A Foolproof Way To Make Life More Colorful

I’m always impressed with myself when I recognize
a famous painting, and actually know who painted it.

If I happen to know the artistic period during which it was painted, I think I’m a genius. I am not one to stand in front of a painting for half an hour, discussing its hidden meaning or symbolism, or to rent detailed audio tours at an exhibition, but I do find it fascinating to learn about artists and their work. For instance, which famous French artist was captivated by the Moroccan landscape, women and architecture? (Answer: Matisse)

When I heard about an app called Art Authority, by Open Door Networks, I knew I wanted to have it. Featuring a comprehensive and well-organized collection of over 70,000 paintings and sculptures by over 1,000 of the western world’s major artists, from ancient times to today, the app includes detailed captions (including title, date, size, location), as well as in-depth information about the works, the periods, and the artists.

(more…)

from →  

One App That Will Make Your Life Far More Colorful!

I’m always impressed with myself when I recognize
a famous painting, and actually know who painted it.

If I happen to know the artistic period during which it was painted, I think I’m a genius. I am not one to stand in front of a painting for half an hour, discussing its hidden meaning or symbolism, or to rent detailed audio tours at an exhibition, but I do find it fascinating to learn about artists and their work. For instance, which famous French artist was captivated by the Moroccan landscape, women and architecture? (Answer: Matisse)

When I heard about an app called Art Authority, by Open Door Networks, I knew I wanted to have it. Featuring a comprehensive and well-organized collection of over 70,000 paintings and sculptures by over 1,000 of the western world’s major artists, from ancient times to today, the app includes detailed captions (including title, date, size, location), as well as in-depth information about the works, the periods, and the artists.

(more…)

from →  

Peek Inside The World’s Tiniest Museum

I’m always impressed with myself when I recognize
a famous painting, and actually know who painted it.

If I happen to know the artistic period during which it was painted, I think I’m a genius. I am not one to stand in front of a painting for half an hour, discussing its hidden meaning or symbolism, or to rent detailed audio tours at an exhibition, but I do find it fascinating to learn about artists and their work. For instance, which famous French artist was captivated by the Moroccan landscape, women and architecture? (Answer: Matisse)

When I heard about an app called Art Authority, by Open Door Networks, I knew I wanted to have it. Featuring a comprehensive and well-organized collection of over 70,000 paintings and sculptures by over 1,000 of the western world’s major artists, from ancient times to today, the app includes detailed captions (including title, date, size, location), as well as in-depth information about the works, the periods, and the artists.

(more…)

from →  ,

Peek Inside The World’s Tiniest Museum

I’m always impressed with myself when I recognize
a famous painting, and actually know who painted it.

If I happen to know the artistic period during which it was painted, I think I’m a genius. I am not one to stand in front of a painting for half an hour, discussing its hidden meaning or symbolism, or to rent detailed audio tours at an exhibition, but I do find it fascinating to learn about artists and their work. For instance, which famous French artist was captivated by the Moroccan landscape, women and architecture? (Answer: Matisse)

When I heard about an app called Art Authority, by Open Door Networks, I knew I wanted to have it. Featuring a comprehensive and well-organized collection of over 70,000 paintings and sculptures by over 1,000 of the western world’s major artists, from ancient times to today, the app includes detailed captions (including title, date, size, location), as well as in-depth information about the works, the periods, and the artists.

(more…)

from →  

12 Small Acts In 2015 That Could Kickstart Big Differences

Talk to at least one friend or
relative with whom you haven’t
communicated in years

(more…)

{Giveaway} “For My Love” print by an FOF artist

FOF artist  Naomi Lees-Maiberg is giving away “For My Love,” a luxe print of her original oil painting. Enter to win by answering in the comments below: What was the last piece of art you purchased?

Six years ago, FOF artist Naomi Lees-Mailberg and her husband left their frenzied metropolitan lives in Tel Aviv, Israel, for an abandoned farm house in coastal Maine.

For 25 years, Naomi was an illustrator for major magazines and newspapers in Israel, all while she raised three children, taught drawing at a college and showed her art in galleries. “It was a crazy life–deadlines until 2 in the morning, two cell phones, two land lines.” Now, she spends her days painting from her quiet, scenic studio, which has breathtaking views of Acadia National Park. Here we chat with Naomi about her major move after 50 and what inspires her and her now. (See more of her pieces in the FOF Shop!)

What did your friends  say when you decided to leave Israel?
It was shocking–no one believed we were going, but we plunged into it, thinking Maine would be a nice place to grow older. It’s dead silent out here but it’s really beautiful. I totally recommend doing something like this to people living a crazy life.

