Upping the Ante

It's been a while since I've listed a new "Art for Food" auction for the Central Virginia FoodBank, so I'm upping the ante by listing a new acrylic painting. This is a 7 day auction with an opening bid of $24.99. This one does have a low reserve ($50) but it's still a bargain and 95% of the proceeds go to the FoodBank.

"Lavender Valley" Acrylic on heavy acid free card Click to bid

It's been a while since I've worked in acrylic and I had a lot of fun with this one. I'm listing this one in the evening because I'm heading out for most of the day on Friday to do some plein air painting. Have a great weekend!

Art for Food Auction- "Golden Days" Tuscany painting

Today I have a new offering up for auction to benefit the Central Virginia Foodbank. This is another watercolor/pen and ink painting of the golden sunflowers of Tuscany:

"Golden Days" Watercolor/Pen & Ink on Arches Paper 7x10" (Image size 5x7") This painting has sold, but you can see the current auction by clicking here.

New art Auction: "Mountain Chalet", Lake Como, Italy

The "Art for Food" charity art auctions continue! This 7-day auction is for a landscape painting of a little chapel and mountainside chalet overlooking a small fishing harbor on Italy's lovely Lake Como. The Mediterranean trees and buildings are set against a dramatic backdrop of the Pre-Alps, making this one of the most stunning destinations in Italy.

"Mountain Chalet" Watercolor & Ink, 8x10"

According to the Central Virginia FoodBank, $25 could provide as many as 200 meals. So, with that in mind, opening bids for these auctions are set at the mega-bargain price of about 200 meals or $24.99 per item! 95% of the proceeds for these auctions will be donated to the CVFB.

20% savings on limited edition prints

Just a quick announcement that we're having a print sale! From now until Mother's Day (May 11th) we are offering a 20% savings on all limited edition giclée prints. These signed and numbered reproductions offered on both canvas and paper. They have meticulously color matched against the originals and the quality is amazing. Click here to shop and save. * Note: I had a glitch in the shopping cart system but have corrected this. Everything *should* be working fine now. If you notice any difficulties, feel free to contact me.

Just posted- original Tuscany painting auction-$24.99!

I hope you fared better on your Valentines day than we did- we're dealing with that awful flu that's been making the rounds here in Richmond. But I've momentarily arisen from the dead to post a new "Art For Food" auction. How's that for dedication? 95% of the proceeds will be donated to the Central Virginia Foodbank. The title of this painting means "The Heart of Tuscany", and to me, the Val d'Orcia in Southern Tuscany was just that. I loved the way the Cypress trees punctuated the winding country roads:

"Il Cuore della Toscana" Watercolor/Pen & Ink on heavy deckled edge paper 8x11" (image size 6x8")

This auction has ended, but you can see the latest Art For Food Auctions here!

Photographing oil paintings for the web

Thanks to my niece Molly, a talented artist in her own right, for inspiring this blog post: So you have a nice little painting you've just completed, but none the photographs you took do it justice. How can you get decent photos for your website? I am certainly no expert photographer, but I will share what I do for my own website to produce decent reproductions of flat art for online display.

Photographing artwork is definitely a little tricky. If the artwork has any sheen at all, any flash or angled light can cause glare on the surface, which will distract or obscure the true nature of the picture. These days, I use a digital camera for all of my photography and tend to do a fair amount of color correction in Photoshop. But I used the same method of photography I will describe below, even in the pre-digital age when I made slides of my work. 

The best conditions I've found for photographing artwork is outside on a bright but cloudy day. This gives consistent diffused light and the least amount of glare. If photographing on a sunny day, try to set your painting up at the edge of a shaded area so that enough light reaches the painting without shining directly on it. Tree shade isn't good because of the dappling. It needs to be even light, so maybe an overhang on the side of a building or something.

If you are shooting film or are otherwise not able to correct the camera angle after the fact, you'll need to make sure your canvas is as perpendicular to the camera as possible. You can either set it up on an easel or hang it on a wall on the side of a building if the overhang isn't too large. To avoid the fish-eye effect that can occur because of a wide-angle lens curve, you should set your camera up on a tripod far enough away from the painting and zoom all the way in on your painting to fill the lens as best you can with the picture. This will minimize that fish-eye distortion. (Thanks to artists David Darrow, James Abbott and others in the Daily Painters Discussion group for this and other technical tips!)  

