My entire family was in Northern California last weekend for my nephew's wedding. We had a fabulous weekend and somehow I managed to mix some business with pleasure. I know, you are not surprised.

Many of you know I have been reaching out to interior designers (via a very fun email campaign) and sharing my abstract work. The response has been amazing. In less than two months I have sold four large abstract paintings, completed a 4' x 6' abstract commission and I will soon begin a large 48" x 48" oil painting commission. And all of this resulted from my sales campaign.

A few weeks ago I emailed interior designers in Northern California and mentioned I would be available to meet with them while I was in the Bay Area. I scheduled five appointments on Monday and they were so much fun! Everyone was incredibly nice and they reacted to my art in a very positive way. I am thrilled to be able to meet so many talented designers in person and I am really excited about the opportunity to work with all of them. I have already decided I will be heading back up there in a few weeks for more appointments.

To be truthful, it wasn't all easy. I drove all around Northern California from Novato to Lafayette to Danville to Menlo Park to San Jose. If it wasn't for my navigation app Waze I never would have made my appointments on time! I also twisted my ankle while coming down some steps and had to fake it that nothing was wrong for the entire day. And the day ended with a very long drive (as in six hours) down the 5 freeway to Los Angeles and my home. ugh. But it was so worth it!

Having a sales campaign is very important in any business. Even when you are an artist!

One of the most important things about teaching is promoting your workshops. How do you promote or market your workshops?

• Promote, promote, promote – everywhere! On your website, blog, Facebook, instagram, twitter, pinterest, etc.
• List your workshops on www.artshow.com. There is a small fee but it's worth it.
• Dedicate a section on your website with everything any potential student would need to know, including a way to sign up for your workshops with a buy now button.
• Print promotional pieces, and leave at galleries, high schools art classes, art supply stores, etc.
• Contact your local newspaper and ask them to do a story about your workshops. You might need to “spin it” to make it interesting.
• Offer a free workshop as a prize to others who help promote your workshop.

Try these ideas and you will be successful promoting your workshops. Have fun!

How can you be different?
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It's important to determine ways your workshops can stand out. Don't get caught up in the same old thing that every other artist is doing. There are hundreds of very good painting workshops offered every month so be sure to ask your self "Why would someone take my workshop?". 

• Just be different. I offer a home cooked meal at my home. Crazy? No! I love it. If you are worried about expense, you can always add $25 to the cost to cover the groceries. Or you can just take everyone out to dinner. Extra time with your students outside of the classroom makes a huge difference.
• Understand the types of workshops that are out there. Painting techniques, color, values, plein air, specified subject matter (such as portraits, landscape, still life, daily painting, etc.) are available everywhere. Why not come up with something that isn't being taught by every other artist?
• Don’t just teach the same way everybody else does. Try different things, include fun exercises (as long as they reinforce what you are teaching) and push the envelope.

​So you decide you want to teach, where do you start?

• Do your homework. Analyze your own personal workshop experiences. What did you like? What didn’t you like? How can you structure your workshop to overcome some of these issues?
• Plan ahead. Outline your workshop listing what you want to accomplish day to day. Plan out everything.
• Practice – invite some art friends over and host a free workshop for them. Get their input and honest feedback.
• Get organized – as you are going through this experience start making check lists so you don’t have to re-invent the wheel for every workshop.
• Understand the business side of teaching:
  • Location – where will it be held (in your studio, at a gallery or art center/school, plein air (weather backup), does it have everything you need (parking, light, A/C, bathrooms, running water, trash disposal))
  • Cost – how much do you charge? You must be competetivly priced but also make it worth your time. What if only three people sign up? Will you still teach? What are you providing for the cost? Do you have paypal, ability to accept credit cards? Personal checks?
  • Supplies lists – do your homework and understand what other artists have on their supply lists. Don’t forget things like boxes/wet panel carriers to travel home with wet paintings, paper towels, etc.  What supplies do you need (water, coffee, trash bags, music, tape, photos to paint from, etc.)
  • Cancellation policy – what happens if and when someone cancels? What happens if you cancel? A policy is a must. Yo are running a business so you have to make sure your attendees understand that canceling at the last minute affects you so you need a clear and well publicized cancellation policy. 

​I will have a few more tips tomorrow ...

How do you know when you are ready to teach?

Remember the golden rule about teaching … not all great artists are great teachers.  Before you take the plunge ask yourself, why do you want to teach?

What are the reasons to teach?

• share what you know
• make additional income
• get inspired by your students and learn
• push yourself out of your comfort zone

There are lots of different types of teaching opportunities for artists so make sure you understand your skills vs. your potential students

• understand who your audience should be (beginners, artists, students)
• don’t get in too deep – understand what your knowledge is and don’t over promise what you will be teaching
• fill a niche in your community – teach kids, local artists, senior citizens
• teach locally - start small and work your way up
• Ease in to teaching with open studio once a week (offer instruction and help) while artists work on their own projects.
• start by volunteering at school
• teach weekly classes (one night a week)
• graduate to multi-day workshops
• apprentice with another artist
• team teach with another artist

On my next blog post I will let you know how to start if you are ready to teach.

