessary to Sell Art (or anything else), according to George Porter:

1.  a piece of beautiful and/or interesting art that is well crafted;

2. a qualified buyer who is interested in buying your art;

3. an enthusiastic presentation, preferably by you, the artist; or by your artist sales representative, art dealer or art gallery;

4. a question: Do you want to buy this piece of art?

5. a price and payment method that is mutually agreeable.

If you are missing any one of these five essential elements, George would say that a sale is not going to happen, period. I would say that if you are missing any one of these five essential elements, unless you are extremely lucky, a sale is not going to happen, period. Every once in a while the art angels smile down on us and a miracle happens. But miracles are not something that consistently put food on the table. Creating and selling your art can. 

So that is it. It is as simple (and as challenging) as that. Our job as artists is to:

Create and produce beautiful and/or interesting art (and I would add unique if you want a better chance at success) that is well crafted;

Put our art in front of qualified art buyers who like our art;

Present our art enthusiastically or hire someone to do that for us;

Ask for the sale or hire someone to do that for us;

Set a fair price and provide a variety of easy payment options so buyers can buy our beautiful piece of art RIGHT NOW!

So why do we, as artists, have such a hard time with this? We spend countless thousands of dollars getting art degrees, attending workshops, joining artist societies and taking classes to improve our craftsmanship, so one would think that we must have Item 1 pretty much nailed.

Surely we, as artists, we love our art and are proud of our work, so we should be able to handle Item 3 and present our art enthusiastically and not require someone to do that for us … if not, I would be asking myself the question, why not? And figuring out how to solve that problem.

Are the words Do you want to buy this piece of art? in Item 4, really that difficult to utter? And yet there are so many of us who freeze at the thought. There are even some artist societies and online artist groups who try to make it sound evil to even be trying to sell your art, if you are a member of their society or in their group. Those societies and groups you want to avoid, if making a living as an artist is as important to you as creating your art.

 

We are frequently willing to give away one half of our income or more, because that one question terrifies us so. I ask you, what is the worst that can happen? Your suspect says Nope, not interested. Okay so MAYBE this is not the time for this buyer at this moment. It does not mean that you are a bad artist, or that this person will never be interested in your art, or even that this person is not interested in your art right now.

Have you ever gone into a restaurant not really sure what you wanted, and at first nothing seemed to interest you? Then the server comes to your table and tells you a little bit about the dishes and the specials, mentions the wonderful fresh ingredients, and maybe gives you a glimmer of how the chef uses his culinary wizardry to create it. And then your server comments on how many people have ordered the dish and told him or her how great it tastes. Suddenly your appetite is whetted. It’s not any different with selling art, or selling anything else for that matter. As long as you are telling the truth and you believe it. If every dish on the menu is a disaster and the server tells you how great it is and how much everyone loves it, well then you, the server and the restaurant have a big problem. It is time to leave our insecurities behind. Hunger makes the bravest souls out of the most timid of men and women.

A little market research on Google can tell you what art is going for in any market in the world, so setting a fair price should not be an issue. You might not like that price, or think that it is high enough, but if that is all that people are willing to pay in that market at that time ...

you can sell elsewhere; you can try again later; or you can adjust your expectations accordingly. There are things that you can do to increase the perceived value of your art, and you should never sell your art at a loss; because you cannot make up a loss on every piece of art with volume. However, fair market price is the overriding factor. If you are not internet friendly, or you don't have a computer, then go to some local art fairs and galleries to get an idea. With the ability to take payment by credit card, debit card and paypal on your hand-held mobile device, inflexible payment issues are a thing of the past. So cross off Item 5.

So the real stumbling block then must be Item 2 - finding qualified art buyers who like your art. I ask you this:

How many homes are there in America or insert “country of your choice”? What do they have on the walls?

How many people buy vacation homes? What is on their walls?

How many people travel to new places and want a souvenir of their blissful vacation to take back home with them?

How many new businesses start up every day in your town, city, or state? What is on their walls?

How many new restaurants start up and need some great ambiance to make customers want to stay and order more food and alcohol? What is on their walls?

What about those government buildings like the post office and DMV, where you have to stand in line for interminable hours and would give anything to be able to look at something besides the the long line and grey walls?

There are qualified art buyers everywhere. You just need to put yourself and your art in front of them, be friendly and enthusiastic about your art, and ask that magical question. Over and over again.

We all want to succumb to the idea that if we simply post it online, they will come … Sadly it just doesn’t work that way. Not unless you and your art are already known and already famous. And even then, the general public has a very short memory.

