Original Watercolor Paintings, prints and note cards - Still Life, and Florals in Realism

For Artists

Dear Fellow Artist,
I often get emails from artist asking questions about my painting or marketing. Instead of repeating the information each time, I thought I would add a page to the website that covers that information. If you have questions that aren't covered on this page, please feel free to email me.

I have never understood the "hush hush, keep everything a secret" attitude some artists have toward information. Artists helped me when I first started, and I pass along what they taught, along with new information I have learned. I have been to shows where artists will ask me for information (where do you get your cards printed?) and I share. But if I ask them a question (what other shows do you like..whatever) they clam up and don't say anything useful. If you use this information, all I ask is that in return, you share with fellow artists. It's hard enough out there! ~ Beth
PS If you have any information to add, please let me know.

Prints and Note Cards :

Note Cards are printed through :

(I also get post cards, and business cards printed through them. On occasion I will use VistaPrint, but not often.)

Prints are printed on an Epson 2200 (there is probably a new model out now) on Somerset Velvet 100% cotton paper.

I also have a contract with A-R-T Fine Art Publishing. However, this is a publishing house, not a print on demand company. I have heard good things about both dazzzle.com and art.com for print on demand. I have a cafepress.com shop, but I have heard sometimes their quality is iffy. Not sure if I will continue with them or not. A newer print on demand site is FinerWorks.com to create posters and prints online I have set up an account with them but haven't used them yet. I have heard from several artist friends that they are very happy with the quality.

Photos of paintings are taken with a nikon coolpix (I think I am on my third generation coolpix!) and edited in Corel's Photo-Paint. There are probably better editors, but photo-paint is an old friend, so I stick with it.

For foam core backing and print bags: http://clearbags.com/ They also carry the clear boxes for note cards. Mats from http://www.aswexpress.com/ (unless I find them on sale else where) . AWS has good prices, but their mats are cut to order. That means they can take 2-3 weeks to arrive. You have to plan ahead if you are going to use them. They also have good deals on watercolor paper.

Where to get listed on the web:
Besides exchanging links with fellow artists, the following have been useful to me:
www.etsy.com
www.yessy.com (still new to them, but have heard good things)
www.artspan.com (I think I get the most hits through this one)
www.art-agent.com (through wet canvas)
There are many many other places that are good to list on for the link, even if they don't bring you direct sales.

Update on the eBay sales...I've recently tried eBay again. After many slow months and few views, it seems to be back a bit. Not it's oldself, but better. I've also tried the ACEO (art cards and editions..like trading cards for artists) and they seem to do pretty well. They are also a lot of fun! Just google ACEO or ATC artist trading cards to learn more about them. Eventually I will put up page here, but don't have time right now.

Squidoo is a new place to list your art. Not sure how much it will help, but it's free :) This is my page if you want to see what it looks like: http://www.squidoo.com/ejmstudios/

This is a great thread on wetcanvas that lists many free places on the internet to get your website listed:
http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?t=370680

Link Exchanges:

I also have a page for fellow artist's links:
http://www.ejmstudios.com/site/some-favorite-artist-friends.htm

Let me know if you have an art related site, and would like to exchange (it does have to be a family friendly site!) It might take me a while to get back to you. I travel a good bit with the rock business.

What books / supplies do you recommend:
See the books/supplies page for this one.

Do you teach:

I don't currently teach, although I have before, and love it. I do hope to hold workshops in the future. In the meantime I do have a few pages of step-by-step paintings and a few lesson pages. I hope to add more in the future.

Artist Communities:

Online artist communities can be a great source of information and inspiration. A few that I visit are:

ArtCafe Links

www.wetcanvas.com
the forum on www.etsy.com
http://www.artspan.com/community/index.php (just started June 2006)

Websites:

I maintain my own website. I am fortunate to have been a graphic designer and grew up with computers. My father worked for IBM and we had one of the very first PCs. If you aren't computer savvy, you can hire a designer. There are many wonderful designers on the web, just be sure to get some references. Or you can use a site like artspan.com that is designed for creating artist websites.

Technical Details: I use lunarpages as my host. I don't know if they are the best place or not... my husband set all that up for me. They seem to be reasonably priced, and aren't down very often. My website is designed using Dreamweaver, and the graphics are done in Illustrator.