Inspiration is a necessity for Artist

Inspiration Is a Necessity for Artists

Hi guys….there are always times when an artist has a day or days when they feel uncreative or uninspired. Sometimes the days become weeks or even months. Lately I haven’t been feeling to paint. I think in starting my Etsy Shop teaprint and creating as many printables as I can, my satisfaction started coming from creating these digital products rather than painting. This period of lack of artistic inspiration is a common phase for every artist, however, all of us that love to be creative, suffer quite a bit from these stages. We feel like we’ll never be able to create anything good in our lives, ever again.

That is happening to me right now and I would like it to end immediately, but at the same time, I’m afraid to go back to my easel and face a potential lack of feeling or excitement like I normally feel. I read a few articles about this and one artist indicated that she had developed some special “go to” activities that help you get over the temporary impasse and go back to your art with renewed passion. So if you're feeling like me right now, I want to share this with you, maybe this information will help you like it has me. The 10 steps were as follows:

10 Tips to Shake Away the Creativity Burnout and Find Artistic Inspiration

1. Inspiration Is a Necessity for Artists. ...

2. Keep Your Art Supplies and Tools Easily Accessible. ...

3. Just Show Up at Your Studio. ...

4. Take Lots of Pictures of Things and Places You Like. ...

5. Collect Reference Photos and Keep Them Organized. ...

6. Start Doodling.

7. Try something New

8. Network within the Art community

9. Read books that inspire your creative genius

10. Participate in Art challenges

11. Create for the sake of creating

I was doing some of these and some I wasn’t, but my real beef was my uncertainty about what was my style. I think that is why I wasn't feeling to paint. Deep down I’ve been trying to figure out, what is really my style? because I look at the work of other artist and its clear what their style is. To me it’s because all of their pieces kinda look the same or are similar in design. Do I want that for my work? But do I have a choice? From what I see the customers seem to want that look, they want to be able to identify you through your distinct look, rather than be confused with a combination of work that could have been done by a number of artist. I’m beginning to get it. at least I think I am. From reading and researching this is what I learned:

Style in drawing is a collection of attributes that make drawings unique. Each period in the history of art is characterized by the style of some groundbreaking artists. For example, modernism is characterized in part by Cubism, a style developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.

Here are common drawing styles:

• Abstraction/Nonrepresentational: Artists who work in an abstract style make drawings that are usually about shape, line, value, color, and/or texture. Practitioners of the nonrepresentational style of drawing include Piet Mondrian, Joseph Albers, and Al Held.

• Art Nouveau: Artists who work in an Art Nouveau style make drawings that are illusionistic but primarily flat, that are highly pattern driven, and that usually incorporate fluid, curving lines. Practitioners of Art Nouveau include Gustave Klimt, Aubrey Beardsley, and Alphonse Mucha.

• Manga: Artists who practice the Manga style make drawings based on the Japanese comic book style developed in 19th Century Japan. Practitioners of Manga include Osamu Tezuka and Machiko Hasegawa.

• Post-impressionism: Artists who practiced the style called post-impressionism made drawings based on light (the preoccupation of the impressionists) but with more attention to geometric shapes. This style includes some purposefully expressive distortions. Practitioners of post-impressionism include Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, and Vincent VanGogh.

• Realism: When artists draw convincing representations of reality, the style is called realism. Practitioners of realism include Leonardo Da Vinci, Jean Augustus Dominique Ingres, William Beckman, and Steven Assael.

• Surrealism: Artists who draw dreamlike and sometimes startling works based on pure imagination are practicing surrealism. Practitioners of surrealism include Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, and Yves Tanguy.

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My style is a combination of or lies between abstraction/nonrepresentational, post impressionism and realism. The design is still all over the place but I’m getting closer to a definitive type of design for my Acrylic abstracts. With my watercolours, I’m still figuring that one out. Again as I read in another article, I need to start drawing again.

DRAWING ON THE POSSIBILITIES

The joy and personal satisfaction of creating a drawing is both an incentive and a reward.The process of drawing and realising you can enriches all aspects of ones life. The article said to think about the following as you consider the possibilities inherent in drawing:

• Your drawings illustrate your personal perceptions. Drawing challenges you to communicate what you see in a non-narrative language. Drawing allows you to speak without words. Your drawings serve as a journal of your artistic journey.

• Through the eyes of an artist, you appreciate everything around you from a whole new perspective. Drawing is seeing. As an artist, you visually explore the world with a whole new purpose — to find drawing subjects!

• Drawing is relaxing, mentally challenging, and emotionally stimulating. You CAN draw, and you can improve as much as your interest, patience, and commitment take you. The most important thing is that you are drawing. You are making art.

• There’s no “right” or “wrong” way to draw, but rather an acceptance of diversity and recognition that every drawing, no matter how much you dislike it, provides a chance for you to figure out something new (even if it’s “I don’t want to do that again!”).

• Every new skill requires practice

• The three most important elements of discovering how to draw are practice, practice, and more practice!

• The key to knowing when you’ve practiced a specific skill enough is when you’re happy with your results.

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I've read this and heard this many times....you need to be drawing everyday. I also see this being done by one of our great artist here in Trinidad Jackie Hinkson. He is constantly posting his drawings in instagram....so what's up with me? Again my uncertatinty or lack of decisiveness in solidifying what my style and will be from now on is what keeps me back from moving forward. I still feel as if having one style might be boring but not making that decision is preventing me from moving forward.

What is Style?

Your style is a combination of your voice, techniques, color choices, compositions, subject matter, media, and more all wrapped up. Your style is what binds each of your pieces together into a unique and cohesive collection. The best part is that it continues to evolve over time.  Even when you’ve found it, it starts to change.

We can learn so much from looking at our own art. So as I am unsure  if I’ve found my style, I need to start by asking myself a few questions:

• Are there elements of design that tie your pieces together?

• What themes show up in your art most often?

• What kind of subjects are you drawn to? Many or a few?

• What kind of art do you enjoy creating at the moment?

• Does your art stand out against the work of other artists?

Its said that when someone is still in the exploratory phase of their art, when an artist jumps around between many subjects, or when their pieces are lined up together and appear as if they all could come from different artists–they haven’t quite figured out their style yet, and that is me to some extent. But at least there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this! It takes time and a lot of work to eventually know your style.

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

Copy the World Around me

Mimic nature. Study light, form, color, and shape. Take figure drawing classes. Set up a still life in my living room. Work on my technical skills regularly to introduce a new perspectives and style path.

Practice. Practice. PRACTICE.

If I’m only doing art in my head  (chronic procrastinators know what I’m talking about!), my style won’t develop. If I only do art  a couple of times a month or less, I won’t see much progress. I have to try to create as often as I can. Every day is best, but a few times a week is perfect.

I have to release my expectations and just have fun.

One article says when you have a precise vision for what you want to create, you limit your perspective and create a blind spot. Finding your style often involves knowing who you are as a person and embracing it. Being an artist isn’t just a career or hobby, it’s a lifestyle. The more you weave art into your daily life and your personality into your art, the easier it will be to cultivate your style, but all of this takes time.

CONCLUSION

Creating and showcasing your personal style is a wonderful achievement. Some artists develop early, and some take years to find their rhythm and voice. Whatever pace you need to work at is the right pace. Honestly, I’m still working on mine.

Don’t try to force your style, but exercise your art muscles whenever you can.

My conclusion for self...I know what it is I should decide. I resist it because of my beliefs about the choice, but it has already been made deep down in my heart. So now its to accept and move forward. With my acrylic abstracts I will stick to the style I've developed. With my watercolours I will stick with 2 themes - landscapes and architectural/urban scenes.

