What would make our blogging more successful?

Consider this a bit of honest self-talk. The message is for me and if it's helpful to you, I'll be thrilled. But mostly, I'm going through this exercise to share the kinds of things I've been thinking about and hope that at the end of the conversation, I might have an answer that will be of use to all of us. Ready?

Okay, so here's what's been on my mind...how do I build an audience for my blog that extends beyond a few artist friends (or even a lot of artist friends) and develops a mainstream following? I've been noticing that a lot of blogs that I follow are followed by the same people, that generally we all post our artwork with or without some related story or commentary, and that even those who have a gazillion supposed followers have few likes and fewer comments. Sharing my blog post on other social media sites - even once per site - does not get me more readers...it might get me a lot of likes on Facebook, quite a few 1+s on Google but it doesn't really get people to come in and read and leave a comment. Viewers are "liking" the art which is a nice thing to do - rather than getting much out of the blog itself. We're all trying to be so supportive of each other - sharing or reblogging - assuming more likes will move our blogs up higher in the search engines (and maybe it does but I'm not seeing a huge ROI -return on investment). Sometimes it can feel a bit as if the "music" is falling on deaf ears even when we're all trying so hard to be nice!

So I got to thinking about some fundamentals and some rules of the road. First - why am I blogging in the first place? Why are any of us? Probably most of us would say it's a marketing tool - one more way to get our artwork into the public eye. For some, that might be reason enough - if your artwork already has a significant following, your customers are going to appreciate seeing your "brand" in as many places as possible. But I'm guessing most of us are "wanna bes" - we're trying to develop a brand and a customer base and expand the market for our artwork. Blogging and posting to fellow artists probably isn't going to make that happen - as nice as it is to get positive feedback from friends who like what we write or create. And it occurs to me that while I might work my rear end off to write frequently and to present my artwork as part of a broader package, the truth is that my blog is just one more excuse to post images from my portfolios on other sites.

Truthfully, I don't want to flood my friends' social media feeds with post after post about my blog - or my art - and not have more to offer them than that. While I enjoy seeing my friends' artwork or being reminded - ONCE - that they've a new blog post to look at, I really don't like seeing the same reminder from someone show up a dozen times in a dozen different groups on Facebook and I'm sure no one wants to see mine more than once either. In fact, I mistakenly posted an image yesterday that I had posted about 4 days ago and someone rather pointedly (but sweetly) said, "It's nice to see this lovely piece again." I got the point.

There's got to be more reason than trying to "sell" my artwork to justify the work it takes to maintain a blog. And certainly, there have to be more good reasons for anyone to read the blog than just to look at one more post of my artwork. What are those reasons - and would any of those be a clue about how to grow an audience for what I write? Unless the content I provide is both interesting and useful to you, reading this blog is just one more way to support a fellow artist - and take up valuable time doing so and getting little in return. I've honestly tried to keep the content relevant and meaningful, to share some insights on the meaning and purpose in life, on how to remain hopeful in the face of difficulty, and on what virtues or values we might express in our art to add value to it. But in the end, it's all still tied to my art work.

What could I offer in my blog that would make it worth your while to actually read it? I can share insights I've gained from others - people far more successful than I am. Or I can share non-art related ideas and opinions. I can share the love - by sharing the work of others or the ideas of others that is certainly more valuable than mine. I can make my blog more of a conversation and less of a sales pitch. But what else? Why don't you tell me what it is that keeps you reading other blogs, leaving comments or spreading the word about that blog? (Besides the fact that you are all such lovely people and so supportive!!) What would you like to see here that would interest you, inspire you and be of value to you in your own life or art career? This is one case where comments are certainly more welcome than a like - no matter how precious those are!! So I'm inviting you to express an honest opinion and assure you that I will value each voice!

Thanks in advance,
Lianne

Original, giclee or lithograph?

All Aboard the Lightning Express

http://lianne-schneider.artistwebsites.com/featured/all-aboard-the-lightning-express-1874-lianne-schneider.html

There's a lot of conversation in art circles, particularly with regard to marketing - and perhaps a bit of snobbery - about the huge difference in value between an original oil or acrylic painting, a giclee print or a limited edition lithograph. I don't think there's any question that an original painting should command a higher price than a photograph or lithograph of the painting. The trouble is, once you've sold the original it's gone...or is it? And what about an original digital painting? Is that also an original? According to the law, it is. It's simply a different medium. There are wide varieties of opinion about all of these forms - mine is just one more to add to the mix.

Because of technological developments in the printing process, the question arises then about the value of giclee prints and lithographs. Clearly the intent in both cases is to make an original available to a wider public at a lower price. True giclee requires scanning the original oil or acrylic painting and then using a special printer rather than a screen or plate to make copies that retain all the tonalities of the original without any dot screen pattern. Special light fast inks are used which provide a broader range of color than a standard inkjet printer and if not exposed to constant sun the colors will remain true for anywhere from 25 to 75 years. The same is true for digitally painted originals or even digital reproductions, making it possible to own a true copy of a fine art work at a fraction of the cost. Giclee can be printed on canvas, paper (specialty papers), metal, acrylic surfaces and cloth. Giclee on canvas is as close to an original as it is possible to get without having the original painting. While it is possible to print thousands of copies as giclee prints, generally speaking, fewer giclee copies are produced than lithographs unless the artist has licensed a particular image. On the other hand, giclee prints can be handled like lithographs if the artist arranges to have only a limited number printed and then sells them as numbered limited editions. Offering giclee as limited editions is a way of keeping the value of both the original painting and the prints higher than they would otherwise be.

