Preparing for Surtex - Website by Valerie (Valry) Drake

  In my efforts to obtain an agent or a licensing contract, it is essential to have a web site and portfolio that correctly demonstrates my work. Since my day job is in the computer industry, I am fairly good with computer things. And since I am totally OC I tend to always want to do things MY way. Add to this the fact that I am not a high budget operation. Consequently, when I decided to have a website I did not even consider hiring a professional web design firm. Just in case you are not familiar with having a web page, here are the pieces of the puzzle:1. You need a domain name. This is the thing people type in to get to your page.... [More]

Preparing for Surtex by Valerie (Valry) Drake

Last time I told you about my upcoming trip to Surtex. This week I thought I would share some of the computer / Photoshop® preparation of my artwork for the show.I am working on two collections at a time. One is on the easel and one is in the computer. As it happens, both of the collections I am working on at this time are painted in oils so I need to allow dry time before scanning them. All of my art work is scanned at 400 dpi and saved as JPEG documents. I take pieces that are too large for my scanner to a copy shop such as Kinkos. (Their default scanning is only about $1 but saves the document as a PDF, which won't work. Convert... [More]

A Simple Guide to Photographing Your Paintings by Jeanne Bessette

Because of my previous life as a photographer, I am often asked how to photograph your paintings. I can't stress enough how important good images of your work is. You spend endless hours creating beautiful paintings and if you follow a few simple steps, it will make all the difference in your presentation to the world. You will get into more shows and you will look like a professional. But first I want to make a small list of things not to do. 1. Do not take pictures of your work lying down on the floor with your feet in the bottom of the image. 2. Do not ask your spouse to hold the painting for you so he or she can also be in the picture. 3.... [More]