DECISION MADE!!!!

Reference:

• How to identify common drawing style by Brenda Hoddinott, Jamie Combs. Part of Drawing for Dummies Cheat Sheet

• How to find your style by Kelly Marie

• 10 Tips to Shake Away the Creativity Burnout and Find Artistic Inspiration by Robie Benvie

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

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The Art of Being a Black Woman with Natural Hair - In the Beginning

Today I'm talking about why I started the last post about being a black woman with natural……….to me everything is an Art, even the art of beauty and finding who you are based on how you look and what is considered beautiful. This post goes back to when I was younger and having natural hair was not something that was part of my life. I don't remember what my natural hair looked like because my mother started pressing my hair from the age of 5 or 6 and all I remember is my hair being either pressed with an iron comb, that was heated on a stove, or my mother using chemicals in my hair to make it softer.

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One day my mother's friend who normally came to straighten my hair couldn't make it, so my mother decided to do it yourself. She placed the chemicals in my hair and told me to sit down and relax, but as I sat there my hair started to burn or I should say my head started to burn, so I call out to my mother but Mother's….you know how they are… she thought I was simply being annoying and complaining, so she shouted at me to stay put because I only had a few more minutes. So I sat and waited with my burning head. I guess that’s why relaxers never bothered me after.

The burning got worse, until I couldn't take it anymore and I called out to her indicating that I think I needed to wash out the relaxer. When she finally came to check on me I heard her make a strange sound, like a “ohhhhh” so I asked what was wrong she didn't answer. She hustled me to the sink and started washing my hair. I kept hearing her make these mewing noises and as I looked in the sink I saw pieces of my hair washing down the drain. Now I got really anxious especially when my mother was finished and she looked at me with a horrified expression. I got really scared so I looked in the mirror and I wanted to scream…. all the hair on the right side of my scalp was gone there was a huge bald spot, I started to cry immediately and while I cried my mother tried to smother the sound because she was more concerned about my father hearing me crying and coming to check because he would have ben furious. All she kept saying was “don't worry It will be fine”, but all I could think about was I had to go to school tomorrow looking like a bald freak.

 What ended up happening?... I had to take hair from the top of my head and make a bang at the side of my head. If the breeze blew too hard, the bang would raise up and show my bold spot…so embarrassing…. it was the worst experience ever. So that  is all I knew, I grew up with my hair going through these different processes in order to make it easier to handle.  The greatest complaint of most parents with kids with natural hair is how difficult it is to manage the hair and to keep it neat. That is why they try these different methods. The  hair is difficult to comb, its hard to take out the knots, that is why getting it to be smooth and easy to manage is why the start so early in a child’s life.

My hair went from pressing, to relaxing and then eventually to Jerry-curl. I stayed with Jerry-curl for quite a few years and then I discovered relaxers/straighteners. I relaxed my hair for most of my life, but I came to this point of wanting to go natural for a few reasons:

1.     My hair no longer took to the relaxer. You start off doing relaxers every 6-8 months, when you first start, then it goes to every 3 months, then every 2 months and then almost every month.

2.     My hair looks dead and lackluster. The setting wouldn’t stay. The curling iron didn’t keep the style.

3.      I also reached a point in my life at the age of 50 where I realized that I didn’t want relaxed hair anymore. I wanted to experience my natural hair. I got very curious. I saw a few women with natural hair and it looked amazing.

4.     It was on my mind a lot. I considered it a lot. It was a turning point for me. I was at a Crossroads in my life and transitioning from relaxed hair to my natural hair was a statement. A statement of change, of freedom, of removing boundaries and doing and being totally me.

Before you make that decision or decide to go through the transition, you sometimes think about what will happen when your hair starts to grow out from a relaxer, it starts to look awful, untidy, so women hit that point of having a bad hair day and they immediately begin rethinking their decisionto go natural. I needed to know more about that transitioning. I needed to know more about what natural hair entailed. Was it easier to handle, was it more work, was it just as costly as a relaxer or were there styles I could easily put my hair in when I didn’t want to style it? All these questions were on my mind and I wanted answers and I'm one of those people I do a lot of research.

I love doing research, I love reading. I love gathering the information, so that is what I did. I started looking at blogs, reading what ever looked interesting or would answer one of my questions. I went unto Pinterest, which is my favorite search engine and looked and pinned masses of pictures. I started doing a board on all the stages of natural hair transition, hair care, hair products, hair blogs and much more. But in looking at all of these pictures on Pinterest I fell in love with the short natural hairstyle. The shortcut was just very sexy and so cute, to me it was a fantastic look.

Read more in my last Blog on this topic.

What Squarespace Can Do?

Hi Guys...I know I did an ebtire blog on Squarespace versus Wordpress but now I'm doing a photo blog of what Squarespace can do. It's going to be a bit different...almost like a picture book...lol. Hope its understandable. I really like Squarespace, it's made blogging easy for me and I still struggle with Wordpress for a lot of things. so lets get started:

Squarespace is a website builder designed to help creatives build their own websites and showcase their work, no matter their technical ability.

Without any coding knowledge, you can put together your own beautiful website in a matter of hours. All you need to do is create an account, choose a template, and then edit it to create a totally unique and professional looking website.

What Does It Cost?

Get your printer to print your poster and WHALA!!!

What Does Squarespace Offer?

What I needed was easy blogging features, complete with images, videos, galleries, audio that can be easily placed on a blog or any other page without one having to get/buy a plug in.

Place your family photos in frames, inexpensive deorating.

All of these features are also very easy to add to a page or any blog. You can add texts, images, buttons, blogs, a store and more quite easily.

What Can You Get?

What is Easily Available?

Use a soothing colour.www.gafra.org

What Do You Get?

• Free Unlimited hosting

• Fast Content Delivery

• Superior Uptime and Reliability

• Comes with Free SSL

Is Help Easily Available?

Easy customer Engagement for any challenges you may have. There are also tons of tutorials by Squarespace and many Youtube Videos also explaining how to use Squarespace but it is so user friendly that you can easily figure out how it works.

How Can You Track Your Website?

Squarespace has a great analytics App that you can download on your phone. You can track views, amount of views, their geographic locations and more.

There is all that you need to know easily available on the Squarespace site. Check it out yourself, as I said before I really love this platform and it has made blogging so much more fun for me. 

Check you guys next week and have a great one...

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

Welcome! This is just one of my 3 sites, I also have: gafraihairu.com and triniartstudio.org.

Buy My Art

Get this PRINTABLES HERE It will look amazing in your Living Room behind your couch, all 3 pieces.

This PRINTABLE IS WONDERFUL FOR A BABY’S ROOM. ADD SOME COLOUR. SEE IT HERE.

Place this “See Me” Printable on your wall.

GET IT HERE

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

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Have some Mandalas printed and have your Living Room look Amazing.

The Joys of Art

Hi Everyone, I'm on a major joy ride lately because I'm trying to build up all of my blogs and my art store. It's been an interesting journey as I do all my relevant research, which entails, googling info on web sites and web hosting. Reading books about starting your online business and trying to figure out how to set up all the different sites. Being on social media is also a first for me, but quite exciting. I've tried the entire process where the youtubers indicate that you need to be enrolled on twitter, facebook, instagram, wixsite, Etsy, Artpal, Big Cartel, Redbubble, Tictail, Fineartamerica and Wordpress etc. OK yes I went a little overboard but when you're in a testing/figuring out phase, you hear about all these different options, you register then BAM!!... you find about another one, you register and then BAM!!...you know how that ends.

