Anyone who has followed my blog or social media pages knows that I have largely eschewed the too prevalent “buy my stuff” postings. I want an audience, not customers.
Showing what I do is easier with my visual work than my writing. With that, I do once or twice a year call attention to a new release. Not a bad average in trying not to annoy or pressure for those who take the time to follow me.
My latest release is just out. It is available for Kindle & paperback on amazon Most likely I have said this with the last three releases, truly, this is a personal favorite.
There’s a cottage industry devoted to helping people to pursue the dream of becoming a working artists. There is a lot of advice, some contradictory and other things just not how it works in the real world. Or, if it works that way, it is far slower going and heavily sprinkled with rejections and other unavoidable negative aspects.
The one commonality though is that one must have an online presence. Starting with a personal page which should not look as if only free sample software was utilized. There is also the need to have a social media presence. This is the thing so many get wrong.
Have updates of what you are doing in regards to new releases, shows, concerts etc. (It is strange though to keep up a steady stream all day long on twitter et al. When are you working? )
The biggest mistake with social media is the machine gun approach. The theory being if you have something you want people to buy/see just send a deluge out onto social media non-stop. Ten, fifty, one hundred thousand people see it and then if only “X” percent act….
Rarely does it work this way, to a higher percentage of people you are being an annoyance or another thing to mark future communications to go directly to spam folder.
Of course all artists want their work to be seen, myself included. But you should want an audience, not customers. Social media has definitely made it so that there is potential to reach many people with the press of the button, but done too often or two impersonally the only thing achieved is adding to the volume of cacophony of voices yelling “look at me, buy my stuff”.
I have several pages which have been around at this point for years. Anyone familiar with them sees that I rarely steer people towards commerce side of my artistic life. Exceptions being mainly when i have a new book out.
My newest collection is just out and you can find it at amazon in Paperback & kindle versions.
As I wrap up various projects for 2022 time feels oddly accelerated. There’s not enough hours in the day.
I was recently turned onto the Post website. From what I have seen of it, I like it. By way of saying thank you and showing appreciation to all those who have bothered to seek out my works I posted a free essay from my last collection Funeral Clothes.
The magic of the internet, artists no longer need face the prospect of spending a life in service of the process but with their oeuvre largely unseen. The flip side of this coin is that there are some artists who, without easy access to an audience would have to work harder and ultimately become better artists. It also has made artists seek not an audience but customers, their output reduced down to just another commodity.
I try to largely eschew promoting what I have for sale. A cursory look at my blog shows what a rare occurrence the promotion of things for sale is.
However, I am not anti commerce. Art is meant to be seen, to be read. I have a new collection which just came out. Succinctly, it’s beautiful, it’s heavy.
Paper Life Painting 