:piece by piece:

As promised, I put up a framed original art piece up for sale on my Etsy page. It intentionally has a Valentine's Day theme (through my twisted eyes), so who knows, maybe someone will consider it for a last minute gift. But I'm just trying to get more of the artwork out there, a sale would be a bonus.

I also keep taking advantage of print sales that I manage to come across. Bought a ton more of these small prints of Instagram shots that I intend to put into equally small frames, and will probably add them to the shop, along with selling them at any markets and fairs that I manage to get into. Been trying to get into one of the monthly ones in Lowell, but twice so far they've passed on me, citing too many vendors applying for spaces. Try try again.

The current Homunculus doll is slowly progressing, yet if I spot another one out in my travels, I still buy it if I can. Of course I have no idea what this one will become either. The long hair on it is just ridiculous.

Much of creative time lately has actually been taken up by continuing to work towards a final draft of at least one of my NaNoWriMo novels, and that's not really easy to show in this blog. I've been editing with the aid of a online tool called AutoCrit, which literally goes through the novel piece by piece in various ways. It's amazing how much you can change when you go sentence by sentence. And already I know I need a whole new first chapter. A title is still up in the air for it. The working one is "Devices," but that sounds a bit too plain to me. Another idea is "#embraced," which is from a major plot point, but I'm worried that a hashtag in the title would date it, even though I don't specify a time in the story other than the near future.

:commerce:

Moving steadily along, as per usual juggling several projects at once, doing little parts on each one.

One goal for the year is to get my artwork out and for sale more, so I've been looking into art markets and fairs, though some of the booth space costs for some of them are ridiculously high. I also continue to look into different ways of presenting and selling what I do have. I'm definitely going to keep pushing more of the Instagram shots, which are easier to frame in smaller sizes.

At one place that I was selling them at recently (a bazaar at my day job), a few people thought that they were coasters. So, I ordered a few actual coasters to see what that would look like.

I'm still enamored of metal prints too, so when I see sales or Groupons and such, I try to get another one.

We're in February now, if you didn't notice by the excess of hearts and the color red about. My Valentines are still available through Etsy, and I'm going to offer my original framed artwork of the zombie valentine drawing, probably putting it up in the next few days.

I regularly discover the advantage of always having some sort of camera on me, even if it's just the phone's camera, for you never know when something will catch your eye. I saw this as I was heading out the door this morning. That's a doll in progress hiding beneath the mask.

:mic check:

I've been finishing up and sending the first edits of her photos to Theresa. So far she seems pleased with them. And in other photo-related matters, next week is the deadline for submitting to a toy camera photo show. I have several shots to choose from, but I just sent off another Holga roll of film to be developed. Hopefully it'll return in time for me to see if there are any other choices.

Earlier today I was pondering whether or not I should bother creating an artist page on Facebook, since that's pretty much the last place I haven't at this point. Perhaps if I had done so earlier. But the ever-changing rules and algorithms make it seem pointless now. I've seen some artists have hundreds, even thousands of followers, but they were most likely early adopters. Posing the question for discussion on my feed, most seem to agree, so I will probably not bother after all. I already try to share this blog on as many places as possible to hopefully cast the net out further.

In the past week I had taken part in something called the "Abundant Art Show," which was really a series of lessons in promoting and hopefully selling art online through a site/blog called - wait for it - The Abundant Artist. I've actually been following it for some time, and sadly am behind in reading it (I have the problem of collecting, almost hoarding information with little time to read it, and oh how it piles up), but I thought I'd give it a try. There was actually very little info offered that I didn't already know or was doing already (other than more hashtags to use on Instagram), which further leads me to wonder what else can I be doing?

I'm scattered over several outposts on the web, and I guess I haven't done this inventory in some time.

I now have two Instagram accounts, the first one is primarily random smartphone shots and fun with filters, and the newer one is going to be dedicated to artwork alone. I've been experimenting with hashtags on that one. I still find them annoying but they do get more people to find you.

I've been on deviantArt for 11 years now. Prints and other ephemera are available there.

flickr is for more "candid" photos, not super-artsy, although I have been messing around with the different modes in my point and shoot. I quite like the toy camera one.

FineArtAmerica is another print on demand site. I haven't put much new artwork up there, mainly because I see more of a trend toward more "ordinary" art on there, to judge from the "recent sales" page on there. My (paying) audience is out there somewhere, I'm sure of it.

Etsy still seems geared more towards "crafty" art. Right now I just have my Halloween is My Xmas series on there. I'd like to put more original artwork up there, and would love to attempt to sell the Homunculus dolls through it, but I don't know how they'd survive being shipped through the mail.

Model Mayhem is generally where I post the model-oriented photos, and has been where I've come into contact with models like Theresa up above.

Ello doesn't seem to be the Facebook-killer that it was originally rumored to be, but it does seem more geared towards showing visual art than how Facebook currently is.

And then there's my current albatross, my main website, which has been languishing, waiting for a redesign, as I sit immobilized unable to even begin, it seems. Paralyzed by too many options. So I feel that I need to put other projects aside until I finally get that done. I've been writing this blog faithfully every week for as long as I can recall, and I'd hate to break that cycle, but I need to make this a priority. If I need the extra time to work on it, then I'll have to forgo the blog for that week. Or I could just post a photo or two as an update now and again. You didn't actually read all this, did you?

:instagrammit:

For whatever it's worth, I've created a second Instagram account that will just be dedicated to my artwork and works in progress, pretty similar to this blog, but primarily visual. So what's my original account for? I consider that one more for whatever random things and scenes catch my eye while out and about, using a smartphone's camera.

