Art Lessons With Jamie

     Licensing your artwork to manufacturing companies can be one of the most rewarding ways  to make your artwork “pay-off”  time and time again.

    Just think about seeing your art used as the surface design on other items such as rugs, throws, cards, etc. How cool is that!

    But before you get too busy thinking about  all that  money in the bank be prepared to spend  a lot of time to learning about copyrights and contracts.

 When you get into this field…[ it is challenging and there 's tons of competition] you HAVE to think about and deal with the legalities that must be researched and the common sense  realities in the licensing world.

    Even though I have been lucky enough to have entered into this field I would not think of going it alone. I have a licensing agent and that agent recieves a pretty fair chunk of the pie to help me get through all the legal jargon and is the one who contacts the companies and “shows” the artwork for me. I am happy to do this sharing of  royalties and fees since it frees me up to keep on painting .

BUT if you want to explore the possibilities of submitting your work for licensing… I am showing you some links to places you can visit that can give you a little insight into copyright laws…

US Library of Congress – United States Copyright office for copyright registration. 
http://www.copyright.gov/ 

 Content protection and what to do in case of theft.   http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2006/04/10/what-do-you-do-when-someone-steals-your-content/

Creative Commons – Non-profit organization providing creative licenses for image works. http://creativecommons.org/

Items show artwork by Jamie Carter that has been used as licensed products

Art Quilt by Sherre

Jamie Carter Art Quilt using dyed fabrics

An Art Quilt created by Hazel

What do you think …aren’t these just great and  how fun it is to  to dye and paint your own fabric before you start creating….small art quilts are a very theraputic art form to do.. Hazel and Sherre are creative artists who are part of the “swap” group  I joined to help me find a way to channel my creativity on a small scale  and to help me through some long hours while sitting with a relative during her convalescence and healing stage…

    If you are interested in learning about how to dye and prepare fabric for art quilts…along  with some other techniques… go to my Sept. 2011 newsletter in the archives… and I will be posting more about it all ASAP.

Hazel uses a photo transfer plus her hand dyed fabrics for this one.

My style is about peaceful comfortable images

My newsletter this time talks about how different we all are and How differently We paint… even when we  paint the very same subjects….

So aren’t you glad there is not really a “right” way to paint? Or maybe I should re phrase that to say there is no “WRONG” way to paint. All styles and methods are valid…  finding yours is the trick.

When I  first took art from an artist/ instructor I admired, I was so eager to learn that I just soaked up every word and brushstroke like a sponge. About a year later… She kicked me out of her class… because I painted so exactly like her that it was hard to tell whose was whose…I was devastated.

     How was  I supposed to learn anything without a teacher? Nobody else was teaching weekly art lessons in our area… even to take from her I drove 65 miles one way… I cried all the way home.

     It took me years to figure out that She taught me the greatest ART lesson I would ever learn     

 DON’T BECOME A COPYCAT…BECOME AN ARTIST WITH A STYLE OF YOUR OWN.

    The biggest insult should be…”Your work looks just like____[any known artist in the area]”

    [  I love it when they tell me "I knew it was yours before I got close enought to read the name".......... Hooray for me....ding ding ding!]

     Without a teacher I set about reading and trying  to paint and figure out  everything i could  about old masters techniques,  art materials and  medims,  different kinds of paints etc…  then …. I spent the money on some  good workshops and books…and  I tried out lots of   mini lessons… by utilizing information that was in the many magazines I had accumulated…and making myself  painting “assignments” .

    I was determined that I would never again only know one way to paint. [or should  I say only one way to copy someone else's style...]

My daughters style is dynamic and active...like her lifestyle

   Look at the difference in the way I paint and the style that my daughter paints…how can it be that I was her mentor? She says so… and I am honored….but note that she also talks about finding out early how she liked to use brushstrokes and loads of paint…. and she  definitely is not afraid of color… her work literally vibrates. HER STYLE IS JUST LIKE HER LIFESTYLE… one ongoing adventure, brave, and spiritually connected.

Don’t try to paint like me or anybody else. Try to paint like you… want a clue? Look around your home what are your favorite items in the room?

What color do you “wear” the most? What vacations do you like to take?

All of these are clues to you painting style believe it or not. Is it a comfortable room with homey touches? Earthtones or Reds? Bean bag chairs or overstuffed sofas?

