A Holiday Weekend Full of Art

Its been far too hot here to do much of anything outside. Southern California has been in the grips of a heatwave for over a week now. It sure isn't helping the firefighters north of me fight the biggest fire in the history of Los Angeles county. Now they have announced its arson. Many of the fires in this state are arson. Last year, my city here faced a ferocious fire. Many large beautiful homes were lost forever simply because there was "too much fire and not enough water". It was heartbreaking and...for the first time in the 31 years I've lived here...I had my things packed and sitting by the door.

So, what does one do on a super hot holiday weekend here? I don't know about the others, but granny here, is home with her watercolors and some good movies and the a/c running.

Some finished work:







with more in the works.

I so enjoy watercolors and I'm thankful to be able to do this work. I read somewhere that the great Norman Rockwell used to say: "being able to draw and paint is like always having a bag of lemon drops in your pocket." He was right...

Happy Holiday Weekend from

Grannygoodpaint

GOOGLE - Give a Girl a Break!

Seems like years I've been writing about Ebay, Etsy, Online Auctions, Bonanzle, Overstock, etc. etc. I have yet to see one of my blog posts picked up by Google and sent to me in a Google alert. Yes, I have the alerts up and running and get tons of articles on the subjects....some dumber than dirt but never see mine. Google whatcha got against ole Grannygoodpaint? If I outright Google Grannygoodpaint I get plenty - yet I never make those alerts. Google are you ashamed of ole Granny?

Grannygoodpaint Changes Her Palette

The author of this blog is an artist and has been one all her life. Let's talk art today and some of what it takes to sell your work. I used to make a darned good business simply putting my artwork up on Ebay but those days seem to have passed. Now I'm spread out all over the place and learning to market my work wherever and whenever I can. Younger artists will want to do art shows and hang their work in coffee shops and restaurants, etc. That's great! Some will open websites - even better! BUT be prepared for the work involved in getting traffic to your site. You don't just build a website and sit and wait for the crowds to come. It just doesn't happen that way.

Also, there are sites where you can get exposure and some are free. Bonanzle is one that will give you a free shop and free listing fees and you only pay when you sell. Etsy is another popular site...charging only 20 cents to expose your work for 4 months! Then there are others you probably never considered....Artist Rising where you can place your work and if a customer wishes a print you will be given a small percentage of the sale. I recently sold a large painting off Artist Rising because it caught a customer's eye and she wanted the original. Made the sale, with NO fees involved, directly to the buyer. Imagekind is much the same as Artist Rising. Don't forget your own neighborhood - everyone here knows I paint and many come around for that special gift they can't find in stores. There are a number of these sites where you can place your work for possible sale of prints. Its something to consider.

If you have a tip or a site or an outlet where you are making some sales...by all means please share it with us.

Some work that is up on Ebay right now:

I can also be found on Bonanzle, Etsy, Overstock and my own website