How To Display Artworks | Paintings?

 

Art! It brings an element of vibrancy into your home or office. Choice of art often reflects your Aesthetics. 

Your choice of art often reflects your own personality, your tastes, your aspirations… little wonder then that not only the choice of art, but also its display requires a lot of thought. 

Articles For Paintings 

  

Placement: Where you place the painting depends on the subject and composition of the work and which room you determine would suit the mood of the painting best. However, that is not the only consideration; one even needs to consider which wall the painting is placed on. It is always advisable to place paintings on a wall that is a dividing wall within your home rather than on the perimeter. The simple reason is that the perimeter walls are more subject to temperature fluctuations and also the possibility of water seepage. These could result in fading of pigments, cracks forming in the canvas and increased yellowing of the varnish. If you would still need to display the painting on the perimeter wall then it would be prudent to place rubber or plastic behind the frame so that the work is not in direct contact with the wall. 
Displaying a painting above fireplace will expose it to extremes in temperature and soot and is a strict no, no. The same applies to having the painting above heating and air conditioning vents. Avoid areas of high humidity like the bathroom. The kitchen is another room which should not host artworks, the steam and fumes of cooking are bound to ruin the colors over time. 

Framing: The choice of frame can detract or enhance the painting. It is essential that the frame should compliment not just the painting but also the décor of the room where it is placed. Normally smaller paintings need to be displayed with a mount. If you have a large wall, a museum style framing would help cover a larger area. A dark frame is normally advised for smaller works which help to bring the artwork into focus. For larger canvas works, keeping them on the stretcher would suffice, but they need to be checked regularly for signs of moisture or dust. 
Visit Artzyme.com, India's fastest growing original Painting portal where you will find framed as well as unframed options. 

  

Lighting: It's a known fact that direct lighting can harm the paintings and cause the colours to fade. While the commonly used 'picture' lamps are popular, they cast a harsh glare which heats the painting unevenly. It is always best to have an indirect light source highlight the artworks, in the form of recessed lighting or spotlights in false ceilings. While using halogen lamps be aware that these emit a high level of ultraviolet light which damages artworks and hence should be installed with a UV filter. If the option is available, use tungsten lamps instead. 

You may select exclusive range of Paintings by Eminent as well as Emerging artist on different mediums (viz. Acrylic, Oil, Watercolor, Mixed media etc.) on Artzyme.com. Abstracts, Contemporary, Landscapes, Figurative, Traditional Paintings like Tanjore, Warli, Miniature etc. on Artzyme.com. 

                          

                                                                                     - Himjal (founder of Artzyme) 

Live a Living out of Passion

 

Do you want to follow your passion for arts? 

Jut follow and live your passion the way I did while starting Artzyme  

We believe that each one of us have an inborn talent, talent to sing, draw, paint, cook, write, and the list goes on. Some talents lay hidden with in us the entire life as we chose to ignore them or never get no opportunity, avenue to showcase or even explore the same. Some of us make it a conscious decision to make our talent our livelihood and some of us just a hobby. Then there comes those moments in our lives where we want to give up our existing jobs/ source of income to pursue our talents as we want to excel in our talent too. The question that arises in most of our minds is that do we actually run for our talents or is it the right time to pursue the same. 

Below are Some tips or points that will help one take a decision on the same: 

 

Ability:- The first and foremost decision to make is my skill, talent really worth or will I will be able to make a living out of it. In Order to succeed as an artist do you have that some level of artistic ability. 

That's not to say that you need to be a master painter with a fine art degree. In fact you don't really need any formal qualifications to make a living as an artist. But you do need enough skill to produce consistently high quality work, and to have the confidence in your own work to be able to sell it. 

If you don't feel like you're at that level yet, then you may need to get some more training. 

Today, there are many online courses, short term courses available in classical drawing and arts, to give your talent the finesse and professional touch that it requires to get you success. 

One important thing to note, is that just because you are still learning, that doesn't mean that you can't be earning at the same time. An artist never stops learning. You will never reach a point where you have nothing left to learn, so you don't need to wait until you are an 'expert' before you can make money from your art. 

Visit Artzyme for emerging artist. 

  

So if you have the spark in you to follow your passion, don't get down bogged down by what you don't have, just make that one leap, and path leads to your passion with little amount of hard work and sincere dedication. 

Age:- If someone was to ask me does age really matter to change one's profession and that too for a perusal for passion, I would say Yes if your heart so doing fine, and you have no ailments. As new venture that one starts comes with stress, time to dedicate, complete involvement, and a bigggg RISK... And for that you may want to start young, like in late 30's or early 40's.. As after this one may not be as agile to handle physical as well as mental stress. 

Finances:- How healthy is your bank balance ? Do you have enough bank balance to make it through without any income for the next one year? Is your project self funded? Or financed ? Do you have enough assets to cover up for your liabilities? These questions and many more need to be analyzed and answered before taking the Biggg Leap. One must have a consult a good financial analyst to making good conclusions and deductions and finally arrive at a decision. 

