Mary Richmond Design

Learning to Photograph My Work

In a world where presentation seems to be everything, I am not very good at presenting my work. I use cheap frames and my pictures of my work are lousy....mostly because I've always been two slices away from broke.

A while back someone gave me an idea. They suggested I go to A.C. Moore to get some scrapbook paper and use it for backgrounds. It only took me about 4 months but today I did it and here are a few of my most recent shots.

I found all sorts of papers but for these shell tiles I chose a sea theme. Seemed to fit, if you know what I mean.

Shooting white tiles with carved lines is always interesting but I think these came out ok. I'm always happy to have suggestions so please feel free to leave them!

Tomorrow I will be shooting some more pics, especially of my raku tiles. I bought all sorts of fun paper and am excited to see the possibilities.

This is one of my older pictures. I think it's evident I needed to do something better to show off the work.

  I'll leave you with one of my favorites from today.

Custom Ceramic Pet Ornament Benefit Kick-off!

In 2006 you may remember that I handpainted LOTS of people's pets on ceramic ornaments to benefit the MSPCA, an animal shelter. I raised a little over $2000 for them by the end of the fund raiser and the money went to building new fenced play areas for both dogs and cats.

The two shelters where I live are still inundated with unwanted, abused and neglected pets and so I am hoping to raise even more money for them this year by starting early. Please share this information with anyone you think might want a unique gift that will also make a meaningful donation.

Ornaments are $18 each and 50% will go to the animal shelter. Each ornament is painted in underglaze and clear glazed. A colorful ribbon or metallic cord is attached and they will be packaged in organza bags, making a nice little gift. They are hand signed on the front and dated on the back. They can be bought at my Etsy shop here or you can email me directly through the link on this blog site.

New Card Ideas

I have always loved cards. I've been making my own cards since I was a kid. In college I used to make them with small woodblocks printed on multicolor paper and sell them at the student union. I think in those days I sold them for 25 cents each. I sold enough to pay my table fee and to help the grocery and gas bill. They didn't exactly pay the rent.

After college I lived in Manhattan for a few years and during that time I hand drew my cards with pen and ink (remember pen and ink?) and hand colored them with watercolors. They were mostly animals, birds and flowers though sometimes I did custom orders for people. I remember doing a hundred different chairs, both antique and modern for an interior designer. How did the designer find me? I used to take my cards to Central Park, sit on a park bench with my trusty dog at my side and sell them every decent day.

When I came back to the Cape I still made cards. I used to do a drawing, set it up and take it to a printer and have a hundred or so offset. I would have them cut and folded there and felt very professional. Once I got them home I would hand color them.

I've rarely sold my cards in shops, until recently. I used them to send to friends and family and occasionally sold a small amount to someone for invitations or thank you's or holiday cards.

When I had my shop in Mashpee I discovered that scanning my small paintings and printing cards from them was fun and fairly profitable and I have continued to fine tune the process. I bought a really good scanner and printer and have been experimenting with what can be done with all that.

My cards are a standard 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" and come with nice white envelopes. At this point in time I probably have about 50 designs and am working on a catalogue. I have a few stores selling them and I sell them here at my Etsy shop.

Recently I've been toying with the idea of really trying to make a little business out of this. Sort of ironic, I guess since so few people write letters or even notes. But people do still send cards for all sorts of occasions and I think people are happy to have something a little different than what the big chains are offering. The cards shown here were designed with weddings and anniversaries in mind. Most of my cards are blank but people seemed to like the Mother's Day cards with words so I'm adding these to my "line" as well.

What do you think? Do you know anyone who represents card artists? Anyone who distributes? How about any small stores that sell cards in your area that I could/should contact? I will be having a card set giveaway this week so stay tuned!

Knowing Where to Start, Where to Go, When to Change Direction

All across the internet, in studios, garages and basements are people trying to decide what to do with the results of their creative juiciness. Our cups and our closets are literally overflowing with our productivity.

Over on Etsy, where tens of thousands of young and not so young artists and crafters have gone forth and multiplied to try and sell their wares there is endless angst in the forums about who should be selling what for how much, who should not be selling what for how little and so forth and so on. Many people wonder if they should quit or move on, give up or change gears. Most haven't even given their efforts half a year, never mind five years. Should they give up and get a day job?

