Whats in a name

flower garden

oil

"What's in a name"? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell so sweet. Oh, Juliet if it were only true.

When it comes to E commerce domain names are the key to Branding. When choosing your domain name or blog title there are two things to consider:
1. the human concern and
2. the search engine.
The artistic choice and the practical choice.

Your name should be memorable and easy to spell.
The shorter the better and it should be something everyone know how to spell.
The K.I.S.S. principal applies here.
You should always go for a domain name that ends in .com. I don't know how many times I have gone crazy trying to find a website for a show and not been able to locate it because it was .org.
If your artist name is taken which is always a good choice look at combinations of words that make a mental map for the patron and is easy to remember and spell.

For search engines, key words are important. Meta tags that match your domain name just add to higher ranking.

How to find keywords that you might add to your domain name? Google offer 2 free key word ranker's.Google Key Word tool. Google Analytics. There are many more out there that you can pay for but start with the free stuff first. Just remember keep it short and memorable.

Keyword rich domain and blog titles win with search engines.

Sticking with your own name is a great way to brand your self, if it is available,and if it is easy to spell and is memorable. If is not ;then think of a way to shorten it or add a key word.

So Juliet there is a lot more in a name today, but I will keep smelling the roses.


This weeks Aceo's are available at my ebay store.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Is it Possible

All you need to know is that it’s possible.

"Problems are an important part of maturing--meet them straight on. Work them out. It's like the chick in the egg. It has to break through the eggshell on its own. That's how it gains its first strength. If you break the shell for the chick, you end up with a puny little runt." Mark Tobey to Wesley Wehr)

Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing.

If you have ideas, but don't act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.


What's possible. Once you start to think about it don't dismiss it. Somewhere in the world, someone is doing something that you decided couldn't be done. By calling your bluff and by pointing out the possibilities,they are doing the things that will change everything. It raises the bar and eliminates any comfort of hiding in your own fears, you can embrace the challenge and take a chance to stretch your creative muscle.

Become a dedicated self-starter and persistent worker, get your mind around the problem and know it is possible.

This weeks Aceos are available at my Ebay store:




." POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

An Occupation known as Painting.

"There is an occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist." (Cennino Cennini 1370-1440)

I love the idea of looking into the sahdows of things to find the hidden nature.

Nudes with Flutes, abstract music

About This Painting:
Nudes with Flutes
16x12 oil painting on stretched canvas

Media: oil painting
Size: 12 in X 16 in (30.5 cm X 40.6 cm)

How to Purchase:
click here to bid on this painting

Or, send me an email

This week I painted some watercolor aceos:

These are just fun little works to get the juice going. They are available at my ebay store






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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

How Creative are you

Creativity is a learned behavior.How you approach things, how you act or react to new circumstances, the way you look at things , your willingness to question, experiment, and take chances. Highly Creative People have many things in common:

1. Have the COURAGE to try new things and risk failure

2. Use INTUITION as well as logic to make decisions and produce ideas.

3 Like to PLAY

4.Are EXPRESSIVE and willing to share what they feel and think, to be themselves.

5. Research and critical thinking are key tools for the creative person.

6.Are MOTIVATED BY A TASK rather than by external rewards

7.Have a need to FIND SOLUTIONS to challenging problems

8.Will CHALLENGE ASSUMPTIONS and ask hard questions to discover what is real.

9.Can MAKE CONNECTIONS between old ideas to produce new insights.

10.Will PUSH THE ENVELOPE and Are willing to TEST new ideas and compete with others based on results.

I remember the first date I went on with my Husband, he ask me if I had ever went sky diving ? I said , No why do yo ask? He looked at me and said, you seem like a risk taker.

Well, he was right I am a risk taker.
One particularly common trait of creative people is enthusiasm. The phrases "driving absorption," "high commitment," "passionate interest," and "unwilling to give up" describe most creative people. The high energy also appears in adventurous and thrill-seeking activities.

Don't some of your most creative colleagues ride motorcycles, fly airplanes, sky dive, climb cliffs, or downhill ski?

For more information on being a creative blogger visit Copyblogger.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Sterner Stuff to be a painter

"Ambition is made of sterner stuff." (William Shakespeare)

I am an ambitious artist. Artist today are afraid to say they are ambitious, that they have aggressive goals, that there ego are are large and need to be feed with rich ideas. Aggressive ambition is okay it makes for long hours of painting and longer hours of marketing, having said that, only the strong will survive to paint another day. You must keep your painting muscle strong and wield that brush with force. Paint on my friend be made of that sterner stuff.


" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

With a little help from my friends

To run a marathon, you must put in the time and miles of training. I am a runner and I have started training but always quite before I am at the marathon ready stage. My brother started runner after me but he has been training all winter to run his first marathon even after knee surgery he is still out there getting ready for the run. This last Saturday it was 35 and raining here, he still went out and ran 18 miles because that was his training schedule this week.

To build an art career you must master the skills, take the risks, put in the hours, invest your savings and do the things that are required. Wishing and hoping, dreaming and talking "a good game" won't get it done.

Ultimately, you must do the work. You are the only one who can do it and that requires clear and compelling REASONS to get up every morning and pursue your destiny. People ask me how can you paint everyday? Don't you get burnt out? How can you think of something to paint? Painting is the easy part. Marketing, not giving up after rejection, finding that extra hour to push on those are the hard parts.

But as one of my favorite line With a little help from my friends" , I'll get there.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Weekly Aceos

I have been like a rat on a tread mill this week with art show open,new galleries,and commission that I am working on. My focus has been all over the board.

Then the cherry on my week was to realize that I may have left a very important box in Florida, so to make an impossible month even worse I may have to fly back to Fl to pick it up. If it is even there.

Back to brighter subject: this weeks aceo's which I forgot to post.

This weeks aceo are available at my ebay store.

About ACEO Cards:
ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". These cards have one main rule - they are 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches - the size of a trading card. The reason for this is that Art Cards are made to be traded! Art cards are normally available at low prices so that they're available to anyone. Artists from all over the world are creating, and now selling these highly collectable art cards in many different mediums. Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic, Colored Pencil, Pastels, Petrography, Pen and Ink, Sketching, Collage - the sky is the limit. Abstract, Surrealism, Outsider Art, Impressionism, Expressionism -every style you can think of - and then some! Extremely collectable Pocket Art, you can't stop at just one! They can be displayed as artworks - hung in decorative frames either individually or in groups. It is signed and dated on the back.

Next week I think I will try something different and do watercolor Aceos.

Exhibition at the Duderstadt

The Gallery Opening for Traveling Balance Exhibition was last night. The Exhibition will be at the The Duderstadt Center at the University of Ann Arbor from May 7- 31 2010.

Here is one of my paintings with my partners mobile casting wonderful shadows as it spins.

Each Artist was paired with another.

The first painting was up to each artist. The next was a response to their partners work. The Theme was Balance.

Balance means different things to different people so it was a very interesting exhibition to view and an even more challenge one to be apart of as an artist.



Several of the artist did installations which were very exciting to view and bet will be a challenge to travel to each of the galleries.

As a viewer I don't think many people realize the works that goes into setting up an exhibition, having an opening, manning it during opening hours then moving it to the next gallery. I know I never did.

There were both 2D and 3 D work.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

A Painters Journey

I am basically an oil painter but watercolors pop up every now and then. I travel a fair amount of the time and if I am flying watercolors in dry form can go on the plane where oil paints are now a problem and with all the airline charging so much for extra luggage watercolor are just the simple solution. I like to keep life simple.

I am mesmerised by the juicy rich color of oil paints. When I was a child and I say them for the first time I was in love with the forbidden paint because as a child I was only allowed to touch watercolors. The first leap in my artistic journey was easy it would be oil paints.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

The Collaborative Game

Happy May
I hope this note finds you well,enjoying the spring time and avoiding the disruptions caused by various volcanoes.

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Delilah Smith
Art by Delilah



The Collaborative Game


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Art Exhibit: Balance: An Artists' Collaborative Game, Organized by Women's

Michigan Artists Collaborate to find "Balance"

The Women's Caucus for Art-Michigan has brought together artists from across the state to participate in Balance: An Artists' Collaborative Game. Thirty-six women artists have been paired with each other to create three original works each, based on the theme of "Balance".

Through "Call and Response" exchanges, the process of collaboration has been recorded through images and insights, and will culminate in an exhibit that will travel to four galleries throughout the state of Michigan between May 7 and December 1, 2010.

This ambitious project began in January when participating artists were matched to create eighteen collaborative "teams". The teams combined older, established artists with younger, emerging ones, painters with mixed-media sculptors, West Michigan artists with Detroit artists. The result has been both exciting and challenging as participants have stretched their imaginations and repertories to respond to their partners' images. Meanwhile, new artist networks have blossomed as a thought-provoking, stimulating body of work has emerged.