"Creativity isn't some rare gift to be enjoyed by lucky few...its part of human thinking behavior" - Tom and David Kelly of Creative Confidence. 

Information Technology (IT) and Arts - It's Pay Back Time!

Information Technology and Arts! 

Just today morning a friend of mine asked me as to what do I think about the evolution of IT in Arts (Paintings). I thought for a while on this interesting topic and here are my two cents, found them interesting… Therefore started writing. 

 

To me Information Technology is the birth child of the artistic side of the brains of a Software/ Hardware engineer. The entire IT domain thrives on the creative thinking of an engineer and support staff. Be it complex software to gaming Program, laser shows... just think about it would it ever involve if there was no creativity or element of art to it. There are many visual art, graphics, software that we use in our day to day lives without even realizing the creativity used behind them. IT would not have reached our houses if these artists did not perceive and then create end to end solutions. 

To me now it's just a pay back time of IT to the actual artists like painters, art creators, decorators who are artists by profession and have a formal education and skill in physical artistic creations. These creators have started to use technology to create better, through various visual arts software. Artists just think of an idea and use technology to give it a final outcome. Eg. a designer designing marriage invitation cards, thinks of the design he wants on the cards, the fonts he wants write up, the colour scheme, the layout and the entire pattern. He visualizes the same and uses technology to transform his thoughts in to physical form, and then uses the same technology to produce more copies of his production (hi-end printers). It has made life of a creator, developer so easy that he doesn't need to manually sit and try various permutations and combinations, just a few clicks on the keypad, and he gets exactly what he wants to create. 

Visit Artzyme. 

Artists are using IT to showcase their work, creation to the entire world through Paintings, where people virtually is it these artistic exhibitions, like the work of the artist, give their inputs through comments section and what more even buy them instantly through hi-end securitized payment gateways. It's so simple, no logistics , transportation involved until the last phase of shipment, which saves artists all his effort and time, and he is creating more while the exhibition is ON. All it required an Artists to do was click his work through high end digital camera and post his work online. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3075406/... 

Artists have come out of their nutshell of traditional way of selling only through retail shops, or through physical exhibitions. They are now moving one step ahead, like the entire world is moving, and have started selling their creations online, through various portals, like Artzyme, dedicated India's Fast growing Arts Marketplace. Again following a very simple process of clicking their work, pricing the same and listing it on the portal. Buyers window shop for their needs and if they like it they make advance payments and the seller just has to ship the products to buyers across the globe, giving him an open international market exposure. All he has to do is ship the products. What's more the payment reaches the artists sitting at home, saving him all the time and energy, and there by allowing him to focus on Creating More, and learning more, as today there is no dearth of avenues to showcase your talent. 

Technology has also enabled physically challenged artists like challenged with ability to see, disability of hands, create and bring out the hidden and unexplored talent in them. There are many software available today which helps a blind feel, recognize colors through touch of the button, and sensory motions, he exactly knows which colour to use and where and there by creates master pieces which leave many of us in a state if Aww... 

 And all this is possible by the new and better developments through the creative minds of our IT artists, who are working day in and day out to create what ART needs and uses. So to me Art Creates Art! 

- Himjal (Founder Artzyme - Creative Bazaar to enhance your Home/ Office with Paintings and Home Decor). 

Logistics Challenges in India with respect to Arts

 

Will Logistics be helpful in category of Arts? 

Arts site Artzyme banks on Logistics for frill-free deliveries.  

Logistics is the backbone of the economy, providing the efficient, cost effective flow of goods on which other commercial sectors depend. The logistics industry in India is evolving rapidly and it is the interplay of infrastructure, technology and new types of service providers that will define whether the industry is able to help its customers reduce their logistics costs and provide effective services. 

 

Despite weak economic sentiments, the logistics & warehousing industry continued to witness growth largely due to growth in retail, e-commerce and manufacturing sectors. The Global Logistics sector is expected to grow at around 10-15% in the period 2013-14. With this forward looking attitude and a promise of growth and improvements, the service oriented logistics industry is all set to expand beyond the horizons in the latter half of this decade, utilizing this fiscal year as its launch pad. Indian logistics market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.17% by 2020 driven by the growth in the manufacturing, retail, FMCG and e-commerce sectors (Artzyme.com, Flipkart, Amazon etc.). 

India spends around 14.4% of its GDP on logistics and transportation as compared to less than 8% spent by the other developing countries. 

3PL logistics market in India is expected to be worth US$ 301.89 billion by 2020. 

NOVONOUS estimates that the warehouse market in India is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10% whereas freight forwarding market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% till 2020. 