But a year later, I've started filtering and making decisions as to which ones to keep and which to cancel. Its easy to decide as you go with the ones that fulfil your requirements and are....wait for it......the ones that are FREE!!!!. I must say there are some extremely wonderful sites that are so easy to use and also fun to try to figure out. There are also those that are very frustrating to use. Arhhhhh!!! But I've found some great ones to. What I do dislike though, is the way they advertise one price but you have to pay for the year or they indicate one discounted price but it goes back to the full price after a year. That is just annoying, but I guess everything is to make money... so capitalism lives.

So people I'm having soooo much fun...sigh...life is good and although I started with Wordpress, and I still have one of my sites there. I've registered my other 2 sites on Squarespace because it is way easier to use and has everything you need. Wordpress can be a bit frustrating as you have to purchase Plugins every time you want to do something new or different. I've kept the free plan because it's just to annoying with all the plug ins. My old site was one where I paid for all the plugins and I still wasn't pleased with the end results.

I have to recommend one book that was amazing for me. It was "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon. I just loved that book. Have to read it again. I bought his second book "Steal Like An Artist" and that was just as great. I really love how he writes. I read "Art inc." by Lisa Congdon. This book is a great guide to understand all you need to do to start your Art business and it has been a really great read. Well that's it for now, see everyone next week. Love to you all!!!

Ohhhh I almost forgot: Of course I must feature one of my art pieces for you to see my work. This is a charcoal piece.

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Pan Practice in the Pan Yard. Trinidad at Carnival Time by gafra.org

If you weren't aware, Trinidad is known for its steel pan/drum. We have an entire festival with bands of steel pan groups playing featured music pieces or songs in a competition called Panorama, where the prize is a million dollars. This is a charcoal piece showing a small sized band practicing in a Pan Yard for an upcoming Panorama Competition.

Going back to the reading material, I have for you a list of the books I've read since starting up my sites. I still need to do a review for each one but that will come later, for now get the free reading list and learn as much as you can. Hope its helpful.

I've reached a point now where I stopped using certain sites and I've kept to a set few, so based on what was listed above I am still functioning or using the following sites:

• Redbubble

• Society6

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Wordpress

• Squarespace

and recently:

• Teachable

• Canva

• Udemy

• SmallPDF

• PDF Escape

• ClickBank

Hope you got something out of this post. See you soon and have a great one.

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

Welcome! I’m a Business Owner, Blogger, Artist, mother of 4, friend to many and a Development Coach.

Learn more about me, visit my other blogs as well.

Buy My Art

JOIN MY LIST

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Keep following my different posts and Let me help you start your art journey. Get your FREE ART SUPPLIES CHECKLIST FOR BEGINNERS HERE.

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

Get your personal copy of this ebook HERE!!

Referrences:

• 8 Famous Artists Who Were Self-Taught by Jon Mann, May 25, 2018

• BBC - Can A SeLF taught Artist Make it in the Art World?

How To Make It As An Artist?

Hi Everyone, below is a post I sent out a few years back and in looking back at it I realised so much. This is the post:

“I didn't mention this, but I'm doing an online course on how to market your business. As with every course, you get homework and we were given homework this weekend to approach 3 people to talk about our product (my art) and get them interested. Well I didn't even try doing that because, firstly I couldn't think of who I could approach that I didn't know and then having to tell them about what I do!!!!! Urrrrr!!!! Please note I'm not shy and it's not that I'm anti-social. I just didn't want to approach a friend. But low and behold I happened to go into one of our popular art supply stores "Arnim", with my daughter and as we purchased our item, a gentleman who came to collect some paintings (they also do framing and matting ), as we were leaving he called out to me. I was a bit wary as I didn't know him and wondered OK what was he up to. He asked if I painted? I said yes. Then he suggested that I become a member of a group called "Women in Art". Well I was thrown, because my art teacher moved to Canada, the art group disintegrated., so I had no other artists to bond with.

I was looking for a group to join so I could learn and join in the activities that are so enjoyable in this art world. This gentleman, out of nowhere, suddenly answered my need. He gave me all the details of who to contact and I thanked him profusely. What timing...Ha Ha HaHaHa...so of course I called immediately, arranged to pay and become a member and was invited to submit 5 pieces for an exhibition they were having in Tobago. Yea!!!!! You must understand....the more your work is out there, the more people will recognise you and you build a client base. So I immediately went through my work to pull out 5 pieces that fit the criteria and wrapped them up and they will be on their way to the exhibition on Monday. I can't wait to get feedback from the gentleman......get this....... who happened to be the Gallery Owner that was hosting the exhibition. Huh!! Just Amazing!!!! I don't meet gallery owners or other artists, so this was blow mind for me. Soooo excited. Even if none of my pieces sell at least they were on display and all of this is a great learning experience for me.

These are the pieces I submitted. Hope you like them as well. So I'll tell you more next week. Hope I have good things to share.”

ONE YEAR LATER

Yes, one year later and I can say that that went nowhere. I joined the group but you’re surrounded by so many artist that are just as good as you or better and you feel like your work just doesn’t get seen. The group was a bit disorganised and even though I submitted work for that event nothing sold and nothing sold for the 3 other events I sent submissions. Then at the last event I got soooo pissed with them…I may have done a blog on how I felt, that I decided that I wouldn’t be staying as a member, it just wasn’t working out for me. What made it worst was that it was a group for women…See what I mean? Remember my post on whether Women really help each other or not?...I rest my case.

So I asked myself the question…outside of my Development Business where I made my living, was I making or could I make a living from my Art? And the answer is NO!!! NOT YET. Yes there is the point that I wasn’t putting 100% into my Art as a business but I was putting at least 50% of my time. What helped me make money with my art were the following:

• The Upmarkets – I was able to sell small pieces but not enough to be able to have lived comfortably monthly.

• My Own Exhibition – this helped me make more money but the cost to set it up varied. The first time I did an exhibition I made a nice change of about $15K. My second exhibition was smaller and more of a POP-UP shop and I partnered with my cousin and a friend and I stood the venue cost. Here I broke even.

• Selling through Social Media – I hired my daughter to deal with Social Media for me and although I et a lot of followers (mainly local Trinis) I don’t get a lot if international followers and I’ve never gotten a sale straight off of Instagram or Facebook.

• Converting My Office into A Gallery – Great idea as I can let my clients see my work as they come for their sessions but I’ve only gotten one client sale from the Gallery and several friend sales from the gallery. One of my great friends is my biggest fan and she buys quite a few of my pieces. Gotta love her. And I do. Will always be grateful.

• Selling PRINTABLES on my sites – this too I’ve received nothing and despite following all the advice from the successful youtubers I am still to see any results, but I enjoy blogging and creating freebies and creating PRINTABLES SO I will continue despite the lack of income.

What all of this says to me is that to make a living from my ART I need to continue with the following:

• Do Exhibitions

• Continue to create new pieces

• Continue with the printables and blogging

• Continue with the Upmarkets but choose the times wisely

Now I’ve put together the different thoughts from individuals online on this topic.

Is it possible, in the current economic climate, for someone working in the creative arts to make a living from it? Unless you have the good fortune to be a Damien Hirst or a JK Rowling, the answer increasingly seems to be no. For artists who are already faced with low job security and the absence of company benefits such as pensions or paid holidays, the impact of the global financial crisis has been keenly felt.

