REASONS FOR KEEPING GOOD RECORDS

How many times I have heard fellow artists say, “I’m an artist. I don’t want to bother with stuff like keeping records of what I paint”. Well, if you are a hobbyist who only paints one or two paintings a year, this idea might have some merit—until it becomes very important (for whatever reason) to locate a piece of art you created. There is no reason for an artist to become overwhelmed by the idea of keeping records of when a piece of art was created and where it’s been shown. Knowing which shows into which you have previously entered an art piece might even save you some embarrassment when a show chair complains that you keep entering the same art in a yearly show! Knowing when you created a piece of art might become important if someone pirates your work and sells it because who created the art first often decides who has the copyright. If you have no record of when an art piece was created, you might even be found in violation of your own work!

If you sell your art, it is considered income and over a certain amount, it must be reported as such to the IRS on your federal taxes. If you participate in a booth event, you are usually required to have a seller’s permit, collect sales tax, and then report and pay that sales tax to the State.

 Art is a business as well as a creative endeavor. Losing your art can be a financial loss. Not being aware of losing money because you don’t keep track of costs can create a huge problem.

WHAT IS NEEDED TO KEEP RECORDS

Hey, relax; this isn’t as difficult as it sounds! Let’s take this one step at a time, using one piece of work. Step one: decide in what form you are going to keep your work log. While it is very helpful to have this information stored on a computer, artists were tracking their work using paper files long before computers became popular. I personally prefer using a computer worksheet, however, all of this stuff can be put on a sheet of paper and kept in a binder. For the initial record, I recommend a single sheet or worksheet per art piece. (Please see the Art Information Sheet in the Sample section)

ITEM 1—a pictorial image of your work. This can be in the form a printed photograph, a slide or a digital image. If your work is 3-deminsional, be sure to take photos of all sides of the work. Since this image is not going to be used to reproduce the work, a small, low-resolution image will suffice. The image should be large enough to see details of the work, clear and without blurring.

ITEM 2—the title of your work, size, style/genre and when it was finished.

ITEM 3—a brief description of the work (use complete sentences—why will become clear later). Optional—I also like to keep a kind of diary as to what I wanted to achieve, why I chose this image, and what was going on in my life when I created this art piece.

ITEM 4—Keywords to be used when downloading the photo of your art to your web site or other internet media.

ITEM 5—Show and exhibit record is a list of what shows or exhibits were entered, when they took place and if the art won awards.

ITEM 6—wholesale and Retail price. This is probably the hardest thing for an artist to decide on—how much to charge for an artwork! What is the difference between Wholesale and Retail? Wholesale is always lower than Retail. Your wholesale price at a minimum should cover the cost of what it cost you to create the art, plus any gallery commission fees and hopefully with a small profit margin. Retail price for an art piece should cover all this plus what you as an artist feel the art is worth. I realize this is very subjective but most of art is subjective.

ITEM 7—Incidental information such as the date you formally copyrighted the work, cost of the copyright, etc. More about copyrights later in the Copyright section.

ITEM 8—If you had limited editions of a painting or photograph or copies of a sculpture made, when, how many , how much it cost to make them, how many sold and how much you made when you did.

ITEM 9—the date you sold the original art and the name and address of the Buyer.

DON’T LOSE YOUR WORK!

When I created Art-Tique with fellow artist Lea Adams, one of the purposes of the organization was to find low-cost places where artists could show and sell their work. It was then I discovered the pitfalls of having a lot of art in a lot of different venues! Many times artists would fail to pick up their art at the designated time because they couldn’t remember which venue they had placed it in, and when it was due to be retrieved! For my own sanity, I created an Art Location Sheet (see the example in the Sample section). I prefer to use a worksheet program for this, although it can also be kept on paper. I prefer the worksheet format because it can be sorted many times by the location so it is very easy to see not only where a particular painting is, but also how many paintings I have at that location, and when they are due to be picked up. It also provides a quick reference if I have previously entered it in a particular show. The items listed below should be entered in a single line (one line per artwork).

ITEM 1—Art Title

ITEM 2—(optional) Media

ITEM 3—(optinal0 Subject

ITEM 4—Date of receiving for show or exhibit

ITEM 5—Show name

ITEM 6—pick up date

ITEMS 7, 8, 9—past three shows or exhibits

There, you see this wasn’t hard at all!

