I Want To Do A Newsletter. Maybe?

I was thinking this was how I could show you my world of art and the adventure I am walking through!

I’ve been learning how to travel through the art world of exhibits, social media and the how to’s of the art business which is not an easy thing for a person who did not grow up with a computer. Gosh, I thought my electric typewriter with an eraser capability was the coolest thing! Did I ever imagine I would be using Macbook Pro, creating a website, trying Instagram, e-Commerce, Facebook business and make videos to post online? NEVER!

So, am I crazy to do all this?

There are times when I think so. Retired from teaching high school art two years ago, I was bored. Besides, I inherited an entrepreneurial nature from my dad. In a crazed moment, I decided to enroll in a year long course to learn all about the art business. I wanted to sell my 50 something paintings I have stored in portfolios in my studio.

Why not do a newsletter ? Through my school, I have a good head start in technology.

This was where I spent 14 years as an educator. Now my grand-daughter will start Classical School here. Go Royals!

My school was an Apple Distinguished School which means (drum roll) I had to become an Apple Certified Teacher. That was no small thing.

So, you’re not too impressed? Remember, I am a hair away from being an octogenarian, so be impressed.

I spent hours learning most of the Apple programs like Garage Band where I could write music and publish. I learned to make iMovies, with trailers, add sound and to edit (clip) my video mistakes. I had prove that I could do ‘this stuff’ so that I could teach ‘this stuff’ and then (ta-da) earn my very own Star Wars Light Saber. as a reward. It proudly sits in a corner of my studio to remind me I can do what I never imagined with much determination, hard work and God.

The Light Saber

At this stage in my life, I am beginning another career; painting daily to build an exhibit of 20 paintings, scheduling business hours and being challenged so that my brain stays young and happy and my family is happy that I am happy.

Actually, I am finding it is hard work so I’m asking for prayer.

Please text me your email address so I can send you my Newsletter. I do not share this with any other parties.

I try to add new art photos each month and tell you a bit of trivia about artists and art appreciation. Mostly it is because I want to stay in touch with people I have come to appreciate. Also, I can welcome new friends this way, that like art and are interested in seeing my work.

Thank you all. It is much appreciated.

There Are So Many Mediums to Do Art.

My brush collection is huge. I found I can fill a coffee cup with raw beans and poke the handles in to hold the brushes upright. It is easier to select the ones I need.

How do I choose?

First think of what you want to paint.

What medium seems to fit your idea? Follow up by experimenting with one that would be best. It can be a combination of several media or just one. Do a rough painting sketch of the main forms but no details. What color would be best for the main idea or what we call the center of interest?

I do a lot of Mixed Media with acrylics, meaning I might add a paper and collage it on or I might tear up an old painting I do not like, and use the pieces. I think of the style I want to express my idea. Will I use strong outlines? Or smudge the outlines for a filmy look? Be sure to overlap shapes. Don’t leave space around each one have them tough or overlap so the composition flows and there is a sense of direction to move around the artwork.

You are like a symphony director. You need to tell people how to move around your art.

When I select my colors, I consider the art elements like LINE, SHAPE, FORM, TEXTURE, VALUE, COLOR, SPACE (or dimension). My best work uses texture, color and value. Will my texture be real and tactile so that I touch it and feel it? If so, I would choose heavy gels or heavy gesso (pronounced jes-O) to raise up the canvas or paper surface before I paint. If I want the texture to be visual, I will paint the texture into the art.

Because I have been painting for half a century, I am very familiar with the interactions of colors so I try not to mix ones that will make my painting muddy. Is you use a color wheel and do not mix the colors opposite each other unless you really want a gray-brown neutral.. However, I will use opposites, called complements, to dull a too bright color.

For starters, pick 4 colors you seem to use most of the time. Restrict your painting to only those colors and make several sketches with a thin brush. My favorite four are yellow-orange, Golden Quinacridone crimson (or a cool red), Golden turquoise blue and a. blue-violet. Actually if you look at the color wheel, my colors are called a split-complementary color scheme.

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=color+wheel

Here is a link to several kinds of wheels. Look for the primary triad- red, yellow and blue. Look at yellow orange and blue green. Then find the red and blue. What are the colors on the other sides of red and blue? Try using those with the yellow-orange and blue-green. Paint a bunch of squiggles in each color all over the paper. Allow some to overlap to see what happens. Do you think they complement each other? In other words, do they ‘pop’ when you use them together? This is what you after.

