Marketing with WordPress

I am reading some great books and articles on marketing and Wordpress. I have finally begun to understand why Wordpress is so popular; it does a lot of the SEO for you! There are plugins for everything and I will be exploring many of them as I revamp our Tipping Paint Artists website.

I am going to start with the blog. I have just finished reading Internet Marketing with Wordpress by David Mercer. It’s a concise, easy to read book that covers the ways that WordPress can work for you to get your message out there. There are books on SEO that go into the behind the scenes work; with WordPress you don’t have to go behind the scenes, it takes care of that! You get to concentrate on the most important part of SEO – consistently writing high quality content that is relevant to your topic, and being persistent! I know I have room for improvement in the high quality arena but my weakest area is the persistent one which is why my New Year’s resolution is again ‘to keep up with my blog’!

I want to share with you Mr. Mercer’s list of Dos and Don’ts for blogging.

Dos

• Choose a relevant domain name. Most people have purchased their domain name before getting to the blog stage, it’s hard to set up a blog without one. Is the domain name relevant to your business or what you are trying to promote or is it cute? A cute/fun name only helps if it is directly related to what you are doing. You want the domain name to contain words that would be used in a search if possible. My domain name, skjonesart.com, would have been better if Susan had been available but there are a lot of S Jones and Susan Jones out there on the internet!
• Create relevant page and post titles. This seems like a no-brainer but it is awful tempting to use creative titles that are witty. Search engines don’t understand wit and need keywords to list your blog appropriately.
• Use SEO keywords and phrases in link text. ‘Click here’ doesn’t tell Google much about the link and links are one of the best ways to get Google’s attention. So make the reference to the subject matter you are linking to the active link like I did above.
• Create interesting content that is highly relevant to your niche. First you have to determine your niche… This is very important because it is a waste of time and energy to write good content that is geared to people that won’t appreciate what you do and will not become a customer or repeat visitor. It is also important to think about what will interest your desirable reader; keep them coming back with relevant content.
• Use Alt and Title attributes for images. When you insert a picture into a WordPress blog, a pop-up gives you a lot of options and asks for a lot of information. I’m usually in a hurry and skip the Alt and Title attribute section but no more…Alt makes your site more user friendly, it allows the disabled to use a reading device and know what is on the page. It also shows while the image is loading so that the reader will know what’s coming. Outside of being nice to others, the alt also helps the search bots because they can’t ‘read’ a picture. The more you can include about the image and the way it relates to your purpose, the better for good SEO.
• Use keywords naturally and where appropriate. The previous Dos tell you to use keywords in everything but you have to be careful. Remember you are talking to people and not search bots! It would be very boring to read something that was overrun with keywords and search bots might penalize you, thinking that you are spam. It’s a fine balance!
• Encourage people to link to your site or blog. You have to tell people that you have a blog and website. The best way to do this is through social networking and becoming an active participant in other blogs and forums. You can’t be shy, you have to ask people to link to your blog and to quote your content (with attribution of course). You can interest other bloggers by commenting on their blogs and asking them to comment on yours. Set up and use a signature that contains a link back to your site or blog.
• Proofread every blog at least once. I always find mistakes that the software doesn’t pick up on. Proofreading is also good practice for your comments on other blogs and on forums; if there are too many errors, I always discount the author and wonder if it is spam generated.

Don’ts

• Create duplicate content. I thought I had keeping up with 3 blogs under control. I’d write one blog entry and then post it to the other 2. Not a good idea, search bots are pretty smart! The less obvious problem comes with duplicate content on the same site. The Robots Meta plugin helps WordPress keep search bots from searching legit duplicate content within your web site.
• Copy other people’s content. Information on the web is copy righted just like printed work and those smart search bots will recognize it as duplicate content.
• Link to too many external sites on every page.
• Stuff your content with keywords.
• Write content for search engines – remember to write for the people reading it.
• Create pages with little or no content; you’ll loose your visitor.
• Use images or other media without text or Alt information.