It's a question only we ourselves can answer one at a time. I would ask, What are you getting out of it? Is it enough? A month or so ago I asked if people were willing to give their art away. Most said no. Some wrote me emails expressing their anger and upset that I would even suggest such a thing.

I put up my drawing of a mockingbird this morning for several reasons. Mockingbirds think they are the best birds on the block. They are bold, tough, arrogant, defensive and pushy. They are also highly adaptable. They even imitate all the birds in the neighborhood, ultimately helping their own survival by sounding like someone else. Some of these qualities are great to emulate, others maybe not so much, at least in human terms. The mockingbird in my yard makes me laugh as he works hard to defend HIS bush. He is so sure it is the best and only bush on the block. And every year the neighborhood cats find the nest.....

Here's the truth the way I see it. There are at least 70 million Americans buying art supplies every year (that is a true fact from government statistics!) The average artist that attempts to make a living from their art makes less than $10,000 a year with most actually making less than $5000 profit (another true fact!) Now I haven't even begun to include the knitters, sewers, embroidery people or other more homespun crafters out there but many of them are walking a line between art and craft and certainly rising above our grandmother's homespun, homemade aprons so where do they fit in all this mix?

Is there a market for your work? Is there ENOUGH of a market for your work to support you? Do you know where your market is? Who is your customer? Are you willing to actually write these things out and look at them? Are you willing to diversify and adjust?

I have a friend (not an artist) whose business is tanking and taking her financial stability and future with it. She refuses to write out these questions. Her market has changed drastically but she can't see it. The internet has jumped up and bitten her in the backend by offering what she sells at steep discounts but she thinks it's just a little sneeze or a pesky mosquito bite and she refuses to adjust her thinking. Her ideal customer really doesn't exist any more. They have adjusted. She hasn't. Her thinking is sadly outdated. I am afraid for her. I don't see a good end to this story and the longer she tries to hang on, the sadder the story is going to be.

What about you? Are you willing to go with the flow and learn as you go? What are you doing to stay on top of your game?

Packaging and Presenting Our Art for Today's Market

For most of us, the fun and energy is in the doing of our art, not in the presentation. As a child of the sixties who came of artistic age in the 70s when minimalist and conceptual art were all the rage I have to admit the whole idea of packaging my art sort of repels and horrifies me. As you might imagine this has not exactly helped me sell my art.

Today's students are being taught classes in portfolio and project presentation, something that is probably making some of my most vehement and idealistic professors spin in their graves. I remember asking once (and only once!) how were we to expect to make a living with this art we were making? My professor turned to me with a snarl and a grimace worthy of any junkyard dog and said, "You're making art, not a living here. If you're going to worry about money get out of my class," or something pretty close to that.

The truth is that art that sells is almost always packaged in some way. Even the decision to leave paintings bare of frames is a presentation decision. Putting up labels that are hand-written and smeared may be a political statement that attracts a buyer in one setting while totally turning off potential buyers in another. Others gild insignificant and poorly executed paintings in frames of gold hoping some magnificance might rub off in the viewing I guess.

Artists today seem almost frantic to sell their art and make a living. They are making cards and glass cutting boards, tote bags and wooden boxes with their reproduced images on them. The museums started this, of course, by popularizing images such as Monet's and Van Gogh's on all sorts of merchandise. I just want you to stop for a moment and imagine their horror if they knew their images were being used in such a way. Monet was a very dignified, proud man with plenty of means. Van Gogh may have been dirt poor but he also was proud and dignified, if a little intense. These artists stood for art in its purest sense during their lifetimes and at times suffered for the visions they wanted to share with the world. There are many other artists whose work is being commercialized of course, but these two stand out because their images seem to be on everything from address book covers to wrapping paper, even at the dollar store. I think Monet is spinning out of control in the graveyard.

I have to admit I have mixed feelings about all this packaging. Some frames cost more than the painting. Some galleries are so into their image that the art takes a backseat to the party, the decorations, the drama and the investing strategies being discussed. As for the tiles and the cutting boards? They just offend me. I make and paint custom tiles that are functional and seeing people's images screened on factory made tiles so people can buy them very cheaply to hang on the wall makes me cringe with its tackiness and they're everywhere, at least where I live. As for cutting boards....really? That's like putting your kid's face on a coaster. I always want to say, "Watch out, you're putting a hot drink on your kid! Someone's dicing onion on your painting!" Somehow it seems disrespectful to your art. And it's just me so please don't get upset if you've tried these things. I'm curious to know if they've been worth it though.

