Put more social in your media

"Get over it!" That's what Randi Atwood, the platform editor of the Tallahassee Democrat, told about 20 of us gathered around a table at COCA (Council on Culture and Arts) headquarters on Gaines Street last Tuesday night.  It was a workshop for the art community on Developing your social media voice. .

I need to get over being kind of backward when it comes to social media.
Did your mother admonish "Don't be pushy!"? Mine did.
Today Pushy is good, says Randi. Push your ideas, your merchandise, your art. Shy people lose!
Accept anyone who wants to be your Facebook friend. Like. Comment. Share. Video your technique. Dare your friends. Ask audacious questions. Climb onto today's bandwagon. Don't hold back.

I have some friends and cousins who refuse to do Facebook. They're afraid of people snooping on them. Or they say it feels like work, and they've had enough of That! OK for them. Peace be to them.

I love communicating, and want to use what's available. But I do remember a nice clackety-clack typewriter. Love that sound!

Straddling two worlds, I went to Randi's workshop hoping to learn why (after seven or eight years doing it) I don't write my blog more often. Should I? What good is it? Also, I wanted to know if I should post the same pictures of my art on Instagram and Facebook. Isn't that overkill? How do Facebook and Instagram differ?

I found out that social media is good for selling: myself, my pictures, my ideas.
I'm kind of programmed to step back, not forward. So this is a stretch. But I'm doing it. Thanks, Randi!

Randi is the future. The future is now. Here are some highlights:

1. "Blogs are not social media," OK, Randi! I get it -- My blog doesn't offer the immediate give-and-take that defines social media. So I should say how a blog can help me, and then decide whether to keep it up or not. (I'm keeping it, obviously.) And really, one reason I don't write my blog more is that I love my iPad, but the blog works best if I create on my Mac. Got to keep the Mac handy. I'm not really selling anything, which is a big reason for blogs. However, I like to assimilate my thoughts in writing. I like to record my techniques: which paint did I use?  ... details that make it easier next time. Also, recipes I love! Maybe album-style family events. I love to make things, and not just for me. Mostly, I love to share: my thrills, creations, food.  I'll let the blog work for me.
2. Don't use all the venues -- Concentrate on a couple-- say Instagram and Facebook -- and get really good. You shouldn't be on everything. bye-bye, Twitter! 
3. Don't be boring. social media is a conversation, not an annual report. (Or maybe not a news story either, which is what I seem to write. Or poems.) Write like you talk. Chat. 
4. Social media is all about give and take. It's a conversation, remember? Someone says something, someone else responds. I thought writing was to read. Wrong! Your thoughts will live! Maybe come back to haunt you.
5.  Randi says don't use exclamation marks in excess. Or maybe never, if you want to look really grown up. 
6. Facebook loves algorithms (Didn't I get A's in college math? Then why am I so blank about this? Oh, years have passed, you say?). Anyway, algorithms determine who gets to see your posts. Algorithms like videos best. They eat up videos and spit them out everywhere. Next, the Algorithm Monster likes pictures and comments. And Shares, of course. If you get lots of Shares, Facebook loves you. In other words, the farther you make your posts spread, the farther Facebook makes them spread. So make an effort. Respond to people. Ask them to respond to you. Beg them even.
7. And if you're marketing something -- the Orchid Show say -- you should know about Boosting. My techno-friend Randi recommends it. Strongly. Look into Boosting. It means you pay a little -- say, $20 -- and get to tell Facebook where to go. Literally. Facebook will send your post to whoever you say. It takes a little work. Look it up. Google it: Boosting.

There's more, but that'll do for now."At'll do" ... as Grandma Frey used to say when we'd had just enough of this for now.

More Meow

Meow
11" x 14" mounted

I know you've seen this before, but I wanted to show you Meow at her best. I painted and stamped an 11" x 14" gallery-wrapped canvas in colors and shine that I think the kitty adores. I sewed the little quilt to thick strips of felt, and glued the felt to the canvas. That way the quilt itself can be removed easily, should anyone want to do that. I'll show you pictures of that process soon, because it's so obvious, yet I never thought of it. At that time I'll give credit to the person who gave me the idea. Because now I forget. (It's been a long day -- our air conditioner has been broken for three days, and we said it was fine but it wasn't really. The wonderful man with the coolant just left, so now the world is fine again.)

And below is the back -- rather messy but a triumph for me. You would not believe how much practice it takes to drill those hooks. With hanging wire attached and the sharp ends wrapped in masking tape, I think I've finally found a good way to make little works shine.

If you like my Meow, you can bid on her in the Quilters Unlimited silent auction at the Museum quilt show early this fall.

How to re-size digital images

My husband used to have this round thing on his desk; he called it his 'round to it. The joke was he'd never get around to doing certain things, so he filed them under the round thing.

For much more than a year I've been intending to learn to resize digital photographs, because shows and publications have specifications. Today I forced myself to watch this how-to video by Gloria Hansen. She is my new hero! Clear, pleasant, no hype. Of course, I haven't actually done it yet, but the video is a start. Save the link for when you get around to needing to resize your digital images. 

Notes from Lesley Riley's artist success webinar

This closet looks organized to me. The bulletin board has my work plans.

