In her eyes

sometimes I feel BLUE

The lollipop boy

Woman warrior

Retired mermaid

Incantation

Portrait

sadness



digital painting

Today’s featured art is Waiting by Elizabeth Edwards

Waiting by Elizabeth Edwards — View Larger

Prices for Waiting begin at $16.98, subject to change.

New art featured regularly, courtesy of the artists at Imagekind.

Tags: Elizabeth Edwards, Waiting, Imagekind,

If you are an artist, photographer, author or just like to create books for the fun of it, head over to 1stAngel Creatives and join us today!!

It’s finally up on the walls. Months of work, years even. You’re standing there, spinning slowly in the middle of the gallery, basking in the self-loving glow of your artwork on the walls. The mailer has been mailed, email notices delivered, and a press release sent out. You might have even put up a few posters here and there, and posted to a few forums. You’re ready for the opening reception, with those thousands of people (you hope) rushing through the front door to see what new genius you’ve adorned the empty white walls with.

And then you spend the next several hours answering questions, many of them the same questions, to many different people, with a big grin on your face the whole time.  You explain how you use your materials, you explain why you picked your subject matter, why you like this color over that one, and why you only work on canvas or paper, or why sculpture is your medium of choice. You tell many people, time and again, what made you decide to be an artist in the first place.

By the end of the night, you can’t remember who you’ve talked to and what you’ve said. You know yourself and your work inside and out, and you’ve proved that as the hours marched on during the reception.

But do you know anything about the people that asked the questions? The ones who are interested in your work? What’s their take on the images you’ve created? If you spend all your time answering the same questions over and over, this information is hard to come by.

As an artist, creating images and objects comes naturally to you. Speaking may not, but speaking is how you will connect with those that enjoy your work and those that will collect it. By working with the gallery owner and employing a gallery talk at your opening, you can answer a lot of those questions early on that may get asked over and over otherwise. And that gives you time to get to know those interested in your work a little better.

A gallery talk does not have to be a scary thing – even if you’re apprehensive about speaking in front of a crowd of people. Unless you’re speaking in an academic setting, your talk doesn’t have to be long (and even in the academic setting it’s wise to not put your audience to sleep with every little story from your past explaining your growth as an artist). Think of the basic questions someone who doesn’t know you might want to know about you and your work:

?    Who are you? What’s your professional background?
?    What led you to creating art? Why do you do it?
?    What inspires you? What informs your work and leads to your ideas?
?    How do you create it? What mediums do you use and how do you use them?
?    What kind of experience do you hope a viewer gets out of seeing your work?

These are fairly simple and straightforward questions, and should be questions that you can answer easily. Use them as the foundation for your talk, answering them as you move along through your talking points.

But, you want to add a personal touch as well. Find a few anecdotes and stories that you can slip in between those questions that may help illuminate what you’re talking about, or put your answers to those questions into real life situations everyone can relate to.

For example, one of the stories I sometimes slip into talks about my work comes from years ago when I painted a very abstract painting of a mouse’s head. Without telling a friend of mine what the subject matter was, I had him look at the painting and asked him what he could see. His response?

“Jesus.”

I painted a mouse, and he sees Jesus Christ. Once I got over my bewilderment at his response, the situation became a turning point in how I approached art, because I came to realize that no matter what I create, no matter my intent, it will always be colored by the individual perceptions of those who view it. When I use that story, I like to work it into my talk about the time I’m explaining what inspires me and how I go about creating the work I create.

By taking the time to give a talk about your work, you give the attendees of your opening a chance to get to know you, and your work, all at once. Make sure you work in time for a question and answer session after you get through the talk as well. People love to ask questions, and it will allow them to feel closer to your work. And, as the reception continues on into the evening (or afternoon, or morning), you’ll be presented with a better chance to get to know those that have taken the time to come see what you’ve been creating. You’ll find out more about who they are, and why they like, or don’t like, what you’ve been doing.

You already know who you are, and you know your work – give a gallery talk, and give yourself a chance to find out who the people looking at your work are, and what they like and don’t like. You’ve already had a chance to express yourself, give them the chance to do the same.