This growth rate is based on the expectation that the new government will soon implement the GST regime and the logistics companies can optimize their operations to reduce cost and increase their margins. With the implementation of GST, the logistics companies, which are currently forced to set up many small warehouses across multiple cities can set up just a few, big warehouses region wise and can follow the hub-and-spoke model for freight movement from the warehouses to the different manufacturing plants, wholesale outlets, retail outlets and the various POS. This growth is also backed by the boom in the e-commerce sector  and expansionary policies of the FMCG firms. This has increased the service geography of the logistics firms but they also have to meet the demands of quick delivery and tight service level agreements. 

The Indian logistics industry spends around 14% of the GDP on different types of cost incurred in logistics operation. The amount of cost incurred is very high in comparison to the logistics cost incurred by different nations. The logistics firms are moving from a traditional setup to the integration of IT and technology to their operations to reduce the costs incurred as well as to meet the service demands. The industry as a whole has moved from being just service provider to the position where they provide end to end supply chain solutions to their customers. 

The Ten key logistics players in Indian market namely TNT Express, DHL, All Cargo Logistics Ltd., Agarwal Packers and Movers, GATI, DTDC, BlueDart, First Flight, FedEx and Globe Express services.

{Have you visited Bazaar for Original Arts?} 

Challenges:- 

Poor Infrastructure -
One of the major critical challenges faced by companies today is of insufficient integration of transport networks, information technology (IT), warehousing and distribution facilities. 

Trade Regulations - 
Regulations exist at a number of different tiers, imposed by national, regional and local authorities. Regulations often differ from city to city, hindering the creation of national networks. 

Trained Manpower - 
Trained Manpower in both the third party logistics sector and the manufacturing and retailing sectors is very weak at a practical level, i.e., IT, driving and warehouse as well as at a higher strategic level. 

Lack of Training Institutions - 
The disorganized nature of the logistics sector in India, its perception as a manpower-heavy industry and lack of adequate training institutions has led to a shortfall in skilled management and client service personnel. 

Information and Communications Technology - 
There are a lack of IT standards and poor systems integration and equipment.

Poor Warehousing and Storage -
Poor facilities and management are to blame for high levels of loss, damage and deterioration of stock, especially in the perishables sector. Part of the problem is insufficient specialist equipment, i.e. proper refrigerated storage and containers, but it is also partly down to lack of training. 

Lack of research and development (R&D) of the industry - 
Although both the practitioners and the academicians are increasingly aware of the importance of logistics and supply chain, however the field is still under penetrated as far as research is concerned. It is important to prioritize research and development so that various weaknesses in the industry could be identified and improved. 

Solutions to overcome challenges:-

Surely some serious thinking and action is happening around for the improvement of the Indian Logistics industry. Arts category should get help from logistics.

Below links state the same 

http://www.transreporter.com/index.php?Page=2

http://www.cargotalk.in/pdfs/Cargo%20Jan%2015.pdf  

                                                                                                   - Himjal (founder Artzyme)

Right Price and Place for your Arts Creations

 

 Right Price and Place for Arty Creations  

Making your art is different from pricing art 

It's something you do with your art after it's made, when it's ready to leave your studio and get sold either by you personally or through an exhibition, at an art & craft fair, online (e.g. #Artzyme.com), at open stores, through an agent or representative, wherever. Making art creations is about the individual personal creative process, experiences that come from within; pricing art creations for sale is about what's happening on the outside, in the real world where things are bought and sold for money, and where market forces dictate in large part how much those things are worth. 

Art prices are not pulled out of thin air. When you price your art creation, you must be able to show that your prices make sense, that they're fair and justified with respect to certain art criteria such as the depth of your resume, your previous sales history and the particulars of the market where you sell.  People who know something about art and who are interested in either buying, selling or representing your work are going to figure out one way or another, not necessarily by asking you, whether your creation is worth what you're selling it for. In order to sell, you have to demonstrate and convince them that your prices are fair and reasonable. If you can't do this, you'll have a hard time selling art. 

For those of you who have little or no sales experience, who haven't sold much art, a good starting point for you is to price your work based on time, labor, and cost of materials. Pay yourself a reasonable hourly wage; add the cost of materials and make that your asking price. 

The basic pricing fundamentals: 

Define your market. Where do you sell your creation? Do you sell locally, regionally, nationally or internationally? The art, artists and prices in your market are the ones you should pay the most attention to. 

Define your type of art. What kind of art do you make? What are its physical characteristics? In what ways is it similar to other creations? How do you categorize it? If you paint landscape, for example, what kind of landscape, how would you describe them? This is the type of art that you want to generally focus on for comparison purposes. 

Determine which artists make art similar to yours either by researching online or visiting exhibitions, open studios or other venues and seeing their work in person. Pay particular attention to those artists who also have career accomplishments similar to yours, who've been making art about as long as you have, showing about as long as you have, selling about as long as you have and so on. 

  

See how much these similar artists charge for their art. Their prices will be good initial estimates of the prices you should charge for your art creations. 