Do you need a website or online gallery or physical gallery? Yes, unless you want to be constantly knocking on doors with your portfolio in tow, something that generally sets fear into the hearts of every artist that I have ever met, and takes up virtually all of your time. You need a place that you can tell your qualified prospects, and your customers can tell their friends and business associates, to go to look at your art and keep up with your recent creations. Some place professional and friendly. And search engine optimized, or located in a part of town with lots of foot traffic and nice big front windows. And easy to find and navigate. Where there is always someone available to present your art enthusiastically and ask the all important question, Do you want to buy this piece of art? One that takes cash, debit cards, credit cards, paypal, travellers checks, money orders - any and all forms of cash and cash-like substitutes.

Can a good website or online gallery replace a traditional gallery or art fair or art show? Honestly, probably not. Because walls don’t sell art. People sell art. People buy fine art from people - from artists, artist sales representatives, art dealers and art galleries that they know, like and trust. 

But can a good website, online or traditional gallery help your marketing and your sales? Definitely, yes. In this digital age, you need a strong marketing presence. Like it or not. People want to buy art from successful artists. Having a website and a gallery, shows that you are serious about your work and others are serious about it too - serious enough to bet their livelihood on it.

Do you need social media? It’s free, there are a lot of people on it at any given moment. Use it and your time wisely. Because it can be a giant sucking hole in terms of time. Have you ever seen the movie, “The Money Pit”? It is a hilarious comedy that shows how a fixer upper can become a giant sucking hole for your finances. Same thing with social media for your time. Just because it is free doesn’t mean it isn’t costly. The most valuable resource you have as an artist is your time, because YOU have to create the products that YOU sell. So use it wisely. Your time is best spent creating and selling your art.

A few regular social media posts linked to your website can do a world of good for your “known” factor, but you won’t necessarily be getting known by qualified art buyers. Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn are great at creating likes and follows and shares on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.  But as have all discovered, a like on Facebook does not equal an art sale. Facebook and many other social media sites do; however, have great prospecting tools built right into them, that you can use to get your messages out to a targeted list of possible buyers. You just have to know where to look and how to use them.

If your biggest problem is that your art is not selling, the first question you need to ask is who is selling my art? If the answer is no one, that’s where you need to begin. If the answer is someone, or some gallery, or yourself, then you need to ask what am I, or they doing that is not working? Which of the five essential elements am I, or they, missing?

Trying to make a living as an artist means that you are in business for yourself. And as any small business owner can tell you, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to do a start-up. For every success, frequently there are two or more failures that came before it. But if an artist is who you are, and not just what you do, then I think it is worth the effort. 

For more information on how to create a sound, realistic and achievable artist business and marketing plan, check out Lake Oswego Consulting Group’s Marketing Your Art Workshops, created by artists for artists. And yes, this is a shameless plug for one half of what puts food on my table. In addition to creating and selling art as Anna Porter Artist, I am also the Marketing Director for Lake Oswego Consulting Group.

 

In future blog posts, we will take a look at the difference between sales and marketing and why both are important to us, as artists - if we want to make a living creating our art.

Enjoy the journey!

Anna Porter

 

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

(503) 697-7666

http://annaporterartist.com

http://instacanv.as/annaporterartist

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

Anna Porter

Marketing Director

Lake Oswego Consulting Group

(503) 360-7260

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.com

https://facebook.com/LakeOswegoConsultants

https://facebook.com/MarketingYourArt

Previously shown at the Oregon Society of Artists Gallery for the month of December, 2012 as part of the group show Works on Paper, I am pleased to announce and honored that my painting, double peony has been accepted into the Palouse Watercolor Socius 2013 juried four-state watercolor competition held at the University of Idaho Prichard Art Gallery (gallery shown top right in the photo below), where it is available for purchase. One of 36 watercolor paintings submitted by artists from Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Montana, double peony can be viewed at the Prichard Art Gallery from June 13, 2013 through August 3, 2013.

 

Gallery Hours:

Regular Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 10am-8pm; Sunday 10am-6pm
Summer Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 1pm-6pm; Friday 1pm-7pm; Saturdays 9am-3pm

 

This painting is also featured on the poster for the show shown below:

 

 

A little more about the inspiration for this painting:

 

Every year I wait for this beautiful red double peony to bloom in my garden. It arrives by late April or early May and never ceases to amaze me with its vibrant color, the size of its blossoms, fully 6 inches in diameter, and the beautiful frilly petals that, when fully opened, allow me to peek inside. I began the painting of  double peony in 2011 "en plein aire" in my garden and finished it in my studio from several photographic studies that I did of it when it first bloomed in 2003. It remains as vibrant in my garden in 2013 as it did then. I painted the background first - lightly sketching the abstract shapes to represent the leaves, then I applied water to the blue areas and dropped in different mixtures of deep blue, letting the colors mingle to create depth and variety. I painted some of the leaves wet in wet and others I painted individually with light washes of pastel color, leaving white space as needed. Finally I painted the abstract shapes inside each petal of the double peony by layering different hues of pink, red and magenta to accentuate the vibrancy of the peony. To create focus at the center, I built up dots of pure watercolor applied with very little water, leaving bits of white.