©2018 Marsh Gegerson, High Sierra, Watercolor, 15×17″ $700.

Look at my painting above. I used a split complement scheme. yellow-orange, red, blue-violet and turquoise or blue green. They seem to enhance each other.

Find your colors, your style by using a few of the art elements and make several paintings.

Don’t use them all. Pic two or three. For instance, try outline (line) and shape ( geometric and free form shapes) then add space by overlapping some and leaving one or two alone. Play with it. Don’t get serious about it. Be spontaneous. It will come and soon you will have YOUR style.

I’m Deciding to Take Risks with My ART.

What was my wakeup call? I was not going anywhere in my career. Actually, I had no goals to even have any direction.

What about you? For instance, do you create art to give it away to family and friends? Do you love making art and want to share what you do. That is a noble deed and you should continue to bless others that way.

Our art has great value because it represents who we are and what we have to say. Art is a silent conversation we have with others.

The fact is that I had a lot of momentum at the beginning of my career. For instance, by earning a degree in Fine Arts and I have been in this art game for over 50 years. I have participated in my share of art festivals, have been in group art exhibits and I even had a solo show in a barn gallery in Sugar Loaf, Orange County, New York. At the same time, I also was teaching art in two public schools, which left the summers for me do art. So, what happened to me?

The game changer was beginning our family. I was young; I had abounding energy and drive so I successfully managed this juggling act for years. In fact, I hired my neighbor to baby sit one day a week so that I could study painting with John Gould, Sr., at his Bethlehem Art Gallery. John was a retired Pratt Institute of Art Instructor. Furthermore, I taught painting in my home studio while my kiddos were in Preschool. It was a joyous time and a growing time..

Have you noticed that life evolves?

Accordingly, this means that changes are coming and it will take readjusting of a lifestyle. My momentous change was a move fifteen hundred miles away, where I no longer had an art support group. I was teaching art full time so it took a while for me to discover our local art societies and artist groups.

Eventually I became implanted in two very strong watercolor societies and concentrated on getting accepted into juried shows. Juried shows are very competitive and an artist is not always admitted to exhibit because they have not reached the standard that is required. I was accepted and rejected! However, I found it a great growing experience.

To grow, we have to move, reach beyond our grasp and take risks.

As a result, this is the time where I learned how to make good art. I studied what the judges looked for in accepted art and I constantly reevaluated my work. Also, I was part of a critique group where we honestly analyzed and commented on each others work. As a result of my being active in art, my career grew. I was invited to publish some of my paintings in 3 art books. I was very honored and encouraged plus it consequently helped to define me as a ‘real’ artist and a good art teacher.

Always make an effort to stay focused.

So, how did I get here in a pasture named Complacency? I lost my focus. I forgot my goals. I was like a horse happily grazing in the sun and lazily laying back. If a horse does not stay active, its muscles become soft and weak and it looses strength. It takes a greater effort to gain it back! I was like that horse when it came to my art career. I list momentum and have to work harder to get back up.

Double effort but Small Gains.

I looked at the five bulging art portfolios stored in my studio and discovered over fifty paintings from my career that went nowhere. However, motivation comes in mysterious ways. My daughter threatened that it would all end up in a dumpster after I died. This was all the threat I needed!

I knew I needed help with career counseling and enrolled in a course called Art Biz.

Consequently, this is where I am now, in my growth. I am learning about business; something they never taught is art college. Besides, the world is different from when I started. Everything is digital. Hence, it is like I am back in school learning how to walk. I decided I want pursue internet sales with my art. I am learning about social media and how to get images of my work ‘out there”.

I am very excited and hopeful. My secondary goal, besides selling my art, is to make it count for humanity. I want my success to help poor and suffering children get the medical help they need through Mercy Ship. I want to help build wells in third world countries so water is clean to drink. All this, while people enjoy my work by putting my it in their homes. What joy it is to go beyond my natural reach and try to change the lives of so many more by the outcome of my efforts..

HELP.

I’m So Disracted and My Worst Enemy!

I really wanted to learn to blog so the idea of this site was born. It was fortunate to have a son in IT( techy business stuff) and he designed this site for me. Whew! My plan was to show the world my work as an artist and drive people to my site. My son is a tech genius, although he will deny it. Steve studied marketing in college and but actually worked IT in the resort industry and later in publishing. Bored with his job, he established his own company and created this blog site for me. Remarkably, the first computer we bought him in college was an Apple2E with drop down menus. Amazed, I wonder how he learned to function in the difficult world of analytics, coding and other blah-blah-blah. Where did he get the genius bug? Definitely, it was not from me.

