Post 251: Keep an Art Inventory and Tips

Art Inventory and Tips

How long have you been an artist? All of your long life or have you only been at it a few years now? Are you steadily cranking out some artwork every year? Do you keep an inventory of your artwork - on paper or on your computer?

Keep a Record of Your Body of Work

Do you know where to find your artwork if you are spread out at several art shows and galleries? Can you remember the size of a particular piece, what year it was created, or where you last saw it? Or goodness gracious, what if you forgot a piece was sold when you were trying to find it for some reason. 

It is just plain professional to keep track of your artwork life.

 

Photo by Bianca Fazacas on Unsplash 

The longer you wait to start, the harder the task will be. And you may not have a full list at some point if you do the "I'll get to it later" method.

I've found that Excel is one handy tool to have on your PC. And save your database of work in various places, even printed just in case of device failure. Google spreadsheets is another way to save your inventory or in the cloud. 

There is software you can pay for to inventory your artwork, which often has added perks but not everyone can afford that. Or just create your own system and log your own artwork as much as you have time to. Nonetheless, there is definitely some data that is mandatory to track.

What you will need to list:

Inventory ID

Photo

Artist(s) - just in case

Title

Size, Dimensions

Medium(s) - everything used on the piece

Techniques

Status - what's sold, gifted, donated, destroyed, not for sale (NFS), and what's available

Location

Price

 

Some additions could be:

Framed or unframed?

Commissioned? 

Certifications

Publications

Invoices

Condition, Edition, Category, Expenses/Costs

Who purchased it, when

What was the shipping costs?

Where did you sell it? At an art show, a gallery, on Etsy, or from your website?

Has the piece been in a competition, has it been juried? Did it win or was it accepted?

You will want to know the history behind the artwork, if it is sold or not, if possible who it is sold to, where it is now, and so much more. I would want to know the art shows I have had it at and when because you may not be able to resubmit it at all or for a period of time.

How important is it to inventory your art

I don't have a photographic memory and most of you do not either. If you are a hobbyist only, it may not be as important but there are people that started as a "hobby artist" then moved up from there. You may need to create a database of your artwork for press releases, galleries/museums, your website, social media, preparing for an exhibition of any sort or quite frankly, for your will.

If a gallery or collector contacts you for more information on your body or a series of work, you will need to have that information available.

Another reason to inventory your body of work is for you to see how far you have come. You shouldn't compare your artwork to someone else's, but you should see the improvements and changes you have made to improve.

Another aspect of your artwork tracking is to ID when it would be time to increase your pricing. If you are selling out too fast, there is your sign.

Artwork Photographs of Your Body of Work

You know you need high quality, high resolution photos of your artwork. You need them for prints, for your website(s), for submitting to galleries, for Calls for Art.

Important! Saving Your Photographs 

Now, STOP right there and pay attention. You need to SAVE the photographs so do it right from the start for each photo. When you are in the process of saving the File Name, format them properly. Get in the habit of saving for Jotforms and Calls for Art according to the art shows instructions. I've seen it listed both ways here:

Title of Painting_LastName-FirstInitial.jpg

LastName-FirstInitial_Title of Painting.jpg

Save yourself and any future JotForms (art submissions) and the people that have to sort your art entries some steps here. If I just save my photos without doing anything to the File Name, I will get something like this:

20220621_074025

The most you will understand from that "name" is that the Year is 2022, the month was June (06), the day was the 21st, and then it shows a long number. If you send that as an art submission, life is NOT easy for that person and you run the risk of rejection right out of the gate. There are times that it is much more helpful if this is the Title of the Painting followed by You Are the Artist so that your piece is labeled in an understandable way.

An alternative is to save them as LastName-FirstInitial_Title of Painting_Medium_Size for your own records. Example:

Liguria-D_No One Can Teach Riding So Well As A Horse_Acrylic_18x24.jpg

Much better right? I am the (1) artist, see the (2) name of the painting and niiiice, the (3) medium and (4) size, although the last 2 are not always necessary.