 

 

ART GENRE DEFINITION—Part 1

From Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia

 

Abstract -art that looks as if it contains little or no recognizable or realistic forms from the physical world. Focus is on formal elements such as colors, lines, or shapes. Artists often "abstract" objects by changing, simplifying, or exaggerating what they see.

Abstract Expressionism - art that rejects true visual representation. It has few recognizable images with great emphasis on line, color, shape, texture, value; putting the expression of the feelings or emotions of the artist above all else.

Abstract Impressionism is a type of abstract painting (not to be confused with Abstract Expressionism, a similar but different movement) where small brushstrokes build and structure large paintings.  Small brushstrokes exhibit control of large areas, expressing the artist's emotion and focus on inner energy, and sometimes contemplation, creating expressive, lyrical and thoughtful qualities in the paintings.

Academic art is a style of painting and sculpture produced under the influence of European academies or universities.  Specifically, academic art is the art and artists influenced by the standards of the French Académie des Beaux-Arts, which practiced under the movements of Neoclassicism and Romanticism, and the art that followed these two movements in the attempt to synthesize both of their styles, and which is best reflected by the paintings of William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Suzor-Coté, Thomas Couture, and Hans Makart.

American Scene Painting refers to a naturalist style of painting and other works of art of the 1920s through the 1950s in the United States.  Much of American scene painting conveys a sense of nationalism and romanticism in depictions of everyday American life. During the 1930s, these artists documented and depicted American cities, small towns, and rural landscapes; some did so as a way to return to a simpler time away from industrialization whereas others sought to make a political statement and lent their art to revolutionary and radical causes. Representative artists include Thomas Hart Benton, John Rogers Cox, Grant Wood, and John Steuart Curry.

Art Deco is an eclectic artistic and design style that blossomed in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era.  Art Deco's bold, linear symmetry was a distinct departure from the soft pastels and flowing asymmetrical organic forms of its predecessor Art Nouveau; it embraced influences from many different styles and movements of the early 20th century, including Neoclassical, Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism and Futurism and drew inspiration from Egyptian and Aztec forms.  Art Deco made use of many distinctive styles, but one of the most significant of its features was its dependence upon a range of ornaments and motifs.


Art Nouveau(Anglicized to /ˈɑrt nuːˈvoʊ/) is an international movement and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that peaked in popularity at the turn of the 20th century (1890–1905). The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art". It is also known as Jugendstil, German for "youth style", named after the magazine Jugend, which promoted it, and in Italy, Stile Liberty from the department store in London, Liberty & Co., which popularized the style. A reaction to academic art of the 19th century, it is characterized by organic, especially floral and other plant-inspired motifs, as well as highly stylized, flowing curvilinear forms. Art Nouveau is an approach to design according to which artists should work on everything from architecture to furniture, making art part of everyday life.

Baroque (pronounced bə-rohk in American English or /bəˈrɒk/ in British English) is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century in Europe.  A defining statement of what Baroque signifies in painting is provided by the series of paintings executed by Peter Paul Rubens for Marie de Medici at the Luxembourg Palace in Paris (now at the Louvre), in which a Catholic painter satisfied a Catholic patron: Baroque-era conceptions of monarchy, iconography, handling of paint, and compositions as well as the depiction of space and movement.

Cloisonnism is a style of post-Impressionist painting with bold and flat forms separated by dark contours. The term was coined by critic Edouard Dujardin on occasion of the Salon des Independents, in March 1888. Artists Émile Bernard, Louis Anquetin, Paul Gauguin, Paul Sérusier, and others started painting in this style in the late 19th century. The name evokes the technique of cloisonné, where wires (cloisons or "compartments") are soldered to the body of the piece, filled with powdered glass, and then fired. Many of the same painters also described their works as Synthetism a closely related movement.

Color Field painting is a style of abstract painting that emerged in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s. It was inspired by European modernism and closely related to Abstract Expressionism, while many of its notable early proponents were among the pioneering Abstract Expressionists. Color Field is characterized primarily by large fields of flat, solid color spread across or stained into the canvas; creating areas of unbroken surface and a flat picture plane. The movement places less emphasis on gesture, brushstrokes and action in favor of an overall consistency of form and process.

Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork.  An artist may combine traditional painting with algorithm art and other digital techniques.

Conceptual art is art in which the concepts or ideas involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions. This method was fundamental to LeWitt's definition of Conceptual art, one of the first to appear in print:  "In conceptual art the idea or concept is the most important aspect of the work. When an artist uses a conceptual form of art, it means that all of the planning and decisions are made beforehand and the execution is a perfunctory affair. The idea becomes a machine that makes the art.

"Constructivism was an artistic and architectural movement that originated in Russia from 1919 onward which rejected the idea of autonomous art in favor of art as a practice directed towards social purposes.  As much as involving itself in designs for industry, the Constructivists worked on public festivals and street designs for the post-October revolution Bolshevik government.  The Constructivists were early pioneers of the techniques of photomontage.

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. The first branch of cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, was both radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1907 and 1911 in France. In its second phase, Synthetic Cubism, the movement spread and remained vital until around 1919, when the Surrealist movement gained popularity.

Dada (English pronunciation: /ˈdɑːdɑː/) or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922.  The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a rejection of the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works. Its purpose was to ridicule what its participants considered to be the meaninglessness of the modern world. In addition to being anti-war, dada was also anti-bourgeois and anarchist in nature.

EDITORIAL: THE TRUTH ABOUT LICENSING ART

By Joan Beiriger

Click Here to go to Joan’s Blog: http://joanbeiriger.blogspot.com/2013/05/editorial-truth-about-licensing-art.html?goback=%2Egde_149470_member_238968529

There are many positive reasons to create art for licensing because otherwise artists would not license their art. But, just like all businesses' the art licensing industry also has negative aspects. I believe that power is knowing the negatives because you can use that knowledge to be prepared and not have unrealistic expectations in licensing your art. And, sometimes you can convert the negatives to positives.
Negative Aspects

The following is a list in no particular order of what an artist should know about the negative aspects in licensing art. Note: These are my opinions. Other artists, licensing agents and experts in the art licensing industry may have different opinions. It is always wise to get several viewpoints and not depend on only one.
 • Licensing art is very competitive. There are thousands of artists trying to license their art. And, the number of artists increase each year. Thus, getting licensing contracts is harder each year

• Not every artist can make a living by licensing her / his art because of the competition and less retailers selling licensed products.

• Licensing is NOT a 9AM to 5PM job. Artists need to juggle daily personal commitments with creating art and other associated licensing duties. Dedicated licensed artists work more than 12 hours a day especially when a deadline looms.
 • Not all art is licensable. There are many reasons why beautiful art is not licensable. To find out why, read "Editorial: Not all Art is Licensable."

• Artists will not be able to license all the art they create. Because of the competitive industry, not all art themes are popular, and the art may be ahead or behind the trend. Also, not every image licensed will be licensed for more than one product. It may not be the right image for other products or manufacturers are not interested in licensing it for whatever reason.

• Not all art licensing agents and manufacturers are honest. Unfortunately, contracts are not always in the best interest to the artist and not every agent or manufacturer pay artists monies owed them. It is always wise to ask others in the art licensing industry if a manufacturer / agent that you are considering is reputable. And, you should have an attorney experienced in art licensing look over the contract before signing it.


 • It is difficult to protect art from copyright infringers. Some artists watermark their images and use password protected websites. But, there are downsides to doing so. Many manufacturers will not take the time to request a password from the artist to view the art and dislike watermarks because they detract from the art. But in any case, artists should copyright their art with the Library of Congress so that if they need to sue for infringement and win, they will get legal fees paid beside being awarded statutory damages. To learn more about copyrights, read attorney Joshua Kaufman's article "Filing Copyrights: How and Why or Just Do It!"

• Art directors look at 100s of images for EACH image that is licensed. Thus, manufacturers showing interest in your art does not necessarily mean it will be licensed. For instance, experienced SURTEX show exhibitors know that the reality is that less than 10% (more like zero to 3%) of the art that art directors request for licensing consideration results in a deal.