Technorati Tags: wordpress,search engine optimaztion,SEO,blogging,marketing

Getting the shot, a country adventure

The roads to our parents’ houses go through rural NC and VA. It’s interesting to go through the hurried traffic on 40 and 85, which are a normal part of our busy lives, to cows, horses, fields and old barns. This year I’ve been focusing on old houses and barns in and around the Triangle so on a recent trip to my in-laws’ for my father in-law’s funeral, I was particularly attuned to the countryside I was traveling through.  I was traveling alone for a change and as I drove down highway 58, I kept seeing things that I wanted to photograph. The pull was so strong that I finally started stopping. I was dressed and in heels so I must have made quite a sight as I maneuvered through the weeds etc. to get shots from all sides. I had a deadline for my arrival so I made note of interesting buildings to photograph on my way home the next day.

It was rainy on my return trip but I stopped many times on the way home. I rarely make this kind of trip by myself and I hate to ask my family to keep stopping while I take pictures. They have a lot of patience but I still feel hurried knowing that they are sitting in the car waiting.

Most of the property had No Trespassing signs so I stayed on the shoulder of the highway (mostly), close to my car, ready for a speedy get away. I didn’t see a soul, just one dog chained up. I was pumped at my bravery(stupidity) and I got a lot of good images that I can hardly wait to start working on.

In November we went to my sister’s house for Thanksgiving. I had my camera with me but I couldn’t get the courage to ask to stop for me to take pictures. We were due at 1:00 and didn’t have a lot of time to spare. I reconciled myself to putting picture taking on the back burner until I saw an old barn with a tree growing out of it’s roof. I knew I had to come back ASAP and get the shot in case something happened to the barn. It was about 50 minutes from my home, a very doable afternoon outing, so I relaxed and started making plans.

Thursday was a gorgeous day and warm after a very cold week. My best friend and I were going to make a day of exploring the area while we caught up on each other’s lives. Unfortunately her new bath tub flooded her dining room and she was stuck with an understated mess! Exams are over for my son so I guilted him into going with me, my excuse being that I didn’t want to be alone taking pictures on the side of the highway. We had a lovely time and only got turned around once! We decided to go to the farthest point and take pictures on the way back. We kept track of the old barns and the tacky Christmas yards. How I wish we’d started taking pictures right away! When we were near our final destination, we stopped for a bathroom and snack break; for some reason I reached into the back seat for my camera and it wasn’t there!! Fortunately my son has a good sense of humor; we both had a good laugh and turned to head home again. Of course he let me know he wasn’t making the trip a second time!

Luckily we’d gotten an early start and I was able to get back to our starting point in less than an hour and a half. I’d had a fun visit with my son and still had plenty of daylight left to work. This time I began taking pictures as soon as I got off the highway. Once again I tried to stay on the shoulder of the highway so I wouldn’t be trespassing. I did rationalize that people that did a lot of decorating wouldn’t mind my stopping to take pictures so I didn’t worry too much about the Tacky Christmas yards. I became more obsessed with my surroundings and began to stop more frequently; I did a lot of turning around and going back to things I thought I could skip on first pass. It didn’t take long to realize that it was probably best that my son ended up back home – he would have gotten bored before I did!

I made it to the barn just as the sun was starting to set. I still had plenty of daylight but the glare limited the direction I could shoot from. I parked on the shoulder again but had to climb a ridge to even see the barn, so much for not trespassing! I was mesmerized by the old trees that wove in and around the barn but I still kept a look out for an unhappy landowner. A storm was headed our way so the wind was strong, causing the tin roof to creak which made me a little jumpy! From the hill top, I could look across the highway and see Shangri-La. It was an interesting site!

Driving to visit my parents, we’d pass by an interesting stone pillar made of white quartz and concrete. We’d never stopped to see what was beyond the hill, you couldn’t see anything from the road. Several years ago there was a story in the N&O about Shangri-La. When he retired, an old farmer started building a small town with quartz from his property. His intention was to bring happiness to passers by. I love miniatures and was intrigued by the article. I had intended to stop one day and see if that lay beyond the hill but we are always in a hurry.