The theme of "balance" sparked a myriad of interpretations touching on subjects as varied as domestic life, the environment, politics and religion. Works evoke both humor and melancholy, and range from abstract to representational, and from painting to installations

Viewers around the state will have several opportunities to see the work in a variety of settings. The premier venue for this exhibit will be The Gallery in the Duderstadt Center, University of Michigan. The show runs May 7-31. All are invited to the Opening Reception, May 7, at the Gallery, from 6-8pm.

From there the exhibit travels to River's Edge Gallery in Wyandotte, Michigan, September 3-26, Closing Reception, September 25, 60in.


The River's Edge site will also include a Gallery Talk featuring Participating Artists, on Saturday, September 11 at 2:00pm.

Next, works continue on to Finlandia Reflection Gallery at Finlandia University, Hancock, Michigan ,October 4-31, Opening Reception, October 7, 120in.

Finally, the exhibit will be hosted by The Holland Area Arts Council, November 11-December 1, Opening Reception, November 11, 6-7:30pm

Please join the celebration as WCA-MI kicks off this extraordinary exhibit tour at the

Gallery in the Duderstadt Center, May 7, 201

.
World Balance
8x10 oil

Sea Wind Sky Land.

30x40 oil


Womenʼs Caucus for Art , Michigan Chapter presents
Balance: An Artist's Collaborative Game
Exhibit Schedule
The Gallery in the Duderstadt Center,
University of Michigan
2281 Bonisteel Blvd., North Campus, Ann Arbor, MI
May 7-31, 2010
Opening Reception May 7, 6-8pm
Riverʼs Edge Gallery, Wyandotte, MI
September 3-26, 2010
Closing Reception September 25, 6-10pm
Balance: An Artistsʼ Collaborative Game, Gallery Talk by Participating Artists
Saturday, September 11, 2:00pm
The Reflection Gallery, Finlandia University
Hancock, MI
October 4-31, 2010
Opening Reception October 7, 12-1pm
Holland Area Arts Council
Holland, MI
November 11-December 1, 2010
Opening Reception November 11, 6-7:30
Thank You and I hope to see you .

Literacyhead is making waves

Looking at the Red Hat

About This Painting:
Looking at the Red Hat
8x6
oil on canvas mounted on hardboard

Media: oil
Size: 6 in X 8 in (15.2 cm X 20.3 cm)
Price: $100 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

I am thrilled to announce that my painting "Looking at the Red Hat" is being used in the Memoir Issue of Literacyhead. The image is used in a vocabulary section hats that pairs artwork with terms taken from children's text to help ilustrate the meaning. The text that they are using is the Wilfrid Gordon oDonald Partridge by Mem Fox.Pass along the site to teachers and friends.

This weeks aceos can be purchased at my ebay store.





" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at delilah@artbydelilah.comHome Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Are you the next daily Painter

As you know I am a daily painter . My daily painters gallery can be visited at Daily Painters. If you have been painting for a while and are up the painting a small painting daily maybe this group is for you.

Are You A Daily Painter?

We're looking for the next Daily painter . . . Will it be you?

Win one year of free membership to DailyPainters.com, and $500 from Blick Art Materials!

Visit our contest page to learn more

This weeks aceo can be purchased at my Ebay store.Delilahs Art





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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Push the limits

Vegetables, contemporary painting

About This Painting:
Vegetables
oil painting on gallery wrapped stretched canvas with painted sides.

A09-945

Media: oil
Size: 10 in X 10 in (25.4 cm X 25.4 cm)
Price: $200 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $200 USD plus $15 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

Whatever you do with your life, be sure to stretch your wings. Regularly, go “too far.” Live until you die. Try stuff. Push the limits, take risks, express your opinions and show the world your true colors. The world is not hungering for “average” or “safe!” We need all the greatness we can get! Show us what you can do.

To see my small day painting visit my daily painting blog.

This weeks Aceo are available at my Ebay Store.



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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Happy Easter

I hope you have had a wonderful Easter today
I have enjoyed my day. It was a wonderful warm spring day. I had a delicious chocolate Bunnie in my Easter basket. He was quite tasty, I thought I would share it with you.

This weeks aceos.
these aceos are available in my ebay store.

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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Spring at last

It's spring! Time for a little studio cleaning and tossing. Spring is a great motivational time with the world turning it's bright yellow green and flowers adding to the color mix. That's what I love about spring, the new beginning, a time of awakening.

It is time to make my spring goals. What I would like to accomplish in the next three months. Sometimes it is easier to make three month goals and not try to tackle the whole year in one bite. Now is the time to stop procrastinating and take action.