Robert Bean is a practicing artist that resides in Little Rock, Arkansas. His work is collected throughout the United States and has been included in several competitives and exhibitions. Examples of his work can be found at his website, www.rbfineart.com. You can read more of his thoughts on art and being an artist on his online journal, Scribbles & Smudges, at http://rbfineart.livejournal.com.

This article ©2008 Robert Bean.

Today’s featured art is wallace’s_flying_frog by Roger Hall

Fine art illustration of a Wallace’s Flying Frog (Rhacophorus nigropalmatus)

wallace’s_flying_frog by Roger Hall — View Larger

Prices for wallace’s_flying_frog begin at $11.89, subject to change.

New art featured regularly, courtesy of the artists at Imagekind.

Tags: Roger Hall, wallace’s_flying_frog, Imagekind,

Containing 30 images from my space and fantasy series with no writing….

Space 2008 by 1stAngel

10% of all proceeds will go, as normal, to my favourite charity http://www.wspa.org.uk/

You can also purchase it from my new store at http://stores.lulu.com/1stangel

Thank you for looking…

I used to make these and they sold very well.

What you will need is….

Wooden toy Wheel
Dowels
ome kind of small saw
Marine grade wood glue
Sanding paper
a hook
Paint, brush and varnish if you want.

Go to any craft store and buy a wooden toy wheel, get the heavier wood if they have it.
Find a wooden dowel that will very snuggly fit into the Wooden wheel’s hole.
You will want about 8″ of dowel hanging out of the bottom of the Wheel.
Put glue on both the Dowel and the inside hole of the Wheel. Carefully push together until the Dowel is just above the wheel.
Wipe any excess glue from the Wheel and Dowel.
Let it set 24 to 48 hours.
Then sand the bit of dowel sticking out of the top of the Wheel until it is flush with the Wheel.
Mark where the center is.. this can be a bit tricky so take your time, as you want your Handspindle to whorl evenly.
On one side of the Wheel edge, mark an area with pencil to where you want to put a small and sanded indent. This way the wool has some place to sit.
Now sand the whole piece until smooth.
Wipe of any dust with a cloth.

Now you can either carefully put the hook in the top and call it good or Paint your spindle first.

If you paint your spindle, wait to put the hook in after the paint and varnish is on and totally dry.
You should be able to find the dent you made earlier.

This spindle is very cheap to make. Is not perfect but works well for the lighter weight fleece…and great for spinning lace weight yarn.

Here is a photo of them almost finished… painted and vanished..just have to put the hooks on.

Filter CEO David Maher-Roberts says ‘We’re seeing more of our users than ever before rating depressing or slightly miserable tracks more highly than happier types of music. It’s logical to assume that this is a reflection of what’s happening in the economy. The good news is that there are a large number of happier, more uplifting tracks out there that can do wonders for your mood!’

The Ten Most Popular Depressing Songs, as rated by U.S. users of TheFilter.com are:

1. Sia — ‘Breathe Me’

2. Coldplay — ‘Fix you’

3. The Smiths — ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’

4. Radiohead –’ How to Disappear Completely’

5. Eminem — ‘Stan’

6. Evanescence — ‘My Immortal’

7. Annie Lennox — ‘Why’

8. Pink Floyd — ‘Comfortably Numb’

9. Jeff Buckley — ‘Hallelujah’

10. Bruce Springsteen — ‘Secret Garden’

The figures have been gathered by measuring how many of The Filter’s user base positively rate or have previewed recommended audio tracks.

About The Filter

The Filter is a personalized content filtering system that aggregates entertainment and information and connects users to content that reflects their tastes and moods. The developers behind The Filter are world leading British software company Exabre. They are backed by high profile investors, including Peter Gabriel’s Real World Group and Eden Ventures.

The Filter has been downloaded in 164 countries. Its database currently includes over 5m songs, 330k movies and more than 50m individual purchases and playlists.

The Filter works by using Bayesian mathematics. It was developed by Martin Hopkins, a physicist who was struggling to manage his growing digital music collection.