I parked on the service road and this time I trespassed with intention. Since the story was about a desire to share, I figured that his wife wouldn’t mind. He died several years ago and the article said that it brought her joy to see people enjoy his work. A plaque at the entrance to Shangri-La says:

“Let me live in the house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” H.L.W. 1972

As it started getting later, I tried to quit stopping so much but I couldn’t help myself. I got careless. I stopped a one spot that had 4 old structures and appeared to be abandoned; yes there was the standard No Trespassing sign and I did read the first few lines which were directed at hunters and poachers. I stayed on the gravel of a side road that led to several driveways. As I was getting ready to leave, I saw a white pickup leaving the house across the field, it was not a good feeling so I jumped in my car and headed out. I looked back after I got on the highway to see which way the truck had gone, I didn’t want it following me…it had turned around and gone back home! That’s what I did too. It was a cool old barn!

Exhibit tonight at Electric Beanz

Friday night at Electric Beanz at the intersection of hwy 401 and 1010, Susan Jones and Lee Ball unveil our show "Different Perspectives" at 7-8:30pm. It will be fun. Come see us, have a terrific beverage, locally made snack and socialize. Don't forget to honor your veterans too!
Directions and info at: www.electricbeanz.com

Season of Giving

The Carter Building in Glenwood South has had a long relationship with the community, dating back to the 1930s when it was a curtain factory hiring local workers. Since the ‘40s, it has welcomed an array of artists into its three level, rambling floor plan that readily accommodates both large and small studios. This December, the artists of TCB wish to celebrate the Season of Giving by once again highlighting community. At December’s First Friday, they will link with their neighbor in Glenwood South, St. Saviors Center to support a variety of services, reaching families in the neighborhood and Wake County community. 

You have probably passed by the beautiful stone church on Tucker St., known to locals as St. Saviors, without knowing all that goes on behind the front door.  From its outreach to the elderly (Healthy Living, Meals on Wheels) to its service to infants (The Diaper Train), and even its Community Music School for youth, it provides a nurturing, safe place to people of all ages.

Please join the artists of TCB on December 2 for a special holiday tribute to community. Bring canned goods or diapers to win raffle tickets for art. Sip a glass of mulled wine/cider listen to the St. Saviors’ choir, and learn more about the programs available through St. Saviors Center. Participating artists will also donate a percentage of sales to support this critical ministry to Wake County families.

Come for the art. Come for the music. And most of all, come because this is a perfect time to express community. Happy holidays to all!

Dreamweaver to edit Wordpress?

So many things to get done and not near enough time! This past First Friday was quiet, rainy and cold but the folks that came out were art buyers! Such a refreshing change from the wine drinkers and snackers. I enjoy the crowds and lively conversations and it’s nice to see the same faces month to month but we are trying to make our way as artists so selling is important too. With First Friday done, Lee and I are getting ready to hang a show for next weekend. I have a few matts to cut tonight or in the morning, then pop things into frames to hang Monday. After the show is hung, it will be back to Wordpress.

I have been feeling like there must be a way to combine Wordpress and Dreamweaver; it’s all about the code right? At my last MySQL class someone asked which code editor was used in the Wordpress class and the answer was Dreamweaver. I have been searching online for information on how to use Dreamweaver for this and found a tutorial on Adobe that tells how to set up Dreamweaver for a content management system. So far, I have gotten my Wordpress test site set up in Dreamweaver – a very promising start! Last week I took the time to print out all the code from the dashboard of my test site and it’s roughly 400 pages! There is no way that I can fathom writing that much code and I can’t read any of it and make any sense of where the parts are. I can’t find an individual page nor can I find the information that has been entered into the header for example. All I find is ‘Get Header’, the header shows up but I can’t make changes to it. I’m just not seeing the big picture! The miracle of Dreamweaver appears to be the way it calls on the necessary code sections and pulls them out for tweaking; I will find out this week… I don’t like the Wordpress sites that I have created, the theme is not consistent among sites and I can’t find the code to make changes – I do hope that next week I will learn a few surprises! It’s geeky but I can’t wait!

We have spent the weekend cleaning and finally rehanging artwork (from when the floors were done last summer!) to get ready for a Bridal Shower this afternoon for my daughter. The house is no where clean enough but it’s been a full 2 days just on the first floor and the energy is gone! Old houses seem to create dust to replace any dust you remove in a matter of hours! With daylight savings time change today, hopefully it will get dark early enough to hide any errant dust! I have been looking forward to this marriage for a long time, it’s all wonderful, what’s a little dust!