No matter where you sell your creation, make sure it's priced and that people can see the prices. ALWAYS price your creation. Don't make them ask. Don't make them email. Don't make them call. Not pricing your creation and making people ask is a game. Here's how it's played... "You tell me which one you like the most. Then I try to figure out how much you like it and how badly you want it. Then I look at your shoes or your email address or your online profile or your area code, and try to figure out how much you can afford. Then I price it as high as I think I possibly can." This turns people off; they know what you're doing; they don't like to be played and they don't want to be saps. 

Pricing your creation also protects you from having to field unanticipated questions, especially if you're not comfortable talking about money. Suppose, for example, someone asks a price and you're not sure what to charge, so you start fumbling around. "Oh... that one," you say. "You like that one? Hmmm… Let me see, I haven't thought about selling that one before... I really like it though; it's one of my favorites. I would have thought you'd like this one." And on and on you go, looking bumbling and unprepared as the asker makes a beeline for the door. Also, people don't like to ask prices and then find out they can't afford the art. This is embarrassing. Let people see your prices first, think them over, decide whether they like your Rs.100000 sculpture Rs.100000 worth, decide whether they can afford it, and when they're ready, then they'll ask questions. 

  

Raise the prices of the in-demand art above those of your other art, and price earlier examples that are still in your possession higher as well, possibly even higher than those you're currently making. For example, if collectors come to prize your modern art much more than your landscapes, raise prices on all past, present and future modern art, with prices for your earlier most formative or significant works (those in the styles that are receiving the most attention) being raised the most. 

Offer art in all price ranges. People who like your work but can't afford the expensive stuff should at least have a chance to come away with something. No matter what their budgets, they're still among your biggest fans, your potential future collector base, and the people who have the highest likelihood of standing by you throughout your career. 

Getting your art out into the public whenever and wherever you have the opportunity is the best way to maximize your exposure, create goodwill and become known and established in the arts community. The more people who see your art and the more circumstances they see it in, the greater the chances good things will happen in your art career. That includes getting shows, being Online, arts publications, getting representation and last but certainly not least, making sales.  

  

Online sales of al creations' including paintings, crafts and artifacts is increasing. And with the Smartphone sales increasing significantly high, do not ignore the online option for sales. It not only will improve your Brand recall with customers, but give you better exposure globally too. Make your creation available in as many possible places as you can. Look at the sales of other categories, where we never thought online had any market, but, looking at current trend the offline sales are threatened and have lost sizeable marketshare to online players. 

Place your creations with Category focused Online marketplace portal. 

We help selling your prized creation, visit Artzyme.com. We enable artisans from urban and rural areas to showcase their creative talents to Art connoisseurs and customers. 

                                                                                                     - Himjal 

Explore, Practice & Excel as a Self-Taught Artisan

 

Excel in Arts as self-taught artist. 

Lot of new artists, or those who are trying out their artistic skills, asks for guidance. Most of them say, that they don't have any education in art (an excuse for their poor quality of work), and feel, that it's a big hindrance in their progress. They generally want to know, how to improve their work. They are just ignorant how to go about it. I understand their plight, as I myself am a self-taught artist and painting for less than one and half years. From my own experience I can clearly understand what they are going through. 

Sometimes it is really difficult to answer their queries in short. These people are usually looking for instant formulas to jump up to a master's level. But there are no short cuts to be successful in art or to improve your quality of work with the twist of a magic wand. Sometimes the questions are really silly. But I appreciate that they ask. Asking, increases knowledge. 

To help, assist aspiring artists, here with this article, I'll try to tackle the issues of improving quality of your work and progress with every new piece of art you create and overcome short-comings of not having a degree in art. 

I always tell people to make more and more art. Practice… practice and practice. This is the only way to improve your skills. But along with making more and more art and practicing, you need to study as well. As you need to paint and create with a sense of direction. 

   

Have a proper plan for your work in your head before starting off on the canvas. Though the visual, style, technique or treatment might change as the work progresses, as the brain is very imaginative and keeps working, thinking and flashing new ideas and images in front of you, and you think it will look even better. Never mind. The end result may be better than the one you had thought. Your work must have right path and progression. Learning is necessary to improve your skills and avoid incorrect practices. It's important to keep a check and correct your mistakes in time, so that they do not become habits in long run. Without proper knowledge or guidance, you will keep on repeating the same mistakes. You cannot succeed by ignoring learning and just by picking up a brush and start painting. And it can be achieved too, even if you missed going to an art college and didn't earn a degree. 

We are fortunate to be born in this era of digital media, where a whole lot of study material is available on internet. Knowledge is scattered all around us. We should simply reach out and grasp it. Read books, blogs, articles, watch instructional videos and study works of other artists. We have a whole lot of great artists and master painters, who never went to art schools and or even started painting after the age of 70 and still succeeded. (Mind it they didn't have internet or even computers). The simple formula behind their success was learning, knowledge and proper direction. 