 

This painting stands out in a crowd and draws your attention. Its vibrant color, contemporary style and elegant black frame and white matte give modern feel to a natural painting. It is one of my favorite paintings that I have done thus far in my career. For more information, please contact The Prichard Art Gallery directly through August 3, 2013:

 

Roger H.D. Rowley
Director, Prichard Art Gallery

phone: (208) 885-3586
email:[email protected]

 

After the exhibit, you can view my original painting double peony watercolor framed on my website.

 

 

In memory of Amy Elizabeth Howell Wagner, Fine Artist, 1971 to 2013

 

Yesterday afternoon, May 28, 2013, I had the honor of attending one of the most beautiful memorial services that I have ever attended, the Celebration of Life Memorial Service for Amy Wagner, http://amycolors.com, held at Agnes Flanagan Chapel, on the grounds of Lewis &  Clark College, in Portland, Oregon.

The daughter-in-law of our dear friends, Karen and Frank Wagner, daughter of parents Susan and David Howell, wife of James Wagner and mother to Kobe and Hunter Wagner, Amy was a gifted artist who loved painting as a child and carried that love throughout her too short life. She captured the beauty and joy of life with exquisite pure colors and bold designs that never fail to astound and inspire me each time I view them. The large chapel at Lewis & Clark College was filled with friends and family yesterday who came from near and far to celebrate Amy's beautiful life, her art, her friendship, her courage and the many ways that she had touched their lives with her art and her lovely spirit. At the request of the family, everyone was dressed brightly in honor of Amy's love of color. It was clear from the stories shared by her husband, youngest son, brother, father, creativity coach, Kris Balle, and friends and relatives from around the country; from the slides of Amy's childhood, teenage and college years; and from her beautiful artwork on display at the front of the chapel, that Amy was dearly loved; that she lived life to its fullest, sharing her exuberance with all who had the privilege of knowing her; that her presence touched many, and though she will be missed terribly, she left something of herself with every person present, a gift that will continue to shine in and through them. Amy was an artist who embraced life and others, whose mesmerizing smile could light up a city and draw people in, and whose infectious joy and optimism always left you feeling better, whether you were in her presence, or viewing her art from afar.

 

In 2009, Amy was left paralyzed from the neck down when a tumor burst in her neck close to her spine. I will never forget the shock that I felt when Karen and Frank first told us about that tragic day - how one minute Amy, a young mother, was walking down the sidewalk with her two adolescent boys to school, and the next minute her life was changed irrevocably forever. While doctors were able to remove the tumor, they could not repair the damage to her spinal cord, or stop the cancer cells that relentlessly migrated up and down it. She spent much of her time in and out of the hospital in the remaining four years, enduring a vent that enabled her to breathe, MRIs to detect more tumors, more surgeries, radiation and chemotherapy treatments, and when all else failed, a new Novocure TTF treatment, Oregon's first patient to receive it. Sadly, none helped. In between, thankfully, Amy was able to spend much time at home with her very brave and loving husband, James Wagner, who cared for her until the end; and with her two lovely boys, Kobe and Hunter Wagner, who now show a sensitivity, wisdom and maturity that is well beyond those of typical teenage boys.

 

Of his mother, young Hunter stated at the memorial service that "Amy was the kind of Mom that if you were having a bad day, you could go and talk to her and suddenly you would be having an amazing day". Amy was that kind of person. Always able to see the best and brightest in life, even when that life became more difficult than most of us can ever imagine. And James, dressed in the Taos inspired brightly woven wedding vest that he and Amy both wore at their wedding service in that same chapel on July 3, 1993 when they made their vows to love each other forever, stated that he "felt blessed and grateful for the four years that he got to take of Amy at home; that it was a small repayment for the twenty years prior that she had taken care of him". A kinder and more loving acknowledgement, from such a selfless and loving husband and partner, I cannot imagine. Always one to stand up for what she believed in even when she could no longer stand, Amy, with James by her side, found the energy to join a protest to fight against proposed cuts in Medicaid, so important to their family, and other families across the country in similar situations. You can read more about her courageous life in the blog entries by friends and relatives, lovingly maintained by Bud and Trina Pate at http://amyandjameswagner.com. I have one regret in writing this post. I wish that I had taken the time to get to know Amy better; more than the few times that we met at social events or celebrations at the invitation of Frank and Karen. My life would have been richer for it. For the balance of this post, I will focus on Amy's gift to us all - her beautiful and courageous spirit and her colorful art.