Shop Downtown Raleigh, Kick off Nov 4th

Downtown Raleigh is a culturally exciting, artistic community with a wide variety of appealing places to shop for everyday or specialty items. Whether you’re searching for clothing and accessories, original art, or that one of a kind gift—you’re sure to be inspired.   You can easily navigate on foot or, to travel from one district to the next, try using eco-friendly transportation such as the R-LINE circulator bus or the Raleigh Rickshaw Company.  Ample parking is available both on-street and in decks.  In most cases, you can even park for FREE on nights and weekends.  Shop Downtown for a unique experience where you’ll find a treasure trove of eclectic stores in the vibrant center city.  Be sure to make downtown your next shopping destination. 

For chances to win valuable prize packages, take advantage of the Holiday Shopping Passport available at participating retail locations.  Simply take your Holiday Passport to participating stores and receive a sticker for every $20 spent per venue. Once your passport is filled with five stickers, drop it off at a participating store to be entered to win one of many great prizes.

In the Carter Building, both Tipping Paint Artists and Local Color Gallery are participating in the Shop Downtown HOLIDAY PASSPORT.

October First Friday at the Carter Building

triangle.com through a party at the Carter Building Friday night. The weather was perfect, the place was crowded, and a good majority of the people were new comers to our building! We want to thank triangle.com’s Mike Williams and DRA’s Ellen Fragola for all their help.

Moving on with MySQL

In order to get a better handle on WordPress, I am learning MySQL and PHP. Just like with WordPress, the hardest part seems to be the part where you get connected! After my first class Friday night, my head was swimming…there were 106 powerpoint slides…I was trying to take notes and keep up but he was jumping around the slides so much, it was an impossible task. I got to the point that I was embarrassed to ask questions. When I started on my homework Saturday, I was very surprised to find that getting connected wasn’t that difficult – it was pretty much like downloading and installing any other program and I had it up (not running) in no time.

I started back at the beginning of my Head First PHP MySQL text and everything makes a lot more sense now than on my first reading. I’m beginning to understand some of the magic – at least I now know that I have to study ‘forms’ in HTML to figure out how the information is collected, I skipped that part of the text when I was learning Dreamweaver because it was complicated and I didn’t have any use for stupid old forms! Now I’m going to learn how to create a form and collect email addresses – not so stupid after all I suppose.

My PHP class got canceled so I am going to be on my own learning that one. The Head First book is helping to explain the relationship between PHP and MySQL; I don’t know how PHP alone will be…

Today, my homework looked pretty easy. All I had to do was type in exactly what was on the piece of paper in front of me. Not easy at all. I liked the GUI tool we were introduced to in class but when I opened it and started tying, nothing happened. Every now and then, it would tell me I had an error but the database never had my table in it and I wasn’t allowed to create a new version because “it already exists”. Show commands gave me a blank screen. I can’t wait to get to class Friday and see what step I missed! I resorted back to the DOS input. If you make an error, you get to start over; won’t even tell you how many times I restarted! I finally got the hang of the input and when I asked to see the results, I generally got what I expected. Typing those 3 little assignments took me 2 hours – can’t wait to see how long a big assignment will take.

Coming to terms with WordPress

Here it is September and I’m just now making headway with my summer project – WordPress! WordPress is supposed to be simple to use, or so I thought…I figured it wouldn’t take much effort to figure it out since I know HTML and CSS. Boy was I wrong! I still don’t know where the HTML is hiding which makes it difficult to implement CSS.

I’ve gotten 2 sites set up and I’ve been helping Lee with hers, and it’s taken 3 weeks to do it! The free themes are pretty overwhelming; there are so many and they are set up to show you the blog page. I want to create websites where the blog plays a secondary role. I googled phototgraphy  themes for WordPress and found several good sources for premium themes. Themeforest is my favorite one stop shopping. The thing  I learned quickly about premium themes is that they explain everything the theme has to offer and lets you preview the pages. WordPress shows you a preview of the free theme, but it’s still hard to know what it will look like for images when all you see is the blog page with that boat image or pages of text. I like having things spelled out for me with appropriate samples.

