Keeping in touch with collectors!

My two cents on marketing...

When I first started this crazy "business" I sent everyone that collected my artwork a thank you card, a Christmas card, and a quarterly printed newsletter. Marketing is a full-time job; making art is a full-time job; selling art is a full-time job. Who can keep up! (Besides Annie Bisset and David Bull, that is, my heroes!).

Anyhow, here we are a few years later...my little customer list grew and grew! Where I began with about 100 faithful followers, I now have around 2100 in my database. What to do?
First thing I did was start to "clean it up" so every year I drop a few that have gone silent. I drop bounces and returned cards as I don't want to waste precious marketing pennies and I'm sure my customers don't want to be bothered again and again after they are no longer in touch.

Still keeping up with the thank you cards for every purchase at festivals. NOT even close keeping up with Christmas cards or printed newsletters; the Christmas "card" and the neatly printed newsletter have metamorphosed into:

- An email Christmas greeting.

- An email newsletter, I call it 1000 Woodcuts Updates and am pretty faithful about sending about 2-6 a year depending on how busy I am and how much I have that is really "news". Here is a sample: http://1000woodcuts.com/1000woodcuts/updates/updateindex.html

- This blog, which is a Blogger blog but kept archived in my own website just in case. Every artist should have one (did I just say that?).

- My own website, of course. Actually, two websites, one for me and one for my Art Festival Guide http://artfestivalguide.info
They take a bit of work to keep updated, but the "building" is the hard part. I would like to have more Studio Notes for all the artist friends out there, but they will come in due time.

- Pages in Facebook, Inkteraction, eBay ME page, Etsy Shop, AbsoluteArts, and every once in a while I find one that I had forgotten and is in horrible need of an update. Now that I can update Facebook from my iPhone I might keep up a little better there.

- I also belong but rarely log on to WetCanvas, various online printmaking groups, various online art festival groups, the National Association for Independent Artists, the Nevada Arts Council...I'm getting a headache...

Every little bit helps and the world wide web has really changed the way us lowly artists can market themselves to a global audience. Keeping up with it all is the problem!

This year I'm going to surprise my collectors by sending them all a printed newsletter again. The printed physical piece has become so rare in these days that I always welcome post-cards and letters from people I want to follow in their art adventures.

What a wacky career we have chosen...

Workshop at Goldwell Encore!

Once more I'm dragging a few unsuspecting souls out into the quiet of the desert for another workshop with all proceeds to benefit the Goldwell Open Air Museum http://www.goldwellmuseum.org/

In addition to joining their Board of Directors I have been ordained their Workshop Director? Organizer? Anyway, I will be recruiting instructors and attempting to put together a program of workshops and demonstrations.

The Red Barn Art Center is ideal for workshops because of its remote location. Participants can work in a great setting without distractions and the desert has a way of making us focus on what's important: ART!

For starters, here is the information on mine:

Intermediate Woodcut Printmaking Workshopwith Maria Arango
February 20-22, 2009, Red Barn Art Center Instructor: Maria Arango (2008 Artist-in-Residence)Members: $140 for both days Non-Members: $175 for both days Beatty Residents: $50 per dayAdditional studio time: $25 per day

Woodcut printmaking is a very simple and rewarding process. An image is drawn on a block of wood (or linoleum). The areas that are not part of the image are cut out, leaving the image in relief. Ink is rolled onto the block, paper is placed on the inked block, and pressure is applied to the back of the paper. When the paper is lifted the image is transferred, transformed by the cutting, fresh and beautiful.

This workshop will cover the essentials of relief printmaking and introduce more advanced techniques. Instructor will demonstrate various techniques to achieve multi-color woodcuts, including puzzle woodcuts, reduction woodcuts and multi-block woodcuts. Participants will be encouraged to complete a multi-color project during the workshop. Participants of every level can be accommodated. In the spirit of printmaking tradition, participants will create a minimum of one small edition in order to exchange prints with every other participant and walk away with a beautiful collection.

Two full days of dedicated instruction from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m, on Saturday and Sunday.To reserve your space, send an email to goldwell@goldwellmuseum.org with the word WORKSHOP in the subject line.Lodging is available in nearby Beatty, lunch, a Friday night arrival dinner and all basic supplies will be provided. For more information call 702- 870-9946.

Goldwell Blocks Get Going

I can't believe it's been four months since my residency last October!

Anyhow, I managed some trench digging projects (ongoing) and other home things and now I'm beginning to carve the 8 Goldwell Blocks.

First cuts are always pretty cool; I'm using cherry plywood which shows the marks very well and allows me to see exactly what's going to happen in the print. Almost exactly.

Notice to the right of my block is my new favorite device for keeping tools handy: a magnetic tool organizer from either Rockler.com or Woodcraft.com, I forget which. Keeps all my carving tools handy, at eye level and off my working desk-- not that my working desk is clean at any time, but the tool holder helps.

The second picture is of my favorite helper. She makes me stand up by taking over my chair because she knows I carve so much better when standing (hmmm...)

Me in a tree...

Here is my latest attempt at moku-hanga, the traditional Japanese technique.

I actually had fun this time! I enjoyed working with transparent colors even though some need to be printed twice for my preferred saturation.

I used the Baren Mall's hanshita paper to transfer the key block to the color blocks, kento and all. Then a mixture of tube watercolors, raw pigment also from the Baren Mall and Akua suspension pigments for tinting.

All in all, a fun image to work with. I tried for "goma" on the tree blocks, but the truth is that I can't control it quite yet. No problems with registration, actually got 46+ good prints out of 48 pieces of New Hosho paper.