I know what you are thinking. What in the heck is "Edit Day"?

Let's start first by answering the question, "What does it mean to edit your work"?

It means everything from organizing and cataloging your paintings, to reducing the ones on your website, to ridding yourself or the web of the ones you don't want to represent you.

But there are also more ways you can edit your art business. You can edit … in the studio, on your website and your online social media presence.

So spend today editing. Go through your website and take off the paintings that shouldn't be on your website. Update your "event" page with what's been happening in your art career. Write a new blog post. Go in your studio and move some of those older paintings to somewhere where you aren;t looking at them everyday. Then go on to social media and edit some of your posts. If you see something on Facebook or Instagram that you wish you hadn't posted, just delete it. 

​I promise you will feel better after an "edit day". 

Yesterday I shared five things you can do to stay positive about your art. Here are a few more!

1. Remember that your art work is NOT made to please people. It's made to please yourself. This is why you became an artist right?
2. If you are mad, frustrated or discouraged, your artwork is going to show it. Don't let that stop you! Use your emotions to your advantage, you'll be surprised at how good you'll feel which gives you a positive outlook on everything.
3. Try different things. If you paint landscapes, then try painting abstract instead. If you mostly paint still life, try painting figures.
4. Take a short break from art. Step back and breathe. You are a good artist, maybe you need a vacation.
5. Slow periods happen in just about every business, and they will happen to you, too.
6. Rather than panicking, slashing prices of your art, or wondering why you ever thought you could be an artist in the first place, stay focused on constructive things that you can afford to do while you have available time.
7. If you’re just starting out, you might be experiencing the first evidence of the sale cycles in your art business. There is a busy season for buying, and sometimes you can go into a temporary slump during a usually busy time.
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Stay positive. Don't discount the fact that being an artist requires a lot of hard work and dedication. Just don't ever forget how lucky you are to be an artist.

It is critical to keep your attitude positive about your art.

When you’re down, you’re more likely to find reasons not to do the important things, things that help your art business. Things like meeting deadlines, responding to emails and reaching our to potential clients. Why? When you’re feeling down, your ability to handle rejection tends to be low as well. Unfortunately, if you allow your spirits to sink, your performance will, too.

​When things are going great, it’s easy to be positive. It's easy to get in to the studio to create more art and you won't have any problems reaching out to clients.

So what can you do when art sales are slow, or when your art business is not shaping into the way that you envisioned it? Your positive attitude is one of the most important assets you have. Today I will share five things you can do to stay positive about your art.

1. Make a list of all of the positives about your art - Take inventory of all the good things that have happened in the past few months. Walk around your studio and look at the beautiful art you have created. Visit your website and notice every “red dot” on your sold page. Write down the challenges you have overcome, and all the successes that you’ve had (even the smallest ones) — and really appreciate them. Give yourself credit!
2. Concentrate on the opportunities you still have - So often, we expend all of our energy on negative things that happen. Focusing on the future will keep you from ignoring potentially great opportunities that you might have missed while feeling sorry for yourself.
3. Surround yourself with positive people - I am sure you have art friends, so try to support one another in times of despair. Offer positive advice and encouragement — but, most of all, learn to accept it when it’s given to you.
4. Picture yourself succeeding again, and your chances of success will increase dramatically. Get into the habit of visualizing your success. Never underestimate the power of creative visualization. Use your imagination to visualize new and better ways to accomplish things.
5. Don’t give up.  Even the most successful entrepreneurs have experienced setbacks, so you’re not the only one. Have the courage to go on.

​Tomorrow I will have a few more ideas to share.

I have been teaching online classes for almost two years. Every month I release another new class. Currently half of my classes feature traditional palette knife oil painting while the other half are abstract acrylic paintings. The classes consist of about 10 - 18 videos and are very thorough. Plus, they are very inexpensive. Each class costs only $35.00.

Taking online classes are a great way to "experience a workshop" without having to leave your home. The cost savings are huge (gas, car rental, airline tickets and hotel accommodations) and the convenience is great too. 

Whether you are teaching oil painting classes or a beginning student, on-line classes are a great cost-effective saving tool to make workshops more affordable. Be sure and find some online!

​The June 2016 class focuses on "painting texture". The painting is pictured here. For more information on my online classes, click here.

All artists have older art laying around. And just because it's older doesn't mean it isn't good. In fact, sometimes it is really good art. 
I think we should look at art just like we do wine. It gets better with age. As much as we would like to think every painting we paint is better than the last one, it's just not true. So stop thinking that your all of your older art isn't good. It's great. My guess is you have quite a few gems laying around. So go find them and put them in a prominent location in your studio.
So what should we do with older art? 
​It's simple. Promote and market it just as hard as you promote your new art. Don't discriminate against your older paintings. Make sure they are on the top of your marketing list.
The painting pictured above is one I painted four years ago. It's one of my favorites!