I purchased a theme from Photocrati with 4 different ways to display images. I struggled for a week trying to figure out how the pages were created and how the menu worked…it was driving me crazy! There was a new update a few days after I purchased mine and it wouldn’t upload without making a mess. Photocrati responded to my email within a few hours but their advice didn’t solve my problem. After several attempts to fix things, they asked for my user names and passwords to take a look at the files. Their response was basically the same as the first time, the file was in the wrong folder…they gave me the same steps to try again. Isn’t this a good example of Einstein's  definition of insanity!

Here’s the deal in a nutshell:

Between Lee and I, we have 3 domain names, each one set up with its own hosting package with GoDaddy, and the Photocrati theme. My first install had a glitch that wasn’t apparent to a new WordPress user, I just thought WordPress was extremely difficult. As I noted before, the update completely ruined everything. I uninstalled the theme and re-installed the new version several times, I also uninstalled the WordPress application and re-installed it through GoDaddy. After numerous attempts, a whole day wasted, the thing worked. I don’t know how it happened but it works.

My biggest question for Photocrati is, if it was a simple matter of a file being in the wrong folder and since they had total access to my accounts, why didn’t they just move it for me? The folder was in the same folder as my other themes and the files were in the same configuration, I couldn’t find anything out of place and the solution they sent me failed twice, it would have been so easy for them to fix it, wouldn’t it?

My second site went smoothly. The license allows me to use Photocrati on as many personal websites as I want so I uploaded the same zip file to the new site. Don’t know why this worked the first time, but I’m not complaining!

Now for Lee’s experience…she had a domain name through GoDaddy so she set up her WordPress hosting through them too. Next she purchased the Photocrati theme. Every time she uploaded it, she got lines of text giving various error messages that pushed the dashboard off the screen making it hard to deactivate the theme. We both worked on her site, uninstalling both the theme and the WordPress application to no avail. As a last ditch effort, we uninstalled everything and I tried the installation on my computer. We’d become convinced that her firewall must be interfering some way. We discovered that I had to be an administrator for either of us to access her account from my computer which we can’t understand. So, starting from scratch, we installed the WordPress application again and then installed my copy of the zip file (which now worked on 2 sites) and nothing changed. It’s a mystery! Photocrati blames the way GoDaddy handles WordPress and GoDaddy says that there is a lot of trouble with Photocrati themes…neither attitude helps us! Lee has asked for her money back; we’ll see how that goes.

I downloaded Sandbox yesterday and I’m looking forward to playing with the CSS file so I can get a better understanding of how things work. I also start PHP and MySQL classes this week at Wake Tech, I’ll keep you posted. These are skills that seem very important to landing a job and they should make WordPress easier to understand. I’m also going to sign up for Lynda.com and see how those tutorials are.

Group marketing for artists

We had our second meeting on Sunday. We now have 9 artists that have decided to pool our time and resources to get aggressive with our self promotion. Not only do we have a very diverse range of art, we have a very diverse skill set and contact base. I could never do this on my own! My studio mates and I have been struggling to get things off the ground with 3 of us.

The goals for this week are:
decide on a group name, one that defines what we are doing and that is search engine friendly.
Research local venues that support and encourage art shows, like local coffee houses and restaurants
Laying out a promo piece that includes printed material and a CD with additional images and information.

I am very interested in following up on corporate sales. It seems that articles geared at helping artists in the marketplace talk a lot about corporate sales, directly to corporate curators, through art advisors, and online. I am hoping to find resources at the local library or at the local university libraries. So far my online searches aren't producing much. There are large online galleries that sale primarily to large corporations but they don't make it easy for artists to submit material to be considered.

Outside of research this week, I am going to work on SEO for the Carter Building Alliance website and my own. One of our members presented some great articles on SEO and I found a few new ideas that I hadn't thought about before.

Marketing is a very large undertaking and very time consuming. I've always felt overwhelmed and not gotten very far along before I 'find something better' to do! Now I can take it one step at a time, one day at a time, and know that I am accountable to the group that is eager to hear what I learn and to share their new gained knowledge.


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First Friday at the Carter Building in August

A big part of pulling together a marketing plan is defining yourself as a business. We started the process this winter with new studio space, a name, and a logo. Our business goals weren't quite so well defined; we could do this to make money, or maybe this,...should definitely do that...You know how it goes. I got swallowed up in tax season, Lee had to finish the school year at the same time she and the girls were adjusting to Jeremy's long distance commute, and Tunde has been relocating to Boone. And have I mentioned the record heat?! Very debilitating!

