Haunting and Powerful

Art by Delilah

I never know what I'm going to put on the canvas. The canvas paints itself. I'm just the middleman.
~Peter Max

Since Halloween is coming up sign up, what are you going to  be?

 I was always a princess or a gypsy for Halloween – never anything scary.  Here are few things that are scary and really spooky stuff.

10 Things You Didn’t Know: Creepy, Scary and Spooky Stuff

1. “Frankenstein” – one of the most famous books of the early horror fiction 
written in  1817

2 Alfred Hitchcock changed cinematic history with his unique approach to movie making – including his legendary 1960 film “Psycho” – which helped to create the horror subgenre of psychotic films

3. Halloween celebrations were originally brought to the United States largely by immigrants who hailed from England, Scotland and Ireland.

4 Lanterns are among the earliest Halloween items ever made, and some of the most reproduced items. A vintage devil-head lantern, made by the F.N. Burt Company of Buffalo, New York, in the 1930s, is valued at $450 today.

5 Haunted items, including antiques and collectibles, are not “possessed,” but they can hold energy, and most often the energy they hold was sent toward them by an individual, paranormal experts say.

6. An optical illusion in many pictures and portraits can often result in people getting the eerie feeling that the subject in the painting is watching them, their eyes following an individual around the room.

7 If antiques are said to hold energy that lead people to believe they’re haunted, then it stands to reason that a shop filled with antiques could be a potential hot spot for paranormal activity. That’s the case at Main Street Antiques, as told in the book “Haunted Travels of Michigan Vol. II.”

8 Pediophobia is the fear of dolls, and is considered a relatively common phobia. It is one type of a larger family of phobias known as automatonophobia – which is the fear of humanoid figures.

9 Within the ranks of haunted collectibles silverware is one of the most frequently reported types. Applying the idea that objects can hold energy of the various individuals and places they’ve been, it’s not surprising that silverware, a popular family heirloom passed on from generation to generation, would be among the most haunted of objects.

or maybe this scares you

10. Fear that you’re not good enough.
,Fear that :you don’t know enough.
Fear that: you are starting your career too late.

Fear that:,I’m not original enough (someone else is doing it better) 

Fear that:, People won’t take me seriously as an artist,(“Art is a hobby and not a real job”)

 Fear that:People will steal my work or my ideas, that why I can not put anything on the Internet.

Fear that: My work is never as good as I imagined it would be

If you are just a big artist scared cat here is a book that might help you along

"Malady of Art: FEAR" by Jack white , click on the link and read the first chapter for free. No trick just a treat.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Getting your Art Noticed

Art by Delilah

Many artists are under the false assumption that simply by putting their art online that people will see it. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. You have to let people know about it.

You can’t just place your images on the web and hope that people will find your work. If you are serious about selling your work online then you have to put some more work into it. 

Most people don't wander past the first 10 or so search results. The art of breaking into those rarefied ranks is called search engine optimization, or SEO. If this term is new to you, get familiar with it--quick. (For a primer, start here.)

There are lots of things you can do to help people find your wonderful artwork on line and maybe make a few sales and some really good friends while your at it. Most of them are really easy to do and it only takes an extra few clicks when you r put your work on line.

Tomorrow I am going to give you a few tips on just how to do that.

If you would like to view my daily paintings visit my blog Painting of the Day.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Start and the juice will come.

Ernest Hemingway - From the Beginning category:

As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come. (Ernest Hemingway)

I find this is so true. People ask me, How I think of something to paint everyday, for me it's easy I just start. My brushes are clean and in big containers the paint is always squeezed out and ready to go. I just have to get my body into the studio and start. So I just do it.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Just do it

"It always seems impossible until it's done."

- Nelson Mandela (1918-), Militant anti-apartheid activist, President of South Africa" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

It's better to....

Art by Delilah

It's better to...

It's better to be a pirate than join the Navy."

- Steve Jobs (1955-2011), Founder of Apple

You can follow the lastest trend with your art or you can set sial for hidden bouty with your own ship full of ideas. Maybe taking a little here and there from outher artist but building your own artist view as you sail off to Treasure Island.