 

From 2009 to 2013, while fighting the ravages of cancer and paralysis, Amy learned to paint all over again, this time with her mouth. Karen told me once that Amy loved those art sessions. She looked forward to them all week. Not one to be able to put a smile on my face when tears are welling inside, I broke down completely yesterday when I saw the photos of Amy, clearly tired but determined, her face inches from her artwork, putting brush to paper; working her magic in Tempera paint, the end of her mouthstick held resolutely between lips and teeth that struggled to hold and maneuver it; placing each mark, each bold stoke of color, resolutely on the page; letting each stoke just "be". No erasing. No regrets. As an artist with many other responsibilities, I struggle sometimes to find the energy to paint even with all of my faculties; and on those days I now think of Amy, of all that she suffered and struggled with, and I find new resolve. Because no matter how hard you think your life might be as an artist, and for many it is exceedingly difficult, I cannot imagine it being more difficult than what Amy contended with during the past four years. And yet she painted. She painted with joy and hope. She painted even when she was so tired she barely had the energy to speak. She painted to the end.

 

Upon viewing her work from before and after her injury, what you notice immediately is that Amy kept her glorious pure colors to the end. Although life became very muddy indeed, it did not create mud in her artist's soul. That clear beauty, love of color and life continued to shine through her "ish" series of paintings from 2012 which you can view at http://amyandjameswagner.com/amy-art-2012/amys-art/

, the way it did in all of her earlier works, some of which you can see in these blog photos of Amy's art at http://amyandjameswagner.com/photos/artwork-at-spoons/, taken when her paintings were on display at Spoons Gourmet Deli in Salem (4093 Commericial St SE).  In her "ish" series of paintings that she painted with a mouthstick after her paralysis, Amy's artwork, once very controlled, stylized and carefully planned, took on a new vibrancy and urgency, a freedom of expression and exuberance not as evident, at least to my eye, in her earlier works. Amy's long brushstrokes and the perfect edges of the bold shapes that she once so carefully laid down, lines that her creativity coach, Kris Balle, stated that Amy once held her breath in order to place perfectly on the page prior to her injury, became much more animated and free in her "ish" series afterwards. Never one to be tentative with color and line, Amy's previous works speak to the viewer through their bold color and design. That same bold color is present in her "ish" series, but a multitude of small colorful brushstrokes replace the larger bold shapes. No less colorful or bold, these strokes weave a pattern of color and depth that create a tapestry of life as seen through Amy's eyes. Her most recent paintings exude energy that speaks volumes about Amy's exuberance for life, her patience, her determination, and the pure joy that she felt and shared with others every day of her life. From “Dancers-ish”, to “Caterpillars-ish”, to “Roller Coaster-ish”, and my personal favorite, “Butterfly-ish”, Amy's colors speak about the beauty and joy that is all around us, about the thrill of life that we can all experience if we only allow ourselves to tap into it. At the memorial service, Kris shared that Amy fell asleep painting her last unfinished piece, the beginnings of a beautiful fire-like fuchsia flower, evolving out of a translucent pool of blue water. She closed her eyes, brush in mouth, too exhausted to continue, and fell peacefully asleep.

 

My husband, George Porter, and I responded to the news of Amy's worsening condition in the last few weeks of her life by painting our own remembrances of Amy, which we gifted to James, Frank and Karen after her death on April 26, 2013. I want to thank the family for sharing those paintings at the reception for family and friends at Frank and Karen's beautiful home in West Linn, Oregon, yesterday after the memorial service. It meant a great deal to us to have our paintings be part of Amy’s memorial.

 

In my painting, Flowers for Amy (shown above, 24" X 24", acrylic on canvas, photography by John Telford, http://www.photonjohn.com 2013-03-29), I sought to capture Amy's beautiful smile in a portrait of her as a flower. I painted it in response to Karen's request to friends and family in March to please send flowers to fill Amy's room at home with the colors of the beautiful Pacific Northwest Spring that were beginning to unfurl outside her bedroom window, when Amy was sent home from the hospital for the last time, knowing that she would not be returning for any more treatments. To me, Amy was and will always be the brightest flower. At the time that I painted it, I was taking a class in acrylic at Portland Community College, to learn a new medium. We had been instructed to paint something that had deep emotional meaning to us, and I had been watching the video of Amy's  "ish" series of paintings, posted on Vimeo at http://vimeo.com/44896294,  over and over again, unable to get the images of her paintings, and the haunting melody and words of an upbeat reggae version of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" that accompanied it, out of my mind. When I had to present my painting to the class at the end of the term, I let excerpts from Amy's blog, lovingly kept up-to-date by Bud and Triba Pate, and Amy's Vimeo video and her artwork speak for itself. There was not a dry eye in that classroom afterwards. And I hope that those bright young college students and fellow artists, ages younger than me, with their whole lives left to unfold before them, learned a lesson that came thankfully not too late for me - that now is the time to paint and keep on painting, every single day of your life.

