Paint Snob Says: Best Oil Paint Is...

I am a Coffee Snob, a Wine Snob and a Paint Snob
Before my tastes became "refined," I painted with any paint that was pretty. I then discovered the deliciousness of Old Holland, Williamsburg and Rembrandt Oils. But now I have a new favorite!

RGH Oil Paints Are My New Favorites
RGH oil paints are made by artist, Rolf Haerem, for artists. Pure pigments are combined with alkali-refined linseed oil and put through a three roll mill three to five times. RGH does not use extenders in their paints and guarantees their quality.

Why I love this oil paint:

• High Quality
• Hand Made in US
• Professional Grade
• High Tinting Strength
• Butttery Consistency
• Economical Pricing
• Customized Paints
  

You no longer have to compromise paint quality for price. RGH paints are available in over 100 colors made from the purest pigments and finest ingredients.

Buy 37ml, a gallon, or many quantities in between!

Browse other posts about Oil Paint.

Surrealism at Cuba! Gallery

Mysterious, multilayered and muy importante!
Freshly painted surrealist pieces are now in an exhibition at Cuba! Gallery in Melbourne Florida. Alicia de la Campa Pak, artist and Cuba resident, is featured in this two person show. Paintings from her current series, "Jardín Secreto" (Secret Garden), contain complex narratives that are at once beautiful and evocative. This is an exhibit you don't want to miss!

Look for de la Campa Pak in an upcoming Featured Artist post.

Until then: Go See this Show! You have through November 25th.


More Information:
Cuba! Gallery of Fine Art
1900 S. Harbor City Blvd. Suite 124-A
Melbourne FL 32901
(321) 729-8800

Oil Paint : Student Grade or Professional Grade?

Oil Paint Quality
Student Grade oil paints are usually less expensive and of a poorer quality than Professional Grade oil paints.  They are appropriate to use if:

• You do not consider yourself to be a professional artist (now or in the future).
• You really, really want your paintings to deteriorate more rapidly over time.
• You have to choose between eating and buying high quality paint.

Comparison of Oil Painting Changes Over Time
Student Grade Oil Paints over Professional Grade Acrylic Gesso on Canvas:  

BEFORE

AFTER

Observations of a Painting Stored in the Dark for Over 10 Years; Why I don't use student grade paints:

• Background pigment faded and patchy
• Cast shadows have taken on violet hue versus original neutral
• Highlights have dulled
• Edges of objects in shadow have taken on a hard, sharp line 
• Forms have lost 3-dimensionality and appear flattened and without structure

Due to my experience with various types of paint, I can only recommend the highest quality at any stage of your career.  Professional Artists Oil colors are even appropriate for doing studies, in my opinion.  Studies sometimes become an important point of reference in later years.  Furthermore, a study can take on a life of its own and become a painting in its own right.

Please Post Your Comment or Suggestion by Clicking 'Comments," Below.

Business Cards: √ (check)

Business Cards Cheap

9 bucks shipped- no frills, but does the job!

Business Cards Fast

It took less than a week!

• Tuesday, 4:30 pm: I uploaded the completed design for premium business cards to Vistaprint and chose slowest shipping method (21 days).
• Thursday, 1:43 am : Vistaprint email informs my order is shipping early.
• Friday: Order shipped
• Monday: Order received

Image Uploaded for Printing

I had to play around with and re-uploaded my images to get graphics inside the "Vistaprint safe zone" denoted by a dotted line on uploaded image.  This was after I had already prepared document to specifications of  1062x615 pixels and a cut size of 1028x579 pixels.  Other than this inconsistency, the process was easy. 

Business Cards Cost
250 cards is about $25 shipped.
1000 cards is about $36 shipped.

This included these "extras":
Upload of own design (2)
Glossy color on front side
Full color back side

250 cards can be had for about $9 including shipping, without the extras above. 
250 cards (free option) is less than $6 If you allow the vistaprint branding on the back side.

Vistaprint Card Ordering Tips:
Chose slow shipping for savings- it was really pretty quick.
Received a coupon enclosed in my order for 25% off next order plus free uploads.
Continually receive free offers by email- it pays to get on their mailing list.
Vistaprint prints postcards and tons of other stuff too.

Website Launch

Launched latest version of website this month.
Goals:  keep it simple yet professional, make information easy to find, have it visually not too hard on the eyes.

juliesusanne.com

Flaunt It: Business Cards and Post Cards for Artists

OK, None of us is born with business knowledge- but there are tons of resources out there;  I've been reading a couple of great art marketing books.  All of the authors are consistent in their insistence that if we want to make a living using our talents, we must promote ourselves and get our art in front of the public.

Duh?  Yeah, duh!!  Our art DOESN'T speak for itself, it turns out!!

Presenting our most professional self is paramount.  I could scribble my name and number on a scrap of paper, but there is something to be said about the traditional business card. 

HerRealism Fine Art and Design Business Card Draft

Including a graphic that represents my artwork or design service is... how do you say...a no brainer.  Finding a good deal on the printing- priceless.  If you have a local printer you love use them.  Otherwise check out the great online options.  I have seen the products Vistaprint puts out, and they are rather good. 

Although their free card option includes a very small Vistaprint line on the back, it is certainly better than the aforementioned scrap of paper.  Also, much better than the laser printed cards done at home.
However their premium cards are very reasonably priced. 

This week I am sending off my next design (above) and will let you know the turn around time.

In the meantime- check out the great printing deals:

                                                                    

500 Premium Business Cards for $10

50% Off Postcards. Mailing Services Available.



The links above are for products and services I have researched and tried out.  I receive a small percentage of sales from business conducted through these links.  I have not been asked to recommend any product or service in exchange for payment.

