Imagine the following scenario. You are part of a group show at The Downtown Gallery. The gallery is expecting four paintings from you. You are to deliver them, framed and ready to hang, on a certain date. Originally that date was six months away; now it is only two months away. You have all four paintings started—but only barely. For the last month you haven’t worked on any of them. You argue that you were productive in other ways—you made some Giclee prints, you sent out a mailing, you straightened up your studio, you applied … Continue reading →

Stress mounts up during the holiday season. Life with all of its stresses doesn’t stop and piled on top of that are the calories of holiday indulging, the oh-so-right gifts to purchase, the interactions with family members we manage to avoid most of the rest of year, impending new year’s resolutions that already feel burdensome, the darkness of winter fully descending, the sadness of another year that wasn’t quite what we hoped it would be, and much more. Performers face certain additional stresses. Here are three of them: 1. Annual inventory This is the time … Continue reading →

Here are the links to download your free holiday novels: Please note the books are available in two formats. epub (for must readers but Kindle. Download. Unzip and load onto your reader) pdf – suitable for desktop reader None of the formats are intended to work with the Amazon Kindle.   Aster Lynn   Murder inBerlin  

CONFIDENT CREATING If you want to live a creative life and make your mark in some competitive art field like writing, film-making, the visual arts, or music, and if at the same time you want to live an emotionally healthy life full of love and satisfaction, you need an intimate understanding of certain key ideas and how they relate to the creative process. One key idea is that you must act confidently whether or not you feel confident. You need to manifest confidence in every stage of the creative process if you want to get … Continue reading →

Here are eight tips for getting the most out of the next gallery opening you attend. Read on! 1. Engage with the art. You may have come for some other reason, maybe to network, to flirt, to get out of the studio, or to get some free food, but there is also art to see! Be respectful of the art and give it a chance. 2. Watch your emotions. You may be wowed by the art and get down on your own art, you may despise the art and hate the idea that this artist … Continue reading →

What artists don’t struggle with the problem of framing their art? Are there any good answers? Read on! Since the framing of art is almost always the artist’s responsibility, since frames cost real money, and since it’s hard to sell art, buying frames for your art can become a real psychological and practical burden. What can you do to ease this burden? One answer is to stop framing! Jason Horejz writes in his excellent article on framing: “All I have to do is say the word ‘frame’ and I see artists get a dejected, depressed … Continue reading →

We’ve chatted for the past two weeks about how to ask for money. Let’s finish up with three more essential tips. Read on! 1. Follow up on your requests Don’t send an email and take silence to mean that your email was unwelcome, that you’ve been rejected, or anything along those lines. Instead, take it that people are busy and that, on top of that, certain requests (like asking for money) take time to mentally process. Simply follow up. Check in after a few days to “make sure the email arrived safely”; check in at … Continue reading →

Last week we looked at three tips for asking for money. Here are three more! Read on … Be affirmative, brief, and clear – the ABC rule! How you ask for money is important. No one likes (or needs) lengthy pleas, whiny or negative pleas, or confused or confusing pleas. You should be able to ask for what you want and need in a couple of simple sentences. Say that you’re asking your great-aunt for money to help you buy frames for an upcoming show. This might sound like: “I have a wonderful upcoming show … Continue reading →

You need money for art supplies, building your website, your marketing efforts, and, well, just to live! One challenge is figuring out where to look for the money you need. But a second challenge is equally pressing: being able to ask for what you need and want. Here are three tips for doing just that! It isn’t begging, it’s advocating If you are doing work that you believe in, then it is on your shoulders to advocate for that work. Doesn’t the work you’re attempting need a friend, an advocate, and a spokesperson? To begin … Continue reading →

What should you do when meaning vanishes? Here’s a four-step technique to try! Read on … Every day we’re bombarded by small (and sometimes large) threats to our experience of life as meaningful. Maybe you get a painful rejection from a gallery. Suddenly painting (and life itself) may seem that much less meaningful. Or maybe you’ve invested meaning in a new art marketing idea. Just as you’re about to launch it you notice that someone has beaten you to the punch. You’re likely to experience that bit of bad luck as a blow to your … Continue reading →