Artzyme

It is equally important to devote sufficient time to study various aspects of painting, besides just picking up the brush and colouring the paper or canvas. Explore various possibilities of different media, tools and techniques. Study works of great artists. Know the material available in the market and how best you can bring it to your advantage. Find out things that can add a different style or effect to enhance the looks of your works. 

Experiment how your drawing or painting effects can be enhanced by preparing, modifying or changing the surface you are working on. Possibly you can add some texture to the surface- soft or wild, depending on the subject and make your work look more appealing. This you can do with texture white, crumpled paper, using cement or anything you can think of. May be or simply scratch the surface of the paper with your nails or with some pointed objects. Change the way you use your paints by diluting, thickening, throwing, splashing, spraying, and blowing and/or by adding some other medium or material, adding it texture, making it grainy, luminous, dull etc. Understand your tool. Handle it in a different way to see, if you can achieve different effects. Look around your place, for things that can be helpful for you to paint or create some new effects. Drawing and painting is not limited to pencils, brushes or spatulas. Learn about uses of various mediums like fixative, varnishes, gels, etc. for preserving and making your work archival and their effects on the paints used. Give proper thought to the presentation part. Appropriate mounting and choice of right frame can enhance the beauty of your works. 

Exploring knowledge on History of Art, origins of various schools (styles) goes a long way in enhancing your art. A tall building can only be elevated on a strong foundation. 

   

Being a self-taught artist, you have the liberty to choose to paint in the style you wish to. But you must give a direction to your style. Don't let the monotony take over single minded subject or technique. Don't enter a comfort zone. Experiment till you develop your own unique style. Over time you will discover that you are really good at some particular medium, style, and tool or technique. The tools and the material obey your mind and hands. Regular practice and command over it will make you a brand in future. Just painting, probably you will be producing more work. But by painting and simultaneously exploring knowledge, you will be producing quality work. 

- Artzyme.com/blog 

How to Sell Arts Paintings Successfully? Part III (Final)

 In the earlier 2 parts of Blog - How to Sell Arts Successfully? Artist Sonjaye Maurya shared that the emerging artist should have not just a couple of paintings and initiate selling but should paint more paintings before planning to sell them. Another important fact to be considered is to Not paint to sell but paint with all the emotions and heart out. He also suggested the artist should not only tap various offline galleries and exhibitions but also online sites. Below are the 2 links to know have detailed info of earlier parts of Blog: 

1) How to Sell Arts Successfully? Part I & 2) How to Sell Arts Successfully? Part II 

Now the concluding part: 

 Once you have a portfolio with you, plan to promote it. Set out to get your Art Seen. It helps to set goals of where you want to be in a few years’ time. It is said that a piece of art is your own voice. Do take your own liberty to express yourself. But be little considerate too, in order to make a sale of your art. This means your work should have a mass appeal - a style, a subject liked by many. Your work must have a subject, a theme, to which, people can relate themselves easily to. If you are not selling, and funds are what is needed to continually produce and promote art, some changes may have to be made. Look for general trends in the art world, and find out what people are buying and writing about. 

Write regularly, about the artworks you are working on currently. Create an Art blog and start blogging about random thoughts, processes, and works in progress. Whether it is a certain concept, subject, or theme, an art buyer will appreciate the piece more if they can know what it means, and why you created it. Have some of this conveyed through your artwork title, but try to enlighten an art buyer with a summary of what inspired you, so that they can easily explain it to others who will ask questions. Have a website to sell your artworks. It’s the most promising tool for selling in today’s digital age. If you cannot make a website on your own, spend some amount to hire help to create it for you. 

Pricing your work entirely depends on what stage you are in your art career. Add value to your work. Good presentation, framing of reasonably good size enhances your artwork. Smaller is better. 

A lot of artist (including myself) want to make big painting, sometimes of a gigantic proportion. It’s a fantasy of every artist. But you have to think of practicality too. Maybe a big size painting allows you to give ease with big brush stroke to flow or your style of giving finer details comes through better. But small size paintings are affordable. They can be easily framed and hanged anywhere. Easy to transport or ship. High end art is only for an exclusive few. 

Look at the prices of other artists in your stage of artistic development. Visit art galleries or search for prices online. Explain your prices in practical language to anyone who asks, and never base it on emotions. For example, tell them your painting took certain amount of time to create along with cost of materials involved, instead of saying you price it higher because it has personal meaning. Unless they know you, they will not understand the significance of your personal attachment to the painting. If you can convey that the artwork has a certain tangible value related to the time spent, artistic skill success, cost of materials, etc., the art buyer is more likely to buy the artwork. 

