Meme Art

Setting Sun

Meme Art, as in mimic, it's everywhere. Hence the name, meme, it's viral in no time at all.

When someone says you have to see this, coupled with an LOL, I know I'm going to respond with rolling eyes and "Paleeze, they need to get a life," especially if it involves cute cats. But is it art?

Memes are art. So says Smithsonian: Top Ten Memes , and so says PBS's Idea Channel. Caution: at least one cute kitty in this short video Meme as Art?.

Sunset on the Horizon

I'm now compelled to stay current by downloading software to create my own meme, or to do it with Google+.

I've always used the sun (as in above photo) in the form of various circles as my meme, (:-) is often used. For now the horizon (as in this painting) is my meme, I just haven't put them into the proper meme art form to more accurately represent myself so I can go viral.

Everyone recognizes my art by the signature horizon, so this meme transition may be a bit of a challenge.

http://chzmemeanimals.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/
advice-animals-memes-nyan-cat-auditions.png

Gotta love this kitty! LOL!


How can I change a simple horizon line into something that will go this viral?

 Diversion to be continued...


P.S. I'm really working today, already started three new paintings with my trademark horizon line.








Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for modern art prints:
modern paintings

Protect the Environment Every Day

Message from the Overseas Houston Docked at Old Port Tampa

Protecting the Environment at Home: 

Earth Day 2012 was a success in Tampa Bay with many community groups of volunteers organized.
Though I'm accustomed to channel traffic of commercial shipping lines, barges, fishing and sail boats, coast guard and other security traffic, this ship got a second look during Earth Day clean-up on Picnic Island Saturday.

Docked in Old Port Tampa at the entrance to Picnic Island, which runs under Tampa Airport fuel pipes, this line is in-port frequently and all ships are lettered with the "protect the environment" reminder.

Beautiful Egret Wading on Littered Picnic Island Beach

I cleaned up one small section of beach and park for three days Easter week, collecting hundreds of plastic eggs, plastic "grass", flipflops, candy containers, boxes, plastic drink bottles, plastic cups and other refuse left by adults. Most dangerous were the small plastic rings that birds and waterfowl will become tangled or trapped in.

I gave three days to protect this beautiful egret and thousands of other birds whose home is this island estuary. In this photo, taken after my clean-up, the beach is still littered in green plastic grass and at least one plastic jar top I missed.

Pristine Picnic Island Beach

The Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful group volunteered at Picnic Island for Earth Day. As you can see, it's clean again, after the volunteers collected countless bags of litter from in and around the park and playground plants and beach areas. Park staff were on-hand, too.

Another island painter is in this photo. I believe he keeps to himself. If you visit Picnic Island and happen upon me when I'm painting, I'd very much enjoy your stopping to chat. Sometimes I have to keep working while chatting, though, if the winds are high and I'm using acrylic paint-it dries very quickly.


Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for nature art prints:
nature prints

 

Drawing For Your Painting

White Ibis Strolling by the Bay

A white ibis greeted me early this morning, as we welcomed another beautiful Tampa day. Eager to sketch her later for the kids' art series I'm working on, I pointed, shot, and moved on.

Island birds are the next, and final, series for my children's gallery on Fine Art America.

The shells series was finished today. They're simple shells that kids pickup in the water and on the beaches around Tampa Bay.

Island Shells Series 1 of 4

The children's series are on 6x6" gallery wrap canvas but created as 3x3" watercolors as a concept. They were first rendered as pencil drawings, then painted freely with watercolor.

It's a terrific feeling to take a blank sheet of paper and a pencil and flesh out imagery of any sort. Ingres was my favorite master of drawing for his simply rendered portraits. Though I seldom take pencil in-hand for my larger paintings, I do make a very rough sketch in brown or blue acrylic paints in beginning all acrylic and oil paintings.

There's a Metropolitan Museum drawing exhibition worthy of note “Dürer and Beyond: Central European Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1400-1700,”
You can read about it at the Times Met Drawing Exhibit.  Really beautiful and inspirational drawings from several masters to get your creative juices going.

Storm Clouds Moving In

Listening to the radio as I painted on the beach today, I felt like a country girl in the city. Terry Gross was interviewing Levon Helm. Love those country harmonies even without knowing the music.  Levon Helm Interview  He certainly leaves us a wonderful body of work.