While the heat continues to rage, I think we're starting to adjust to it. My house is still 89 degrees inside most days but I don't seem to feel it as much. Only problem is when my arms stick to my art work! Tunde finished his move this weekend; it's going to be hard to have him out of town but I think the stress level will be reduced and he'll get back to painting more and things will be right with the world. And now we have 2 art markets to focus on!

Lee's girls are getting restless, it's time for school to start back! We are using the time constructively while trying to keep them occupied. Yesterday we tore the whole studio apart. Tunde took most of his painting supplies, just leaving little bits of himself behind and since we moved into the space in a hurry in Febuary, things have never been properly put away. We literally pulled everything into the middle of the floor and started fresh: paper's in one place, the screws and nails are sorted, the office supplies are put away....and all the wrappers and trash are thrown away! We added 10 feet of surface work space! And we made room for a 4th person. I love the way the floor space is opened up again, there is breathing room and the sun seems to shine brighter. Today we are going to re-hang the walls and finish getting things in place for First Friday.

Now, we should be able to focus on defining our goals. We have started a group within the Carter Building to pool our time and resources. We met Sunday for the first time and brainstormed. First order of business is research. It's great, some one is tackling galleries, corporate sales, online galleries, promotion/proposals and then we have our next meeting scheduled - a very important next step. It will serve to keep us accountable!

Time for Daisy to take me for a walk. Did I mention the heat!!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Glenwood South, Raleigh

Getting ready for August First Friday

The temperature reached 103! I'm sitting on my porch with two fans blowing hot air on me- feels cooler out here than my sunroom studio. No A/C this summer so it's 91 in the rest of the house!

Enough complaining; I'm getting a lot done work wise, it's too hot to be moving around. I got the class schedule updated for upcoming fall classes: check out www.cbaraleigh.com for the latest. I polished up my resume and started applying for web design jobs; it's amazing what they expect for an entry level job! There's always hope! Today I finally got the kinks out of my website-little things that have been driving me crazy. And the conference website should be finished! That was fun and I learned a lot and I got to work with some great people.

I haven't gotten as much done for my upcoming show as I'd hoped this week, it's too humid to color photographs without ruining them. I hope to get a least one more finished this weekend and then I get to photograph them; tungston lights ought to be a real joy right now! My show is Faces of Nature at Local Color Gallery, 20 Glenwood Ave on August 5th from 6-9.

This week is going to be another hot one so I plan to pour all my energy into marketing projects: brochure for corporate dealers, gallery submissions and our freelance web design. Plus I've got to color, photograph, matt & frame!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Raleigh

Mural is installed on The Carter Building

 

 

We had a grand time! Thanks to everybody that worked so hard: Tunde Afolayan, Lee Ball, Bill  Beatty, Donna Belt, Rick Bennett, Allen Clapp, Steve Coad, Karen Latta Cain, Greg, and Susan Jones.

And Special Thanks to all those from the community that participated in the painting.

Working on a large project like this has pulled us together and we are learning from each other. The building community is starting to get real excited so the sky’s the limit, nothing is impossible! If you google Raleigh, my dream city, the Carter Building pops up from multiple sources.

For more images, visit www.cbaraleigh.com.

Carter Building Community Mural Big Success

We had a great time at The Carter Building yesterday painting a community mural. At least 50 joined us during the day – we actually finished early! The weather was great and did I say we had a lot of fun?!

You can see additional pictures at www.cbaraleigh.com and www.simplyphotosnc.com.

We also had a great turnout for our First Friday musician, Lightnin’ Wells. He’s great and had everyone movin’.

Since I’ve been so involved in the marketing of these events, I wanted to go up to people and ask how they heard about the events!

This week will be busy; I start teaching summer camp in another week. Please let the heat stay away!!

Community Palette Mural at the Carter Building

In April we had our first event at the Carter Building, ArtSpeaks, with Lope Maz Diaz leading the group. We had a small turnout but were rewarded with individual critiques. I learned a lot and had a good time with my fellow tenants as well as 2 guests.

I’ve spent the last few days submitting our next event to local calendars – this is a very time consuming task! I hope it pays off in the end.