Liguria-D_No One Can Teach Riding So Well As A Horse.jpg

By the way, some folks hate it when a painting has a long name, they have to fit that on a label or list somewhere, but what can I say? Better than "Untitled", right? 

Your File System

Also of note is saving it on your computer. In speaking with other artists in our group, their ideas could be implemented as well.

• Save high resolution, perfectly cropped and edited photos for Calls for Art and Prints to a separate folder and label the folder clearly.
• Save lesser resolution photos for social media, and put a Watermark on them.
• Save quality photos that are ready for printing in folders by size for printing
• Keep your "Paintings in Progress" (PIP) separate from the better photos.
  

Create a Numbering System

Create your own method or look for suggestions, but this is how I do it. And I only just started in late 2020, inventorying my artwork. Good thing my mom still has some of my original stuff (oh my).

09A20AC - 09 is September, A is the first painting, 20 is the year, AC is Acrylic.

At the beginning of each year I restart the numbering system as 01A21AC and 01A22AC. I am currently up to:

10EC22ACM - 10 is October, EC is alphabetically how many I have created so far this year, 22 is the year, AC is Acrylic, M is Mini 

When I get to Z, the next painting is AA, AB, AC, etc. So you see, you can do it whichever way makes sense for you and your body of work. 

If you create invoices for your work, a numbering system comes in handy too.

There are plenty of options and ways to track your work, but the point is, get started. I would love to hear how you do it too.

REFERENCES

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/how-to-inventory-your-artwork

https://www.artworkarchive.com/blog/artist-how-to-do-a-studio-inventory

https://cerfplus.org/studio-protector/resources/how-to-take-an-inventory-of-your-art-studio/

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Post 250: Otis Stanley's PWAS Comics #10

Otis Stanley's PWAS Comics #10

 

Do you have a painting or two that will never see the light of day?

What have you learned since that experience?

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Author/Artist: Otis L. Stanley
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Post 249: A Weekend at Open Space Arts

A Weekend at Open Space Arts

It is almost like with the cooling off of the temperatures, the oranges, yellows and reds brightening up the trees, that crispness now in our days, that an excitement is in the air...the holidays are coming. Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Artist's Sunday, Christmas and a New Year's are all on the radar and edging closer. At Open Space Arts, the gallery at Stonebridge, more and more things are happening and this past weekend there were a LOT of things to see.

Artists Painting Live, Art Receptions and a Few Songs

Open Space Arts (OSA) is at 15000 #140 Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge, VA has art going on - all kinds of art in almost all its various ways. These are a few things that happened - just this past weekend!

Friday, October 21, 2022 Art Show Opening

Painting live - artists are often found painting inside or outside the gallery. Some while they volunteer at the gallery, some as part of a workshop...

 

The artist LA outside Open Space Arts working the easel with Evelyn, a PWAS member volunteer

Friday was also the opening of "Voices From Around the World - the Subtle Impacts of India" with the artist Anu Narasimhan. The reception was at 7pm and included these terrific dancers along with the art around the gallery.

 

This art show will run from October 19 -  October 30.

 

 

The featured artist Anu with Herb Williams

Saturday, October 22, 2022 

The Excelsior Voices Youth Choir stopped in for a public concert at 3:00 Saturday afternoon at OSA...and they were excellent! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. And note that the acoustics in the gallery was off the charts for singing!

 

 

Sunday, October 23, 2022

And then John Hartt (aka Jortt) arrived at OSA on Sunday and worked on a painting. John is a Prince William Art Society member and also belongs to other area art groups.

 

The artist John Hartt (aka Jortt), a PWAS member, painting at the gallery on Sunday

 

PWAS member Austun Cherry, outside the gallery, welcoming visitors

This makes me wonder, what will next weekend bring!

...oh, it will be Halloween (we have candy btw) and the "Voices" art show will end on Sunday, Oct 30. The next show will be "Harvest of Artists" and will feature Prince William County artists. Come by any time - say hello to the artists on duty and see some great art. Never know what else might be going on!