Rains are moving in for the weekend here, so it's computer time for me. Found some great art marketing sites to share in a future post as I explore various venues. Lots of "free" information out there to Google for your own use.



Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for seascape art prints:
seascape paintings

 

Google Blogger Problem Resolution

This morning I joined the Blogger Group  Blogger Forum 

Objectives:  

• need to view my photos which I can't see anywhere in Plus,
• need my posts showing in searches,
• need my Etsy widget to carry over to daily posts                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Shell Game Finding Your Answer

All, repeat, all posts stopped showing in searches and photos are invisible to me since the transition to Plus.
Let's see, how long ago was that?
I'm marketing art online and I'm dead in the water!

Since I went into the forum as a new member, I'm totally reassured that I made the right decision in deciding to hire a consultant before moving on to my own domain site gallery based on a Wordpress template. Wordpress users also have Plus problems yet to be resolved.

I'm certain a pro can fix my Blogger issues in a matter of minutes, as I'm pretty sure I did something I shouldn't have in signing on to Plus. It's taken me many hours, too many to count, to realize I cannot resolve the issues myself. But I've got a few rainy days coming up and, unable to paint, I'll try one more time.

Typical postings on the forum today express absolute user anguish. Students have lost assignments. Bloggers cannot reply to comments. Posts are not being posted. Accounts are closed. URL's renamed. Yep, I definitely need professional help if the younger user cannot find resolution and begs for help.

• OMG, where are my posts? put them back, class assignments!
• Can't reply to my comments, why not?
• Why has my blog gone? Where's my site?

Fellow Blogger Group Members: You are not likely to find problem resolution in the help forum. Your Blogger commiserators don't know how You quite possibly got yourself into your Blogger jam. Play around with the issues and if you can't fix the problems, hire a pro, or barter one, whatever. I didn't see any magical fixes from fellow bloggers on the help site. As for a list of problems that Google is aware of, follow the fix is all you can do, if and when they offer one.

Picnic Island, Tampa, Florida at Low Tide

My pain is that for six months I've painted in one location to capture the essence of that location and cannot even get my art in front of my own Tampa friends and neighbors. If I put in half a dozen search terms, a little something may surface. And that's after hiring my new SE best friend optimizer.

Time for me to get on with it and stop hoping that Google has provided a resolution. Google has not provided me with an answer to my questions.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Google+ Profile link
Gail Kent

Fine Art America Gallery Page Link for abstract art prints:

abstract prints

The Artist as a Brand

Winter Morning Canvas Print

What I've learned about investing in an online art presence, building my brand, selling my art:

• Art is fun
• Art marketing in multiple venues is not fun
• Selling art is fun
• Pricing, billing, collecting and shipping art are not fun
• Self-representing myself in online galleries is fun
• Working half a day on artist's websites, editing to assorted formats, then uploading art is not fun

• Note to Self: Don't worry be happy, paint, hire an intern!

Island Butterfly Series -3/6

Well, perhaps only extraordinarily successful painters hire interns or other assistants who help with everything but the painting. But we can dream. We paint because we enjoy painting and perform as best we can in all the work that supports our brand--our service of delivering our best product.

I've worked hard for six months setting-up my websites and painting a little over 100 small acrylic paintings and studies and 3 medium-sized oils. With the children's gallery that I've started, I'll begin with maybe 30 images and then move on to larger works for the GailKentStudio.com domain site.

Before taking the domain gallery live,  a consultant will get all the websites performing the social networking plan functions I began with. A few major kinks with Google's Plus changes have to be smoothed out.

I've used PayPal with my Etsy shop, and been pleased with performance there. Easy for the buyer to know they will get the product they paid for, easy for me to ship out my art knowing I'm being paid.

With my Fine Art America site, I have nothing to do but upload the art. They format, print, ship, and collect and pay me through PayPal. Wonderful!

The brand is established and now must be maintained. I've met interesting artists through my online presence and we've supported one another with concerns, endeavors, and pats-on-the-back. Contacts, customers and potential customers also contribute to the brand when they comment or share information and links about an artist's work. It's a sense of accomplishment. 

All in all, online art marketing has been a learning experience and will continue to present challenges, growth, and rewards as I expand my art activities. It was a decision without regrets because I started with a plan. I posted about that in this link Set up Online Gallery

Now, to get on with a promotions plan and creating lots of little canvases to fill the children's gallery.



Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Fine Art America Gallery Page Sponsor
minimalism prints

Nature Art for Older Kids

Island Floers Series : 1 of 6

Choosing decorative art for children after they've outgrown Mickey and Little Ponies, but before they've discovered zombies or vampires makes for a challenge.

I'm working on several island nature series for my Fine Art America young people's gallery with the originals now offered on Etsy as affordable art as each series is completed. Island Flowers Great paintings for the young-at-heart, too!

Six series in total in the works: butterflies, flowers, fish, shells, seabirds, and trees. Each is a series of 4-6 acrylic paintings on 6x6x1-1/2" canvas executed in a very spontaneous watercolor style.

Butterflies Series : 2 of 6

These paintings, not graphic art, are all about nature--bright colors and peaceful settings. All images, except the soon to be listed tropical fish, are from the island where I paint regularly.

Girly girl flowers painted in pinks and purples and golden yellows are balanced with boyish tans for moths, butterflies and shells.

The very bright tropical fish series is for the youngest art aficionados. The trees series will feature some great climbing trees and more delicate ones, too, for girls and boys. All are being listed on Etsy as they are completed, then will be available as similar prints in a variety of sizes and formats on Fine Art America.

Island Flowers Series : 2 of 6

Island Flowers 2 of 6  is a beautiful little painting suitable for all ages.

All of these paintings convey the peace and tranquility of nature's gentle movement in an island estuary. 

These images, also very attractive as greeting cards will be  offered at Fine Art America as completed in multiple formatting choices.


Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too.

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Is Amazon Art Marketing for You?

Island Flowers from Picnic Island Series

We've transitioned from retail to online shopping by putting out of business the very retailers who helped us find the specific products we wanted to buy from Amazon. I do just the opposite--research online and go to the neighborhood retailer to buy.

Artists research and read a lot. We purchase equipment and supplies and plan travel to great venues for whatever our media or interests and keep up with what's happening. Visual artists have to know everything from brushes to marketing to online techie news and brand building.

Amazon is one artists' venue for managing the business end of inventory and shipping our works. I'm certain to move in that direction rather than find storage for hundreds of paintings, digging through them to ship one little piece. But as long as I have neighborhood retail stores where I can shop for supplies and all the other needs, I will.

Amazon and Apple, with suits and countersuits, have been under fire in the news lately for the pricing of digital books. E-books for Sale  We've been in a new marketing age for a decade. When I shop at my neighborhood Michael's, I see that everyone under thirty uses their phone to pull up their discount coupons. I'm still a Gutenberg printing out coupons the take to the store. The store is encouraging "bulk" purchases, as well. They'll ease us into ordering our product.

Just noticed a new sign outside my neighborhood Barnes + Noble South Tampa bookstore last week "20,000 square feet for Lease"  I didn't stop to ask details, but this doesn't bode well.

Since my Border's closed, I shop B+N several times a month. I spoke to the manager back in the Fall about student squatters having no limits set. Buying computer books at the time and needing to determine technical vs. my skill level (or lack thereof), after the manager located a chair for me and pulled it into the retail area, I stacked the books on the floor and tried to balance one by one on my too short legs or too tall chair to peruse. I chose two and left--quickly. The manager told me they needed to build a large separate cafe or just be a bookstore. They were aware of the problem and were "working" on it. Looks like they found the solution. Borders also had customers unable get tables because of students spreading out computers and in-store publications.


A month ago, while having Sunday brunch in Panera's during standing room only hour, again older students had already staked claim to the tables, some having brought their own beverages.

I'm not anti-student; I am pro retail. We're all guilty of freeloading off the retailer in difficult economic times. These students are but one piece of the overall marketing problem for booksellers and now for restaurants, electronics stores such as Best Buy, coming soon to all retailers, including art galleries.

We have no choice but to market online. Art Online Here's one of many e-books to tell us how. I haven't read this book and haven't done business with the publishers. I still  have a dream of opening a workshop/studio/gallery for multiple artists working in many media. It's only a dream that is likely to remain unrealized. I spoke with someone about a prime location (a former small gallery) who offered that you need something other than art to get people in. Okay. How about blood, sweat and tears? Art galleries are for art. Bookstores are for books. Restaurants are for dining. Libraries are for students, and Amazon...who knows how many markets they can service?