When I was a child I used to clim trees, mostly as an escape from the "cliques" and "groupies" that children form around each other. I was a bit of a loner...and a great tree climber! While I was printing with my Murasaki Baren (in dire need of a new skin) I got swept by the rhythm of the printing action and a poem came to me. My husband says it's sad but I didn't really see it that way.

Me in a tree
No one looks up
No one can find me
Or laugh at me

The gory details:

Updated Latest Works

My latest creation: "Moonshadow" is done on black Arches paper, a cork color block and cherry line block.

Printing on black paper with opaque inks can be tricky because the opacity is different for each color. Obviously white prints best, but it also "eats" other colors and makes everything milky.

This time I chose to use pearl pigment in the inks to make the image glow and give opacity to the subtle colors wihout milk. Not that I'm against milk, but with breakfast, not on my prints. The pearl pigment makes the inks shimmer.

When the prints were drying in the studio, the image could be seen in the dark. I thought it was pretty cool to have a fluorescent moon lady (or a bunch of them) hanging in the studio. The cork once again traps some of the ink and spits it back out in darker lines and clumps, but this time I used lighter ink on the moon to let the black paper add some irregular shadows on the moon.

So there she is, "Moonshadow" in all her glory.

Goldwell Adventures Update and the Red Barn Art Center

The Goldwell Adventure has been partially uploaded. I uploaded pictures from the workshop which show off the interior of the Red Barn Art Center and me working away. Well, if you can call making art in eden "working".

I also uploaded pictures of the workshop, some of my faithful and fearless students, and their work. It was fun leading them into the world of the woodcut in such a great place.

Photo albums of the place itself are coming but there are about 1200 photos to go through and I get tired of sitting, click, click, click...so they will get there but in due time. Meanwhile, the view to the South is prominent in the Goldwell Project page, it's almost enchanting even in a small web size. Imagine the silence and the wind brushing gently against the creosote ocean...

A personal effort to stimulate the US economy (wink wink)?

Warning: shameless self-promotion follows...

Who says you can't find affordable great quality art to give for the Season?!
I just re-opened my ebay shop, in view of their new friendlier seller terms and lower selling fees. I haven't been doing festivals and hate to see thousands of prints in my drawers collecting dust.

I also tried my hand at an Etsy Shop and even made some sales. Different "animals" the Etsy Shop seems to attract mostly other Etsy users and perhaps some die-hard craft and/or hand-made by the artist lovers. The ebay store attracts anyone from scammer to print dealers to serious collectors, but mostly nice folk looking for bargains.

I figure by the time the art festival circuit recovers from these turbulent times I will have plenty of new works. What to do with all these darned prints is always a big dilemma, but I am just not willing to sit on them forever. I have an idea to put in my will that any of my works that didn't sell while I was alive must be burned upon my death so that art vultures don't make a penny from my art after I'm gone. Really, society should support live artists above all.

So there it goes, ink on paper at bargain prices.
Etsy Shop 1000 Woodcuts at http://1000woodcuts.etsy.com
Ebay Store 1000 Woodcuts at http://stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts

What did you do with YOUR Cairn?

I'm taking my Cairn on the road to show off all my Baren friends to my workshop attendees this next weekend at the Goldwell Open Air Museum.

Should be a nice way to expose new initiates into the woodcut art to a variety of carving styles and, at the same time, smaller image suggestions.

Here is what Lynita Shimizu did with her Cairn! I cracked up...

Check it out at the project page and send me your images of the Cairn, framed, shown, exposed...???

I got my plexiglass and will be sticking mine on the ceiling also; then I can see everyone while I work.

Is everyone ready for the next Great Puzzle Print?

Quirky cork prints and a new Studionote

I started printing with cork plates way back when and for now I'm hooked on the "look" that cork plates give my new series of prints.

Here is the latest, fresh off the press. The image is one of two I'm printing for the Earth Exchange offered by Four Oceans Press website and print organization, check them out: http://www.fouroceanspress.com/

The cork plates are fun but hard to work with and I'm starting to control the process. I caught up some stuff on my website and wrote a new Studio Note on it. If you haven't read all my silly Studionotes, feel free. I love sharing the info on printmaking as I learn it.

Have fun! http://1000woodcuts.com/studio/method.html

And direct to the quirky cork: http://1000woodcuts.com/Studionotes/cork_prints.html

Woodcuts in the desert

My temporary gallery at the Valley of Fire Visitor's Center. This is a small Nevada state park that is just beautiful to visit, especially (and almost exclusively) in the winter.

Compared to an art festival, this is an easy setup. I used my festival panels for the back wall and also the browse bins for information on woodcuts, business cards and, of course those portable matted works that hopefully will find their way into the suitcases of tourists.

The park benefits from the artist's sales and for the artist, it is a chance to show works to countless tourists and other desert loving critters.
Woodcuts are again at an advantage because they are so rarely seen in these parts. Of course I have free for the taking my standard "How to Make Woodcuts" handout. Knowing that the State Park gets a percentage is huge for me. As I grow older, I yearn for the days when the desert was a largely uninhabited place. More and more developers are building and building and it feels good to be a part of a preservation movement.

The weather forecast for the rest of February in these parts calls for spring-like 60's and 70's, and, of course... sunny and clear!

Launch of the Simple Year and the New Updates

To celebrate 2008, the Simple Year, I combined the Diary and Updates into a compact and hopefully more frequent format.
What's the Simple Year all about? Well, for starters I'm taking 2008 off the festival circuit to get back on track on some art creation projects and home stuff. I'm no Thoreau, but hope to rekindle my love affair with wood, art, family, and all the important simple things in life.
For now, I'm on full rest and planning mode.

More later...