 

My husband, George Porter, created his own version of what Amy meant to him, a very different and beautiful painting, an anthology of symbolism representing Amy's life and art. Titled, Amy's Colors (shown below, 24" x 18", acrylic on canvas, photography by John Tellford, http://www.photonjohn.com 2013-05-22),

it shows Amy swinging freely on a swing suspended from the moon, set in a deep cobalt blue sky full of twinkling stars. Amy's arms and legs are joyously working as she swings high above the desert in Taos where she and James once lived, and where she was inspired by the desert colors and the works of Georgia O'Keefe. In the painting, Amy is kicking flowers upwards into that deep blue sky, where they transform into souls entering a church at the gates of heaven, a church in New Mexico that Amy once painted against a brilliant fuchsia sky. George's wonderful painting, rich in Native American and Taos-inspired images and symbolism and natural wildlife - coyotes, birds, flowers, and my favorite, two lovebirds nestled in the bottom left of the painting, representing Amy and Jamie's love for each other - is a joyful celebration of everything about Amy's colors, art and life that touched his heart, as an artist and longtime friend of the family.

 

For those of you who have read this very long blog post, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your very busy day to honor Amy in this way. I urge you to take a few more minutes to watch Amy's Vimeo video at http://vimeo.com/44896294, to read more about Amy's inspiring art and life in her blog at http://amyandjameswagner.com, and to view the paintings from her 2012 "ish" series in more detail in her online gallery at http://amyandjameswagner.com/amy-art-2012/amys-art/ .  To order a digital reprint of “Butterfly-ish”, please go to http://amycolors.com/amy_wagner/amy_wagner_paintings_butterfly-ish_order.html To order digital reprints of the other paintings from Amy's “ish” series, please contact her art curator at [email protected] . Like everyone who had the pleasure of knowing Amy, you will be glad that you did. I hope that you, too, will find your own inspiration and renewed joy and sense of purpose in Amy's Colors and in the story of her amazing life.

 

Anna Porter

Fine Artist, Writer and Digital Photographer

http://annaporterartist.com

This is a repost of a blog article that I wrote for Lake Oswego Consulting Group in its entirety. It has been reprinted with Lake Oswego Consulting Group's permission:

How linked in can LinkedIn be if its software cannot get links right?

Friday, May 10, 2013

BEWARE THE LINKEDIN SHARE FEATURE!

Anna Porter asks the question “How linked in can LinkedIn be if its software cannot get links right?”

Image © Saniphoto | Dreamstime.com

Besieged with SPAM on Instagram for months, and furious that Instagram and Facebook have not devoted the resources to resolve this issue or even seem to care about it, Instagram photographers and artists are fighting back with a two day protest that begins at 12:00AM on 2013-04-15 and continues through 12:00AM on 2013-04-17. Instagram is a social media platform and mobile device app for the Apple iPhone and iPad and Google Android mobile devices that can be downloaded and used for free.

If you have an Instagram account, please SET YOUR ACCOUNT TO PRIVATE and THEN LOG OUT OF INSTAGRAM by 12:00AM on 2013-04-15 local time, wherever you are, and STAY LOGGED OUT until 12:00AM on 2013-04-17 local time, whereever you are.

Ever since mid to late 2012, spam has become an ever-increasing problem on Instagram, a site that once was spam-free. A similar one day protest in November 2012 resulted in spammers either going away or getting quiet, but now they are back. And back in hoardes. Spammers post inappropriate comments on photographs usually targeted at getting Instagram account holders to go to a url on the web to buy followers in order to get more likes for their photographs. People who dream of having their photographs make it to the Popular wall on Instagram may be tempted to do so; however, buying likes to me is like buying votes - very shady indeed and shows a complete lack of character! For the vast majority of serious photographers (and I like to consider myself one, even though my first love is painting), being on Instagram is not about the likes or the followers, and it most certainly is not about being on the Popular page. It is about having a social media platform where it is fun to share your photographs with other photographers and photography enthusiasts, to participate in photography challenges, and just to enjoy looking at beautiful photographs.

Instagram photographers can also sign up for a free Instacanv.as account online and have their Instagram photographs automatically posted to a beautiful online web gallery where customers can view and buy high quality reprints on a variety of media; including canvas, framed prints, acrylic prisms, iphone5-4S-4 cases and fine art cards. Photographers receive 20% of the proceeds from sales on Instacanv.as; Instacanv.as receives 80%. While this commission structure is astronomically in favor of Instacanv.as, Instacanv.as handles all online ordering for customers, order-tracking, manufacturing, production, shipping, and returns of products, as well as photographer payments and tax reporting; and they provide customers with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. While this all sounds well and good, for any social media platform to be enjoyable to use, and therefore for anyone to want to use it, it must be FREE OF SPAM.