By the way, PWAS members are getting creative with Christmas ornaments destined for our Christmas tree for November 23. If you are a PWAS member, watch for more info on that coming soon.

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits:
Donna Liguria

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Post 248: Pet Portraits by Linda Nedilsky

Pet Portraits by Linda Nedilsky

An article by PWAS Member, Linda Nedilsky.

Our Pets Are Family

“The market for pet portraits is huge and it is constantly growing. There are tons of people who own pets and are willing to spend big bucks on them. The latest National Pet Owners Survey says 68 percent of U.S. households own a pet, equaling 70 billion dollars a year on their furry friends.”

I have been offering custom pet portraits for 10 years now. Subjects have included dogs, cats, horses, and even donkeys. In fact, I would say the bulk of the paintings and drawings I sell are commissioned pet portraits. (Happy to say, I received a commission from our PetOberfest Art Show at Stonebridge - in front of Open Space Arts - the very day after the show!  

There are some challenges do doing pet portraits, now more than ever.

People are becoming so attached to their fur babies, many want their portraits to be photo perfect.

Which brings up challenges when you are working from a photo that was taken from someone’s cell phone at night, or in the dark room. People can take photos that are so close your can count the hairs on the nose. The face is all distorted as well. With mixed breeds it is hard to reference what a King Charles Spaniel looks like. 

I can tell you some amusing stories about the photos I have received from people asking for pet portraits.

The most interesting story was from a customer who started “thinking” about having a painting done two years ago. She lived nearby, and I offered to come take photos for her. No, she would take them herself and send them via email. 

This conversation went back and forth for 2 years. The dog was a senior dog and a mixed breed. But, stuff got in her way, and time kept ticking by. I gently reminded her not to wait too late to take photos for her portrait. Time flew by, and sadly the dog passed away.
 

The week he passed, she called and said she must have a portrait! I could not offer to take photos at that point.  She only had 5 photos of her dog over the 10 years she owned him.

Okay, so I told her to send me what she had and I would see what I could do.

The only photo that would remotely work, was grainy, taken from way above his face, and in the shade. It was impossible to see his ears, eyes, and texture of his fur. On top of that, he was a black dog! I worked on it in Photoshop trying to get the shadows decreased and brighten up the areas that were hard to see. Since it was low resolution jpeg, that was not very helpful. The colors on the photos were horrible, so I researched the mix breed I thought he was, Rottweiler-German Shepherd, but I was just guessing.

I agreed to give it a try.

Next she had to decide what size she wanted her painting to be.

16x20, 18x24, etc. That went on for 2 or more weeks. I was very patient and kept trucking on. Since she could not decide, and lived nearby, I brought over 2 sizes for her to see on her wall.

Finally, her husband got so impatient with her he said, “JUST PICK ONE!”
He is an art dealer and has written articles for art magazines, so I am sure he could not figure out why she was taking so long.

She decided on the 16x20 frame. Thank goodness! Now I could get started.

The conversations started when I started the painting...

Client: “Linda, be sure to put his ear in there even though you can’t see it in the photo.”

Me: “No worries, your precious boy will have ears.”

Then I started getting emails. 

Client: “Remember the ears!”

These phone calls and text messages were daily.

Finally, I called her and said, “You have seen my paintings for years online, so I assume you love my work. Is there any painting on my website that you did not like?

Client: “Oh, no, I love them all!

Me: “Okay, then. So, you can say with confidence that you trust me in creating a work of art that will do your baby justice?”

Client: “Oh, yes!”

Me: “Great, then, here is the deal, for every text message, call or email you send me that says, “Don’t forget the ears!” I will charge you and additional $50.
Is that okay?”

Client: “Oh Linda, you are so funny." 

Guess what, she never called me back to ask about the ears.

Her husband loved the painting and so did she. Everyone was happy.

I was glad to get the painting out of my studio and on her wall. Truth be known, I loved the challenge. We learn from our challenges. It pushes us to the next level, don’t you think?

