Mike Barr Art Blog
The small-works blog movement
by paintingsuccess , March 25, 2009—12:00 AM
Painting lots of small works (as suggested in a previous blog) is one thing, but doing something with them is a different matter.
The small-works or daily-painting blog has become quite a movement among representational artist worldwide and has become a useful tool on a number of levels.
Many artists have striven to paint works on a daily or near-daily basis and this has proved invaluable to the artist's own growth in skill. More than this, it has extended their network of known artists, increased exposure worldwide and has also provided a steady stream of income from sales.
There is no reason why you can't set up such a blog on your Artid blogsite or, you can go for the bells and whistles of blogspot.com. Here you can add all kinds of useful tool for both the artist and the viewer, but make sure you link back to your gallery and blog at artid! Blogspot presents very professionally, especially in the area of uploaded photos.
Your introduction into the world of the small-works blog can be served no better than visiting these few blogs http://miniaturemasterpieces.blogspot.com/ http://jthalassoudis.blogspot.com/ http://dianne-gall.blogspot.com/ http://myartspage.blogspot.com/ http://bretthayesart.blogspot.com/ http://smallartworks.blogspot.com/ http://www.dailyartwest.com/ http://artofbarr.blogspot.com/
Also look at the list of daily painters at http://www.dailypaintersguild.com/dailypainterslist.html the list is imposing.
Once you have set up your blog make sure you visit other blogs too and make links on your blog to those that you like. Make comments on the blogs you like and hope for reciprocal links. Be careful in asking for reciprocal links though, as the person you are asking may not fancy what you paint, and that will make for an awkward situation. If a fellow artist has left a positive comment on your work, then you can feel pretty confident in asking for link!
You will see that most painters also have their work for sale. Some of them sell just about everything, but dont think that success in that area is automatic; you have to build up a following.
Sales are done through links to eBay and directly through a Paypal buy-now button that takes a bit of working out, but worth it in the long run and saves going through eBay and having to pay final valuation fees.
There's only one way to get your small-works blog started and that's to just DO IT!
You'll love it.
COMMENTS
( homepage )
04/24/2009 * 13:36:19
There is a Call for Art that is posted right now for Small Works. ArtId is building a special small works gallery and we would love to have your work in there along with anyone else who is working under 10".
http://artid.com/trade/jobs/details.html?submit=View+Details+And+Apply&id=68
( homepage )
04/24/2009 * 13:22:06
Thanks Mike; this is a great post with lots of good information on it. I'm going to forward to soem friends.
( homepage )
04/16/2009 * 00:50:57
...i've tried to do "a painting a day", but as one guy's blog says life happens...i have a few and they're posted on one of my artid galleries...i really need to get back into it, but the discipline (see, i can't even spell it) required might prove to be too much for me...i first heard about the painting a day movement about 2 years ago when i read an article in an artist's magazine, don't remember which one...it was about duane kaiser, practically the founder of a painting a day...his work is pretty amazing, and i enjoy watching his videos too...one of my favorites is of him painting an ice cream cone...he's a nut, he paints the cone, and revises the painting as the ocne melts... love it...
( homepage )
04/14/2009 * 23:23:51
I've recently joined the daily painters. I've always painted everyday, but the small size is something new and I'm enjoying the constantly changing works. I also feel that I will improve, because with the constant new work comes new problems to deal with. Also, in these tough times, it should add to my income.
Mona Diane Conner ( homepage )
04/25/2009 * 20:51:07
For my miniature* painting blog online, I have found Google Buy buttons just as reliable, hassle-free to set up, and less expensive in fees than Pay Pal.
*(While it is at times ambiguous on art blogs, the term "miniature painting" is generally understood in official competitions as something smaller in both portrayed scale (1/6th to 1/12th of life scale) and in surface dimensions than a small work.)