It is easier to go down a hill than up it but the view is much better at the top.

"Henry Ward Beecher "

I have hear mention that a study of census data  by the National Endowment for the Arts found that nearly 2 million people earn a living as artists.

Lately, I’ve been interested in finding facts about the status of professional visual artists in this country. Is the “starving artist” a commonplace condition or a myth?
There was a time when becoming an artist meant devoting yourself to a starving, bohemian lifestyle, sleeping on a futon and burning your rejected works to stay warm. But artists should feel a little more encouraged now that a new study from the National Endowment for the Arts reveals that the artist lifestyle isn't as conventional wisdom might have it.

"Artists seem to have mastered the art of living as well. 35% of artists are self-employed and artists are 3 times more likely to work from home than the general laborer.On the whole, the NEA's results determined "artists to be entrepreneurial (more likely to be self-employed) and more educated than the workforce at large." Interesting facts about artist life styles click here to read more.

The median income for fine artists was $43,000/year.

Here is the list to aim for The Top of the Hill :

The 100 Best Living American Artists

PicassoMio has compiled a list of the best 100 living American artists, based on artwork sales, number and type of exhibitions, and other market factors. 

1. Bruce Nauman
2. Robert Rauschenberg
3. Cindy Sherman
4. Ed Ruscha
5. Jasper Johns
6. Lawrence Weiner
7. John Baldessari
8. Jeff Koons
9. Paul McCarthy
10. Richard Serra
11. Dan Graham
12. Bill Viola
13. Ellsworth Kelly
14. Nan Goldin
15. Tony Oursler
16. Mike Kelley
17. Raymond Pettibon
18. Matthew Barney
19. Carl Andre
20. Vito Acconci
21. Jenny Holzer
22. Frank Stella
23. Cy Twombly
24. Alex Katz
25. Jim Dine
26. Gary Hill
27. Richard Tuttle
28. Chuck Close
29. Dennis A. Oppenheim
30. Robert Gober
31. Barbara Kruger
32. Joseph Kosuth
33. Kara Walker
34. Roni Horn
35. Richard Artschwager
36. Martha Rosler
37. Doug Aitken
38. Christian Marclay
39. Robert Morris
40. Robert Ryman
41. Jack Pierson
42. William Wegman
43. James Rosenquist
44. Brice Marden
45. Louise Lawler
46. Paul Pfeiffer
47. Sherrie Levine
48. William Eggleston
49. Andrea Zittel
50. Chris Burden
51. Diana Thater
52. Lorna Simpson
53. Robert Longo
54. Matt Mullican
55. James Turrell
56. Robert Mangold
57. Andrés Serrano
58. Robert Barry
59. Sharon Lockhart
60. Elizabeth Peyton
61. Catherine Opie
62. Adrian Piper
63. Lee Friedlander
64. Robert Indiana
65. David Hammons
66. Gregory Crewdson
67. Donald Baechler
68. Peter Halley
69. John Currin
70. Joan Jonas
71. Julian Schnabel
72. Tom Sachs
73. Jim Shaw
74. Glenn Ligon
75. Mark Dion
76. James Welling
77. David Salle
78. Allan McCollum
79. Jimmie Durham
80. Philip-Lorca diCorcia
81. Terry Winters
82. Christopher Wool
83. Charles Ray
84. Rita McBride
85. Andrea Fraser
86. Helen Frankenthaler
87. Jonathan Horowitz
88. Larry Clark
89. Eric Fischl
90. Robert Adams
91. John Chamberlain
92. Tom Friedman
93. Mel Bochner
94. Dara Birnbaum
95. Sam Durant
96. Ellen Gallagher
97. Elaine Sturtevant
98. Allen Ruppersberg
99. Allan Sekula
100. Laurie Simmons

Thats a nice long list.. Out of 2,000,000 to be in the top 100. Paint on my friends and I hope to see your name on the list soon. Just remember brush miles gets you closer to the finish line and quitters never win.