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:

Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com  my Fine Art America gallery
Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent
www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
Gail Kent Studio Notes  my Tumblr blog site
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios 

Butterfies Flutter By

Island Butterfly

I've always thought butterflies should be called flutterbys. That's the way my mind works and why I love languages.

Childlike fun in my art, getting as much paint on myself as on the canvases, is the order of the day this week. Escaping business, politics and planning, can be difficult, but we must take the time occasionally.

Butterflies is one of my latest series of small spontaneously executed paintings on Picnic Island that capture my beautiful island surroundings in Spring. The originals are offered at Etsy  Butterflies Series  with reproductions soon from my prints site at Fine Art America 

Butterflies are popular with many artists, visual and performing.  They're capable of garnering academy awards as in the classic Butterflies are Free, or stimulating commentary and action on social concerns as with Julia Hill.  Julia Butterfly Hill

Island Moth

While these paintings aren't my usual genre, they are a wonderful diversion from the domain site I'm patiently waiting to load up with original works. Meanwhile, there will be several small series of garden subjects painted in different background colors.

Having a camera that only worked on scenic shots for a few months, I've uploaded photos for card prints to my Fine Art America site. Some are quite stunning captures of the Tampa Bay area and flower photos. Photo Gallery

With a new camera, I can "focus" on photographing my paintings now when I finish playing in the garden, watching the butterflies flutter by.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios

Tampa Artists Welcome RNC

Picnic Island Where Fish are Jumping

Welcome to Tampa Bay! 

We're a little different in these parts and proud to strut our stuff for the RNC. Even the fish are friendly here. Enlarge this photo and you'll see two jumping out of the water as I snapped the shot.

A colorful city of great beauty (full of purple blossom-laden trees today), we're gathering a herd of painted elephants to welcome the RNC gathering in August. Trees courtesy Mother Nature; elephants courtesy local artists. There's sure to be at least one pink pachyderm in the herd.  Tampa's elephants

Picnic Island Shrub Unedited Snapshot

I went to Picnic Island yesterday afternoon to play with my new camera and to prep canvases for a new series. Not much I could photograph, so I staked out my perch for two hours of painting. The beaches were strewn with discarded cans, plastic Easter eggs, Easter basket straw, and other garbage people left behind on the sands, grasses, and in shrubbery, after their Easter reunions. Even the road into the park was badly littered. Plastics in the water and on the shoreline now have to be cleaned-up by taxpayers. No photo ops.

Bird's Eye View from Picnic Island

Tampa is getting a facelift for the RNC.  Already a natural beauty, a facelift will only augment our amenities. Intense planning is underway and all should go well. Don't know that Picnic Island will be a venue for any RNC activities, but the crew has worked very hard for months on improvements and general spruce-up. I've observed what appeared to be shoreline security practice in the bay, as well.


Hate to miss a good party, I'll be on the road in August.


Today's post is loaded with photos that are totally unedited, no color correction, and no cropping. These shots were taken with the new P+S Panasonic Lumix camera which I wrote about in an earlier post along with the link for a recommendation. Artists' Cameras  I haven't yet read the manual and don't yet know how to use the camera very well. The touch screen is wonderful, it's intuitive, and produces quality images. All this for under $100. I could have gotten a model with a view finder to conserve battery life, but my only objective with this camera is a quick fix to photograph my art. That's my next experiment and I'll upload comparisons in a future post.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios
 

This Person on Facebook

This Person as Time Traveler

What date was this person born?  This question begins my Facebook Timeline, or, from my vantage point, is the bottom of my page, which I never see. Who cares? Why is my own Facebook page referring to me as This Person?

Gail Kent Studio 
is a professional page, An Artist's Page.
There are no BFF's convos, no Grandma pix, no family or private life postings, or family photos on my artist's page.

This Person In Past Life

Unfortunately, This Person, is some marketing guru's perfect TARGET, and is potentially worth a lot more revenue to Facebook if Timeline begins at the moment of birth. Google hasn't asked my best buddies to provide my birthdate. Yet. They'll simply pull it by mining my searches. Oops! I don't want to post my birth photo--Target might "target" me. Target's targeting   This story was all the NPR and Blog buzz recently. If you've shopped in the last decade or two, you're profiled online.

Clouds of Uncertainty

In the war of the Personal Data Miners, I need only art visibility, not junk mail and junk ads they're creating to build empire on my face(book). I'm multifaceted.

