Social Media...What the Heck!!!!

Hi everyone....this weekend I spent all my time reading up on how to pull viewers to my website. Goodness.....the amount of things you need to have in place or do.....heavy sigh....but I have to do it all if I want to get my art out there as well as make a living off of it.

I don't want my art to be a hobby. I want my art to be my second business so it has to make money. First off I went on youtube. I have to say you can learn about almost anything on youtube. It is absolutely amazing. I know now that I need to be blogging...which I am : ) I need to be in all the social medias...which I am. I need to be updating my site every week...this I'm not consistent with yet. I also need to up my SEO via my key words on my blog posts and any articles I post on facebook. 

I didn't know you can pay people online to write your articles and blogs 🤤 hnmmmm. They specialise in placing tbese key words within the blog or article so its picked up by the search engine. And you can pay to get keywords that help people find you when they are searching for  similar items/services and you can also pay to get top key words so that your site pops up first in the listing when they search.

Oh so much to learn and sooooo much to put in place. I'm still trying to understand it all so I can go implement. Some of what I learned I've started but most I still need to do. If you need some of that knowledge go to youtube and type...." how to get people to my site".... loads of videos come up and as I said they are quite enlightening.

One of the books I'm reading Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins says some interesting things' like:

"—doing something so small and gradual that it almost looks like you’re doing nothing—often leads to much more sustainable success. You can do extraordinary things when you are patiently persistent."

"In the end, the more cautious entrepreneurs ended up being the more successful ones, whereas the risk takers who quit their jobs early were 33 percent more likely to fail."

 “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” Picasso

"We create by copying, and as we do, the skill becomes embedded into our memory."

 "When we steal like this, we end up creating a style that is all our own."

 "You are not an artist because you steal. You steal because you are an artist."

These stood out to me because for my 10x10 acrylic pieces I sell at markets most of the ideas come from different sites and pics that I see and I would change them up a bit. My large abstracts and my 9x12 abstracts started off with me trying to follow Michael Lang's style but instead I developed my own style and look. My watercolours are totally influenced by things I see and have a deep urge to paint based totally on my personal watercolour style.

Initially I felt that seeing a piece and expanding on it was not a good thing but I've since learned that its when you copy others work and pass it off as yours....that is a problem but if you change it around or even improve on it then that is different. Artists learn and get inspired by each other and especially so from the masters. This book revealed what allot of the other books I've read. 

 "In other words, we create not in isolation but with the influence of others around us."

 "....I call this the Rule of Re-creation, which says that you are not born an artist. You become one."

So to end. You become what you believe you are. You don't have to be born into it. Therefore.......... I am an artist.

Later guys. Send your friends to my website and check out my store on www.zazzle.com/ gafra_designs. Purchase items with my artwork. Even get sets in your favourite design. Check how my abstract looks on this leggings.

orange & green

How Much is Art Worth?

How Much is Art Worth to us?

Hi Everyone...I have to vere off of sharing more about me to talk about the market I did this weekend. It was well attended and there were A LOT OF VENDORS. I sold one piece but I felt a little low after, because again I see how little art is appreciated. People love your work but.. ....mainly the ladies went after the jewelry and most don't see or understand how valuable Art really is. The gentleman who bought my piece was an Art lover and understood this. Most don't.

Its hard out there especially with the large number of artists in this country. How do you stand out and how do you get seen. How do you get customers to buy? I'm beginning to realise that the markets are not truly the way to be seen, I thought it was but it isn't. Many people take my card but never call. It means you need to find a way to get the contact info on the persons who show interest then start to build a relationship with them and send them your work to build interest. People who know you buy from you not strangers.

No artist wants their work to pile up, unseen, unappreciated, unsold. So what do I do?

 I want to sell my large pieces and I learned from my last Exhibition/Pop Up Shop that to be able to sell my large pieces, Upmarkets are not the way. So I am going the route of the Quarterly Exhibition. I am planning two or three next year and it will feature all of my pieces (yes I changed my mind on showing my large pieces only). I will invite guests formally to my opening and make it a special event. I want it to be different from the usual exhibition...but I can be lazy and I hate organising events so I just might hire someone to bring my ideas to life.  Lets see how that goes.... : )  Ahhhhh. So I've said my piece and now I feel much better.....thanks for listening...or should I say reading my vent. I'll check you guys next week or maybe I'll complete my sharing about myself this week...who knows.  Heres a pic from the market I attended this weekend. Hope you like it.

WWW.GAFRA.ORG

As I close this post I want to leave something for you. A Gift. Take a chance and be surprised by what I’ve left for you. Take it from me you can definitely use this in your life. ENJOY!!!

See you at my next post.