THINK …..this is your style…unless you let someone decorate it for you!!!YIKES

 Learn from me or other artists and teachers… but don’t become a  really good copy artist… Find out for yourself by always being the perpetual student… learn basic fundmentals, all about composing or any technical skills that will make it easier to paint  sucessfully… learn to draw… then things start to happen as you expand your  knowledge, get more familiar with new ideas and mediums… and  explore failures that help make the celebration of the successes sweeter!.

      A little bit of style and a whole lot of substance. You get the right attitude going and then  it is all about your new “look”.

     Because, if you are bored with painting,  you have either given up… given in… or can only copy the pattern and directions  the teacher gave you… because you really never knew what colors made ”Passion Plumbaker”      to replicate it when you ran out of  the paints you bought at the last workshop.

I can provide the building blocks for the substance…with new mini lessons I sell on the site… paint it… then do another one in your own style… don’t worry.. it .is… going… to… happen… anyway…. I can  bet ya money on it.

       To learn more about his subject and to see more about Melinda’s art attitude…go to the newsletter archive or follow this link.

Your June/July newsletter is online:

Newsletter: http://www.artlessonswithjamie.com/newsletter/junejulypdfnews.pdf

Archives page: http://www.artlessonswithjamie.com/newsletterarchives/

Melinda’s pdf: http://www.artlessonswithjamie.com/newsletter/MelindasSabbaticalShow2011.pdf

 Tips on showing and selling at Art Fairs  from Jamie Carter

O.K. you are ready… you’ve been practicing and painting, and now you are going to try selling a few of your artistc creations at a show or festival… I have made a list of a few pointers you might want to think about and keep as tools of the trade.

• Wear a Name Tag… this identifies you as the artist  and sales person…and by putting your name and where you are from on it … it often serves as a conversation starter.
• Be available to talk to your customers… too many artists hide in the back of their booth or sit in chairs across the aisle talking to other artists and friends… you cannot sell anything if you aren’t there to converse with your customers… they will percieve from your attitude  and actions just how serious you are about it all.. and will NEVER interrupt you if you are tied up in conversation with someone else…no conversation…no sale.
• Be proud of your work and show it to it’s best advantage.  Take the time to arrange your work in the same manner you would hang it on your wall at home if possible. Take only your most marketable works, present them in nice frames..and never just scatter them around on the ground or propped up like they are part of a garage sale… this is art. Show it as such. A few flowers in the booth or a table with personal information gives  potentail customers the feeling you are proud of what you do.
• Offer a range of work at various prices but do not sell it too cheap. Keep a consistent price on similar or same size paintings. But have some that are smaller and affordable… prints are a good way to expand and sell at a lower price range without subtracting from your originals prices. Note cards are a great way to promote your art also. Just be sure your name and contact information is on the back of them.
• Develop a thick skin… you will hear some negative comments and a lot of good ones if you are doing good work… don’t let the negative comments get to you. It only means that your work does not strike a chord with that particular customer… just as we all wear different clothes… we all “wear” different art on our walls.
• Never take a negative comment to mean your work is bad. If they could do it..{paint} they probably would be .
• Get up and ask engaging questions.  such as.. What brought you out to the show today? or Do you collect art?  or Are you looking for anything in particular I can help you with?  { I have often sold paintings to folks who told me NO to this question … so hang in there and keep visiting with them. Be interested in them and they will become interested in you.}  These conversation starters will make customers feel more comfortable about questions they might have but were afraid to ask… remember if they have taken the time to stop in your booth… they are looking for something, and have a reason for looking.


Show off Your Work and Be Proud of it.

Hope you enjoy and use these tips. Good Luck and Have a great show.

painted at the Wichita, Kansas SDP 2011 by Karen

   What a great group of students and artists i had at The Wichita Kansas conference. Look at the photos and you can see them hard at work. It was a challenging painting…but they were troopers and all went home with really good work. If you find yourself here… please let me know so I can put  name with the faces once more.  http://www.decorativepainters.org  .

The class was on color theory and designing your painting. This is knowledge you have to know when you get ready to paint your own originals and not copy someone elses. It is called Florals with a Flair..Now you can order this workshop lesson packet and program from the store… order Daylily Splendor… pay with Paypal… and it comes right to your computer at home.

I began to draw early in my life…. And Sunday Morning was a special time for me. I would get up early, before everyone else in the family, and run outside and quickly pick up the big Sunday newspaper. I wanted it all to myself for just a little while.