It may be time for private search engines that require subscription, as many news sites are becoming and research sites have long been. Bummer.
  

My art sites were setup to favor Google searches as other search engines may put me in not very good company. But, frustrating glitches in my Plus account have reduced visibility for my blog. And, I don't remember the last time anything surfaced from Facebook in my Google searches. No visibility! I may get a pro on it.

Having purchased a P+S camera last week, I'm currently bombarded by ads for every site I visited in researching cameras on most sites I'm visiting now. I don't want to erase all my cookies every day, but may have to. I visit a lot of sites and, This Person now finds these targeted ads very annoying. The ads are no longer appropriate if I've already purchased. The Miners are working on perfecting that, too.

I hesitate to setup yet another social site, though I'm interested in Pinterest. Why not another site? How much is enough? Although it would be very helpful to have a shared board to post watercolor studies of series I'm working on, I'd give access to thought process in pre-creative imagery, which I find a little spooky. My paintings would be out there before I paint them.


For several decades I've been setting up online accounts on my personal computers. (I installed my first commercial computer in (more than 2 decades ago.) I've used assorted versions of my name, assorted birthdays, but never where or when I was born or where I am at the moment in all my setups.


I'm the last person to transition to mobile computing on my phone, though I use an ipad and ipod. Reason: don't want to share my location and friends and family locations, phone numbers, and personal data. It's too much. My old phone is dying, have to find a workaround for my data sharing phobia so I can mobile shop and sell, and to have app GPS for travel.


We need to think long and hard about our social network identities and all the setup data we provide. I know people who deleted their Facebook accounts, just as I was the absolute last person to join. Look, Facebook posted the joined date just after asking everyone for my birthdate!


Enough is Enough.


Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios

Reproductions, Printing, Walmart Photos

Sharp, color correct photos are a must when uploading for large reproductions. My uploads have slowed to a crawl as I waited first to decide on a new camera up to the task, and now for delivery delayed because of Texas storms. My new camera is in Ft. Worth.

We have a full spectrum (pun intended) of quality reprographics and other quality digital professional printers, not to mention top photographers, in Tampa Bay. Business is accustomed to a quality product, as is everyone working in visual arts. Locally sourced printing services cuts turnaround time tremendously when the product moves from computer to physical product.

Perfect Blue Hydrangea

Compromise in photo quality is not an option, and for working artists, quality at the best price is critical. Upfront camera cost can be very low, with a little research to match needs to the subject matter. However, reproduction equipment is cost prohibitive for the artist, unless you're cranking out hand made greeting cards. Our finished product investment is time required to find professional, dependable, printers. This snapshot taken with my damaged little P+S camera is sharp, the blue is color correct, and it will make a stunning enlargement. Stunning isn't perfect, though. You want the best for your art.

I've been on a mission to source local self-serve printing options for quick needs for photo greeting cards, post cards, and advertising greeting cards.  I'm open to all advertised service centers in meeting my needs.

I designed a new business card in Microsoft Image Pro using my own sailboat photo and print layout and took it to Office Depot. Not exactly self-serve, but I walked to the counter, the clerk put my file into the business card sheet format and printed on card stock. It took her three adjustments to get the color up to my standards, which she happily did. Beautiful cards at a very affordable price. No need to order from the professional printers with my social media or other contact info changing monthly. You can create your order online and then pick-up at your local store. Office Depot Prints

Cruising Down Bayshore Boulevard

Yesterday I visited Walmart's photo center and fumbled around with their designs and formats offered in everything from kid's party invitations to large format canvas wrap prints.
I printed this photo which is busier and more detailed than my art photos, though the colors are similar. It was edited earlier in Image Pro  to take out hanging oak branches in the top left. This shot also comes from the bad camera.  My 5x7 glossy print is sharp, color perfect, and amazing. It will enlarge nicely. 

You may order your work online at Walmart and pick-up and pay at the electronics counter. Walmart Photos  The manager suggests not to pay online, but to pay in store. The process is HP's and I was absolutely astounded at the quality of my test photo and of a few Easter greeting cards I printed with my art work and custom text. Limited choices in the text colors and fonts, but they're acceptable.

Next stops will be the chain pharmacies in the neighborhood and I'd like to source affordable conversion of 35mm negative strips to digital--without having to buy more equipment.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios

Etsy Birds Bopping and Bees Buzzing

It's Springtime at Etsy! 