Hugs

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

We really need to move those Deer Crossing Signs

Okay what is this woman's SIGN? Please show me her sign. All Art Accepted. I will post it here.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Gee whiz , where do find these people? Do you think she is blonde? Okay I can say that because I am blonde.

I just had to have some fun today. But please show me your signs.

GO DEER!

Keep the Chickens Flying

Art by Delilah

"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."

- Michael Altshuler

Okay , Did you get it you are in control so did you make that list? That one thing you really wanted to do with your art before the end of the year? I hope so because time flies.
So keep the chickens flying and you will get it all done.



" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

October 5, 2012–January 23, 2013

Picasso Black and White is the first exhibition to explore a remarkable focus that occupied the great Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, throughout his prolific career: the use of black and white.

 Few artists have exerted as considerable an influence over subsequent generations as Picasso, one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art. While his work is often seen through the lens of his diverse styles and subjects—his Blue and Rose periods, pioneering investigations into Cubism, neoclassical figurative paintings, and explorations in Surrealism, for example, or the forceful and somber scenes depicting the atrocities of war, the allegorical still lifes, the vivid interpretations of arthistorical masterpieces, and the highly sexualized canvases of his twilight years—the recurrent motif of black, white, and gray is frequently overlooked. read more

Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success. 
Pablo Picasso 

Today is the best time to write down one goal you would like to achieve before the end of the year. Send me an email when yo make it happen.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Where are the Mice

Art by Delilah

One of the great things about marketing is that it's a continuous process, not a one-time event.If you are a creative person you are probably a Jack or Jill-of–all-trades . . . and master of many. Some days I fell like I do it all. There are days that I know I do!

For artists and entrepreneurs( we are both), the world is full of shiny new things. We are curious, multifaceted, changeable and full of future potential. We tend to jump right in and lead with our hearts. That is why it is so easy for us to get burnt out from trying to do it all.It so hard to keep all of those balls in the air.

As an artist trying to build your art career you have many things to think about: networking, social media, finances, managing your contacts and sales, competitions, gallery representation, and more. 

 It’s enough to make any artist long for the days where your only concern was the creative process.  While your right brain might be screaming “just create!” your left brain knows that by being organizing and taking control of your career you can achieve that most sought after goal of being able to make a living doing what you love. The trick is getting the right brain to talk to the left brain it is Mars and Venus all over again. 

Before you get lost in your day and everything that you need to do,want to do and think about doing: you need to remember you can not be everything to everybody. So slow down and pick a direction.

"Before you build a better mousetrap, it helps to know if there are any mice out there"- Mortimer Zucherman.

I have a passion for art marketing, writing,  and creating magnificent art. I love music, travel,small towns, hiking,runing -- and the list goes on and on. (See how boring and confusing this is!)

The world is just too exciting for me. I want to do it all!

If you are like me you need to build a brand. You must tell people who you are let them read the story of you and your art.

“A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.” Seth Godin

So for the next few weeks lets think about building our brand.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

Happy Birthday Baldovinetti

Art by Delilah

Alesso Baldovinetti (14 October 1425 – 29 August 1499) was an Italian early Renaissance painter.

Today is the birthday of the renaissance painter Alesso Baldovinetti, if you are not familar with his painting here is a link to some of the images of his oil paintings

His favourite method in wall-painting was to lay in his compositions in fresco and finish them a secco with a mixture of yolk of egg and liquid varnish.


At the end of the roman empire and up to the Renaissance period (15th century), this ancient technique was lost and replaced by oil paint and/or tempera. In Italy and Greece, olive oil was used to prepare pigment mixtures but the drying time was excessively long and tedious in the case of figures. This drawback led a German monk, Theophilus, in the 12th century to warn against paint recipes including olive oil (Schoedula Diversarum Artium). It was reported that Aetius Amidenus, a medical writer in the 5th century, mentioned the use of a drying oil as a varnish on paintings. Similarly, it seems that perilla oil was used in Japan in painting after addition of lead in the 8th century. In the 14th century, Cennino Cennini presented a painting procedure integrating tempera painting covered by light oily layers. read more


We set in our central heated home searching the internet for art supplies that are shipped right to our door and still we have excuses for not painting not having enough time. Sit down and really think about what the life of an artist was like in the 1400's. How hard it would be to even see art, to travel, to get supplies, and sell your work.