Why did you choose to move to coastal Maine?
My children were going to college in the United States. Also, my sister and her husband moved to Maine, and I’d visit every summer. Each year, it became harder and harder to leave. Finally, my husband and I bought a 1830s farmhouse on 16 acres. Much of the house is built from old ships.

What inspires your work?
My surroundings–the landscape. For the items that I sell such as “For My Love,” (a painting of rose petals) I look for things that would be universally appealing. These were painted from roses in my own garden. I have also done more abstract paintings, and I’ve even done performance art.

What mediums do you paint in?
A lot of watercolor, but I also do acrylic and oil.

What kind of paper do you print on?
I use the best paper I can–Entrada. It’s really soft, so the prints look like originals.  I can also print on canvas and have them stretched on a frame.

Where do you sell?
A local gallery, and now, the FOF Shop.

Enter to win For My Love,” a print from Naomi’s original oil painting, by answering in the comments below: What was the last piece of art you purchased?

One FOF will win. (See all our past winners, here.) (See official rules, here.) Contest closes February 16, 2012 at midnight E.S.T.

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

{Art} The 4 Best Apps for FOF Art Lovers

Used to be, if you wanted to see Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” up close, you had two options: fly to Amsterdam and visit the Van Gogh museum or buy a $50 coffee table book with a great printing.
Oh how times have changed. Thanks to a group of brilliant new apps, you can view thousands of major works of art, in exquisite detail, right on your ipad or computer.

We recently discovered Art Authority, a new app from Open Door Networks that lets you browse through a virtual museum with 55,000 works by over 1,000 of the western world’s greatest artists. Browse by category (Romanticism, Impressionism, Modern) or by artist and tap a painting twice to see it super close up.

Once you start, it’s completely addictive–you can easily get lost (in a good way) as you search through Seurat’s body of work or discover some of the lesser known Romantics. Each work is linked to an authoritative description or Wikipedia entry. The picture quality is stunning–every brush stroke is visible when viewed on an iPad.

Other art apps we love:
The Explorer App for The Museum of Natural History,
The MOMA Books iPad app (Read all of MOMA’s beautifully curated art books on your iPad–even the out-of-print ones.)
The Musee de Louvre app (The next best thing to a trip to the famous Paris museum.)
The American Museum of Natural History app (Ok, it’s not quite “art”, but this brilliant museum app let’s you chart your own course through one of America’s great institutions.)

5 lucky FOFs will win the Art Authority app (value $9.99) for their iphones, ipads or Mac computers. To enter, tell us in the comments below: Who is you favorite fine artist?

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

(See all our past winners, here.) (See official rules, here.) Contest closes October 13, 2011.

{Art} Gorgeous art that you can afford!

A perfect storm of factors has resulted in amazing steals on top-notch art. First, there was the recession (“I had to come way down in price when the recession hit,” says FOF artist Patty A. Baker) and now, the mass-migration of artists from brick-and-mortar galleries to the web (“The galleries take up to 50%,” says FOF artist CheyAnne Sexton. “Never go to a gallery to buy your art. Buy it directly from artists online,” says Patty A. Baker.)

Case in point: these 7 fab prints and paintings, all by FOFs(!), for under $100….

1. Lanscape24 by RozArt. Signed 16″x20″ print using on high-quality Fujifilm crystal archive paper.

2. Plumin’ Around in Silver by JNociforaStudio. Signed 6″X6″ oil painting on linen canvas panel.

3. Harvest Art Fruit Print by WatercolorByMuren 12″x12″ print on 100% cotton, fine art paper.

4. Just Blue, Antwerp Blu by CheyAnneSexton. 11″X14″ original watercolor on Arches 140 coldpress paper with Winsor & Newton paints.

5. VillefrancheSurMer by marionbermondy. 6″X4″ print on acid-free Strathmore© digital texture paper.

6. Still Life with Palisade Peaches by pattyabaker. 8″X10″ giclee print on premium, archival quality photo paper with satin finish.

7. Piggy by workingwoman. 8.5″X11″ print on premium archival fine art paper.

One of these artists made $87,000 selling her art online! Find out which one and discover the secrets to her success.

{Giveaway} Artist Palette Cheese Tray from Fishs Eddy

Say cheese and smile….because FOF is giving away this adorable Artist Palette Cheese Tray from Fishs Eddy. Enter to win by commenting below and answering: Do you have better taste in art or cheese?

Thank you for entering. This contest is now closed.

We think this artist palette cheese plate from Fishs Eddy is such a crafty idea, and it looks like a work of art in person! It’s a great conversation starter for any get together (and just perfect for this art-themed book club meeting). Your guests will be green (and blue and red and yellow) with envy.

Enter to win by commenting below and answering: Do you have better taste in art or cheese?

(See all our past winners, here.)
(See official rules, here.)