Providing paintings or drawings of special companions is rewarding. It makes me happy that I have given someone a forever memory of their sweet dog, cat or horse, especially if their companion has passed away.

How many of you feel the same way about pet portraits?

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Author/Painter: Linda Nedilsky
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in pet portraits!

 

Author/Painter/Editor: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits:
Linda Nedilsky

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Post 247: Cropping a Photo Made Easy

Cropping a Photo Made Easy

There are a ton of ways to do a many things on a computer which is great - some are incredibly easy and some are much more complex. A quick search on your device of choice, will address the 'how to's" and if you have specific software you are using, like Photoshop, you can edit photos once you learn how. But not everyone has Photoshop. How you approach anything depends on your skill level of course. I just wanted to address the EASIEST way that I know of to edit, or crop a photo of an artwork when submitting art for an art show or gallery if you are unfamiliar with the process.

Preparing your Painting

We are presuming here that you are fairly unfamiliar with computers - you are a beginner, a newbie, not tech savvy. Hey, we all started somewhere right? Let's take this all a step at a time.

In a previous blog post, I have suggestions on Taking Photographs of Your Artwork.

I am going to also presume that you know where your images are stored on your computer, and how you organize your photo library of your artwork is totally up to you. Just FIND the artwork you need to crop first. Then double click on that little fella.

1. Open the best photograph that you have taken of your artwork.

A basic photo editing application on your computer will open the image. Look around and you will see the editing options available to you. On my version in the center is Edit Image, Rotate, Delete (trash can), a heart for adding to favorites, See More and some other options we are not worried about for right now. Let's click on the Edit Image. Give it a few moments to load.

On your selected image:

• Make sure there are not glares that cannot be cropped out.
• Make sure the image resolution is the best it can be for the situation needed. For example, if the photograph of your artwork is to be used for jurying or printing, you want a very high resolution - a very good quality photo to begin with. I've met fellow artists that have lesser quality photos in a file for social media while they save their great quality photographs for printing. Even then, the lesser quality ones or for your website, you may want to include a watermark, but that is in another blog post as well. See Watermarks
  

By the way, these are screenshots of a recent painting of mine - Historical Manassas - Sunrise at the ARTFactory. The original photo was taken October 8, 2022 at the Artist Inventory Sale. And the guy walking across the train tracks is Mark Murphy, another PWAS member, who was also at that art show.

2. Straightening is on the right side of the editor.

A good idea is to probably either straighten your horizon on your image first OR if you have to flip it, or Rotate to get it right-side-up, do that now. If you are straightening the horizon, you can click on the center button on the line where is shows "Straightening" and use your computer's left or right arrows on your keyboard to fix the alignment.

3. The image above was slightly leaning to the right, I tilted it to the left one click.

Adjusted horizon. Granted, this may not be absolute perfection and other software may give the artist gridlines and a perfectly horizontal line, but it is much improved.

4. See the 4 corners of the photo?

Let's take one corner (the white dot) and slowly drag it into just the canvas corner. You want to not crop off a lot of your painting but DO eliminate the background. It's ok if some of your painting gets slightly cut. If too much is cut, you would probably want to take more photos of your painting to get as square to the canvas as you can.

Note: you can also grab the straight line and drag each one at a time but the corner 'dots' will do 2 sides at once.

5. Now drag the other corner in to your canvas.

Two things to notice on this cropping.

 

A. The top left of the image shows a reflection off the canvas's edge

B. The bottom right of the image shows a small amount of background

Continue cropping the photo to eliminate those 2 things. It will cut some of your painting off but as per above, if its not imperative to your painting, its better to have clean cut images or take more photos.

6. Everything looks clean, straight, painting only?

Great! Now the next important thing is to Save a copy and to save it properly. Save yourself some time and when Save As window opens:

A. File name: format as LastName_FirstInitial-Title of Artwork

B. Save as type: JPG is fine at this time

 

C. Again, you could put this in its own folder and title it so that you know these are the edited versions of your artwork and can easily grab them as needed.