When photographing, I use my camera's manual setting so that I can set the white balance and bracket the exposures, just in case what I'm seeing in the viewfinder isn't what I get on my computer screen. Then I'll examine all of these images in Photoshop, and with the painting sitting next to me, I'll make adjustments to the chosen image in brightness, contrast, color, etc. Photoshop is great also for correcting the picture if the painting doesn't look exactly square. But Photoshop is also $$$ so if you don't already have it, you might look for a cheaper image editing software program that can do most of these basic corrections.

For the web, I will overlay my copyright info and save my images as 72 dpi JPEGs. For archiving, though, I save the image at the largest size my camera setting will allow, and save it as a TIFF. JPEGs are fine for web stuff, but not great for archiving because it is a "lossy" image format. This means that every time the JPEG is opened it looses a bit of information, even if it is a large file. For any kind of high quality reproduction (such as giclee prints), the best option is to have the painting professionally scanned or photographed at a very high resolution.

New painting of Provence lavender for auction, just $25

Announcing a new "Art for Food" charity auction for the Central Virginia Foodbank (CVFB). I admit it isn't easy to put some of these works up for auction, but it's a good cause, so what the hay. I love this little Provence lavender painting and I hope you will too... and I can always use this work as a study to make a larger piece in oil. Opening bids are just $24.99 and 95% of the proceeds will be donated to the CVFB:

"Summer Garden" (Provence, France) Watercolor/pen & ink on Arches heavy watercolor paper, 8x10" Auction starts at 12:30 EST on 2/07/08

This auction has ended, but you can bid on the latest auction here!

New "Art for Food" charity auction listed- Provence watercolor

Here is the latest in my series of charity auctions for the Central Virginia Foodbank. I am listing this little Provence watercolor of the Luberon Valley on eBay, and you will notice some adjustments to the listing due to the things I wrote about in my previous posts here and here.

"Summer Vineyard" Overall size 8x10" (image size 5x7")

Bidding has ended for this item, but you can see the latest art auction here.

Online charity art auctions- the learning curve Part I

The online charity art auctions I'm holding for the Central VA Foodbank have thus far been both satisfying and challenging for me. Satisfying because I am connecting with some wonderful people who have been willing to bid on and purchase my paintings for a good cause, and challenging because of the learning curve I've experienced with holding these auctions in the online environment. Several people have asked me about the ArtByUsauction environment I have been using. ArtByUs is relatively new compared to eBay, and it only auctions artwork and handmade items offered by artists, galleries and dealers. I started out with ArtByUs for several reasons.

 First, it is currently free for artists to list there. While I believe their intent is to eventually charge for this service, this makes a huge difference to me, especially considering that I am allocating all of the proceeds of the winning bid to charity. I will note here that eBay will refund your listing and final value fees through their GivingWorks program, according to the amount you donate to a charity, but only if the item sells. And in order for eBay to list your auction as a charity, they require you to work through an organization called MissionFish. The charity is also required to be registered with Missionfish, so if your desired charity is not on their list (as mine, initially,  was not) it is up to the fundraiser to ask the charity to go through the registration process. While eBay does refund some or all of the listing and final value fees, Missionfish takes as much as 20% of the final value of the donationfor it's intermediary services. On the other hand, going through Missionfish.org may offer some people peace of mind, as I have read reports of past fraudulent charity listings that took place on eBay outside of their Givingworks program.

There are pros and cons to using both ArtByUs and eBay for the charity auctions. While ArtByUs is free, it does not get the traffic that eBay does--not by a long-shot. So, at least in my case, I am the one who has been driving traffic to my auctions. It's been reported to me by at least one bidder that the registration process is also a little slow and can be a bit confusing, and the interface is a bit clunky. ArtByUs doesn't have as many bells and whistles as eBay, and, since eBay is owned by the same company that owns PayPal, Paypal is fully integrated into the eBay site. With ArtByUs, everything is pretty much a manual operation for me in regards to collecting the winning bid via Paypal and donating to the charity, so it has been more of a time consuming process than I anticipated.

