Susie Monday . El Cielo Studio

Help! I earnestly request that my  subscribers and readers click this link

NEW GALLERY WEB SITE 

and give me feedback, suggestions, corrections, ideas for what's missing, and any other critique you'd like to contribute to my new gallery site-in-progress. Since I am designing the site with iweb and publishing it on .mac, I particularly want to know how it works on PC platforms and on browsers other than Firefox. I won't switch my public domain, www.susiemonday.com until I've done a bit more work, but it's ready for some outside eyes.

There is still an enormous amount to do to get the site where I want it to be, but with this much done and published, I feel like I have met my Artist Breakthrough Program goal of developing the site by April 1. With your help, I can take the next steps to  fatten it out with more content, better edited photos, and additional pages during the next 3 weeks leading up to my sale at Fiesta Arts Fair, April 19-20.

A few specific questions:

Do the live hyperLINKS need to be a more distinct color?

Is it too weird to have the tense go from third to first person (home page to gallery pages)? And if so, which should it be ?

Should I have a more formal bio/resume page?

Should I have more or fewer pictures on each of the galleries? Should I subdivide more or combine them? Do I include prices? Size? Media? More description for each photo on the gallery page and then NOT include it on the slideshow?

What other pages do you think I should include?

Does the design and format look enough like my blog to have a consistent style? Any suggestions on visual "branding"?

Any other ideas? Really, I need them. If you don't want to leave a personal comment, email me by sending a message to susiemonday@gmail.com (you do have my new email, right?). 

No kidding.

Wouldn't we all? The teetertotter between marketing and making is yet another of those dicotomies, those dualities, that I am working to embrace.

One of the best resources I have found is Alyson Stanfield -- Art Biz Coach, extraordinare. As

I mentioned a few weeks ago, I signed up for her first Artist Breakthrough Program. The results were both helpful and surprising. I intended to work on a plan for launching a coaching aspect to my work -- mainly because I know that I am called to mentoring other people's journeys to their deepest creative work. In working through the process with 11 other wonderful artists (see links to their sites at the end of this post), my first breakthrough was that I was nuts to try and start ANOTHER "business," which even a deep calling becomes when one decides to market it or make it part of one's profession. I do have my hands full. Instead, with the rest of the 28-day program, I focused on putting together a do-able promotion plan for the exhibits and shows that I am committed to the rest of the year: Fiesta Arts Fair on April 19-20, a group show at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery in August, a solo show at the Rockport Art, also in August, and a presence in the regional quilt shows in the Dallas area, September through December at the Arlington Art Museum. This blog will play a part in keeping my focus on making the most of these opportunities, and I hope all of you that are reading will help me stay on track! My goal is to show exceptional work, to invite friends and interested audiences, to sell work and find opportunities for commissions. All of these exhibitions mean that I must be both in the studio, and on my best business behavior -- with organization, optimism and confidence -- and good promotional materials, as well. As much as we artists would like to live in our little bubble studios, those of us who must pay for groceries, shelter and the ever-rising gasoline bill, have to face the entrepreneurial realities of the marketplace.

The ABP is just the latest of the courses and resources that I've had from my connection to Alyson's web-based work, and everyone of them has been helpful -- her's is one of the blogs that I read every week; I play her podcasts on my iphone; I  refer to her materials, and now, I dip into her book -- I'd Rather Be in the Studio -- for answers to specific marketing and business  questions. And I'm scheduled for a virtual book tour when Alyson stops by this blog on April 22. I am in great company I realize, now that the blog tour has begun. The first stop was with Cynthis Morris, a wonderfully inspirational coach and writer; today's stop was at Christine Hellmuth's blog. I can't wait to read who's next, and I encourage all of you to follow along. Here's the blurb from Alyson's promotion:

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is for artists of all kinds. Painters, sculptors, ceramist, jewelers, photographers, and others will benefit from the easy-to-follow self-promotion practices in this book.

Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets—in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.

The book includes online worksheets and downloads.

Meanwhile, what's up for MY promotional materials?  A new website for my gallery/art work home-away-from-home  is coming soon. This blog, at least for the foreseeable future, will stay on Squarespace, but I hope to move my gallery site to .mac within the next couple of weeks, with new images, updated navigation, a more professional appearance and an easier interface that will help me keep it updated!

P.S. Here is a list and links to 5 of the artists who were partners in the Artist Breakthrough Program (in no particular order, the others will be in the next post):

Patricia Scarborough, painter 

Lyn Bishop, digital fine art 

William H. Miller, fellow Texan (Houston), photographer, digitalist, painter 

Lynne Oakes, painter and teacher 

Karine Swenson, painter, abstracts, lives in the desert 

Mavis Penney, painter, photographer, lives in Labrador

Be sure to click the links to these artist's blogs (those who have them) -- a wonderful way to catch a glimpse of the creative life in a wide world of media, locations and situations -- like studio open house visits without the travel.  

From the realm of opinion, not science--my take on creativity and our right/left brain duality.

First, we need both kinds of "processing" to be grounded in this material world. As artists  (or anyone with a dedication to living as a maker, no matter the field of study) we transform spiritual, emotional energy into the material world. We communicate between. Given the way our 21st Century Western culture  runs, yes, we sometimes forget to spend enough time in the right-brained energy of flow. We all know it -- that sense of timelessness and non-thought that sometimes kicks in when we are focused, flowing and non-judgmental about the work on the table, the easel, the sewing  machine. But, especially once one makes the leap into "art as a business," allowing the flow can be frightfully under appreciated -- hey, we got stuff to make, stuff to sell, stuff to teach and talk about. We move over to Mr/s Leftie and forget the source.

How about giving that creative flow it's due today. If not today, then sometime this week. Turn off the chatter, find the right  music to help the flow. Put all expectations aside, drop everything and go with the flo3w.

And as you do (and I do), then step outside of the duality that right vs. left brain can (falsely?) promote. We do need BOTH. Process without product can keep an artist a dilettante, preventing one from finding and exploring deepest meaning and tackling the tough stuff both in and outside of one's work. Plus, you'll never get anything done. Product ion without process makes it easy to get lost in the doing, avoiding the being that actually results from this more determined left-brained exploration.

I've been reading and enjoying Coaching the Artist Within by Eric Maisel. He has this to say about dualistic thinking:

"When a person opts for the fully creative life, then she must do what is required of her to combat the powerful anticreating forces aligned against her. These forces arise from within her own being, from her cultture and just from being alive on this planet. One of the most important things that she must do is refuse to take sides with dualities like process and product, simplicity and complexity, discipine and flexibility, and so on, dualities that are integral parts of the creative process. Rather, she must accept both parts of each pair and come to a real understanding of the value of each, the place of each in the creative process. Then she can become a holistic creator, someone who has learned not to arbitraily and defensively exclude options." 

 So, just as water and stone might seem at odds, the universe would be profoundly unbalanced with only one or the other.

I don't have much time to comment on this TED Talk, but, for now, just watch. I'll write a post later with some of my thoughts about this and how it relates to creativity.