The Museum of Censored Art Grand Opening

Censorship Does Not Work in Today's Culture

Spurned by the Smithsonian's most recent act of removing a David Wojnarowicz video from a National Portrait Gallery exhibit in November, the video has received a lot of attention and screenings (see previous posts on Wojnarowicz’ video: click here) .

The Museum of Censored Art Opens its Doors

Now, visitors of the Smithsonian's Hide/Seek exhibit will also get to see the video "Fire In My Belly," by David Wojnarowicz without traveling too far: 
The Museum of Censored Art : Showing Art the Smithsonian Won't  has just opened an exhibit just steps from the National Portrait Gallery. 


Please click 'comments' below to add your opinion

Censorship Not Effective

Video about AIDS Suffering and Oppression Gets Airplay

"A Fire in My Belly," the Wojnarowicz video censored by the Smithsonian in November, has received more screenings since it's 'banning.'  From Washington D.C. to New York to Chicago to Los Angeles to You Tube. See previous post here: Censorship of the Arts.

"A Fire in My Belly" was shown at:

• Transformer Gallery December 3rd through December 4, 2010 as continuous screening for 48 hours in storefront window.
• CB1 Gallery  December 9th through December 19, 2010.  During LA Art Walk the 9th, over 700 people saw the piece.

Wojnarowicz' video can still be seen here:

• Hammer Museum through January 30, 2011
• New Museum through January 23, 2011
• Smart Museum through February 6, 2011

Online viewing of "A Fire in My Belly:"

• Fire in My Belly by David Wojnarowicz 

Please contribute your comments below by clicking 'comments.'

Get Your Blog Listed in Blog Catalog or Blog Search Engine

Why do you blog, anyway?  Hopefully it is to provide useful content to readers.  Pinging blog search engines reaches out to more of those readers.

Have you ever tried to determine the best/most used blog catalogues and how to ping them?  I did and, Dang! Did you know there are, um, I don't know, thousands of them?!! (Last week, I did a post aboutTechnorati, here). I've been sorting through them...

Five Most Useful Blog Search Engine Catalogs

1. Blogpulse.com (now defunct)
2. Blogsearch.google.com 
3. Icerocket.com search is on the slower side.
4. Technorati.com 
5. Weblogs.com although catalogs newest posts, blogs not searchable from weblogs.com website.

Dead, Defunct or Dumb Blog Search Engines
Those we have lost....

• Blogdigger.com: search results continually came up null, read: "dumb, useless."
• Blog.gs appears to be under construction for last 8 months, in effect: defunct.
• Bloglines.com: still exists, but appears to be an rss feed aggregator and no longer a blog search engine- it is not completely clear.
• Blogrolling.com: dead: has clearly ceased operation. 
• Feedster.com: dead: is simply a parked domain name.
• Newsgator.com: has several rss feed readers available, but does not search wide range of blogs from site.
• Pubsub.com: searches publications; all search results were 11+ days old and no blogs found in results. 

Ping the Search Engines

Send the major search engines a notification when your blog is updated.  Services such as pingoat and pingomatic allegedly update some of the search engines.  However, since they both list defunct blog search engines, I question whether they actually are effective.

1. Blogpulse: Can No Longer Submit Blog.
2. Blogsearch: Add Blog.  Google's Blogsearch adds blog to search results.
3. IceRocket: Ping Us. Icerocket also provides automatic pinging instructions on the same page.
4. Technorati: Blog Claim FAQ‘s. An account is required and a code (sent by email) must be in the title of a blog post before blog is claimed and indexed. Then the blog is indexed if it has standing in the blogging community according to the Technorati Authority tracking.
5. Weblogs: Ping Here.

 
Please contribute by clicking 'comments.' below:

Technorati Technorschmati

Blogging For Dollars

Part of using a blog for fun and profit has to do with exposure.  Technorati tags help search engines (and then people) find you. Start by signing up your blog on Technorati so more people can find it.  I tried this a year ago, and Technorati was so back-logged, I could not get blog verified.  This process is much quicker today.
A matter of minutes.

Keep It Simple, and Happy New Year

Blogging Success

OK- So I have been reading about art, marketing, art marketing, blogging, etc. 
what "they" say out there is I should be:

1. writing at least 1000 words per day,
2. spending at least 10 hours writing each blog post,
3. reading at least 10 hours (of blogs) per week,
4. commenting on other blogs daily,
5. studying copywriting,
6. studying marketing,
7. learning html code- at least some basics,
8. linking into social networking (they don't agree on the effectiveness of the various networks, but Facebook is a must),
9. developing a product if I have a service and vice versa, and
10. asking my readers to subscribe to 'my stuff,' which, right now is this blog.

OK- I don't have time for all this...so I'll never be the 'cream of the crap' of bloggers,
but you, my friend, could become a bloggin' superstar!
- just begin by doing all of the above and to help you out I will be bringing you bunches of (mostly free) resources to enhance your artistic, blogging, marketing, selling success.

As for #10, above, I invite you to accept one of your first New Year's gifts:

What You Will Get: Free Offers to Improve Your Online Life- Yep- That's what's ahead.
What You Won't Get: Spam; Nada, Zero, Zilch- I hate that S*#$! Yer info is NEVER given out, EVER!

So don't miss out on Free Cool Stuff to come, just sign up:
Sign up for new Beyond The Artist's Way Blog posts by doing (at least) one of the following three things:

1. Sign-up as a Follower (click here)
2. Subscribe to RSS Feed (click here)
3. Subscribe by Email;
   

   Enter your email address in box:

   
   

If you already receive updates you will never miss this Free Cool Stuff.

Happy New Year!
~~julie susanne