I am so lucky to be living in a time when I do not have to spend 100% of my daily just try to find enough to eat.

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What do you want as an Artist?

Art by Delilah

At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.”

- Lao-tzu (lived during the 6th Century BCE), Philosopher of Anchient China

You know the answer to the question. What do you want from your art career.Think, Is it money, recognition ,to become better at your medium? You may not have written it down or shared it with anyone not even your closest friend  Today is the day to start your journal a secret place where you put down those hopes, fears and dreams. Write it down in ink, pick a color, and start. Writing them down makes it real. You know who you are and now you have put down in ink what you want.

I use green ink, it makes it more fun, For me at the center of who I am is this happy person who paints because she love it.

Now that you have written down what you want lets start a path to getting there. Baby steppes. Pink ones, blue one oh-la-la green ones. Yes, babies fall down, but they get back up. Remember it's not how many times you fall down( In artistic terms get turned down for a show,gallery,didn't make the sale), it happens to the best of us, it's how many times you get back up. Last one standing Wins.

Baby steps and we will soon be running. Race you to the finish line.

Artist Hugs to all of us runners.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

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Focus or Fail Sell more art

Here's a shocking idea: artists are not destined to be poor. Yep that's right you can make a good living selling your art.

If you're an artist, you can actually make money from your art, feel good about it, and build up a following to support your independent career. I often wonder how so many artists know so little about how the art business works and what they have to do to sell art.

The main reason you go to art school is to learn to make art that's good enough to sell . But those art school forget to teach you about how to build a business.

Most artists fail NOT because they lack talent but because they have not been trained to represent themselves, to build a customer base, and to actually sell their great artwork. Art schools do not teach the business of being an artist.I know I went to one of those great art schools where the subject of how to get started in the business was never mentioned.

Your day-by-day accomplishments are what advance you in your art career. Art 

school give you some basics but you are on your own from there. If you are one of the lucky ones yo leave art school with a portfolio. I mean at least 20 paintings framed and ready to show to the world. If you don't have that get moving because that is step number one. I know no one told you.

But in the real world, we all have food to buy, rent/mortgages and bills to pay 

And then there’s the cost of the materials we need to buy in order to actually create art in the first place.If we want to make a career out of our art, we need to know that we can make money from it – enough money to pay for all our essentials, and preferably have some left over for savings and the odd luxury purchase.

One of the best ways to know how many pieces of art you are going to need to make a living each year is figure all your expenses, car payment, rent, lights,heat,luxury items like food, insurance, supplies and materials. Now that you have that figure; OMG Yikes, it is bigger then you thought!

What is the sale price of your average work? Haven't sold anything yet? How many paintings can you make in a year working full time? Take this number and divide it into you cost. Can you sell your work at that price? Can you produce that much work?

Here is an example: Lets say my average paintings selling price is $300.00 because I am developing a client base. My bare bones living on Ramen Noodles and tea expenses are $30,000.00 ( I wanted to make the math easy after all I'm an artist not a math major ) So you know you have to paint and sell 100 paintings. Painting 100 paintings in a year is very doable. That is only 2 a week. But the catch is you have to sell all of the paintings not as easy.  But you are getting the idea. So record keeping becomes very important at this point. What you sell, how much it sold for,who was the buyer and so on.

How are you going to sell your work? Do you have a plan? I would sell in as many places as you can find to start out. Then eliminate the ones where you are not getting any sales.

Do not forget on line marketing.

Create a blog or website to promote your work.

