A Painting Artist

Chris Jackson/Getty Images.

I’m starting a campaign through this blog to pass along all the books I’ve read.

Seth Godin says: “a book is a souvenir and a container and a motivator and an easily leveraged tool. Hoarding books makes them worth less, not more. An effective manager hands books to her team. Not so they can be reminded of high school, but so that next week she can say to them, “Are we there yet?”

It is in this spirit that I am emptying my bookshelves of all the novels, self-help books and biographies that have been instrumental in teaching me something of value. And the point is because I have gained that value, I can pass the book along. I don’t need to see it on my bookshelf gathering dust to be reminded of this value.

Each day I will post on this blog an entry about one of the books I am passing along, a bit like an extended review. I hope to include some tidbits about each book for you. There will be a link to my bookstore where you can purchase the book. Please pass this blog link along to your friends. I truly believe books are meant to be shared and recycled, and want to also make room for the books I’m going to buy in this next phase of my life, not to mention the ones I’m going to write and publish!

When you have finished reading books from my store, please make sure you pass them along again.

Share their value.

This story made me smile. My husband showed me the article in the London Evening Standard about Baby Archie – is he the new Jamie Oliver? Archie’s dad, Nick, was made redundant, and became a stay-at-home Dad, and started cooking with Archie, his son and creating a video blog. The blog gets over 1,000 hits per day, and a book deal is in the works!

Now, they cook every day together, and Archie loves his food. Given the ‘fussy eaters’ children can be, Nick’s approach is proving to be a huge inspiration for parents, and not just parents – I watched the video on Plum Clafoutis, something I have always resisted making, much to my husband’s chagrin – having seen how easy it is, I’m making it!

This guy is going to rock the foodie world with his approach, and so watch out Annabel Kiemel … Nick doesn’t hide his carrots, make them into eyebrows so Archie won’t notice. Oh no. Nick has followed a ‘baby led weaning’ approach, so Archie doesn’t think carrots are eyebrows, he knows they are carrots, and eats them!

The other thing I like about Nick’s approach is the little aside stories he includes on his blog, like the one in this video about the Mum who lost her daughter. Yes, life is precarious, and it’s also precious, and cooking together, sticky fingers and all, makes you stop and appreciate one another.

He didn’t set out to ‘make money’ from his idea, he just used this as a creative outlet, and a way to interact with other parents online. The irony is, of course, that he will probably end up being a squillionaire!!

Good luck Nick – and Archie!

Duane Keiser was the inspiration for this video. He got fed up of galleries taking a fat commission for the sale of his art, and so he conceived the idea of creating a painting a day, and it proved to be a successful way of selling his artwork.

As well as his successful postcard series which he sells through his blog, Duane also sells what he calls Oddments of his work. He randomly posts these on his blog.

This concept can apply to drawings and even small sculptures, jewellery especially, and pottery.

So I guess the question is: what can you create each day to sell online?

I am so interested to hear about what you decide to create, so be sure to leave me a comment.

Have fun filling your tank!

Amanda
PS. Create a second store online for your work and open an account at Etsy which is the place to buy and sell arts and crafts.

PPS. Look out for my post about how to keep your creativity tank full.

Where to place your blog, the personality you share through it, and the products you promote are an integral part of building your success online.

Amanda

Before you make money online (or offline), you have to have something to say. To find your story, and tell that in words or pictures. As a writer and artist I switch between words and images. Today is a day for words. I’m away from my London studio, and have not travelled with any paint, so I’m left with my journal and pen, and my blog, of course!

Several years ago I completed Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way At Work, the famous 12 week course in creating a map of creativity. What I learnt about my own map is that I need to make time for my words to express themselves on the page, as much as I need to make time to find meaning in the paint. When words tie me up in knots, the paint releases the tension. For years I wrote Morning Pages, 3 pages of A4 every day come what may, and it was good, but I reached a stage where those 3 pages weren’t enough, and in a way they became a substitute for my real writing. I still keep a journal, but like any performer, I’m now looking for means of bigger exposure.