The statistics make for uncomfortable reading. Almost a third of visual and applied artists earn less than £5,000 a year from their creative work, according to a survey conducted last year by Artists’ Interaction and Representation (AIR); 57% of the 1,457 respondents said that less than a quarter of their total income was generated by their art practices and only 16% of them paid into a private pension fund, raising questions about how professional artists will support themselves once they reach retirement age.

In other countries, there are different approaches. In Denmark, selected artists are awarded life-long annual stipends. In Sweden, the government offers five- and 10-year arts scholarships. Interestingly, however, the majority of people I spoke to in the UK prefer to maintain their artistic independence rather than taking money from the state.

WHAT TO DO TO SUCCEED AS AN ARTIST

If you want to become a successful artist, there is one thing you need to understand first: You need to understand you’re building a business. And like any other business, you have to be focused and put some effort into it. It also includes marketing yourself, putting yourself out there, and generally doing all the boring stuff that doesn’t happen magically.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY AS AN ARTIST

If you want to learn how to make money as an artist, there are two paths you can go down:

Step #1: Find an idea

First, decide what you want to specialize in.This could depend on your training and education (perhaps you took a class in graphic design or minored in photography) or simply your passion and hobbies (maybe you love animating in your free time). But for now, here are some great freelance commercial artist jobs with plenty of gigs out there:

• Illustrator. This entails taking ideas and concepts from managers and turning them into fleshed out illustrated images.

• Graphic designer. This role encompasses a variety of roles including website and logo design, product packaging, and brand production.

• Photographer. Freelance photogs can find work snapping shots for magazines, media organizations, companies, or even weddings.

• Video editor. With platforms such as Vimeo and YouTube, many companies are beginning to embrace video as a means to get across their message. They need someone to shoot, edit, and produce those videos. Could that be you?

ARTIST AS YOUR CHOICE

If you want to go into fine art, you should already have an idea of what your medium is, whether it’s painting, sculpting, photography, whatever.

No matter what your hustle idea is, you need to remember one important tenet: Do good work.

It might seem obvious but people sometimes forget this when they jump into a creative pursuit.

From Antrese

“It seems so obvious but you have to spend time developing your craft and creating work that you’re proud of,” Antrese says. “You need to be super proud of it. You can’t just put crap out into the world and expect people to like it.”

This is the “If you build it, they will come” idea of creating a side hustle. If you create good, high-quality work, people will come to you. It doesn’t matter what your artistic medium is. You should always be in the pursuit of doing good work. “It’s great for the mind-set too,” she says. “If you’re doing work you’re excited about, you’re going to be motivated to keep on doing it.”

I don’t care if you’re a freelance programmer or if you’re selling your paintings on the side: everyone gets confused at pricing their products when they start out.

“I think artists who are just starting out and aren’t familiar with the market yet tend to either price their pieces too low or too high,” Antrese says.

And while you can arbitrarily price your work until you hit on something that sticks, Antrese has a good framework that can help any beginner out: Brutal honesty.

“The simplest way to do it is to be brutally honest with yourself and evaluate your own work,” she says. “For me, I know who paints like I do, who has a similar skill set, where they’re showing, what kind of galleries they’re in, and then you go and look where they’re showing their work and how much they’re selling it for.”

This way of pricing is also known as the “Do what the other guy does” technique. By looking at yourself and others in a similar situation as you, and seeing how they price their products, you can come up with an educated guess as to how you should be pricing your work.

Step #2: Don’t quit your day job (yet)

While it might be tempting to march into your boss’s office and put in your two weeks’ notice the day after you sell your first painting or get into a gallery, you should be judicious at first.

From Antrese:

“When they start selling their work, it is tempting to quit. They think ‘If I can sell X with a full time job, I could 10X that if I just had more time to paint. I need to quit my job.’ Sounds logical enough.

What they don’t understand is what happens in their heads when they no longer have a steady paycheck. Even if they were smart and put cushion money aside, the mindset inevitably shifts from ‘I’ll create the best painting I can, if it doesn’t sell right away, it doesn’t really matter’ to ‘I worked hard for that savings and every day I don’t sell, I’m a day closer to losing it all. This painting HAS to sell.’

That’s a lot of pressure and the perfect environment for creative paralysis. Instead, Antrese suggests you resist temptation and keep your job — at least, until you can feasibly sustain yourself on your craft.

“Keep your job,” she says. “Take a ‘pay cut’ and live only off the profits from your art. Can you pay all your bills? Are you comfortable?

Step #3: Think of Different Ways to Monetize Your Art

It’s critical to think of different ways to monetize your art in order to achieve both creative and financial success. Before just diving in, you’ll want to evaluate your skill sets and what makes you most comfortable.

Whatever it is you decide to try, remember that everything is an extension of your brand as an artist and you need to ask yourself if the path you’re on will lead you toward your bigger goals. So, get ready to think outside of the box and diversify your revenue streams with some creative ways to monetize your art.

8 Alternative Ways to Earn Money from Your Creativity

Sell Prints of Your Work. The obvious way to make money is to sell your artwork itself, but it can also be very lucrative to sell prints of your work to earn a little passive income.

• Take it to the Streets. Upmarkets.

• Teach an Online Course.

• Create a Membership Site.

• Write a Book. Ebook, How To Book etc.

• Write a Blog.

• Do an Art Exhibition

• Private Commissions

According to a survey in Art Business Today, these were the top 10 best-selling subjects for paintings in the UK:

• Modern or semi-abstract landscapes.

• Figure studies (excluding nudes)

• Seascapes, harbour, and beach scenes.

• Impressionistic landscapes.

8 Best Places to Buy and Sell Art Online

1 Amazon.

2 eBay.

3 Etsy.

4 deviantART.

5 500px.

6 Zazzle.

7 CafePress.

8 Redbubble.

Referrences:

• Can you make any kind of living as an artist? By Elizabeth Day

• Rockstar.com

• 8 Innovative Ways to Make Money From Your Art by Jessica Stewart

Hi, I’m GaFra

Welcome! Hope you enjoy my blog, thank you for visiting. Come learn more about me, there is much more to read and FREEBIES for you.

Also visit my other blogs at triniartstudio.org and gafraihairu.com.

GET YOUR FREE GIFT

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Keep following my different posts and Let me help you start your art journey. Get your FREE ART SUPPLIES CHECKLIST FOR BEGINNERS HERE.

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

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Love has no bounds.

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Can You Be A Successful Self Taught Artist?

Hi Guys…although I have been an artist for about 8 years or more and I strated via very simple classes then on my own I pursued other instructors to learn more I now realise that I am now self taught. I do a lot of research as you know and most of my learning more about Art was through the internet. Yes you guessed it…YOUTUBE…I found so many wonderful artist on you tube and via their demo’s O was able to improve certain aspects of my techniques that i was having some problems with.

So yes you can be great and be self taught. in fact some the best artist were self taught and while all artists are self-taught to a degree, self-taught artists are those who don't go to art school or receive formal training. While they tend to create outside the stereotypical ideas of what makes art "art," they can get support from museums and foundations that support self-taught artists.

Self-taught typically means someone learning without a formal teacher or program, but access to teaching materials was fair game. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines self-taught as, “having knowledge or skills acquired by one's own efforts without formal instruction.” I have a bit of formal instruction from at least 3 art teachers but after that I was on my own, but was I at a level where I no longer needed an instructor so I could be labeled an Artist or did I still need further coaching to hone my skills to even better than I was and therefore reach my full potential.