I had been toying with the idea for some time, but I could no longer find a valid reason why I was waiting and just did it. And I'm even considering giving in and making a Facebork page too. It's still the most used site that I'm aware of, though I do hope something better appears some day. Further down the social media rabbit hole.

One reason for this fire under me, is to hopefully get off my arse concerning certain projects. I noticed that someone I know has a website up and running pretty quickly, and I've been dragging my feet on my redesign for way too long. So, to hold myself accountable, I will state that I aim to be a lot further along, if not fully completed, by the end of May.

One thing I'll need to take care of when posting recent artwork to the new account is censorship, sad to say, as Instagram still has issues with female nudity, even if it's not a sexual depiction. Maybe I should Photoshop male nipples over the real ones and see what they do about that.

On that note, I believe that I'm done working on this photo of Tiffany, and I think it might be the last of the ones from that shoot that I'll be messing around with. For now? I have photos from an October shoot to look through now, and also have a new shoot coming up in early May, although I hope I didn't jinx it by mentioning it here.

I've separated the progression of layers of the photo below.

:like it, love it:

The last week was spent more working under the hood, as it were, than working on any new artwork. Still trying to chart my path in this silly creative life that I've chosen, or rather that's chosen me, no sense in denying that. But I have been posting my "calendar" photos, so far just on deviantArt, and did so one per day as opposed to all at once.

Sometimes it seems to me that "likes" are replacing actual currency for artwork (although I'm pleased that I have sold a few copies of my Bowie piece), which can be flattering up to a point. On a site like deviantArt, however, you can both see who liked your work and also what other artwork that they'e added to their "collection," and, well, it doesn't always seem like an appreciation for art so much as it is one for women in various state of undress. I suppose beggars can't be choosers regarding who likes your artwork, though, regardless of the reasons.

I still puzzle through finding a way to make my work more desirable, or more accurately sellable, without drastically changing what I create, or why. I honestly don't do what I do with dollar signs in mind, but it is a nice bonus. And of course seeing others succeed makes one think that you can do it as well. I think that's partly what's freezing me on my website redesign, I want to get it just right.

For the time being I still have prints and such available through the afore-mentioned deviantArt, Fine Art America, and a few through Etsy. On the latter site I have available once again my Valentine's Day card design.

:new dusk fades:

Trying to keep moving forward. Some things are stalled, like the website and Kali picture, and the job search for a bit - I'm still in "research" mode for the latter, so maybe I can fine tune my search for jobs that are more specific. But I'm always having thoughts of other creative ventures.

I still always have a camera with me (not counting the one in my phone, which you know I don't really count as a "true" camera anyway, unless it's for Instagram), which was good when I visited Horseneck Beach in Massachusetts this past weekend. I take many pictures of the ocean and beach when I can, but I have to find a better way for them to do it justice. It just looks so much smaller and unimpressive in the cropped rectangle of a photo. Still, I try to be inventive. And it may be weird while being on a public beach, but I try to have as few people in my shots as possible.

I was fortunate to have arrived pretty late in the afternoon and stayed to catch the sunset on a peninsula close by the beach. Judging by the number of people there as well, it must be a popular thing to view. I can see why. The colors of the sky changed fluidly as the sun set, and the sun itself transformed into a red sphere as it disappeared sliver by sliver into the horizon.

As ever, more shots on my flickr page.

I remember going to this same area nearly 20 years ago and seeing the Milky Way in the night sky for the first time (usually there's too much city lights where I usually am). I would've liked to see it again, but it was not getting dark quickly enough, and I hadn't eaten since breakfast, which seems to happen sometimes on the weekends for some reason.

While the website progresses slowly, I did add some more work online, this time a collection of illustrations on my Behance page. I liked seeing the progression and improvement, however, I wish that I had more "client" work to display. I'm still not very marketable.

In good news, however, a piece of mine got accepted into a forthcoming gallery show! It's the photo below. It's at Uforge Gallery in Jamaica Plain, MA, opening July 24th. Check it out if  you want to see it in person, or maybe even buy it.

:presence:

The winter continues its death grip on us. And, in its own way, on me in some aspects. Nothing for show and tell this week, partly because an attempt to venture out in the Boston area for supplies and such this past weekend failed miserably. The shoddily plowed streets and parking lots and people's sudden amnesia as to how to move in traffic in the winter defied all the errands that I had in mind. This crap can't melt fast enough for my liking.

So I guess I'll do one of these updates of where I'm scattered and squatting on the web. I've actually been wondering lately if less would be better, plus there's also so many more places online to showcase one's work, I wonder if we've reached a saturation point. Then I would read that perennial story about somebody who put up the equivalent of a one-page website, got "discovered," and is somehow a millionaire artist now. So I'm still wondering how to get the attention of the right eyeballs.

Case in point, got an email today from one site I'm on, barely, called SeeMe, saying they'd like to promote my work...if I upgrade to a "Pro" account, of course. I'm not saying they shouldn't make money through their websites, it just seems that there's many who prey on creative people with the promise of success. Cashing in on your dreams.

Well, that said, other places you can find me and my artwork:

DeviantArt - Been on here about ten years now. Artwork available as prints and other ephemera.

Instagram - It's been well-documented on here how quickly I got hooked on this.

Flickr - "normal" photos.

JPG - Best of the "normal" photos

Model Mayhem - photography involving models, which you might guess from the name.

Etsy - right now just postcards available, but I'm going to put more original artwork on there. I'd like to try and sell my dolls through it, but I can't imagine them getting through the mail safely.

MixCloud - I just joined, so there's only one mix up there right now.

Fine Art America - Another print site, that I have yet to figure out how to make work. They regularly show what has sold, and sadly it seems to be mostly "normal" stuff, or worse, paintings and such that are clearly copies of somebody else's photography.

There's a place for me somewhere, I'm sure of it.