What are you substituting for your real writing?

Be sure to leave a comment and tell me.

Amanda

                             ‘Rough Around The Edges’ on Indian Khadi paper

I began creating small paintings of ‘emotional moments’ a few years ago on Indian Khadi paper. This roughly textured paper absorbs paint and water like a sponge, making it easy to make small paintings quickly. I treated these like I would a diary entry in my journal, and sometimes created a whole series in one evening. They were incredibly therapeutic to make because after short bursts of energy I would end up with half a dozen takes on a feeling or an image I had in my mind. Creating these images was and is still like a meditation for me, and painting in this way allows me to produce work easily without over-analyzing and obssessing about ‘what the market wants.’ This keeps my creative fire stoked, and can often lead to ideas for other images.  This was before I’d even heard of Duane Keiser’s method of a painting a day.

What do you create daily?

Leave me a comment and tell me.

Amanda

The New York Times published an article on May 10 about how during good times, an art auction is the obvious choice for a collector wanting to sell a work of art. And now that the recession is deepening, many art collectors are ‘retreating’ into selling their art privately, for less money. Well boohoo I say.

“The game has definitely shifted,” said Christopher Eykyn, a former head of Impressionist and modern art at Christie’s who is now a dealer in New York.

I should hope so.

What has also shifted is the balance of power between artist and dealer with the publication of 51.9 million blogs (according to Technorati). Artist/bloggers such as Duane Keiserare democratizing the art world, using the Internet to change the making and selling of art, and therefore taking back their power. Dealers and galleries, who have historically commanded a whacking 50% commissions, no longer have exclusive control in defining who is hot or successful. Now artists can sell directly to the public, using blogs or auction sites at prices more affordable to would-be collectors. They can even create a new customer base using this media.

To your success!

I wrote a story yesterday about my friend Judy who has been diagnosed with a recurrence of her breast cancer, and how sad I am about this. In writing this, something profound happened. Not only did it tip me into my own grief about the recurrence I had four and a half years ago, but judging by some of the comments I received on Hub Pages, people appreciated my honesty, it touched a nerve. There are plenty of resources on this hub if you or someone you know is going through this.

I want to thank and acknowledge my friend Birte Edwards who encouraged me to write this story and blog about it, and has asked me when she can see my paintings live as the flat screen doesn’t do them justice! Well Birte I’m going to work on that.

I was sharing this with her during our weekly Mastermind group. We are both members of a very special online community called WEST, which stands for World Entrepreneurial Success Training. Nothing is off limits in this group and one of the many benefits I get from being part of this community is the chance to brainstorm and get my questions answered by experts who have become friends.

Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and comments.

Yesterday Hazel Dooney posted a comment on her blog saying she rarely read artist’s blogs because they bored her. Why, she asked, didn’t artists write about the challenge of being an artist.

So I did.

http://www.socyberty.com/Work/The-Challenges-of-Being-an-Artist.637571

Hazel is giving away the first 100 of the limited edition of 500 small photographic prints to anyone who emails her, which is a generous gift by anyone’s standards.

Finding your voice is about doodling.

Yesterday I discovered the wonderful world of Hugh MacLeod, the author of the million dollar download book, How To Be Creative.

This is such a cool book, I wish I had written it myself … but hats off to Hugh for listening to his doodles.  Seriously.  He discovered his cartoon on the back of a biz card idea while doodling on a bar napkin.  Which just proves one thing. When we stop pushing to be creative and allow ourselves to BE creative, guess what?  We are creative!  Yes, it works.

The coolest thing about Hugh is that he made his book available for free, and in giving this, he received not only a whole ton of traffic to his blog, but a community, an audience, a people to write to, and he’s inspired so many others through using his voice in this unique way.

In the words of Carly Simon:  nobody does it better.

You are free also to share this link How To Be Creative with as many folks as you like.  Enjoy.

What are you doodling today, and what are you giving?