This is the third in a series of posts about Taking Photos for Your Art. Here are the first and second posts.

Gridding Your Canvas

by Beth Cole

If I am painting something that really needs to be drawn well, like a portrait or figure, I always grid my photo and canvas.

Editing Your Photos

By Beth Cole

This is the second in a series of posts about taking photos for art, you can read the first post here.

Rarely does a photo come straight from the camera ready to paint. I have found that taking a little time to analyze and edit the photo makes for a stronger inspiration photo and a stronger painting.

Taking Photos For Your Art - Part I

by Beth Cole

This is a new series on taking photos for your art. I believe taking your own photos is a big part of the artistic process. When you use your own photos for painting you are already connected in a way to the scene you want to paint. It is always just a good policy to work from your own photos.

I believe paintings have a mind of their own, and sometimes we just need a little time to bring them to their better selves.

Case in point, here is a sunset painting I did about a year ago. I was inspired by spectacular cloud formations and what the light was doing as it sank down toward the horizon.

What I Have Learned About Teaching Online

by Beth Cole

Last spring I was asked to teach a painting class online. I had been thinking of teaching, but I hadn’t come up with a plan or a deadline. Being asked to teach gave me both! And I must say, it is amazing what you can accomplish when you have a plan and a deadline.

I wanted to write a little about the practical steps I took in order to get stuff done. I am not an expert! I am just sharing what I have learned so far.

This is the third post in a series about getting ready for art fairs. Here are links to the first and second posts.

Following Up With Collectors

By Beth Cole

So you’ve done all the hard work of painting, hauling and setting up your work and guess what? Someone buys a painting! Boom! Congratulations! Now what?

This is the second in a series of posts about getting ready for summer art shows. You can read the first post here.

Art Fair Checklist

By Beth Cole

The first time I went to an art show I was amazed at how much time it took me to get ready. Not only do you need to prepare your paintings well in advance, there are many other little details to consider before you can say “let’s go.”

Art fairs can be so much fun, but honestly – they are a lot of work!

My husband and I have been doing art fairs for a few years now, so I thought it would be fun to share a few of the things I have learned through the experience. I would love to hear about your experience as well, so feel free to comment.

This first post will be about the number and type of paintings to take, the second part will include an art fair checklist to help you remember everything, and the third part will be about relationships and following up after the show.

This is the fourth in a series of posts about painting outside. Here are links to the first, second, and third posts.

More great tips

by Beth Cole

Many of my newsletter readers are artists, so this last issue I asked them to share anything they had learned about painting outside. I got some great feedback so I wanted to share.

This is the third in a series of posts about painting outside. Here are links to the first and second posts.

Staying Motivated

by Beth Cole

If I’m going to stick with something, I need to have a good reason. You, too? After all, why should we drag around all this painting gear, circle the countryside looking for painting spots, battle the wind and the sun and the bugs? I have to constantly remind myself of the benefits, and there are many. Here are some that I see, I would love to hear yours, too.

This is the second in a series about painting outside, you can read the first post here.

Finding a Painting Location

by Beth Cole

Honestly, finding a place to paint has been one of my biggest struggles. I am a little shy and I feel self-conscious painting in a conspicuous place where it is not common to see people out painting, you know? The last thing I want to do is draw attention to myself. Maybe you can relate.

Painting Plein Air

by Beth Cole

Since the weather is getting warmer I wanted to write about plein air painting, a fancy term for painting outside. I think there are two acceptable pronunciations for the word “plein” – “plane” or “plen." The word comes from the phrase "en plain air" - in French meaning “in the open air.” And we do love the open air, don’t we?

This is the third post in a series about learning from the Masters. Here are the first and second posts.

So many of the master paintings I love have beautiful gray tones in them. Some colors are hard to name, they look a little brownish, or reddish or purplish but they are difficult to describe. These are the gray tones and they can really make a subtle and beautiful painting.

Finding and Collecting Paintings to Study

I have been collecting master paintings that I love and want to study for a few years now. Here is how I started and then added to my collection.

This month I’m starting a series on a subject I really love and that is learning from the masters. Since I don’t have formal art training, I have spent a lot of time viewing and thinking about the beautiful work that has been created before us.

Letting Your Art Speak for Itself

This is the second post about social media observations, you can read the first one here.

As I said in my first post, I am no social media expert, but here’s another thing I have noticed about posting art and I will get straight to the point.

I visited the library a few days ago in search of a landscape painting book by Edgar Payne. I hit a dead end with that book but in perusing the art section I found a couple other books to check out, one of which is all about the rituals of art. It is titled Daily Rituals: How Artists Work edited by Mason Currey. It is an interesting compilation of descriptions of daily routines of well-known artists such as Mozart, Beethoven, Hemingway, Updike, Einstein and the like.

How do you find your subject matter to paint? For me, it is my camera, whether driving down the road and snapping photos with my iPhone, or driving the backroads on foggy mornings with my big girl Nikon. I usually take shots of anything to which I am drawn. Many of them go into the trash bin, but I have found several keepers through the years using this method.

I have been invited by artist Olga Furman to teach an online landscape painting class and I am excited to announce the opening of registration for the course - Earth, Water, Sky: Painting Atmospheric Landscapes.

Selling Your Art Online
by Beth Cole

We just finished our art club’s annual art and photo competition, whew! We displayed over 130 entries from around the area, what a beautiful exhibition. Especially fun was the interest from young people, we had lots of grade school age entries as well as those in the high school years.

Which brings me to what I am writing about today. I was asked by a young person and others as well, “how do you sell your art online?”.