 

This event should be great fun and if the celebrities we have invited participate, it should be even better!

Tax season is over…

Actually it’s been over for a while but life hasn’t slowed down much. I am so used to keeping my work life and my art life compartmentalized that this year’s overlapping has been quite a challenge. On April 16th I left work early to give a talk at an artist seminar, then back to taxes (except the tornado got in the way) and on the 17th The Carter Building had it’s kickoff ArtSpeaks event that I left work early for. It felt goodto be able to say “look at the time, I get to go be an artist now”.

I was very unsure about the talk at the VAE Business of Being an Artist seminar. I was asked to talk about my studio experience, specifically the choice of working in a group. So what’s the first thing I do, I take my studio mates with me to help with the presentation – I wasn’t scared anymore! It felt very natural to introduce my mentor, Tunde and my supporter, Lee. We are all aware of the positive aspects of sharing a space but putting them into words was beneficial. I started out in a studio space that was all mine. The other tenants in the building were friendly but we didn’t have much of a connection. I was very unsure of myself and had hoped that working around creative people would bring me out of my shell. The landlord’s wife was a rather unpleasant person to be around and I found myself hiding, not using my space to work in as I’d intended but solely as a place to exhibit First Fridays, which I hadn’t intended. I made it through 11 months before I bailed – the experience was a learning experience, one I hope never to repeat!

I found 3 other women on craigslist that wanted to share a space; we found one in the Carter Building. The chemistry was a little off, 2 left and 2 of us are still together. Over the course of that year, we learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t about living with artists! The most obvious benefit is splitting the cost. At first, this was all I was interested in. Now that’s only a small part of the equation.

• Friendship has been the  greatest. We’re all artists and artists are quirky people – we understand each other! It’s the first time in  my life that I’ve felt there was a group of people that truly understood me! And the nice thing about that is we sense the ups and downs and know what to do to help each other out.
• We each have an area of expertise. When you’re brainstorming, there can be a tendency to skip ideas if you don’t have the necessary skills to follow that path. I can now appreciate the true value of brainstorming because nothing seems impossible… there is always someone that knows how to go about a task or knows someone who does! It’s beautiful!!
• Energy. It’s so easy to take ideas and put them on the back burner because you just don’t have the time or energy to deal with it at the moment. It’s amazing how much energy you can find when someone wants to help!

I could go on with specific examples but they all fall under the above. Sharing expenses is a great starting point but the community of artists is the best result!

Tax season is over. I’ll miss my ‘number crunching’ friends but my 40 week vacation will be over before I know it so I need to tackle the garden, paint a pansy, and head out to a meeting with my art friends!

First Friday in new studio

 

I am totally worn out! It’s been a long 2 weeks getting ready for last night. My days have started early with my tax work and ended late with my art. It’s worth it though to see the bright, colorful space and feel all the energy. This is the first space that I have been able to see myself working and not just showing. I think my studio mates are very inspiring and the fun we have generates a lot of creativity. Lee and I got to the studio about 5:00 and had a little time to get the final touches done. Tunde was in Elizabeth City for a gallery opening so we were very busy once the evening started. I wish that I had thought to take pictures while all the people were there but I was so busy, I never thought of the camera! Next month when we have our grand opening I’ll do better.

Our new space is so inviting that it’s very hard to stay away, I hope this desire stays with me once tax season is over. This was my first Saturday to work, I only had to work 2.5 hours; next week will be so much longer. Six weeks to go.

Tomorrow I teach my first class for adults. I’m very excited and scared. I hope that I can share my love for colored pencil effectively. I am planning on starting with color theory, a topic I truly love. Next week we may do a little more color theory and then move to transferring a design to color.

Lee suggested that I start doing colored pencil drawings instead of handcolored photographs because people don’t understand handcolored work, they think color photography or Photoshop until they look up close. While this may be true, my heart is just not into that; I guess I could do a few small pieces and see if they draw more attention – maybe then my heart would get into it! My plan and desire is to get back to my books, Myrtle and Maude are waiting!

New studio almost ready!

We have worked non-stop all weekend and we’re almost finished! Our excitement is still high, can’t wait to move in and start working!

Saturday, we were still constructing, I was in charge of painting the doors and finishing up walls.