So many talented artists and artisans now being featured everywhere! Yesterday the latest West Elm arrived, Etsy art on their walls--fantastic!

After a period of focusing on other things, I created a new Treasury this morning to showcase a few of these artists. Spring at Etsy  There are hundreds of new Spring-themed beautiful treasuries putting a song in the hearts of all these shop owners and their shoppers. Quality handcrafts at affordable prices.

My own Etsy shop images need to see a little updating with the twelve photos and paintings offered. I've tended to upload and forget about it. Etsy has not been the best of venues for fine arts offerings, but it would appear changes are in works. It's past time to check out the new art groups and put more marketing efforts into being an Etsy shop owner.

Marketing on Etsy does require a time investment. Shop owners are social marketers par excellence, with a long time presence on Facebook and Twitter.

Etsy gives us one of our best marketing tools--Etsy circles we join. These offer a tremendous opportunity to build community with fellow etsians, and to build web presence through connections we make. I've posted about this at Etsy Marketing

Another Etsy marketing tool I use is the Etsy Mini to showcase a few of my paintings on my blog.

I like the appearance of my Etsy shop paintings on the blog layout. However, they aren't carrying over to my Digg posting to Twitter, and when I surface in Google searches, they don't show in the blog posts that I open.

This mini link isn't carrying over when linking, I suppose you could say.

This curious problem can be worked out later. For now I'm glad it's on the blog home.

Enough talking about Etsy, time to start doing Etsy. I hope you enjoy visiting some of the shops, and Treasuries are a wonderful shortcut to do that.

We have a new "gift" and home decor shop in my neighborhood. Don't know them well enough yet to put a link in, but I have to say ten minutes in that store was like a day of browsing Etsy shops. Many of the wares in the store seemed to have been sourced from Etsy vendors. I'll write about it after I've built a relationship with them. It was wonderful being totally surrounded by whimsical artworks.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios

Cameras for Visual Artists

Bon Voyage from Bayshore Boulevard

Yesterday, Palm Sunday, the Bayshore Boulevard (of Dreams) in Tampa could not look more inviting than in this snapshot.
 
For several months, my fifth digital camera has been on the fritz. I've only had this one for three months. Granted it's only a P+S Kodak, but the prior two gave me acceptable results when shooting outdoors. I'd drag out the old SLRs but they're no longer practical. I don't even want the bulk of a DSLR.

 Bayshore Boulevard Rainbow Sans Pot o' Gold

This photo taken across the street from the above, and minutes apart, is a little pond in old Palma Ceia. It's actually the old Palma Ceia Spring swimming hole from days long past.

In different light, different colors, this shot is problematic for many digital P+S cameras. The lens is fast enough to stop motion, stabilized, but colors are hard to correct.

Look at the rainbow, though, beautiful. While the greens are okay and the focus is spotty in a few areas, this is still a pretty greeting card scene.

Point+Shoot cameras I've owned and researched have a problem with contrasting and differentiating the transition from sun to shade and, in my more colorful flower shots, correct to blobs of bright color, or everything is monotone blurred blues.

Bayshore Garden Club Live Oaks Draped in Moss

A lovely scene across the side road to the spring, shot on automatic setting with strong backlighting and multiple shades of green. Not bad. I'll re-shoot when I have a new camera.
This link offers lots of information from an experienced professional fine art photographer.
Photograph Art 

Maybe more technical than you need, but you can easily pick out the sections on 2-D art and just enjoy the pictures in the rest of the post.

Cruising Down the Bayshore

Off to look at cameras now. Our difficulty in photographing our art is the close-up focus required for reproductions. Artists need those fantastic scenery shots only for reference, unless like me, uploading photos for prints.

With my current information, I may choose a Panasonic Lumix today and continue reading before committing to a Canon Powershot SX40HS, as referenced in my prior post link - New Camera - which the author has updated.

Comments are always encouraged.
If you're following interesting blogs, feel free to comment or post those links here, too. 

All the best,

Gail Kent
Gail Kent Studio

Find me or my work at the following addresses:
Gail-Kent.artistwebsites.com 
 Twitter -  Twitter.com/@Gail_Kent,  and Facebook -  www.facebook.com/GailKentStudio
www.etsy.com/people/gailkentstudio
https://sites.google.com/site/gailkentstudios