Well I’ll never know unless I decide to pursue a formal degree in Art or some such certification, but although I did consider it I decided to stay with the freedom and spontaneity of learning via the web. Now you maybe considering becoming an Artist or thinking of starting to paint but you know absolutely nothing of the techniques or rules and you don’t even know where to start? The web is your teacher, simply google, research and find an artist that whose work you love and then follow them online.

The same could be said for blogging. When I wanted to start blogging I knew absolutely nothing about blogging but via surfing the net I found all that I needed and now I’m on my way to moving to another level in blogging. the same goes for your Art. Start small and slowly then keep looking for the next step in your journey via a question. So as a beginner Artist your first question would be …How do I start? What do I need to Begin? What Material and tools do I need. You can find that on the web or better yet get my free checklist below.

GET YOUR FREE ARTIST SUPPLIES CHECKLIST FOR BEGINNERS HERE

Now humans have been making art since the dawn of time, often with little education in materials, techniques, or theory, yet the notion of the “self-taught artist” is a relatively new phenomenon. There are many artist who are quite famous and they were self taught. Who are these individuals?

HENRI ROUSSEAU

Henri Rouseau, a self taught Artist.

An artist who grew up in the era of the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists, Henri Rousseau lacked those artists’ formal training. He only began to paint in earnest in 1884, at age 40. For most of his adult life, he worked as a clerk, earning the nickname “Le Douanier” (“the customs officer”) from critics who sought to discredit the naïve, unschooled painter. Yet it is rumoured that the undemanding nature of Rousseau’s job (he never actually made it to the ranking of customs officer) is precisely what gave him the time to teach himself painting; when he wasn’t moving paper, he made trips to the Louvre to sketch from its collection.

Rousseau developed a following, particularly among artists, for what his advocates saw as the directness and lack of pretension in his work, qualities that broke the mold of academic standards. Best known for his vivid, exotic landscapes, Rousseau created dreamlike scenes defined by crystal-clear outlines, The 20th-century avant-garde recognized Rousseau’s value. By the end of his life, he was exhibiting alongside van Gogh and Paul Gauguin; Henri Matisse and André Derain—and his work was collected by Pablo Picasso, who later bequeathed several of Rousseau’s paintings to the Louvre.

VINCENT VAN GOGH

Vincent Van Gogh, a Self Taught Artist.

One of the most influential artists of the modern era, Vincent van Gogh was almost entirely self-taught. A complicated, taciturn character, van Gogh did not have an appetite for the classroom. Afetr a few failed stints at academic educational institutions, even trying to become a pastor in a seminary, when his brother, Theo, eyed some of his sketches of his impoverished peasant congregation, he implored Vincent to pursue art, resulting in an extremely short attempt at Brussels’s Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in 1880.

For the rest of his tragically short life, van Gogh focused almost solely on painting, looking to examples of Japanese woodblock printmaking and the formal innovations of his colleagues, among other influences. But he ultimately developed an intensely personal style that fuelled a large body of work. While van Gogh fans are quick to point to his emotional turmoil as the analog to his idiosyncratic style, his swirling, energetic brushstrokes and bold, expressive tones are also the hallmarks of a fiercely independent style forged through self-education.

FRIDA KAHLO

Frida Kahlo’s father, a German photographer, recognized his daughter’s artistic promise when she was a young girl, teaching her photography and recruiting his friend, a printmaker, to give her informal instruction in the graphic arts. When she exceeded the local artist’s expectations, he went so far as to give her a paid position as his engraving apprentice. The young Kahlo, however, had her sights set on medical school. Tragically, both her apprenticeship and her education were cut short when she fell victim to a near-fatal automobile accident at the age of 18.

During her time convalescing, the pragmatic Kahlo considered a career as a medical illustrator that would turn her artistic hobby into something more. She had an easel custom made with a mirror so she could watch herself paint despite her limited mobility, which led to self-portraits and the observation of her own anatomy. Fittingly, as she developed her style, Kahlo found herself drawn not to methods of illustration, but of personal expression. She began to fuse modern formal devices with Mexican folk traditions and the sort of vernacular Catholic imagery produced by untrained artists.

BILL TRAYLOR

9. Using Canva by gafra.org. You now have to decide if you want it as an image (jpeg) or a printable (PDF). We want printable so PDF is your choice.

Bill Traylor’s talent surfaced suddenly in 1939 when he was 85 and had 10 years to live.” Born into slavery on an Alabama plantation in 1854, Traylor didn’t receive a formal education in anything, let alone an embrace from an art world he was never expected to inhabit. Even after being emancipated at the end of the Civil War, he was forced to remain a sharecropper in the Jim Crow South. He only moved to another farm in 1935 because, as he put it, “My white folks had died, and my children had scattered.”

Forced into retirement by rheumatoid arthritis, Traylor wound up homeless and sleeping in the back room of a funeral parlor by the 1930s. Lacking the means to support himself, he began creating small drawings and paintings with whatever materials he was able to scrounge. When a young artist named Charles Shannon came upon Traylor’s work by chance in 1939, he supplied him with fresh materials, appreciation, and encouragement—fuel for Traylor, who became incredibly prolific, filling image after image with simplified figures of people, places, and other symbols connected to his personal experiences. The body of work he would create in a limited time with extremely limited means is celebrated for its innovative, untutored aesthetic, as well as the artistic window it created into the strictures of black life in the South during the Reconstruction era.

GRANDMA MOSES

10. Using Canva by gafra.org. Canva even suggests which download to choose for best quality.

Discovered at the age of 78, Anna Mary Robertson “Grandma” Moses made art throughout her life, though she received no formal education. A small-town housekeeper-turned-homemaker, she was, according to her New York Times obituary from 1961, “a self-taught ‘primitive,’ who in childhood began painting what she called ‘lambscapes’ by squeezing out grape juice or lemon juice to get colors.” In her young adulthood, she copied scenes from images produced by the American printmaking firm Currier and Ives. As her family developed, Moses’s art grew more domestic, or at least what one might call decorative: a painted scene on her family’s fireboard; embroidered images made from yarn; large quilts; dolls for her granddaughters.

She produced over 1,500 works representing the simplicities of a bygone era in direct, bright, and realistic imagery. Her rise to fame occurred when an art collector found a handful of her works in a drugstore window, playing the unassuming backdrop for baked goods and jams that she also made for sale.

The following year, in 1939, three of those paintings were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s “Contemporary Unknown American Painters” exhibition, and just one year after that, Moses had her own successful solo show. By the time of her death in 1961, she had become the self-taught grandmother of American folk art and was awarded two honorary doctoral degrees, including (ironically enough) one from a college of art and design.

YOKO ONO

11. Using Canva by gafra.org. It will download based on your choice. All you do now is save it to a file on your computer.

Enrolling in John Cage’s experimental composition course at the New School for Social Research, Ono discovered that her musical background was more than enough to recommend her to the avant-garde community there, which included composer-poet La Monte Young, Conceptual artist George Brecht, and performance artist Allan Kaprow.

It was an environment in which Ono thrived. Despite (or, perhaps, because of) her lack of a formal art education, Ono’s work nimbly synthesizes a wide array of visual components and theoretical ideas, most notably in her performances. And while her art and music career certainly received a signal boost from marrying one of the world’s most famous musicians in 1969, Ono never required his assistance any more than she required formal training in an art academy to become a groundbreaking and world-renowned self-taught artist.

Jack Vettriano

Jack Vettriano's paintings have captured the public's imagination but have been sneered at by art critics.