The back storage unit is finished and almost full!

Our new logo “Without Borders” posted over our new yellow door.

New Studio

It’s way past my bedtime for a tax season night but I’ve been working hard with my studio mates and our spouses to get our studio ready to move into this weekend. It’s slightly overwhelming; thank goodness tax season is starting off slow!

  before

during, Sunday

Tuesday night

Bob hung the door tonight, most of the construction is done, more painting to do and moving!!

Busy networking weekend

February’s First Friday was cold and wet; normally a poor attendance month, this one was no exception. The first reaction is usually, “why did I bother to be here tonight?” And the answer is, “ the people that come out are interested in art and you actually get to spend more time talking with them.” I enjoyed meeting the people that came into my studio and made a few friends, exchanging ideas and explaining techniques.

The other big event for the weekend was the VAE Art Auction Gala. As an executive board member, I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know some of the people that are involved with VAE through other channels. I spent Friday morning helping schlep art work from the VAE to the Marriot for the event. Saturday night I was the event photographer. It was an awesome experience! The lighting was difficult so I’ve had fun working in Photoshop and Lightroom to get the flesh tones right. After 2 days, I’m only half through the project. I need to experiment with using the higher ISOs and giving up the flash; my camera is supposed to handle low light without noise – I just don’t trust it!

Sunday was our Carter Building tenant meeting; the enthusiasm is building! We have 2 events planned, Art Speak and Community Palette. Art Speak will be in April and will feature our own  Lope Max as a guest speaker. His talk will be followed up with artist demos and portfolio critiques. In June we are going to paint a community mural. Everyone is very excited about the mural project; ArtSee magazine is planning on featuring the event! We’re hoping to have a few local celebrities stop by to paint on the mural, maybe a Hurricanes player or two, to entice more people to come out and experience art by painting part of the mural.

This week is dedicated to gathering marketing tools. There are so many places to post events that it is overwhelming! We’re working as a group to develop a list; I’ve got 2 that need to be done by the 10th and I can’t find where I filed the information away. I think I’m a bit too organized; everything is filed away and I can’t remember the categories!

Lee Ball and Tunde Afloyan show off our new Carter Building Art Center sign! Please send friends to cbaraleigh.com to see our list of upcoming classes and schedule for our Summer Art Clinics for children in grades K-8!

Glenwood South Website is done!

It’s been a tough few weeks but I finally have every thing working the way I want it on the web site! The last challenge was to fix the logo/header on the map page. All the HTML appeared to be the same and on the first few glances, so did the CSS. This is one project that the CSS is very long so I had to print it out, compare, correct, and print it out again. After numerous adjustments that didn’t seem to do much, deleting floats and adjusting font sizes, I finally removed a line of text and everything fell into place! Time for the Bailey’s!

Check it out, www.shopdineglenwoodsouth.com. My very first professional logo design too.

I’ve been hard at work on the Carter Building web site as well, updating pages for the new Carter Building Art Center. Students are starting to sign up for classes and the building as a whole is starting to get noticed. Our hard work is starting to pay off, now for sales!!

 

I am learning so much about the marketing of art and businesses in general. I’ve learned more about web design than any certificate program and had a lot of fun doing it. I’ve got a great mentor, Tunde Afolayan, and several wonderful critics; they keep me from making a fool of myself!

Messing with my iPad

All I wanted for Christmas was an iPad! My family thought I was nuts but they got me one!

First things first, I added ebook readers and they added games. Now I am learning about the apps that will allow me to conduct business where ever I am. This is my first attempt at blogging from my iPad, I hope it works right!
I also signed up with Squareup.com to handle charge cards for my business, it's a great service that I wouldn't have access to without iPad.

I learned a new trick yesterday: it's called the two finger scroll. My website uses a horizontal scroll bar for several of my pages and they weren't working on my iPad. I did a lot of google research over 2 days and worked with the css3 'if then' statement: my css works when I decrease the size of my browser window but the iPad wasn't affected. I finally searched scrolling on an iPad and found the 2 finger scroll! Use 2 fingers together to slide across the page and viola!, the rest of the page shows up just like it does on my desktop. Still don't know why the 'if then' statement doesn't work but I'll save that for another day!

Skjonesart.com

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