Get in the habit of saving your files with a consistent naming format. When someone is working with a lot of someone else's images, keeping the what belonging to the who is so much easier when the file names say Who-What.

7. And your result is...

Tada! The thin areas sliced off do not really detract from the original painting.

 

Liguria_D-Historic Manassas Sunrise at the ARTFactory

I know this was very simplistic but we have folks in the art group and outside the art group that are artists and do some super-great things, but a computer or smartphone is not their preferred monster. Which is fine. You won't find me launching rockets into space either, unless on canvas.

Does anyone have any suggestions or other options to add? I would love for some of our photographer members to add their tips too...

Be sure and see the previous post too - Learn Take a Better Photo of Your Artwork When Submitting to Calls for Art

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits: 

Donna Liguria

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

Post 246: Learn to Take a Better Photo When Submitting to Calls for Art

Learn to Take a Better Photo When Submitting to Calls for Art

And Other Stuff

A simple Google search...that's often how easy it is to learn how to fix anything from your coffee maker or how to take better photos. And when it comes to this digital world and submitting your artwork into art shows, you are going to need to take NOT ok photos, but GREAT photos.

Some of the Do's and NOT Do's for Calls for Art

I found I did wander a bit in this blog post, as I sometimes (often) do. Nonetheless, you may find some sense to the madness, I hope.

A friend said the other day, after we juried an art show for the art gallery, there is a standard that an art show or an art gallery sets, that they expect the artists to meet and to exceed. It's sort of like when you go out to a fine dining restaurant where you had a reservation and waited 6 months to get in and they require you to wear a jacket. You would not get in wearing a t-shirt, shorts and flip flops. The restaurant is setting a standard, an expectation for the guests to be, well, professional.

That doesn't mean that the person wearing the t-shirt and flip flops is not a good person at all. If the person went home and changed clothes, he or she would certainly get in then right? They improved their presentation. Something to think about.

Wrong Ways to Submit Art

 Photo by Angela Pencheva on Unsplash

Do not include background, foreground - or anything AROUND your artwork photo. 

 

WHY? The artwork is the star, the subject, the only thing that matters. Anything else detracts from it. Cute cat though, right? The Juror does not care.

 

 

 

Photo and Painting by Donna Liguria, called "East Coast Beach Sunrise"

 

What is horizontal should BE horizontal. All computers and smart-butt phones have editing of photos capabilities, so straighten those lines!  

 

WHY? The Juror observing your art is wondering if you can paint a straight line.

 

This is how the actual photo was submitted, not the one above:

 

 

 

Photo and Painting by Donna Liguria, called "East Coast Beach Sunrise" with horizon correctly oriented in photo

 

 

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash 

Although the exact total dimensions are required when submitting artwork that is framed, the actual image photo of the artwork should NOT include the frame. Please reread that - do NOT include the frame in the photo. This is the cropped painting from the above framed artwork - and this is how the artwork should have been submitted below.

 

WHY? Because the Juror deciding if your art should be submitted into the art show can actually SEE how you executed the piece before they make that decision.

 

 

 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash 

 

 

 

Photo and Painting by Donna Liguria, painting name, "No One Can Teach Riding so Well as a Horse" - photo is overexposed and not cropped

This photo (above) had very poor lighting and it faded the colors. The painting looks so much better in person, yet if I had submitted this photo...disastrous. Also, the photo is slightly angled and not cropped as it should be, so we are seeing the background again. 

WHY? The Juror does not/may not know the background of the art or you. Nor should it matter. He or she does not know if the over exposed photograph is actually how you painted it or not. The artwork cannot be clearly viewed. 

I believe that most jurors would know there is some discrepancy when having to view things digitally, but it is up to the artist to present their art by taking the BEST photo of it in the first place. If the juror cannot see it well, your art could get by-passed.

This is an improvement below, do you agree? Even if cropping out some of the edges removes whatever is behind the artwork, you need to cut out the background.

Inappropriate Content - if the gallery asks for family-friendly, non-political, etc, it is probably not a great idea to submit a nude portrait even if it is so realistic it could walk off the canvas. 