Vettriano is a former mining engineer. His success story began when he submitted two paintings to the Royal Scottish Academy’s summer exhibition, an annual competition open to all artists. Both sold on the first day. Prints of his often erotic paintings are widely available and he has achieved great commercial success. While Vettriano has been described as “the Jeffrey Archer of the art world” and his work as “badly conceived soft porn“, he remains hugely popular. In 2004 his most famous painting, The Singing Butler, sold for £775,000.

Beryl Cook

Another financially successful artist adored by the public is former Plymouth landlady Beryl Cook. Her talent was spotted by a friend who sold some paintings on her behalf. She exhibited locally and then nationally, finding a large audience for her work. Her paintings of plump and bawdy characters became widely available and could be found on stamps, posters and greetings cards. However, critics were famously disdainful of her work and Time Out magazine refused to include her exhibitions in their listings. Following her death in 2008 one of her original oil paintings sold at auction for £69,000.

Acceptance by the establishment

The numerous routes now available for artists to sell their work are making the art world more democratic and less elite than it has ever been.

Self-taught artist Jonathan Yeo rose to prominence with his portraits of celebrities and political leaders. But support from large galleries and figures from the art world can be career-changing.

There is hope for us all but it takes persistence and as I know well, it maybe a case of you have no choice because the Art lives within you and it needs to get out, so let it out no matter what anyone says to you.

Nature or nurture?

Presented by Lachlan Goudie Artist and broadcaster

Being able to paint or draw is one of life’s pleasures. However often only those who believe they are artistic actually pursue this as a pastime. The British artist Damien Hirst once said, “That's the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice you can make great paintings."

But many would disagree and believe that, like musical ability, art is a gift - you either have it or you don't. Is this true? Do you have to be born with natural ability or, with the right help, can we all be artists? Well I believe there is an artist in all of us it just manifests i different ways. I hope you enjoyed the little history lesson on some very interesting Artist who were self taught. See you soon and you beginners don’t forget to get your free checklist. I went overboard when I first started painting. Don’t overspend, get what you need at first then later you can go after the brand name items.

GET YOUR FREE ARTIST SUPPLY CHECKLIST FOR BEGINNERS HERE

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

Welcome! This is just one of my 3 sites, I also have: gafraihairu.com and triniartstudio.org. I’m a Business Owner, Blogger, Artist, mother of 4, friend to many and a Development Coach.

Learn more about me, visit my other blogs as well.

Buy My Art

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Keep following my different posts and Let me help you start your art journey. Get your FREE ART SUPPLIES CHECKLIST FOR BEGINNERS HERE.

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

Get your personal copy of this ebook HERE!!

JOIN MY LIST

Referrences:

• 8 Famous Artists Who Were Self-Taught by Jon Mann, May 25, 2018

• BBC - Can A SeLF taught Artist Make it in the Art World?

How To Use PRINTABLES To Decorate Your Space

Hi guys…I’ve been reading up on what you should consider when you want to help others understand how to use your products and I realize that I didn’t really give ideas on how to use PRINTABLES, POSTERS, ABSTRACTS OR WATERCOLOUR ART in our spaces. There are so many ways to decorate one’s home, office or personal space. I decided to attempt at helping you decide how to decorate your space with some of the art I offer as a starting point. I will go through the process based on you liking a piece of Art but not being sure how to incorporate it into your home.

Get your printer to print your poster and WHALA!!!

There's nothing more depressing or empty looking than a blank wall. But decorating with art can be scary, so you might never even begin. Displaying artwork is a great way to spruce up your walls, create conversation pieces and create a flow to the decor of your home. No matter the budget, no matter the taste, you can decorate your home with art and paintings to add character and panache.

Sometimes, I know one can barely afford groceries, much less fork out big bucks for wall art. Even if you don’t have a dime to spare, you don’t need to live with blank walls. It’s easy to decorate your space using links to my inexpensive or free wall art printables and using totally inexpensive wall art ideas you can make a major impact in your home, or personal space:

By following some simple guidelines, you can hang art and paintings around your house without it being overwhelming or distracting. Artwork doesn't have to dominate your rooms; it should enhance them.

As I mentioned you may like some of my pieces or printables, or a piece of Art you saw somewhere, so lets check out these quick artwork do's and don'ts that'll save you time and effort and hopefully help you get over any fears you may have.

DOs and DONTs

DON'T think that art has to be expensive. You can hang gallery walls of family photographs or mount prints or posters that are very inexpensive, the only cost might be getting your Printer to print them a particular size for you and buying the art hook to mount them. If you want to spend a little more then buy some inexpensive frames and place the print in that to make look more glamorous. The room on the left ate some framed prints, drawings, and small photos.

Place your family photos in frames, inexpensive deorating.

Hanging your Family Photos all over your walls with a plan. www.gafra.org

DO use your walls as a showcase for your own photographs. Have your photos blown up and then use a spray adhesive to mount them on a piece of foam core. Or you can place double sided tape at the back and stick them on the wall as is.

DON'T hang artwork too high. The center point of either a single picture or a grouping of works should be at eye level.

DO hang art in every room in the house. Don't forget about the dining room, bathroom and even the mudroom.

DON'T hang a tiny piece on a big wall. If you have a small piece you want to hang put it in a frame that has a large mat or if you have a few small prints, place them in a set of three vertically one on top of the other (2” or 3” space between) or horizontally with the same spacing as mentioned.

DO use picture-hanging hooks rather than nails or screws. They can take a large amount of weight (up to 100 pounds for some sizes). Use two hooks per piece because it helps it remain level.

DON'T try to hang art by yourself. It's always better to have at least two people so one can hold it in place and the other can step back and make sure the placement is correct.

DO treat several pieces as one unit during the hanging process.

Let your Art cover the walls but stay 2-3 ins apart. www.gafra.org

Don’t hang your paintings low, must be at eye level. www.gafra.org

DON'T hang pieces too far apart from each other. Approximately two inches (sometimes less) on either side and below and above is enough space.

DO plan out a photo wall in advance. Place them on the ground in front of the wall and play around with the arrangement until you find one that satisfies you.

DON'T forget about balance. Don't hang all the large pieces in one area and all the small ones in another. The same goes for similar frames. Mix things around until you feel they're visually balanced.

DO lean artwork against a wall in some areas. Guess what? You don't actually have to hang your art. It's 2019—feel free to lean that bad boy against a wall. A piece sitting on a console table or mantle leaning against the wall can look very stylish. Layer a few pieces together for a striking display.

DO Hang Low (Or Don't Hang at All!)

But if you do want to hang the work, let's get down to basics. The bottom of the work (or its frame) should only be 8-16 inches above your sofa or table. That's right, hang low. You want to position the work so that the heart of the piece is at eye level, and unless you're Michael Jordan, you're going to have to lower your hanging expectations.

If you're planning to hang multiple smaller artworks in columns and/or rows, stick to the same guideline: start the lowest row only 8-16 inches above your piece of furniture. This will help create a unified design statement.

Look at Me artwork for your wall. Pop art that can look great on your wall. www.gafra.org

ADDITIONAL TIPS

Scale

An important factor when decorating your home with artwork or paintings is the scale of the item in relation to the room. Wherever you decide to place the art, it needs to fit into the relative scale of the rest of the room or area so it doesn't distract or get hidden by other items. For example, when hanging artwork over a couch or other piece of furniture, a good rule is to find a painting or piece of art that is roughly the same size as the piece below it or next to it, creating a sense of balance and harmony. You can also combine smaller pieces to scale. Whether using three-dimensional pieces or hanging art, you can use the "Rule of Three" to fill in space on the wall and give a sense of scale. For example, for space over a couch or other piece of furniture, use three pieces of art that are roughly the same size, such as three portraits, paintings or hanging sculptures. Arrange them so that they work together and fill the space that a single, larger print might have covered, while being in scale with the piece of furniture they counterbalance.