 

When a person views an artwork, they often want to buy it because they see something in it that relates to them. They have an emotional reaction to the piece, which stirs them to want to buy it. There are a lot of things that contribute to the value of an artwork. How it is presented, where it is showcased, all helps to increase the perceived value. An artwork displayed in a gallery would certainly appear more valuable than one in a coffee shop. That is not to say you should not display in a coffee shop, especially if you are an emerging artist. It is effective for name recognition. 

 

  ⮜⎯⎯⎯⎯ Tanjore Paintings 

Look for what sells. If you are residing or operating from a particular area (and not in metro or cosmopolitan cities) which has a peculiar taste, culture adopt it in your art form. Say Tanjore in south India, or use of vibrant colors in central India. 

Folk, religious and mythological subjects in north India.  

Folk Paintings  ⎯⎯⎯⎯⮞    

 

Bestselling subjects in Indian scenario are landscapes, seascapes, beach scenes, harbor, animals, birds, flowers, abstract, semi-abstract, impressionistic landscapes, modern art. 

 

 

Happy Selling....!                                    

                                                                                 - www.Artzyme.com/blog

How to Sell Arts | Painting Successfully? Part II

 
Art of selling arts. 

Arts selling blog. 

*Continued from earlier article - How to sell arts successfully? 1 

Many new artists approach me after making their first painting giving details of pains they have taken and the time they have spent on creating it.... 
 
For art buyers to reflect on your paintings have an Artist Statement. It should include primary theme of your creations, your artistic goals and ambitions, why you love to paint, draw, sculpt etc. It should also include who your viewers or audience are, who is your art intended for, some artists and styles that have influenced you. 
 
Include Artist Statement with your portfolio. If someone wants to buy your artwork, wants to see some background of you as an artist, then you may present them with your Artist Statement. You may also post it online where you have an artist profile, or on your Facebook page. 
Don’t limit yourself by following other people styles; take it as an influencing factor and rather be your own self. You are unique in your own way. Your style is your voice and is timeless. It will not dissolve or ends like a trend. But will become your recognition. 
People buy what they see. Visual connection is the key element of desire. We need to get art on display. Galleries, art fairs and online portal (like Artzyme) can’t do it alone. People should be able to see your work not only in galleries, but public places, where captive audiences gather. 

Sell your arts 
 
Probably this may not work too. But taking steps is the only path to success. Don’t give up. You’ve dedicated years, money and countless hours into developing your skill. So if you’ve been knocked down, get up and keep moving forward. Why would you give up? Why put all that time, blood, sweat and tears to waste and just throw it all away? A common reason why artists fail is that they get caught up in other aspects of their lives put their artwork on hold and, eventually, the creativity starves and dies. People, who don’t give up, no matter what life throws at them, are more likely to make a name for them in whichever creative vocation they choose. Winner are not those who never fail, but those who never quit. Harder is the conflict, more glorious the triumph. 

                               

Start networking with other artists. Exchange ideas, knowledge and information and learn from them. Knowing people is more important than achieving a college degree. Whom you know is more important in art-world. 
 
There are more possibilities than ever for emerging artists to sell arts. Just browse online (Right price and place for art creations) and you will find hundreds of ways an artist can sell art. But, even though these opportunities are available, you need to explore strategies to use them and make your art visible and saleable. 
 

Make long term plans to sell your artworks. The most important is to have a good portfolio, with a variety of themes, techniques, and styles. Your portfolio must have large enough collection that portrays you as a serious and dedicated artist. 

                         To be Continued - Concluding part in coming week.... 

                                                                                       - www.Artzyme.com/blog

Earn Now 💰 - How To Make and Sell NFT Arts

 💰 How To Make and Sell NFT Arts ? 💰 

Down below, will take you step-by-step through the process of turning your beloved artwork into a newly-minted NFT that will outlive us all on the Ethereum Blockchain. We say Ethereum because, at least for the time being, Ethereum is the prime blockchain for selling and trading NFTs. 

Step 1: Create Some Art 

  

Source: SALE ON DIGITAL ARTS DONE ON MOBILE 'TANDAV' (artzyme.com)

The first thing you’ll have to do when setting out to sell some NFT art is, well, create some art of your own. This can be almost any form of media — GIFs, illustrations, videos, 3D models and the like. A short stroll through Rarible or Foundation will give you an idea of the general Inclinations in crypto Art. Currently, there seems to A preference for either very avant-garde, experimental abstract art or meme-heavy internet culture references. Not that that should necessarily inform your work, once you’ve settled on the kind of art you’d like to upload, you’re free to move on to the next step. 

Step 2: Set Up an Ethereum Wallet 

 

There are numerous wallets out there to choose from to serve as your public address and store your private key, but it is generally recommended to rely on a hardware wallet.