Other photography sharing sites are not plagued with spam. Sites like  EyeEm, Google+, Path, Pinterest, and StreamZoo do not have a similar spam problem. Even Facebook does not have this kind of spam problem, and Facebook bought Instagram last year. So it is a mystery why this problem continues only on Instagram and why the developers at Instagram and Facebook seemingly care so little about their devoted users that they refuse to acknowledge or do anything about this very real and very annoying problem.

In response, Instagram photgraphers have organized a grass-roots campaign to try to persuade Instagram and Facebook to do something to stop the spammers once and for all. GOING PRIVATE prevents new people from following you on Instagram without your prior approval (including spammers). But going private also carries a penalty with it of not allowing private accounts to participate in photo challenges and contests on Instagram, something which most photographers enjoy doing. This is a particularly tacky policy of Instagram. It is bad enough that photographers are forced to go private because of Instagram and Facebook's unwillingness to allocate the resources and budget to do something about spam; but then to be penalized for doing so is like rubbing salt in an open wound.

LOGGING OUT OF INSTAGRAM and having ZERO ACTIVITY THERE FOR TWO DAYS - NO POSTS, NO COMMENTS, NO LIKES will hopefully send a message to Instagram and Facebook that we are serious and cause them to allocate the necessary resources to solve this problem.

TOGETHER WE HAVE A STRONG VOICE; Divided we are but a whisper.

So fellow igers, please go private and log out of Instagram until 2013-04-17. Please help us try to return Instagram to the great social media platform that it once was, a place to share and showcase your photography, without having to deal with annoying SPAM every minute of every day. As for this photographer, even though I will miss my Instagram friends immensely, if this protest does not result in Instagram and Facebook solving the spam problem once and for all, then I will be looking for a different social media platform. Because having to take time to delete and report every item of spam on every one of my photographs, and to search for and block spammers manually, with apparently no lasting effect on the spammers at all, not only takes more time than I have to use a social media platform, it takes all the fun out of being there in the first place.

Thank you for supporting this cause!

Anna Porter

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

http://annaporterartist.com

http://instagram.com/annaporterartist

https://facebook.com/annaporterart

http://annaporterartist.tumblr.com

https://plus.google.com/b/103935033304572570209/

Back in the day when I used to work for one of the largest Value Added Resellers for the Hewlett-Packard Company in Southern California, we knew what it meant to "add value". We helped our customers resolve hardware and software issues until the issue was resolved. We did not "pass the buck". Sadly that cannot be said for many of the suppliers providing website hosting services these days. A case in point is my own experience with the suupport staff for my own website, managed by Fine Art Studios Online. Ten days ago, I informed FASO of a problem verifying my website on Pinterest using the exact instructions that my website "support staff" had published in their member newsletter. At first they provided support by assuming that I was an idiot and emailing me the same instructions that were in their newsletter - instructions that I had tried three times with two different browsers, and they did not work. It took them several days to get to the point of even handing anything over to their "developers", who apparently were too busy handing all the problems in their code to pay much attention to someone who has been paying them monthly for two years for a website that gets almost no traffic, yet is supposed to be "search engine optimized". Which is why I was so insistent on getting the Pinterest verification of my website handled. Pinterest, unlike FASO, has a proven track record of improving traffic to websites.

 

Undaunted, I kept emailing back and forth to my "support staff", who told me several times that they were just "too busy" to pay any attention to my issue. Each of my polite requests that they do something about the two pages of warning messages that I was receiving in Firefox about issues with their code was handled by a different "Artist Support Specialist", apparently so that no one would have to take responsibility to actually help me. Finally they agreed to send my case to their "developers", who immediately decided it was "not their problem". After over one week of communicating back and forth, the sole assistance that I received was to be told to "go talk to Pinterest". When I insisted that they address the issues pertinent to the warning messages about their code, I was assured that they would forward those issues to their "developers" once again. Then, today, I received yet another email from yet another "Artist Support Specialist" stating that if I wanted these warning messages addressed, then I should open yet another ticket and start all over again.

 

This is my response. I am your customer. I am paying for your support services. I am paying for you to have a website service to offer to artists. I expect that when I am getting warning messages in Firefox when I attempt to follow your published intructions about how to link my website to a social network that you claim to provide an interface to, and when at least half of those messages are warning messages about your code, that you will pay attention to those messages and attempt to resolve the issues quickly. And I expect that you will not respond by "passing the buck" or telling me start all over again.