 If you are starting up and don't have a lot of money for a web site yet don't worry but do start a blog. The first thing I recommend is thinking ahead on what your business name is going to be. Joe Blow, Joe Blow Fine Art, Think about this visit other blogs and web site that you like and see what these artist are doing, how their blogs are set up, what is the their web site URL? 
The thing most people don't understand about a blog is that you must do it all the time each day or at least 2 times a week. If you are going to sell from it post daily, even if it is just to show what your working on. It will keep you focused and help you to talk about your art and why you paint the way you do.

When you have decided on an URL name ,even if you are not ready to set up your website yet buy your domain name and make sure it ends in a dot com not dot net or dot org. A domain registrations will cost any where from 15.00 to 40.00 some place to look are Go Daddy, and Domain.com . Now you have your URL you can start using that name in all of your marketing materials.

 Now you need to keep potential buyers informed about art events you are attending, and the latest pieces you are working on so you will want to drive internet traffic to where you sell your art on line; even if all of your paintings are in a gallery display them and new work on your blog and website and direct the buyer to the galleries website to buy, this is just good marketing. 

Oh yes regardless of where you sell you art you will need a camera and you must be able to take good photos and edit you photos. You can keep them on zip drives or on off site storage so as not to use up all your computer memory. I use SmugMug for my photo storage  There are many online place available and some are free. The advantage is yo can show someone a painting at any time from any where and they are safe from computer crashes.

You can drive traffic to where you sell your art online by:

* using a blog specifically for sales - this can link to where you have the artwork set up for auction and/or have an ecommerce set up for doing business online. I use my daily painting blog for most of this Painting of the Day

* using a blog to generally promote yourself as an artist, I do this with my Art by Delilah blog where I give tips and how to videos.

* use social networking sites/services (eg Facebook/Twitter) to promote relationships with potential buyers.

*Send a News Letter

Create a database of the people you know to use as a mailing list. Send newsletters about your latest work, and your upcoming. I try to get this out once a month.

Another basic that you should create and update frequently is a Marketing Package:

* Biography

*Resume

* Cd of latest work and Jpegs of works in files on your computer ready to go if some request them.

* Business cards and stationary

*Press clippings

*Portfolio of work, framed and ready to go at least 20 to start.

Okay  now it's time to focus and get going. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email and I will do my best to answer them for you.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.com

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The Man in the Mirror Rembrant

I have not done a self portrait in quite awhile after watching this video I know it's time to do another one. I think one of the interesting things about Rembrandt's self portraits is the fact that his palette seem unchanged.

• Lead white
• Ochres
• Bone black
• Vermillion
• Siennas
• Raw umber
• Burnt umber
• Cassel earth

A modern version of Rembrandt’s palette should include yellow ocher, burnt sienna, burnt umber, white, black, and cadmium red deep.  Rembrandt was known for his complex mixtures rather than raw color 

Rembrandt created his distinctive portraits with a small palette of colors dominated by
dark earth tones and golden highlights and using a particularly thick consistency of oil colors and applying several layers of paint to the canvas. Over the years, the artist’s use of impasto in the light areas grew heavier and heavier, while the shadows became increasingly transparent.

Rembrandt was considered a master of chiaroscuro, an Italian term for a style using strong lights and heavy shadows to create depth in a painting and a center of interest. Rembrandt used it to emphasize the faces and hands in his portraits; their setting was less important.

Here are some steps to follow for a Rembrandt style portrait:

• Sketch the portrait on the canvas
• Block in the transparent shadows with a thin-mix (the only time ‘thin’ is used)
• Lightly brush warm brown hues of oil paint upon the canvas
• Apply skin tone
• Mix black and white into cool gray for mid-tones, between light and shadow
• Working fast, build-up contrast between heavy opaque lights and thin transparent shadows
• Start blending when paint becomes tacky and hard to move
• Allow the canvas to dry thoroughly
• For the second sitting, glaze the entire surface of the canvas with black
• Carefully remove paint from light areas using only a piece of cloth
• Use heavy impasto in the light areas but retain some of the glaze, creating a three-dimensional look and appearance

So show me your self portraits and I will post links to your blogs for other to view them. Paint on friends.


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