Having said that, the support staff with ArtByUs is responsive to any questions or issues. They currently offer free basic listings, and unlike eBay which seems to attract a lot of bargain hunters in search of any number of products, ArtByUs lists only artwork.  And while eBay does get a whole lot more traffic, my feeling is that this does not necessarily mean that my listing will be discovered. I do not have much experience with eBay thus far, but from what I have heard, competition is fierce and a lot of people experience the needle in the haystack syndrome unless they spend a lot more money with additional listing features. So it is likely if and when I list over there, any bidding would be as a result of my own contacts there as well.

For these reasons I've started out with ArtByUs. It's likely that at some point I will list over at eBay, and if I do, it will be interesting to see how the experience will compare to ArtByUs, and if the auction bids on eBay will be substantial enough to offset the other associated fees.  

There were a few other things I discovered only after I started the project that I had not really thought through when I first conceived of it. I'll share a bit more about that in my next post. Meanwhile, if you've had bidding or auction experience with Ebay or ArtByUs, I'd welcome you to leave your comments.

Art for Food auction for the CVFB- Italian landscape painting of Lake Como

The online art auctions for the Central VA Foodbank are doing great. So far the auction sales have made donations that will provide over 800 meals! A note of my sincerest thanks to the winning bidders, and everyone who has taken the time to bid. I plan to keep the project going for the next 6 months, so I hope you will too! Today I've posted another "Art for Food" auction. This sweet original watercolor/pen and ink painting on paper is of Italy's beautiful lake Como. The vantage point is looking over the terra cotta rooftops from a lovely terrace lined with flowerpots:

"Patio View, Varenna"

Watercolor/Pen & Ink on Paper, 7x9" (Image size 4x6") Visit the auction and bid! This auction has ended, but click here to see the current auctions.

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Art for Food: Tuscany watercolor charity auction for the CVFB

This Tuscany watercolor vignette is the second in my series of charity auctions begun last week for the Central Virginia Foodbank. Opening bid is just $25 (providing the equivalent of 200 meals.) 100% of the proceeds from the sale are donated to the CVFB. My husband suggested I call the auctions my "Art for Food" program (a clever riff on "Oil for Food"). I like it :-) Please, if you'd like to be alerted to new auctions as they are listed, consider signing up for my auction alerts, or just subscribe to my blog.

"The Sloping Grove" Watercolor/Pen & Ink on Paper Click to bid Bidding is closed for this item, but you can see available auctions here!

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Art auction to benefit the Central Virginia Foodbank

As a way to kick off 2008, I've decided to create auctions for some of my paintings in hopes of raising funds for the CVA Foodbank.  The idea for the auctions was inspired by a couple of things that grabbed my attention almost simultaneously over the holidays. The first was a CNN broadcast I stumbled on while flipping around on the television one late sleepless night. It was a special called "Living Heroes".  I tuned in to see a gentleman named Steve Peifer accepting an award for the incredibly inspiring, selfless work he has done in Kenya, feeding the children in school. Click here to watch the inspiring video.

About a day or two after I saw this program, I noticed Philip Rucker's article in the Washington Post online edition entitled, "Cupboards Are Bare at Food Banks." My first thought was, "Huh? With all of our wealth and resources we are having trouble supplying our country's own food banks?" The article actually focused on the D.C. Capital Area Food Bank needs, but it mentions that many of the nation's food banks are experiencing similar shortages. You can read more about it in the article,  but the bottom line is that the food banks do not have the supplies they once did, and they need people to step up and help.

I got to wondering what was going on in my own local Central Virginia Foodbank. According to the CVA Foodbank's website, in the Metro Richmond area:

"...the poverty rate is more than twice the Virginia average. In fact, in the City of Richmond it’s 38% and in Petersburg it’s 40%, compared to the state average of 17%.. That means right here in our own backyard there are tens of thousands of children who go to bed hungry every day. "

As a citizen of Richmond, I'd have to live under a rock not to know of the poverty concerns we have in the city. But even so, these numbers are startling. And while the pragmatist in me realizes that there will always be inequalities in the world, the idealist wonders,  "Why, given the earth's resources, should there ever be a reason for anyone to go hungry?"

 I've always believed in the adage, "think globally, act locally." And while curbing world hunger seems like an overwhelming task, we all can make a huge difference in our local communities by simple acts of time, food or cash donations. Surprisingly, it doesn't take that much to make a difference. In fact, according to the CVA Foodbank's website, $25 will provide as many as 200 meals.