In case you are new to cryptocurrency, here’s a quick crash course on how crypto wallets work: They are essentially software or hardware that help you operate a public address on your cryptocurrency’s blockchain. This public address is what stores the cryptocurrency and is viewable by all, though its ownership is completely anonymous (unless you make it otherwise). Every public address has a private key that is used to deposit, withdraw, or send funds to and from the address. Think of it as a mailbox: everybody can see it, knows where it is, and can send mail to it. But only the person with the key to the mailbox can open it and retrieve what’s inside. 

There are two types of wallets: Hot Wallets which are connected to the Internet and provide greater convenience to the user at the expense of lesser security, and Cold Wallets which Store your information offline and are less convenient for frequent use but provide much greater security to the user. A popular example of a hot wallet is the commonly used MyEtherWallet, while the best examples of cold wallets are the hardware-based wallets from Trezor or Ledger that we mentioned above — and also pen and paper. Yes,good ol’ pen and paper can function as a cold wallet as well, though you’ll need to generate your own public addresses which can be a pain. 

Many recommend MyEtherWallet or Metamask for new users who are new to crypto and only looking to put their work up for sale, or any of the Trezor/Ledger hardware wallets for those interested in storying crypto in general (as well as those who have made a sale of significant value and would like to keep their earnings safe!). 

Note that Foundation only connects to Metamask.

Step 3: Buy Some Ether 

In the maelstrom of news and surging interest in NFTs, it may be news to you that putting an NFT up for sale will actually cost you some money. This is because of how the Ethereum blockchain works: Unlike Bitcoin, in which miners are rewarded with Bitcoin for contributing the computing power necessary to verify transactions and add their record to the blockchain, Ethereum miners are paid with a different currency on the blockchain known as gas.

Whenever you are looking to confirm a transaction and added to the blockchain, a transaction fee is paid (ostensibly to cover the gas and platform fee) — Ethereum miners are able to pick and choose what contracts they would like to expend the computer power on and thus the more gas you pay for your transaction, the faster your contract will be carried out and added to the blockchain. This includes uploading your NFT.

So you will want to buy some Ether in order to purchase the gas and pay the transaction fee. Transaction fees fluctuate pretty wildly, but are overall significantly lower than they were a month or two ago when Ether started its bull rush. 

BEST ONLINE ORIGINAL ARTS MARKETPLACE

Step 4: Choose a Marketplace 

   

Once you have your art, your wallet, and some Ether burning a hole in your pocket, you are ready to put your NFT to market. What do you want to do is head over to ethereum.org and take a look at their selection of DApps — short for decentralized apps. Rarible, Nifty Gateway an Foundation are some good starting points to get a handle on the Ethereum market and some eyeballs on your own NFT. Each one caters to a slightly different taste so make sure to check all three of them, as well as the many other market places, before settling on one. 

Foundation seems to be the best for digital painting, while Nifty Gateway caters most to 3D models and Rarible seems to be a chaotic mix of the aforementioned of Avant-Garde/Internet meme culture fusion. 

Related: Best Arts Marketplace website online

Step 5: Upload Your Arts 

  

While each platform will differ in where you click the actual button, they all start with connecting your crypto wallet. Each of the major sites will automatically create an account associated with your wallet and guide you through a relatively simple upload process in which you have to choose how many “copies” of your NFT you’d like to mint and what percentage you’d like your royalties to be whenever the item is resold.

This latter feature is an innovative leap forward for digital artists who, unlike their traditional counterparts, could never truly limit the supply of any one work once dispensed nor produce a true “original.” An NFT essentially comes with a blockchain-printed certificate of authenticity that proves its originality as the original work, making it possible for the original artist to get a cut of every subsequent trade/sale — a feature even traditional artists can’t feasibly reap the benefits of. Once you’ve chosen the work, set your copies, and royalty fee, you’re ready to move on to the final step.

Step 6: Pay the Transaction Fee 

  

With your NFT artwork locked and loaded, all you need to do is pull the trigger on the gas and you can sit back while your work is uploaded to the blockchain and becomes a unique entity on the network, immutable and invulnerable to any server collapse. The transaction fee will ensure that your NFT is mined by whichever Ethereum miner picks up the contract, pocketing your fee for their  trouble. 

After that, it should only be a matter of a couple minutes before your newly-minted NFT is up and on the market for just waiting to make the day of the keen-eyed patron who sees it first!

(Word of Caution – Pls check government and RBI policies regarding crypto currency if you’re based in India). 

                                                                                       - Himjal 

The intense and turbulent friendship between Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh

The intense and turbulent friendship between the Post-Impressionist masters Paul Gauguin and Vincent van Gogh lasted only 63 days and ended in one of the most bizarre acts in the history of art — van Gogh brutally slicing off his own ear. But while the friendship became intense and fraught, it began with the brightest of hopes.    

                                            

In October of 1888, the 40-year-old Gauguin arrived in the sleepy French city of Arles after months of insistent invitations from van Gogh, then 35. The Dutch-born van Gogh, little known outside avant-garde Parisian circles, dreamed of transforming Arles into an artist’s commune and believed that Gauguin, an older and more established artist, was destined to be its leader.