A personal goal for me is to start running again, I have stopped during the winter and starting is painful. The first few weeks everything aches as I push myself to get back into physical shape.

Sometimes starting is the hardest part. As I get back into shape my mind gets new energy better ideas. I get wonderful painting ideas as I run and I see the world in a whole new way. You miss so much when you just drive through life.

Another personal goal is to start to journal again, to write down my ideas. I was doing journal daily but I have stopped and I can feel the difference. Journaling helps me to clear my mind early in the morning so I am free to create the rest of the day. It gives me place to put down ideas that I can visit again and maybe work into a series of paintings.

I also want to start a sketch journal. I take a sketch book with me when I travel but I have never done a long term project of a sketch journal with notes on a daily bases.

Two old things to reinvent and a new project along with other more serious goals, that should be enough to keep me hopping for three months.

Blue Vase with Flowers

About This Painting: This painting and more are available at Daily Painters.
Blue Vase with Flowers
B010-1302
8x6 oil on canvas mounted on hardboard



Media: oil
Size: 6 in X 8 in (15.2 cm X 20.3 cm)
Price: $100 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $100 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

This weeks aceos are available at my ebay store.

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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Is it Taboo to Use White and Black in Watercolor

Is the use of Black and White paint in watercolor something you should avoid? I have seen marvelous paintings done in watercolor where the artist has used both black and white.

Keep in mind that you can mix a wonderful shade of black by blending red and green pigment so most watercolorists don't even keep a tube of black watercolor.

Keep in mind if you do use black and white paint that some exhibitions will only accept only pure transparent watercolor.

This weeks small aceo paintings are available at my ebay store.











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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

The Business of Making Art

Artist often forget that art is a business. Making great art is the first step in your artistic business development. Your business starts out as a one man show ,so you must show up each day and be at the top of your artistic game

If you are going to succeed and prosper in a business where so many others fail , making a good living with your talent is your goal then you must also develop your artist marking skills. Do you have a marketing plan? Are you using it daily? How much time do you set aside each week to increase your marketing skills?

No one know your business better than you do. You are the best person to market your art so now is the time to learn.

The year is almost 1/3 over, it is time to review your annual goals. Winners value the power of planning and persistence. Many artist are not natural planners and organizers. These are skills that can be developed over time. The devil is in the details so get those details down and start today to plan. What has been successful for you over the past three months? Can you build on this? A larger body of work? More collectors? Decide what will be your path for the next three months. What will you do to reach those goals? What is your three month marketing plan? Plan, Organize,and create the best art you can.

Morning Outing

About This Painting:
Morning Outing
8x10
oil on stretched canvas

Media: oil
Size: 10 in X 8 in (25.4 cm X 20.3 cm)
Price: $150 USD

How to Purchase:

Buy this painting on PayPal
Price: $150 USD plus $10 USD s/h
Or, send me an email

This weeks aceos have an Irish Theme for St. Patrich's Day.

This weeks aceos will be available at my ebay store.


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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Artist are Collectors also.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times article

The artist Jeff Koons in his Upper East Side home, which houses examples of his own collecting efforts.

JEFF KOONS, at 55, is one of the world’s most famous living artists. And every night before drifting off to sleep in his home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, he is able to survey the salmon-pink walls of his bedroom and commune with a small pantheon of the most famous artists of centuries past.

click here..To read the rest of this article from the New York Times

I have started my own collection of artist that I love. Now is a wonderful time to begin a collection. I try to buy at least one a month a modest start but it fits my budget.

I only buy original and I only buy what I like. I suggest you purchase artwork you love because you will love it even more as time goes by?

This weeks Aceos available at my ebay store.

" POST YOUR OPINIONS IN THE COMMENTS" or email me at



delilah@artbydelilah.com

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Paintings from December and January

Here are some of the Paintings that I did in December and January of this year.


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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com

Balance: An Artist Collaborative Game

This is the first painting in a series of collaborative paintings that I am doing.This is a project of the Women's art caucus of Michigan. The rules are Do a painting based on the Balance: An Artist Collaborative game. You are paired with another artist after one month you exchange paintings with your partner.
The next painting is your response to your piece number 1. The third painting is the response to the partners # 2 painting.

Here is the start.
A little more work.

The finished painting. 36x18 Balance in the Ocean

This weeks Aceo have a Tropical Theme, they will be available at my Ebay store.





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

Home Page Art by Delilah = http://www.artbydelilah.com