So how much packaging are you willing to do to sell your images, your art? Do you sell cards? Do you have tiles made with your images? Do you have glass cutting boards at your art show booth or table? What other things are you doing to sell your images? Are you in galleries? Do you make your own frames? How is all this working for you? 

A Look at Marketing Our Art or Craft

If you read my blog regularly you know I closed a shop a year or so ago and that I've been working at selling some things online at Etsy.

I never meant to have a shop. It was one of those things that just happened. My shop failed but I came away from the experience with a wealth of information.

For many years I've sold my art, especially custom tiles. I was represented my various designers and tile stores that specialized in fine tiles. I became adept at making and following up on contacts, dealing with architects and interior designers and customers that wanted to talk with and meet the artist.

What I didn't learn was how to package my work, something which is very important in the world of retail. After all, the stores that sold my work did it for me. I knew how to put a brochure together, how to put a portfolio and presentation together, but not how to sell an individual tile as a gift.

Once I had a shop I had to learn a lot of things very quickly. I had to learn that there are hot spots and dead spots in a physical shop. I had to learn that there's such a thing as a price point and that items dressed up in nice boxes with pretty tags and a story sold better than those just hanging out on a table or shelf.

This week I'm going to look at different ways artists and craftspeople present their work. Please feel free to leave your links in the comment section.

How do you package your work for sale? Do you package your work? Do you pay attention to presentation? Please share!

Putting it All Together

I decided to put up this picture of my happy dog running on the beach since that's how I'm feeling this morning.

Thanks for all your great comments--I'll get in there and answer them soon. As I start going through these boxes of paintings and tiles left over from my shop I am feeling less inclined to feel overwhelmed and more inclined to find good homes for them. I've made a list of possible outlets and will begin making appointments this week to get the work out there and sell it.

I have about half a dozen tile orders to get to work on and of course my naturalist/teacher work is quickly moving from part-time to full time since it's that field trip time of year. It's kind of fun to look forward to all the activity and the nice weather which hopefully will some day come our way. It's rainy, foggy and cold here this morning. The beach picture comes from just a few days ago, though, so obviously there is hope!

As an artist selling work one always has to be aware of opportunity and be willing to take advantage of it. I think the hard part for most of us is just getting past our resistance to promoting ourselves. Most of us grew up with mothers telling us not to talk about ourselves, never brag, etc. Self-promotion is not about bragging but it is about letting people know we have something to show and yes, something to sell.

Once we get past the resistance we have to go out there and find the right outlet. As I sit here looking at prints and cards, paintings and tile panels I realize that I am looking for more than one outlet. I've actually come up with a good list. Now I need to act on it, make some phone calls, follow up with appointments. Whew! That's the hard part.

After years of promoting my tile business it was always still hard to make that initial call. The truth is everyone that agreed to look at my work was always really great and I usually ended up either doing business with them for years or learning something really useful from them. It was a win-win all the way around.

So why the resistance after all these years? Some days I feel ready and revved up, others I feel like hey, what's the use. How do you deal with your times of resistance?

Women's Faces, Watercolor Collages Now on Etsy

These collages are made up of torn pieces of my own watercolors of women's faces. They measure approximately 11 x 15" and are all originals. I have just started to post them over at my Etsy Shop to see if there is any interest in them. You can see them by clicking here.

This is a detail from another collage.

And another detail from the third one.

I'd love to have your feedback!

My Hand-made Paper Now on Etsy

These papers and more are now for sale at my Etsy shop so please click here and check them out!

They are all made from recycled paper, recycled mail, plants, bark, glitter, flower petals and whatever else I might have thrown in the blender while I was making the pulp. The papers are thick and average 9 x12"   

There are several packets of paper and also this sketchbook filled with really nice pastel colored drawing paper. It is also about 9 x 12"

 

More Etsy Posting

What can I say? Once I got posting stuff on my Etsy Shop I couldn't stop. I spent all afternoon putting stuff up and hopefully some of it will sell!

 

These are all ceramic mosaic pieces that can be used in larger mosaics, wall pieces, floors, etc. Some folks use them as spoon rests or just put them around on tables for fun decorations. I'll leave what you do with them up to you.....

Please send a link to your friends or anyone you think might be interested. If you have an Etsy Shop leave a comment with a link and I'll be sure to pass it along.