So to bring all of this back around to the subject of art, (after all, this is an art blog,) I thought it might be nice to see if I could raise some funds for the CVA Foodbank by offering some of my vignettes in auction format.   I have been offering the little watercolor vignette paintings in my gallery and on my website for a little while now, and I've gotten some really nice feedback from collectors who enjoy them. And while I had already set prices for these works at truly introductory rates, for the next 6 months opening bids for these auctioned paintings will be set at the mega-bargain price of 200 meals, or $25 per item. 100% of the proceeds for the sale of these vignettes will be donated to the Central Virginia Foodbank.

It's my hope that each auction will get bids and that far surpass the opening bid. But even if I get just opening amount, it will generate a donation that can provide 200 meals. The CVA Foodbank is already doing some wonderful things for the folks in our area, not the least of which is providing comfort and hope for hungry kids. And, as evidenced in the above mentioned video, relieving hunger clears a pathway to learning, and education can help to provide way out of poverty.

Winning bidders get the artwork, maybe even at a mega bargain price, plus the satisfaction of knowing that their purchase is being donated to help one community's underprivileged children, elderly and families in serious need. Of course, you don't need to bid on artwork to make a difference in your own community. I encourage everyone who is able to get in touch with their own community's food bank and consider offering time, food, or cash. My auctions  are just my own small (and hopefully fun) way of trying to raise some funds and a bit of awareness.

Well, thanks for sticking with me for this rather long explanation! Without further ado, I present my first Central Virginia Foodbank ("CVFB") auction for one of my recent watercolors:

"Open for Business" Original Signed Watercolor & Ink on paper Click here to bid

Update: This auction has ended, but click here to see the current auctions, and consider signing up for our email auction alerts using the link below.

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Mini still life oil painting; colorful apples vignette

Here's one of many small pieces that will featured in my "Small Stuff" show that opens next week at Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery. It's a colorful still life painting of apples in a translucent red bowl:

"Three's a Crowd" 4x5", oil on canvas

Set on a gold mini easel, this little piece is great on a shelf or mantle with other objects d'art. In the gallery I have it grouped with a couple of my gallery wrapped mini florals:

More mini paintings and vignettes will be featured as my next show draws ever closer. Stay tuned! **UPDATE: This piece has sold. See some of the other small works I have available for sale here and here. For more information about any of these pieces, please visit my website or just contact me.

New Vignette- Tuscany watercolor landscape painting

New for today is another original watercolor vignette. This one is of Tuscan sunflowers so abundant in the summertime in the countryside south of Siena. This painting is matted in an 8x10" mat with all acid free materials, and comes in a clear protective sleeve.

"Summer In Tuscany" Watercolor/Pen & Ink

Update: just sold! To see the other small works I still have available for sale, please click here and here.

Fun new mini prints and free shipping!

If you subscribe to my email newsletter, you may already know about the charming new mini prints I'm offering. But if you're exclusively a blog reader, you may or may not have noticed that they're also newly linked here on the blog (scroll down to the end of my sidebar on the right side of the screen.)

These new prints are made on acid free fine art paper with archival inks, and sizes range from very mini 2.5" x 3.5" (such as the one pictured, matted to 5x7") on up to 8" x 10". All are signed and make great holiday gifts. I'm offering these prints via my new Etsy shop for online shopping convenience.

As an added bonus, right now shipping is free one-way in the Continental U.S. for all purchases of $30 USD and over. Customers outside of the continental U.S.A.: You will receive a shipping credit (based on my listed shipping charges) towards your actual shipping costs! (Contact me for a custom shipping quote prior to placing your order.)

By the way, I'm offering the same shipping promotion for any paintings and limited edition prints purchased via my website as well. Click here or just contact me for more information.

"The Terraced Grove, Tuscany"- Watercolor Vignette

Busy day today getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, but at 5 PM I've finally managed to find time to post!  Today it's a new Tuscany watercolor. I think I might be getting the hang of this watercolor thing :-).  The vignettes are a great way to work out compositions on a small scale. I may just have to reinterpret this one into a larger oil :

"Terraced Grove, Tuscany" Watercolor/Pen & Ink, 4x6" Contact me for more info!