A lithograph - even in modern lithography - is an original art work created directly on the stone or plate, inked by hand and printed by hand one at a time. Though it is possible to transfer an image from an inkjet printer to a lithographic plate, it's still a time consuming and painstaking process. According to Ebay, "A lithograph is an authorized copy of an original work created by the artist himself or other skilled craftsmen. A lithograph is rarely worth more than the original artwork it reproduces, but if the print quality is excellent and the production numbers are low, it may still have significant value in the art world." Fine art lithographic print making is still done today, most often in numbered limited editions, making them valuable as collector pieces.

The piece included in today's blog brings the debate to a new level because it is neither a totally original art work (manually or digitally created) nor a true reproduction as a photographic copy or a giclee print would be. It is not an original in the sense that the subject matter, composition or design are the product of my own imagination. What it is is something called a "derivative work" - an art work that uses components of other works to make something new - in this case a digitally painted interpretation of a 150 year old lithograph. The original is a "chromolithograph" printed by Currier and Ives produced in an unlimited edition. An "original" print is currently on display at the Library of Congress and is in the public domain. So since this work is not a faithful photographic copy of the original, nor a new lithograph that faithfully and accurately duplicates the original, it is not a reproduction. What is original to me is the medium by which I recreated or reinterpreted the lithograph - that is by digitally painting the new image from scratch. That gives the finished product a number of elements that are uniquely my own - my painting style, the texture of the digital work, the depth of color, the changes or adaptations of the original composition which include leaving out things that were in the background or  painting an entirely new sky, for example.

So if you were to buy a giclee canvas of this railroad image, what would you be getting that would make it worth more than a few dollars? Well for one thing, you would get a "painting" in the sense that a canvas made from a digital painting retains the look - texture, brushmarks, depth and feel - of a painting rather than the smooth surface you'd get with a photographic reproduction. You'd get a painting that would retain its color longer than the original lithograph which has faded until there is very little color left...though of course, the fact that the original has yellowed with age certainly adds to its value. In fact, as Dr. Angela Stanton (who is also a digital painter of some renown) says, "Digital paintings have many advantages over paintings that were originally painted on canvas or paper and then photographed and posted for sale as print. The most important of these advantages of digital over "real" is that since digital was created digitally, it will look printed on canvas or paper exactly as you see it on the monitor and not flat! Digital photography of highly textured items like oil or acrylic paint removes all textures and makes them appear flat. You don't get this problem with digital art. You get exactly what you see!"  Of course, I totally agree - lol - but then, it's in my best interests to do so!

What it boils down to is that few of us can afford original art - most things that would appeal to us that are not boilerplate "factory" paintings are going to be very expensive. For good reason - good artists deserve to be well paid for their time and talent. But it should make any artist feel good that more people get to share the joy of that art because they can buy a giclee print of the original or they can own one of a limited number of lithographs of that same piece. It is no less art for being a recreation or digital creation or for being a faithfully rendered giclee print from the original. 

What will your verse be???

“Your sole contribution to the sum of things is yourself.” Frank Crane

Mighty Niagara

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-mighty-niagara-lianne-schneider.html 

The new IPad Air commercial uses this beautiful speech from the 1989s movie, Dead Poets’ Society –  

"We don’t read and write poetry because it’s cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering--these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love--these are what we stay alive for. To quote from Whitman, 'O me, O life of the questions of these recurring. Of the endless trains of the faithless. Of cities filled with the foolish. What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer: that you are here. That life exists and identity. That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.' That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse. What will your verse be?" 

What will your verse be??

 

Honestly, the question isn’t just for poets or writers…it’s for all of us. We write our verses by the way we live our lives, by “writing” our own story with hope and optimism and not letting others write it for us. It’s called living with integrity – and it’s one of the tasks of a mature adult. The way we live cannot do “violence” to who we are at heart. Is your art, your writing, your life telling everyone who you really are? It’s ancient wisdom, immortalized in Shakespeare’s Hamlet when Polonius says, “This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

Never doubt that your art, your writing, your sculpture is a valuable contribution to the human story. You may never achieve fame and fortune with your art but each word you write, each piece you create adds meaning and richness to the world around you. Mark Nepo, describing his search for beauty in the midst of suffering, said, “We need art and poetry to help us express who we are and stay in relationship to what matters.” Further, he eloquently asserts, "Poetry is the unexpected utterance of the soul…the life of expression is the tuning fork by which we find our way to the sacred." Each piece you create, creates YOU as the person you are becoming…you alone are in charge of who that is!

 

ANNOUNCING - The opening of a new art gallery -       TRILLIUM GALLERY

                                                                                               228 Main Street, 

                                                                                               Saugerties, NY. 12477

                                                                                               Phone: (845) 332-6525

Trillium Gallery Online is expanding to a physical gallery in the quaint and historic village of Saugerties, NY in the heart of the beautiful Catskill Mountains. The gallery is open to the public beginning Saturday, January 25, 2014 with a grand opening on Saturday, February 15, 2015 beginning at noon. Brilliant art coupled with good food, wine, music and more is the order of the day. No unsolicited art is accepted but you are encouraged to enter an art contest with the theme "Down on Main Street" - winner will have his/her art displayed in the gallery  for one month and will be offered membership in the gallery as well. Please see contest rules at the online site at

www.trilliumgallery.com or email the curator, Maureen Maliha at trillium@post.com for further details.