6 minute read
Vivien Capper
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For this month’s magazine I’ve decided to go back in time and show three pieces that I created in January 2019, 2020, 2021. What surprised me most is the fact that I used similar blue/purple tones with a modernistic approach.
I love looking back at past artwork, but also enjoy trying out new things. In the final piece I’ve designed an art-deco-style lady artwork. I’ve been moving in this direction for a while now, and really enjoy creating these pieces.
https://saatchiart.com/vivienjane
More musings on selling your art
It’s not easy to break into the world of selling your art, but it’s not impossible. There are many different ways you can approach this.
I have a few friends that have set up Etsy shops with their creative products. Some sell overlays, others textures, and even journals and planners. A few have set up on Patreon – if you haven’t heard of it, Patreon is a membership platform that makes it easy for artists and creators to get paid. I belong to a Patreon membership, and receive creative items each month from Esta Moon Artistry.
Others sell their art online at POD (print on demand sites such as Fine Art America), and others contact local galleries/cafés/medical offices etc. to offer their artwork to decorate the walls – often with surprising results when a viewer or client notices, likes and buys one of their works.
It takes a while to become known, and if you are an introvert, it can be even more difficult. Social media plays a big part in promoting yourself. You really need to show up, and be helpful, in the ‘right’ groups to be noticed, without appearing spammy. There is such a fine line between appearing spammy and adding value to a group.
Lastly, one of the most important things I’ve found with Social media is that you have to show up again and again. There’s no point posting once a month…you have to post daily if your fans are going to remember you. There are various tools for doing this e.g. Hootsuite
As for the new NFT world on the horizon, I think I’ll leave that world alone for the time being – Our editor James is the expert there! In one of the last issues of My Creative Images, James did an editorial on NFTs which is very worth the read.
If you aren’t sure of your creative path yet, my own journey may give you a few ideas. I started out trying to sell on Fine Art America, but realized there’s such a lot of competition that I gave up quite early on. Yes, I know consistency is the key…but it didn’t feel right for me. I closed my page and moved to Saatchi Art, well-known in the art sector, which has a wonderful reputation for quality work. I’ve been there ever since, and have had the odd sale. Once I had to ship a piece to Seattle, and spent more time in the Italian fine art customs office than I would have liked. The amount of paperwork was staggering. I was so pleased when the courier came to pick up the piece.
I then moved into creating courses for artists and crafters who are clueless on how to set up their own creative business. I have enjoyed on-going success here (probably because I just love the business side of things – I ran a language school for many years). I’ve met some extraordinary people on my journey that now I’ve opened a creative membership, called ‘Vivien’s Creativity Lab’, for budding creative biz owners to help them ‘to set up online’. Actually it’s a bit of a pot-pourri… online tech set up and creative tutorials with some monthly coaching! You can find out more here about the membership! Delighted if you take a peek!
Here’s the piece that shipped to America. It’s one of the first pieces I did when I started with Sebastian’s Photo Artistry and Awake courses – and remains a favourite of mine!
This month has been wintery, coldish, but not much rain. I’m lucky to live on the Mediterranean Sea near Anzio, Lazio.
In fact, I’ve been spending a lot of time at the beach and captured some nice photos to enhance. Here’s a selection. Anzio is famous for the villa of Emperor Nero…and is also a thriving small fishing port.
For the more adventurous, there is a sort of hydrofoil that goes frequently to the island of Ponza in the summer months.
NFTs are fun, they offer an exciting new way of owning and selling art. The artwork varies from pixel art to highly details realism artwork. Prices range from £1 to well sky high.
Some artwork comes with access to an online or actual event, some is purely artwork. There are some very famous people that are jumping into the world of NFTs, such as Johnny Depp (look for “Never Fear Truth” ).
There have also been many instances of what are termed “Rug pulls” where the promises made to people who buy an NFT are not met and the “team” to ran the promotion simply take the money and run.
Sadly, as with most things in life, the negative stories take the focus away from the potential of using the Blockchain as a method of identifying the original creator of artwork and providing a method of the artist receiving an income from the resale of their artwork.
Yes there are some pitfalls if you just dive in and don’t do your homework. Don’t look back on this in 10 years time and think, perhaps I could have........think back on where Bitcoin started, what people said about it and where it is today.
I personally own 12 or more NFTs, some I purchased from artists I know to support them in their journey, some just because I like them. Then there are those that people me as gifts.
NFTs are what ever you want them to be.
How to Get Started
To buy or sell an NFT you need a “Wallet” and some “Crypto Currency”. You then need to choose which platform you join to buy / sell your NFT, there are a lot of them!
Here are a few places you can learn more:
What is Metamask: view on Youtube How to set up a Wallet: view on Youtube Add funds to your wallet: view on Youtube How to avoid scams: view on Youtube
Please note, these are not my videos they have been sourced from Youtube and are provided as a point of reference only.
Community
One of the most exciting things about my dive into NFTs is the friends that you make, there are thousands of artists out there, all of them just as excited about NFTs and what they can offer.
So if nothing else comes of it, at least I now have a lot more people I can exchange ideas with and a place to go to (online) where I can hang out with like minded people.
James Hurley - Photo Artist / Magazine Editor
Back Issues
If you enjoyed this issue, follow the link below and check out the previous months magazines. Each one is packed full of photo-art made especially for you.