Spacing

While having artwork and paintings in your home is good, over-crowding them is bad. Leave plenty of space between pieces and give them room to stand on their own without being out of context. Unless pieces are intimately connected by subject matter, it's best to keep them separate. For example, if you have 20 pieces of art hanging on a wall, your room loses focus and the art itself becomes a blur rather than a focus. Artwork should serve as an accent to the room as a whole.

Motifs

Selecting a motif, or pattern of style, is a good way to decide what type or art to put in one room or area. For example, in the kitchen you could have a food motif, where all the art displayed has something to do with food. This way, you have a theme that connects via the art and the function of the room itself. Your motif could even stretch through the whole home, if you so desire.

Matching

While you should never buy a painting just because it matches your couch, you should take into consideration the materials and dominating colors of the artwork you display before hanging it or placing it. Try to correlate color patterns or other styles with existing elements in the room. For example, in a red room with a lot of red and brown accent pieces, a painting of red and brown chickens or a tapestry with those colors stand alone as art and complement the rest of the room.

Use a soothing colour.www.gafra.org

Check the colours in the room and link the print with the same colours or lighter versions.

A Colour for Every Mood

Choose colors based on the mood you want to set in each room. For example, gray is calming, so consider basing your bedroom design or theme on different gradients of gray. Yellow sets a welcoming, cheerful mood, so a piece of artwork that has a bright yellow hue is perfect for the living room. And works that scream with red or orange are amazing in the dining room, and will spark lively discussions between dinner guests.

Lastly, we all remember from science class that white is the presence of all colors, but that doesn't mean white will bring personality to a room. Quite the opposite! There's a reason gallery spaces have white walls—to make you ignore the walls and focus on the artwork. So if you buy white art, make sure the wall it hangs on is colorful.

Design a Room Around a Piece of Art

To begin, find your focal point: Walk into the room and identify where your eyes land first; this is the perfect place for a piece of statement artwork, and you can base the rest of the room's design on it. It’s important that the painting be hung at eye level (when standing) to ensure that the viewer’s gaze falls on it effortlessly.You can easily pick out one of the colors in your central piece of artwork and stream it throughout the room—an accent pillow here, a lampshade there. The theme doesn't have to take over the design, but it will help the eye connect all the pieces in the room, and create a unifying statement in your design.

Remember, you can always use your art to mimic the life of the room. Put simply: If the artwork is of food, hang it in the kitchen, if it's of a group of friends laughing, hang it in the living room.

Don't Forget the Bathroom!

Think of your bathroom as a gallery—the perfect place to hang your quirkiest art pieces. Get a little crazy and show your personality. Some of the best art can be a bit uncomfortable at first glance, but once you really see it, you won't be able to stop admiring it. The added bonus here is that your guests will get a kick out of the works in a private setting (and they can stare for as long as they want!).

Placing Art Prints or Posters behind your Sofa is a great look.www.gafra.org

SUMMARY

How Do You Put ART in your House

1. 2. Make sure your art fits your particular space. ...

2. Go for a gallery wall. ...

3. Hang art in a straight line or a grid. ...

4. Hang art at eye level. ...

5. Turn your wall into your child's personal art gallery. ...

6. Incorporate functional elements into your art wall. ...

7. Consider using lighting as art. ...

8. Consider your background.

Selecting Wall Art by Colour

1. Your most significant piece of artwork should have a background colour that matches your wall colour.

2. Reference the colour wheel when selecting complementary shades.

3. Use the same colour but in different shades. ...

4. Only choose wall art if that exact shade is already in your room.

Basics of this style include:

1. Your most significant piece of artwork should have a background colour that matches your wall colour.

2. Reference the colour wheel when selecting complementary shades.

3. Use the same colour but in different shades. ...

4. Only choose wall art if that exact shade is already in your room.

9 Ways to Personalize Your Bedroom

1. Display Your Photos. Pictures of family, friends, pets or just scenes you like belong on your walls and dressing tables. ...

2. Choose a Theme. ...

3. Add an Area Rug. ...

4. Hang Artwork. ...

5. Include Scents. ...

6. Stick With Soothing Colors. ...

7. Put Your Signature on Wall Treatments. ...

8. Keep Furniture to a Minimum.

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

Welcome! This is just one of my 3 sites, I also have: gafraihairu.com and triniartstudio.org. I’m a Business Owner, Blogger, Artist, mother of 4, friend to many and a Development Coach.

Learn more about me, visit my other blogs as well.

Buy My Art

Get this PRINTABLES HERE It will look amazing in your Living Room behind your couch, all 3 pieces.

This PRINTABLE IS WONDERFUL FOR A BABY’S ROOM. ADD SOME COLOUR. SEE IT HERE.

Place this “See Me” Printable on your wall.

GET IT HERE

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Get your personal copy of this ebook HERE!!

JOIN MY LIST

Have some Mandalas printed and have your Living Room look Amazing.

References:

1. ELLE by Cristina Salmastrelli

2. WIKI how

3. PRO.COM

4. The Spruce.com

What are PRINTABLES? PART 2

Hi guys... I haven’t painted in a while because i've been busy designing and organising my e-course that I mentioned. I launched it this weekend....😖😫😫....it was reallllly difficult.....not developing the course itself, that was fun but there are many parts to a course, then comes all the exercises that go along with each lesson so the participant does an activity that will help them get clarity and link all the parts they're doing.

What was also very difficult was understanding how to set it up as an automation on Mailchimp. I developed it on Teachable, which I must say was easy. I really like the platform, even though there were some aspects that were a bit confusing. One Such aspect was, once the course was completed how do you post it on your site? How do you link it so that people get into it? But you know me, when I start or get into something new I get distracted away from EVERYTHING even my normal watercolour painting. I get carried away with the new thing in town, which brings me back to what I really wanted to talk about today and that is what has been the latest distraction? PRINTABLES and E-courses, but i'm talking about the PRINTABLES in this post....yes people I am into printables now.

First of all they are sooooo much fun to create in Canva and I am trying to build my site and I read that this is the way to go. I started with planners then moved to wall art then posters. Yes....as usual I get a bit carried away. But as with everything I do I learned that I enjoy creating anything artistic and printables fall in there somewhere. So what are Printables? They are for digitally created decorative pages that you can download then print yourself or get printed at a printers. They can be created to be printed on normal letter size pages which are normally 8.5insX11ins.or they can be poster size which you will have to send to your printers to print.

This means when you buy it you can download it onto your computer then print as many as you want on your printer. They can be Wall Art with quotes that you print then place in an inexpensive frame or they can be Calendar pages nicely decorated that you print from your printer and you use them to do all your planning of your activities. 

The planners can also have sheets already laid out to make scheduling easy. You can get printable grocery lists that you can print a few so that every time you go to the grocery instead of trying to remember what you have to buy, you tick off on your printable grocery list, keep it in your car or purse so when you do arrive at the grocery you have your list and you can keep it for the next grocery store visit or do a new list. 

There are printable To Do Lists, Grocery Lists, Budget Sheets, Wedding Planning Sheets, Journals, Games and much more. I have to say that since I created my printables only one person has taken my freebie planner : ( but I hope they liked it. I will create some more freebie planners as the Planners that take a lot more effort to create I charge 2-3 dollars.