 

 

I have no idea where Fine Art Studio Online "Artist Support Specialists" learned how to not provide customer support. Wherever it was, you apparently learned your lessons well. I recommend that Fine Art Studio Online pay attention to the legitimate complaints from its customers, or it will soon find that it has no customers left whatsoever.

 

As for me, I am in the market for a new website. If there is anyone out there who believes that they can provide better service and support, please email me at [email protected] with a link to your service and samples of existing websites so I can check them out. I cannot have you email me at my FASO email address, because whenever I try to add my FASO email address to my desktop Mail application, when Mail goes out to try to verify the FASO server, it gets an invalid security certificate error - yet another issue that I have been trying to get assistance with from FASO for SEVERAL MONTHS, without success.

 

Bottom line, artists, unless FASO resolves the issues with their websites and with their customer support services, my advice is to save yourselves the headache and an aggregious amount of wasted time and look elsewhere to place your website.

 

Anna Porter Artist

Fine Art and Digital Photography

http://annaporterartist.com

[email protected]

From our friends at Artsy Shark, here are the first ten places on the The Big List of 125 Places Artists Can Sell Online originally posted by Carolyn Edlund (reprinted with permission):

1.   20×200.com – Jen Bekman’s site focuses on art, prints and photos, priced affordably. Juried (not currently accepting submissions, but sign up for their newsletter to get updated when submissions reopen.)

2.   500px.com – Photography site – store your photos, share them and sell them. Features work of beginners to experts. Sell your work by opening a “store” account, which is available to free as well as paid memberships.

3.   AbsoluteArts – Claiming to be “the most trafficked contemporary arts site” it offers levels from free to premier. Artist bio/statement and portfolio displayed with shopping cart.

4.   AffordableBritishArt (UK Site) – Artists sell their work with no middleman, commission free, but there is a charge to have an account (4 tiered levels). You must have a PayPal account to receive payment for your work.

5.   Amazon – Upload your images to sell on one of the biggest marketplaces on the web. Jewelry is a huge category here, but you are competing with manufactured items.

6.   Art.com – This highly ranked e-commerce site has a division called Artist Rising, where emerging artists can upload images. They provide a print-on-demand service to sell your work. Two levels of membership – free and paid.

7.   ArtBreak – Describing themselves as “a global community of artists sharing and selling their work on the web,” this site is a commission-free way to upload images and sell with a shopping cart. Curiously, their blog and social media sites are inactive.

8.   Art-Exchange – B2B site where artists can get connected to interior designers, architects and others in the trade. Work is sold wholesale here; they take 10% commission.

9.   ArtFire – Huge marketplace of crafts, art, supplies, vintage and more. Customize your own shop on this site. $12.95 monthly fee.

10.  ArtFortune – Create your own online art gallery here. Site visitors can see the images that you have uploaded, and click through to your website, where you make the sale. They charge a monthly fee, and have several different plans. There is also a forum and community on this site.

To see the entire list, go to http://www.artsyshark.com/125-places-to-sell/

Recently I posted an entry to a question posed by a fellow artist in a LinkedIn Group that I belong to called Painters in Watermedia. In “Advice for a Newbie”, the new group member stated that she was new at art and had started her art career later in life. She was wondering if there was any advice that group members could share with her with regard to establishing her newfound career in art. This was my reply: 

 
“I began painting at the age of 37 in art therapy. At the age of 46, I returned to college part-time to take transfer classes towards a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree. Like you, I started late. I have never stopped painting. My career as an artist has been very unconventional and definitely full of twists and turns. The best advice that I can give is:

1. Take classes whenever and wherever you can, as you can afford them. If it interests you, do it.

2. If you cannot afford classes or workshops, think about starting a “painting” or “drawing” or “insert your art type here” group. Like a book club, but for artists instead of readers. Get together to paint or do whatever en plein aire in local parks when the weather is nice. Being around other artists and creative people inspires your creativity and your growth.

3. Always work on improving your craftsmanship.

4. Always work on increasing your “known” factor.

5. Establish a website or online gallery and start an art blog. Link the art blog to your website or online gallery.

6. Use social media effectively to promote your art for free. Link your social media sites like Facebook, PInterest, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+ to your website.

7. Stay in touch with your customers and your prospects with an email newsletter. Include links to your website and social media in your newsletter.

8. Galleries want to know that an artist is current and consistent. They need to know that they can count on a steady and consistent supply of art from you. Start good habits now, so that you paint, draw, or do whatever you do, every day, no matter what.
 
9. Look for non-conventional places to show your art - restaurants, cafes, bars, government offices, schools, corporations are a good place to start.

10. Check online for Call for Artists and Call for Entries in your local area. New restaurants will frequently post notices on Craigslist.
 