What Was So Exciting?

What in the world could be so exciting in the newspaper to a little girl who could not even really read yet? Sunday was the day the “FUNNY PAPERS” came. There were four full size sheets of cartoon characters in little squares and strips, cartoon characters of all kinds, doing all kinds of things. They were running and jumping and they would ride DINOSAURS, or FLY, they had funny faces and could talk to each other via little balloons over their heads.

But the main thing to me was that they were drawn in simple black lines. There was no color on these comics, not then, and probably not for another 15 -20years…

     PURE BLISS for a child who loved to try to draw. Do you remember the old comic characters on those pages? Brenda Starr? Or Daisy Mae and Lil’ Abner?

   Snoopy was there and the Peanuts Gang, but my personal favorite was ALLEY OOP… What a man! … Or should I say, What a CAVEMAN. I look back now and wonder why He was my favorite fellow to try to “draw”.

Maybe Brenda Starr was just a little to chic and sophisticated, or Daisy Mae was too blond and beautiful, or I don’t know, maybe Snoopy just wasn’t entertaining enough for me. Who knows why, but Alley was the fellow for me! I drew him riding his dinosaur,  carrying his club, standing in front of his cave.  Anything he was doing in the “funny papers,” I was copying on my paper, trying hard to duplicate the lines that made ole ALLEY OOP the exciting  CAVEMAN  he was.   I am still attracted to the rugged, outdoorsy  types…hummmm

What Was I Doing?

I was teaching myself to draw. Somehow I knew that by copying another artist’s simple lines, I would work until I could draw similar enough looking lines that I could recognize what I had done  as being ole ALLEY himself.

 WHAT A TRIP! AND THANKS ALLEY… FOR THE LESSONS YOU TAUGHT ME. I needed a model, and a good example to follow, and you were always there,on Sunday Morning.You never let me down.

I hope to be as inspiring a teacher to you as Alley Oop was for me. I won’t be there every Sunday, but the new  Art lesson workshop downloads  and kits will be there in the store for you. Just order them up when you are ready.

Study is best when done with examples and my downloadable art program lessons are filled with examples and step by step instructions. Lots of  easy examples to copy and study from.   Just remember …don’t judge, but delight in the results of your efforts, and rejoice in any ability you have.

Go on, get to your favorite spot, draw some funny little characters : and maybe, just maybe…
I’LL SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS!       Sincerely, Jamie

Drawing with Picasso as a inspiration... program for sale in the store.

Jamie Carter

A painting in the old masters Fauve technique

While thumbing through an old art magazine this morning I caught myself passing by pictures and articles that didn’t seem to hold my attention… my mind was on some other “LOOK” I wanted to research.

Then, for some reason, I began to take a second glance through the pages again and  I came across some nuggets of gold… an article about drawings that are produced for patents. And a school of painters I hadn’t looked at in years… The FAUVES. What color information, what wonderful line drawings. And the who…what…whys were  all there in the information that I was going to pass up in favor of something else more…interesting? Hmm.

Hitting A Brick Wall

It made me realize how many times I had encouraged my students to try other mediums and methods only to hit a brick wall with them. They simply did not LIKE that style or method, at first glance it  just didn’t appeal to them. Because they didn’t want to dig and  look for the “nuggets,” they missed out on the “gold.”

What did I learn this morning? I was reminded that everything manufactured or produced starts with an artist’s drawing .That means everything in the room, with the exception of you , your plants, and the cat.

Look at the wonderful color and use of lines in this Fauve style painting..

And I learned again about color theory; about the art critics who balk when  presented with artists who create techniques and styles of painting outside of the currently accepted  criteria or “box,” if you like to think of it that way.

My Message and My Lesson

Never quit digging for gold… look for the nuggets where you may not expect them to be, even if you think you’re not interested.

Don’t pass up that drawing technique because you already KNOW HOW to draw… really?  O maybe you heard someone say watercolor was hard to learn or not as marketable as oils. Are you sure? Have you tried it with a good teacher? Have you shown it to a collector?

KEEP DIGGING>>> THE GOLD IS THERE, but probably not in the places you have dug before. Don’t be a balking critic. Think and research outside of the box.

Happy hunting … and Keep exploring .
The moral to the story.. Be a lifetime student.

Enroll in the forever school of art.

See You at the easel… and have a color-full day.

Jamie Carter