We're getting ready to take a little Thanksgiving hiatus for a few, so if I don't have a chance to post again before I leave, happy Turkey Day! (Or if you are a veggie like me, happy carb day!)

"The Golden Pair", plein air painting

It was so windy on Friday that painting outside was a real hazard. So I painted in my car, instead! This little vignette is of a scene along Foushee Street, right near my downtown studio in Richmond, VA. 

 

"The Golden Pair" Oil on canvas mounted on hardboard, 5x7"

Painting in the car has its own hazards, I must say. I'm used to stepping back to see my painting from a distance, and there was none of that. It was pretty confining too, so I had to be careful where I was pointing those brushes! But, any way, I guess it beats having my painting and all my gear slamming against the pavement.

This painting is in the "Vignettes" section of my website and may be purchased online. For more info about this piece, please click on the image or contact me!

New painting details uploaded to the website

It took me a while but I finally got around to uploading some of the plein air paintings I've blogged about in recent months:

   

Details and purchasing info for these smaller paintings  of the Eastern Shore of Maryland are in my gallery of Mini Paintings, as is the recent little autumn scene. In another section of my website, I've uploaded these two Eastern Shore plein air paintings in my gallery of water-related scenes: 

 

 And finally, I mentioned yesterday that I was considering doing a touch more to the little lavender watercolor. Well, I didn't do much but I couldn't resist a tweak, and you can see the final image in the Vignettes section of my website. As with my other Vignettes, this one  may be purchased online  via Paypal. Update: This painting has sold!

Now that I'm getting caught up, I have some new work to upload...stay tuned!

A Provence Watercolor Vignette and a Newsflash

 

It has been a busy week tending to other things, so not much blogging. Above is a little watercolor vignette of one of my favorite subjects--the Provincial countryside! I may go back and add a little detail to the lavender rows...not sure. This is a small piece, a 4x6" image on 5x7" paper, so I kind of like the simplicity and freshess right now.

I've decided to change the "Art Sketches" category of my website to "Vignettes". The above image details and the change to the site are not yet live, but that's part of what I am working on this week. I think Vignettes is more appropriate and encompases both watercolors and other media in small format. I will be doing a lot more of these in the coming weeks as I prepare for my next opening in early December, entitled "Small Stuff".

Speaking of small stuff, here's the other thing I've been working on: I'll be releasing a series of mini-prints soon. These are archival prints of a selection of images in mini format, sizes ranging from 2.5" x 3.5", to 8 x 10". They'll be offered matted with acid-free materials, and they are soooo cute! I've been color correcting and proofing all week, sometimes tearing my hair out, but I expect to launch this line by the beginning of next week. Let's hope I'm not completely bald by then!

Buying art online

Have you ever had a miscommunication in email? Email is great, but because we are not dealing face to face, we have none of the subtleties of communication to observe when words alone are insufficient. Just as there is no experience like chatting face to face, there is no experience like seeing a work of art in person. Art is a visceral experience. On the other hand, viewing art online offers convenience & accessibility. You can look at your computer monitor after dinner in your jammies  (something you really can't do in most of the galleries I've visited!)  And probably one of the biggest advantages is that you can search through a massive array of styles, subject matter and price ranges all with a few keystrokes.  Of course, the down side is that you can also search through a huge range in quality as well, so you kind of have to love a good scavenger hunt!

But the online experience can provide a certain intimacy as well. One can become intimately involved in a work of art through various aspects of the online experience. This includes artist's blogs, information on the website, demonstrations, videos and more. By intimacy  I don't really mean people knowing each other's personal life; just intimacy with the artwork and the artistic experience through stories, connections, information about the art, etc. Many online collectors have the advantage of knowing a little something extra about the artwork or the artist. And often unlike some gallery experiences, one can even dialogue more readily with the artist as well.

I show my work both online and in the "real world". They both offer certain benefits to me as an artist, and I think each venue complements the other very well. I also shop both online and in the real world, (yes, for art! and other things too) but more and more I am becoming quite comfortable with shopping online. Of course I want to know that my purchase is guaranteed with a sound return policy and that there are testimonials that speak to quality and the buying experience, so those are things I would look for. But the world is changing and I think soon buying art online will come into its own.