11. Submit at least one piece of art every month, if you can, to an art show or art contest. Art Magazines, like The Artist's Magazine, are a good place to look for art contests, call for artists, art fairs, art shows, workshops, technique tips, etc. The website host for my website, FASO, also has a monthly Boldbrush Painting Contest and one free art contest entry per month is included with Gold Membership.

12. Visit galleries and get to know the owners and the type of art and artists they represent. When you find one that fits you, make sure that they are good at what they are supposed to be good at - marketing and selling art. Visit the gallery at least three times on different days and at different times to make sure that it:

    a. is reponsive and attentive to customers;
    b. is knowledgeable and honest about the art that it is trying to sell;
    c. is open at convenient times when there are lots of people in your target audience available to shop;
    d. has good foot traffic, signage, parking etc. (all the things that are important for any retail business);
    e. is pleasant, courteous and respectful to customers, to the artists they represent, and to you as a prospective artist;
    f. accepts multiple forms of payment;
    g. has been in business for at least two years (like a restaurant, the first two years are the make it or break it years). At least five years is even better;
    h. is well-liked and well-known in the community (if it can market itself well, then odds are it can market your art);
    i. has a strong online presence for the gallery, and will link to your artist website;
    j. ideally, can accept orders and payments online, in addition to in person at the gallery;
    k. has an established dealer network in other geographical locations;
    l. offers a commission plan that is acceptable to you, and that includes marketing expenses
       (e.g. the gallery pays for posters, postcards, announcements, press releases etc. for your shows at their gallery);
    m. does not place restrictions on how else you market yourself and your art
         (e.g. online, at art fairs, with artist representatives, or at art galleries in other geographical areas).

Ask the gallery owner or representative how they prefer that you submit your work for consideration, and follow their directions. Before you sign a contract with anyone, ask a lawyer to take a look at it to make sure that you know exactly what you are getting and not getting. It is worth the legal cost to protect your art and yourself. Don't skimp on the important stuff.

13. Think about different ways that you can diversify your product, so that you can have “something for everyone”. A few ideas to get you started:

    * If you are a painter, create tiny paintings, as well as large paintings;
    * If you are a painter, create fine art giclées from your original paintings;
    * If you are a painter and you paint from photographs, also consider selling canvas prints, prints on metal, prints on acrylic, and framed prints in addition to the paintings;
    * Create gift cards or gift tags from your artwork;
    * Create a themed ebook of your artwork or your photography using Apple’s iBooks Author software;
    * Create themed hardcover or softcover books of your photography or artwork using Apple’s online publishing services (I am sure that there must be similar services available for PC users, I just do not know what they are, since I am a shameless Apple fan and that is what I use).

14. Get marketing help if and when you need it. In addition to owning my own art business, I also work part-time for our marketing company, Lake Oswego Consulting Group. We are beginning a series of workshops for artists at the Oregon Society of Artists in Portland, OR titled “Marketing Your Art Workshops”. You can see the brochure for the workshops here. If you a creative professional in the Portland, OR area, we invite you to attend. Please call me at (503) 697-7666 to register. If you have questions, please email me at [email protected].

15. Check your local art societies to see what types of workshops and classes they offer to support artists in your area.

16. Check your local community colleges for art marketing and studio art classes. In addition to my studio art and art history classes at Portland Community College, which I enjoyed tremendously, one class that I took stands out in particular. It was called “Artist Survival Skills” and it was extremely valuable.  I learned how to write an artist biography and an artist statement, how to photograph my paintings, how to approach art galleries, how to take advantage of tax breaks for artists, how to protect my art with copyright law, how to do gallery installations … the list goes on. Currently PCC offers an online class called Start Your Own Art Business. Alternatively, you can check with your local community college and see if they offer a similar class. You will be glad that you did.

17. Never, never stop doing your art, now that you have found your new gift. I love the following quote that I read recently in an art blog by artist Kevin Mizner at Maine-ly Painting:

    "Artist is not what I do for a living. It is what I do for life.”

I hope this was helpful and good luck!”

Anna Porter Artist
Fine Art & Digital Photography

Following are links to blog entries that I have authored for Lake Oswego Consulting Group. Go to http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org to select from a variety of articles on how to improve sales and marketing your business or profession:

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/about-us/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/06/28/hello-world/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/why-your-business-needs-a-master-marketing-plan-by-anna-porter/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/the-benefits-of-a-well-thought-out-master-marketing-plan-by-anna-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/the-first-p-in-the-master-marketing-plan-people-by-anna-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/lake-oswego-consulting-group-has-a-new-blog-and-website-address-by-george-porter-2/

http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.org/2012/07/08/we-have-arrived-by-anna-porter-3/

For more information on how Lake Oswego Consulting Group can help you better sell and market your art, products, services and business online visit our website at http://lakeoswegoconsultinggroup.com, email [email protected] or call (503) 360-7260 today!