To-do list for Florida SAQA entry

I could not find my notebook on how to be an organized artist. It has notes I'd taken while watching Quickstart Your Art Business ASAP: An 8-Step Artist Success Action Program, an Interweave webinar featuring Lesley Riley.
When I did find it -- under a pile of other books --  I couldn't find the right pages. Since the notebook was almost full already, I'd just skipped around, writing notes in all the empty spaces. But now I think I've made sense of it: here are highlights:

1. Schedule time. Use every five minutes to move yourself forward.
2. Have visual reminders, with clear goals. Say I want to do ____ by ____.
3. Seek your style. 
4. Define what makes your art special and love that.
5. Create a social media presence; choose at least two outlets:  blog, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube … 
6. Face your fears; common ones are about (lack of) money and being unsure of one's talent. 
7. Plan your work.
8. Market your work. Don't be shy. 

I'm not going to tackle all eight just now, but Lesley Riley has already led me to itemize steps  I have to take to complete my projects. For instance, I've got to learn how to manipulate the pixels before I can send properly sized photos of my work to SAQA.

As for #8, marketing -- I'm somewhere between Lesley Riley and my favorite artist, Agnes Martin, who said, " I paint with my back to the world." 

New collages with Mistyfuse

This week I tried a collage technique from an Interweave blog. The method uses the lightweight, double-sided adhesive Mistyfuse instead of glue or gel medium. It leaves a slightly cloudy film on the finished piece, which is not necessarily bad. I like the way it faintly obscures type and gives a dreamy effect.

First, I cut up 140 lb. watercolor paper to sizes that fit my two bases of wood. That left some other smallish papers. Then you do this:

1. Cover the papers with watercolor paint and let it dry (above).

2. Arrange bits of fabric and paper on the watercolors (below).

3. Put a piece of Mistyfuse on top of that, covering the whole collage.

4. Top this with larger, more recognizable dominant forms. You can see that one of mine was houses.

5. Another was a kind of valentine (below). A third featured three gold spirals. 

6. Cover with another piece of Mistyfuse.

7. Top with parchment and iron gently. Flip over and iron on the other side. The Mistyfuse disappears, leaving a slightly cloudy film (below).

8. Finish with a frame.

Or use PVA glue to attach it to a wooden block base.

Or attach it to a card. 

Spiral detail

Present at the creation -- of a book

Teresa sent me this link, knowing I'd want to share. I've shuddered in front of printing presses so big and noisy that they shook the building, but watching this makes me realize publication can also be simple, tactile and aesthetically satisfying: an art. Thanks, Teresa!

Blog advice from a pro

I love our great old dining table, but it took me years to realize it's the perfect spot to blog

This week I heard an Interweave seminar on Build a Better Blog with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer. Something happened and I couldn't get the video, but I learned a lot anyway. Afterward, it dawned on me that one reason I didn't miss the video much is because I already have a mental image of Julie; I got it from her blog, which is cheerful and full of bright colors.

Maybe you, like me, have wondered how to produce a blog that is interesting and useful to you and your readers. He're are some of Julie's tips, in random order:

1. Think of a real person to write for. (Since the beginning I have been writing for myself; I want -- as Joan Didion has said --  to find out what I think. Often I put recipes in after someone has asked for one. And lately I've been thinking of all my friends who are, like me, searching for their identity in art.
2. Put a link to your blog on your email signature. (A few years ago I rejected this idea as self-promotional. Which is the idea.)
3. You can write posts early and post them automatically according to a schedule you set. Do this when you're going on vacation … or having a baby.
4. Your blog should have a voice, which you can't just manufacture. Or maybe you can, but you shouldn't. Julie (I just can't call her Ms. Balzer … ) Julie says style develops over time anyway, so start a blog and after a few months look back for common strands, and that's your voice. Focus on strengthening/ clarifying that.
5. Post about what makes you you. Let it flow from your life and then it won't be a chore and it will be authentic.
6. Notice which blogs you love, and learn from them.
7. Schedule your posts so you are dependable to readers. (I'm sticking to MWF. .. and if you say you didn't notice, well … I just started.)
8. Use a monthly calendar to plan your entries. 

OK, thank you, Julie!

AND …
If you live in Tallahassee you should know there will be at least one collage artist at the holiday art sale downtown Saturday -- FSU professor Carrie Ann Baade.  Her work unites old masters with mythology and psychology. I expect complexity.

Three collages

Collage is like my life. The woods where I run has many layers: leaf, twig, insect and sky. Family (as I live mine and observe others) is heart, heartbreak, surprise and pleasure. Christmas is color, light, warmth and longing. 

I seek spontaneity because through it truth rises up.  This is why I've been making collages without thought, inspired by the Linda Israel YouTube from my last post.

My box of colored papers

Stamps

Begin gluing papers randomly. I used 12" x 12" card stock base.
I used Mod Podge Matte because I don't have Golden Gel Medium,

Adding stamps

I just continued until all was covered with glued-down papers and stamps.  I also tried copper foil on cellophane. I pasted it down, but it slipped and slid -- not what I wanted.  It did leave some great metal traces behind, kind of like a the trail a snail makes.  Cheap Joe's Art Stuff told me how to use metallic foil properly: brush acrylic medium on the wrong side, then glue it where you want it. When it's dry, scrape at it and the paper will come up, leaving the metal on the collage.

It was kind of bright so I showered it with magenta spray paint.

Thinking of Christmas

I'm going to finish with metallic paint and/or glitter -- inspired by the gold-speckled nail polish my friend Janice was wearing today.

Tearing Watercolor Paper

I wanted to cut up my playful, painted and printed watercolor paper to make a small folded book. I'd never cut watercolor paper before, so naturally I readied a blade -- my Exacto knife, with ruler and cutting board. Just in time I realized that I did not want a crisp edge. Tearing would be better. So I wandered the Internet and discovered this YouTube on tearing watercolor paper. It's a peaceful occupation.