You can create these printables easily on Canva or Picmonkey. I haven't tried pic monkey as there is a fee but Canva is free unless you want to do more complex designs, which I don't need. Sign up for Canva and you can pick the size or dimensions of the item you want to create from the button on the top right side of the site (custom dimensions). The choices are inches, pixels  centimetres etc. Stick to inches. Or in the middle of the site they show you examples of different items, like cards, posters, etc and you simply hover your cursor over one and it shows the size. Once you’ve inputted the size then a blank version based on that size appears and there are sample items with designs to choose from on the left side of the page. Easy peasy. See the pics below: 

1. Using Canva by gafra.org. This is what the site looks like

2. Using Canva by gafra.org. Click on the custom dimensions button to input the size of the printable or hover over the samples below to see if any has the size you want or simply choose a type of document.

3. Using Canva by gafra.or. Here after inputting your size a blank version pops up. Now to start designing.

4. Using Canva by gafra.org. Here you can change the text by choosing the font from the samples on the left.

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m GaFra Welcome! This is just one of my 3 sites, I also have: gafraihairu.com and triniartstudio.org. I’m a Business Owner, Blogger, Artist, mother of 4, friend to many and a Development Coach.

Learn more about me, visit my other blogs as well and….

Buy My Art

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Keep following my different posts and get my Free Planner below or check out my more advanced planners on my Shop page. There are a few FREEBIES there. 

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my Look-Book

Get your personal copy of this ebook HERE!!

JOIN MY LIST

5. Using Canva by gafra.org. On the left type in flowers in the search area and place different flower designs on your printable.

6. Using Canva by gafra.org to create printables. You can choose the design or look from the samples o the left.

7. Using Canva by gafra.org. You can change the colours of the document, flowers text etc via the drop down colour palette.

8. Using Canva by gafra.org. Once your printable looks the way you want it, time to download, simply click on publish or the download arrow

9. Using Canva by gafra.org. You now have to decide if you want it as an image (jpeg) or a printable (PDF). We want printable so PDF is your choice.

10. Using Canva by gafra.org. Canva even suggests which download to choose for best quality.

So I hope my Pic lesson on Canva was fairly good enough to help you understand Canva at least a little. Go try creating your own PRINTABLES and if not , then let me know what type of printables you would like me to create for you and I would love to. Email me at gfrancistt@gmail.com or leave a comment down below.

Subscribe to get more and don’t forget, write AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO DESIGN FOR YOU.

11. Using Canva by gafra.org. It will download based on your choice. All you do now is save it to a file on your computer.

What are PRINTABLES?

Hi guys... I haven’t painted in a while because i've been busy designing and organising my e-course that I mentioned. I launched it this weekend....😖😫😫....it was reallllly difficult.....not developing the course itself, that was fun but there are many parts to a course, then comes all the exercises that go along with each lesson so the participant does an activity that will help them get clarity and link all the parts they're doing.

What was also very difficult was understanding how to set it up as an automation on Mailchimp. I developed it on Teachable, which I must say was easy. I really like the platform, even though there were some aspects that were a bit confusing. One Such aspect was, once the course was completed how do you post it on your site? How do you link it so that people get into it? But you know me, when I start or get into something new I get distracted away from EVERYTHING even my normal watercolour painting. I get carried away with the new thing in town, which brings me back to what I really wanted to talk about today and that is what has been the latest distraction? PRINTABLES and E-courses, but i'm talking about the PRINTABLES in this post....yes people I am into printables now.

First of all they are sooooo much fun to create in Canva and I am trying to build my site and I read that this is the way to go. I started with planners then moved to wall art then posters. Yes....as usual I get a bit carried away. But as with everything I do I learned that I enjoy creating anything artistic and printables fall in there somewhere. So what are Printables? They are for digitally created decorative pages that you can download then print yourself or get printed at a printers. They can be created to be printed on normal letter size pages which are normally 8.5insX11ins.or they can be poster size which you will have to send to your printers to print.

This means when you buy it you can download it onto your computer then print as many as you want on your printer. They can be Wall Art with quotes that you print then place in an inexpensive frame or they can be Calendar pages nicely decorated that you print from your printer and you use them to do all your planning of your activities. 

The planners can also have sheets already laid out to make scheduling easy. You can get printable grocery lists that you can print a few so that every time you go to the grocery instead of trying to remember what you have to buy, you tick off on your printable grocery list, keep it in your car or purse so when you do arrive at the grocery you have your list and you can keep it for the next grocery store visit or do a new list. 

There are printable To Do Lists, Grocery Lists, Budget Sheets, Wedding Planning Sheets, Journals, Games and much more. I have to say that since I created my printables only one person has taken my freebie planner : ( but I hope they liked it. I will create some more freebie planners as the Planners that take a lot more effort to create I charge 2-3 dollars.

You can create these printables easily on Canva or Picmonkey. I haven't tried pic monkey as there is a fee but Canva is free unless you want to do more complex designs, which I don't need. Sign up for Canva and you can pick the size or dimensions of the item you want to create from the button on the top right side of the site (custom dimensions). The choices are inches, pixels  centimetres etc. Stick to inches. Or in the middle of the site they show you examples of different items, like cards, posters, etc and you simply hover your cursor over one and it shows the size. Once you’ve inputted the size then a blank version based on that size appears and there are sample items with designs to choose from on the left side of the page. Easy peasy. See the pics below: 

1. Using Canva by gafra.org. This is what the site looks like

2. Using Canva by gafra.org. Click on the custom dimensions button to input the size of the printable or hover over the samples below to see if any has the size you want or simply choose a type of document.

3. Using Canva by gafra.or. Here after inputting your size a blank version pops up. Now to start designing.

4. Using Canva by gafra.org. Here you can change the text by choosing the font from the samples on the left.

ABOUT ME

Hi guys, I’m Gail Francis better known as “GaFra”

Welcome! This is just one of my 3 sites, I also have: gafraihairu.com and triniartstudio.org. I’m a Business Owner, Blogger, Artist, mother of 4, friend to many and a Development Coach.

Learn more about me, visit my other blogs as well.

Buy My Art

Get your FREE DAILY PRINTABLE PLANNER here at gafra.org and many other Printables.

Keep following my different posts and get my Free Planner below or check out my more advanced planners on my Shop page. There are a few FREEBIES there. 

Get your FREE DOWNLOAD: An EASY GUIDE on “How to Paint an Abstract” OR my LOOK-BOOK

Get your personal copy of this ebook HERE!!

JOIN MY LIST

5. Using Canva by gafra.org. On the left type in flowers in the search area and place different flower designs on your printable.

6. Using Canva by gafra.org to create printables. You can choose the design or look from the samples o the left.

7. Using Canva by gafra.org. You can change the colours of the document, flowers text etc via the drop down colour palette.

8. Using Canva by gafra.org. Once your printable looks the way you want it, time to download, simply click on publish or the download arrow

9. Using Canva by gafra.org. You now have to decide if you want it as an image (jpeg) or a printable (PDF). We want printable so PDF is your choice.

10. Using Canva by gafra.org. Canva even suggests which download to choose for best quality.

So I hope my Pic lesson on Canva was fairly good enough to help you understand Canva at least a little. Go try creating your own PRINTABLES and if not , then let me know what type of printables you would like me to create for you and I would love to. Email me at gfrancistt@gmail.com or leave a comment down below.

Subscribe to get more and don’t forget, write AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE ME TO DESIGN FOR YOU.

11. Using Canva by gafra.org. It will download based on your choice. All you do now is save it to a file on your computer.