So who am I really?

By nature, I am a creative person of reasonable intelligence with a thirst to learn new ways to create while seeking truth about my world. I am a practical no frills woman who is comfortable in my skin. By the way, it took me a lifetime to achieve this since I was always sensitive to what others thought of me. Deep within my center is a Bohemian color-crazed artist who loves pattern, bold colors and weird things hanging from my studio ceiling that have no function except that I like to look at them. When I retired from teaching visual arts for 24 years, I inherited about 200 origami birds of all colors that were made by students in the Literature class. You can see them in the photo before I braved the ladder to get them on the ceiling! Added to that are ribbons and colorful fabric leis that I collected from a school prom I chaperoned. My studio is a smallish hodge-podge of color and memories that expresses my life experiences and fires me up to create.

My studio is well lit with natural light but small and cramped but functions. See the garland of birds?

I am a mixed media artist that likes to try new mediums to express myself (sometimes all media at once… Well, maybe not all). This goes goes with my undercover Bohemian artist nature, which I hid for ages under a conservative wrapping. I have never been wild. I never did weed and alcohol because I was wise enough and didn’t need to patch myself up with those external feel-good things that might get me trapped in a habit I would regret. Yet, the Woodstock era was mine and ‘everybody’ did weed and more. Tie dye, head bands , pink lenses on glasses and wild hair were the rage.

I envision myself as practical, level-headed and a deep thinker who likes to figure stuff out. Actually, at this late stage in my life (age 79), I find I have a powerful motivation to work on an art career then I tell myself to ‘chill’ and drop it. That ‘fire in my belly’ begins to burn again and I NEED to take up this radical business idea. Good grief!

A lot of time is spent in my studio and I have about 50-60 paintings stored in portfolios. May I reveal a hidden secret that I am risking to tell the world on this blog. I am timid to approach people, art businesses and galleries to offer my work. Taking that initiative makes my blood run cold. Yet, I KNOW I am a good artist. I KNOW my work has quality and can hold up in today’s market but I’m afraid I will not meet the business demands it all will put on me. Will I bail out when others are counting on me. Afraid. Af-raid. Afr-aid. However I say it, it doesn’t go away. I have a fear of success. My present excuse is that I am too old to reinvent myself. If you are experiencing the same emotions and have moved on, may I offer many words of congratulations. Just tell me how you overcame the fear of starting over?

Alas, I am stuck in a new era of technology I never learned in school yet a three year old feels comfortable with. I hate phones and social media that drives the world market today. I really do not want to be on Linkedin, which took forever to get off! I rarely Tweet, Instagram or Facebook unless I want to see photos of my family’s grand kids. Do you think there is hope for me in business? I would need a mind miracle.
So, what do I do with the FIRE, the challenge, the drive?

There is one sliver of hope but haven’t done it yet. The question that was put to me was, “Are you sure you want to have a business?” An awesome, motivating art coach named Alyson Stanfield of Art Biz Success .com was revealed to me. I read most of her business blogs online and had some glimmer of hope that I would take her workshop on how to start an art business. I bought her book, IRBITS which is in its fourth printing. However, as a retired person living on an a small pension, I realized that I have very little capital to invest in a new business. Formerly, I had a retail business that ran out of capital. Trying to expand, I could not continue although it was breaking even after 3 years. This experience scared me.

At that time, women were not encouraged to be in business. I tried to float a bank loan to grow my venture. I was told by the bank officer to go home and just make it a hobby. “Women are not good business people.” Nowadays, that bank manager would be burnt at the stake for slander. Go Women!. That experience soured me and I lost belief in myself. This still hangs on me like a ball and chain. I know a bit about retail but less about marketing.

Where will this end up? At my elder-ish age, business seems like futility because I do not know how long I will have on this earth. I was never one to leave something unfinished. I have this stubborn persistence to complete what I started. I am a legacy builder and am hopefully an example for my grandchildren to never quit but to keep on, keeping on.

For those of you who have the ‘fire’ also, take the risk so you will never regret having missed a great opportunity to invest in your world and to bless others with your talents. To Alyson Stanford, you are the hope of many creative women like myself who don’t know where to start. Great going Gal and thanks.