 

A few other important thoughts:

• What are you trying to say with your artwork? Is the message clear?
• The background in a painting is as important as the foreground and vice-versa. 
• What is that odd 'blotch' on the artwork? Watch out for those shiny spots/ reflections when taking photographs! 
  
• Does the title of the painting make sense for that painting?
• "Untitled" as a title could be terribly confusing for a gallery especially if there are other pieces called "Untitled".
• All of the important rules of composition are in play. Your artwork and the image you submit for your artwork should for the most part, play by those rules.

Please see Artwork Rejection for further reading.

Right to Submit, and YEH! I got in the Art Show, What Now?

Well, I could submit artwork here that made it into various shows, but we all know if we did or did not get in. And I have other blog posts about jurying processes here on the Spin.  Instead at this point, are the things to be sure are done correctly at the last stages of having your art checked in to the show. Or, as the gallery sees the artwork in person...

Your Best Artwork - it should go without saying, and often we KNOW in our creative little hearts what is our best artwork and what we have hidden within the depths of our closets or studios never to see the light of day. Or the stuff destined to be over painted. Don't we all have some of those? For your best chances of being juried, always submit your best and always, always be improving.

Finished Artwork - edges should always be completed which means the edges should be either a solid color or bring the painting around the edges. Make sure all of your preliminary sketch work is erased or buried within the painting process as well.

 

Photo and Painting by Donna Liguria, called "Mountain Reflection"

Properly Wired Artwork - make sure you understand the requirements for that gallery and their wiring methods. And remember, not all galleries are the same and their hanging methods could be VERY different. Make sure your wire is not too high so that the hanging bracket will show. 

Side Note: It still tickles me when a painting arrives unwired...

 

 

Photo by Donna Liguria - the wire needs to be much lower. The artist will be tasked with redoing the wiring so that the bracket used will not show above the canvas.

Properly Labeled and Signed Artwork - Follow the labeling requirements which is often have YOUR label on the back of the artwork with your name, title, year, medium and price. Notice this one may be at your discretion, so a business card or label might work well. Some shows may ask for a front label with some of the same information or they may print their own for you.

Side Note: Remember, "if you liked it then you should have put a sig on it" - sing that to the Beyonce tune. Just sayin'. Put your signature on it!

Properly Packaged Artwork Prints - art prints should be packaged in archival bags (for safe keeping) and be backed with STIFF board to help protect the print from bending.

Properly Framed Artwork - typically gallery wrapped canvas will not need to be framed but follow the directions of the gallery/art show you are submitting artwork to. Frames can make or break artwork, so do some research on this topic as well.

Sorry to say but these topics are not as thoroughly written out as they could be, so again, do the homework, ask questions and learn what your fellow artists are doing right so you can avoid the wrong. There are no guarantees when submitting artwork for jurying into art shows and galleries, but it is a great idea to avoid the obvious wrongs...it could make the difference.

What I Found in a Few Moments About Taking Photos

Before starting this blog post, I did a quick Google search and I found these really great links on info from some fantastic online art resources on "Photographing Your Artwork". Wasn't that what this blog post was supposed to be about?

From taking pictures on cloudy days outside between 11 and 2 and having light kits for indoor photographs, someone also suggested taking the photo of your artwork BEFORE you varnish it too, which made sense to me.

 

4 Steps to Photographing Your Art Like a Professional

 

Tips for Photographing Your Artwork by Gavin Coates

 

Here is a YouTube video from Tyler Stalman from saatchionline.com that's really good.

 

 

How to Photograph a Painting, Step by Step

We could all use a workshop on photographing artwork, so make that suggestion to your art group. Also while you are at it, make a suggestion box for your art group for goodness sake! 

So, from the photographers and experienced art folks out there, what else would you suggest when photographing your art? 

And now I have "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) in my head..."Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, o-ohh".

By the way, coming up next Blog Post- Cropping an Image Made Easy

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year-old non-profit art group in PWC for the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

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