For van Gogh, the long-awaited arrival of his mentor was a sign that his vision was finally coming true, but Gauguin had different motivations. Gauguin’s art dealer in Paris was Vincent’s brother, Theo van Gogh, and Theo had promised Gauguin 150 francs a month if he relocated to Arles. Far from becoming the “bishop” of a burgeoning artist’s collective, as van Gogh had envisioned, Gauguin saw Arles as a way to scrape together enough money to get back to the island nation of Martinique, his true source of inspiration. 

"The relationship was doomed from the start,” says Bradley Collins, an art historian at the Parsons School of Design and author of Van Gogh and Gauguin: Electric Arguments and Utopian Dreams. Once in Arles, Gauguin made it clear that he didn’t much care for the town — he called it “the dirtiest hole in the South” — and announced his intentions to eventually return to the Caribbean.

“With those words, he completely destroyed van Gogh’s fantasy of Gauguin serving as the leader of a new artist’s collective,” says Collins. “Van Gogh became a kind of time bomb after that because he was always concerned that Gauguin would leave. 

The friendship had a competitive undercurrent

With this shadow hanging over their relationship, the artists settled into a small corner house in the center of Arles immortalized by van Gogh in “The Yellow House (1888). Van Gogh was coming off an intensely productive summer, during which he produced some of his most enduring masterworks, including “Still Life: Vase with 15 Sunflowers (1888) and “Starry Night Over the Rhone (1888). Although Gauguin was meant to be the mentor and van Gogh the student, Collins says there was also a competitive undercurrent.

Gauguin, for example, chose to paint some of the same subjects as van Gogh. In response to van Gogh’s “The Night Café in the Place Lamartine in Arles (1888), Gauguin painted “Night Café in Arles, Madame Ginoux” (1888), which Collins believes is a caricature of the original. The two men also painted portraits of each other, the most famous being Gauguin’s “The Painter of Sunflowers” (1888) that captured van Gogh fully absorbed in his work, with hooded eyes and a blank stare. When van Gogh saw it, he reportedly commented, “That’s me, alright, but it’s me gone mad.”

Original Art works available

The artists had contrasting personalities.

In Gauguin’s personal journals, written many years later, the elder artist made much of the “Odd Couple” nature of his and van Gogh’s contrasting personalities. For one thing, Gauguin was a slow and methodical worker, while van Gogh often slapped paintings together in a couple of hours. There were also organization and cleanliness issues.

“Everywhere and in everything I found a disorder that shocked me,” wrote Gauguin. “[Van Gogh’s] colour-box could hardly contain all those tubes, crowded together and never closed. In spite of all this disorder, this mess, something shone out of his canvases and out of his talk, too.”

Collins says that Gauguin seemed to have a deep respect for van Gogh’s work. The older artist was enthralled with van Gogh’s first sunflower series when it was shown in Paris, and although he disagreed with van Gogh’s thick impasto painting style, he couldn’t deny its power. But it’s also clear that Gauguin would not have shown van Gogh so much difference, or put up with the Dutch artist’s oddball behavior, without Theo’s influence.

For his part, van Gogh bristled at Gauguin’s preoccupation with money. When van Gogh envisioned his artist’s collective, it was almost monastic, says Collins, marked by a communal sense of sacrifice for an ideal. Gauguin’s version of an artist’s colony was more like a trade union, where painters pool their work and sell shares to investors. In an uncharacteristically anti-Semitic tone, van Gogh once complained to Theo about Gauguin’s “Jew plan.”

Van Gogh became more erratic

It’s hard to know the exact truth about the series of events that led to Gauguin fleeing by train to Paris two days before Christmas. Gauguin’s journals present him as a caring mentor disturbed by van Gogh’s increasingly erratic behavior and concerned for his own life. Van Gogh reportedly took to standing silently over Gauguin’s bed while he slept, and spent their shared money on prostitutes and absinthe. One night, after van Gogh threw a drink at Gauguin’s head in a bar, Gauguin finally reached his limit. He told van Gogh that he was writing Theo and going back to Paris. 

Gauguin’s decision to leave Arles was apparently too much for van Gogh’s fragile sanity. The next day, Gauguin reports that van Gogh chased after him in the street with a razor blade. Gauguin checked into a hotel for his safety, not knowing that his housemate had returned home and inexplicably cut off the lower part of his left ear. According to police reports, van Gogh then went to a local brothel, asked for a woman named Rachel, and presented the wrapped and bloody ear to her as a keepsake.

“You have to see the ear cutting in the context of the relationship with Gauguin, and van Gogh redirecting some of the anger he felt toward Gauguin toward himself,” says Collins. “Why it took that bizarre form, who knows?”

The two men would never see each other again in person, although they continued to write each other letters right up until van Gogh’s tragic suicide in an insane asylum at age 39.