Contest closes March 17, 2011


{Art} She made $87,000 in a year selling her art online. And you can too!

There’s a mass migration occurring in the art world. Many FOF artists have abandoned traditional galleries to run their own virtual galleries on websites like Etsy, Artfire and eBay. They’ve found that online they can make more money and offer art to buyers for less than selling in brick-and-mortar galleries (which take up to a 50 percent cut of their profits). “My first year on eBay I grossed $87,000,” says FOF artist Patty A. Baker. How’d she do it? Read on to find out how Patty and 2 other FOFs have turned their art from a love to a living.

Patty A. Baker

Painter
Sells on: Etsy, her own website and Art.com
Location:
Ogdensburg, New York

Why do you like Etsy and Art.com?
Etsy offers a lot of exposure. Art.com does all the printing, framing, and shipping. I submitted a bunch of high-res images to Art.com which was a lot of work in the beginning, but now it’s easy.

Do you sell in brick-and-mortar galleries?
I’ve been selling online since 2004. I support myself and two kids with what I make online. My first year on eBay I grossed $87,000. If things continue the way they are this year I’ll gross $50-60 thousand. I know one artist who makes $500-600 thousand selling her art online. It’s so doable.

What’s the secret to selling art successfully online?
You have to make art that people are going to buy. That’s a hurdle for most artists. You do have to bend, you do have to do some sort of selling out.

How do you price your art?
I had to come way down in price when the recession hit. I use a loose formula of 23 cents per square inch for the larger paintings. For the 16X20 paintings, I charge $160.

How do you choose what you are going to paint?
What I paint is secondary to how I paint it. I like to see how colors respond to each other. I also look around to see what’s selling. I’m just as happy painting a salt shaker as a river.

Buyers don’t need to see the art in person anymore?
A buyer recently said to me, ‘Many people buy art to match furniture. I bought a couch to match your painting.’ Also, artists who sell online will bend over backwards to make sure the buyer is happy. For my commissioned pieces, I send samples by e-mail before I ship to make sure it’s right.

—————————————————————————————————–

Nancy LaBerge Muren

Watercolor Artist
Sells on: Etsy and her own website
Location:
Davis, California

What is your style of painting?
I like to capture interesting light. Light is so fleeting. I take photos of something I see with nice light, then take it back to my studio to paint it.

Why do your prefer to sell online versus in a gallery?
It’s a lot of work to get things ready for a gallery. I’d do all my own matting and framing. I’d cart around the art. Then the frames would get old-fashioned, and I’d have to update them. And in the end, it wouldn’t sell. On a site like Etsy, every day there are at least 2,000 people that are looking at my work, in a gallery you might get 5. 

So the exposure that the web offers is the biggest draw for you?
Yes, in fact, last summer I was contacted by a television art director who found me by doing a search on Etsy. Now my paintings are on the sets of the shows Modern Family and Better With You.

How do you price your art?
I look how other people are pricing their art. Sometimes people think because art is priced lower it’s not as good, but if I were selling in a gallery, they would take 50% and I’d have to pay for my time and materials. If I subtract all that I end up with a pretty good price for originals. I can price lower because I sell more.

—————————————————————————————————–

Leslie Saeta

Painter and Host of Artists Helping Artists Blog Talk Radio Show
Sells on: DailyPainters.com and her own website
Location:
South Pasadena, California

How did you get into painting?
I’ve only actually been painting for 5 years. I had an emergency hysterectomy and after that I decided I needed to do something for me.

Why do you like selling on DailyPainters?
DailyPainters jump-started my art business. The visibility from the site is really incredible. Every day that I post a new painting to my blog, DailyPainters publishes it to their homepage. There are 80-100 new paintings each day. It’s difficult to be a featured artist on DailyPainters. Last year they only picked up one new artist, so I feel blessed my art is on their site.

How do you price your art?
It’s all priced by size. For instance, all my 6×6 paintings sell for $200 unframed.

How do you decide what to paint? Do you paint to what sells?
You have to think of both, what people are buying but also what inspires. I paint a lot of reflections because it’s what inspires me. I also paint a lot of universities and colleges because it creates a wonderful memento.

What is a common mistake people make when they try to sell art online?
You’d be surprised how many people write on their websites, ‘E-mail me if you want to buy my art.’ A lot of art purchases are on impulse so you need to make it as easy as possible for the buyer. Just recently, I led a workshop on how to add a “Buy Now” button to your website.

What’s a secret to selling art successfully online?
You have to market your art with press releases, newsletters and shows. Every month I send out a newsletter and it results in at least one sale. Over the holidays I ran a ’12 Days of Christmas’ promotion and gave away something each day. The traffic I generated to my site was amazing. You can’t just sit back and think listing it on a website is going to sell it.