• Not all licensed art have accurate colors on products. This could be due to the type of process used to print the art on the product, the manufacturer does not have or take the time to make sure the colors are accurate, or the manufacturer purposely changes the color saturation so that the colors are brighter (sometimes done for decorative flags). Note: Not having accurate colors most likely will not affect the sale of the product because consumers have not seen the original art. Although I do grimace when I see some of my licensed art on products.

• Getting a deal does not always mean that the product will be produced. It could be a print-on-demand type of deal which means the art on the product will only be produced if a retailer orders it. Or, the production of the art on the product is cancelled for some reason. Also, sometimes the manufacturer only produces one batch and if the amount sold does not meet expectations it is not produced again even though the contract will not expire for several more years.

• Royalties from a deal can be a very small amount or nothing if the product does not sell well. Sometimes an artist can make more revenue from a licensing flat fee than from a royalty deal.

• More and more manufacturers are pre-selling their products before producing them. That means they may request HiRes art (high resolution) from the artist so that they can make samples for presentations. An artist needs to really trust the manufacturer before sending them HiRes art for presentation because no contract is signed.
 • Manufacturers may request that the artist hold art for them so that they can give presentations to their clients. If the artist agrees, it means that she/he cannot license the art in the same category to another manufacturer. Sometimes the manufacturer will hold the art for months and the artist loses the chance to license the art that year if it is not accepted by the client.

• Artists may be requested by a manufacturer to create art on speculation. That means there is no guarantee that it will be licensed. Although, there is always a possibility it will be licensed by another manufacturer. Some artists require that they get a designer fee before starting work on a spec project. Others work on spec under certain conditions such as only designing an art theme that appeals to a broad spectrum of consumers so the chances of it being licensed is greater. Or, the artist already has a good working relationship with a manufacturer and thinks that they will most likely create art that will be licensed.

• Artist are not always able to approved the product sample before it goes into production. Many times the production cycle is too tight and manufacturers are not willing to let the artist approve the sample. Although sometimes they will send a picture of the final product via the internet.

• Certain themes even though they are popular may be difficult to license to some industries. These manufacturers already have artists that are licensing those themes and they are not looking for another. For instance, calendar manufactures already license art from certain artists year-after-year for country, song birds, cats, roosters, wine and coastal themes. Until those artists can no longer produce enough art (normally 12 - 13 images per calendar), other artists will not be able to get a deal with them.

Characteristics Of Clay

Facts About Clay That You Need To Know If You Plan To Work With It

By Ethel Jamfrey


CLAY

A long chain of 3 molecules chemically bonded together; A12O3+2SiO2+2H20. A hydrated alumina silicate (“Kaolin”).

May be wet and squishy, dry as bone, “leather hard” or anywhere between depending on the addition of “Physical Water”. It can always be softened with water and return to a “plastic state”

“Plastic” means easily shaped or changed in form.

Clay becomes “Permanent” when it is “Fixed” or heated to temperatures from 900o Fahrenheit or higher.

“Bisque” is clay that has been fired once.

Firing causes the “Chemical Water” to be released from the bond and the new formula becomes A12O3+2SiO2 (an alumina silicate).

Fired clay will not soften or dissolve in water.

Clay is Found: In nature in beds of lakes and streams, or in ancient lakes and streams, in layers of other soils.

Clay is formed from decomposing granite.

“Color” is always what color it is when fired i.e. it may look gray when it’s wet and plastic, but when it’s fired, it will usually look different.

Color in clay comes from metallic or mineral impurities that oxidize during firing. They also determine the firing temperatures of different clays.

“Grog” is the gritty stuff on ground-up fired clay or sand added to clay mix to give it strength/body and make it less likely to trap air pockets that would explode during firing.

Shrinkage occurs at different rates in different types of clay. All clay shrinks as it dries and is fired. Shrinkage varies from 10—15%.

TYPES OF CLAY

Earthenware is usually red, cream-colored or quite dark. It is high in iron and other impurities, it is “Low Fire” (1740o to 2130o Fahrenheit). It does not hold water unless glazed.

Stoneware is fired at a higher temperature (2300o Fahrenheit) and becomes very hard and vitreous and can hold water even without a glaze.

Porcelain is the highest fired ware; it becomes translucent when fired to 2300o – 2670o Fahrenheit, it is vitreous and has a “ring” sound when tapped. It is also called China.

SURFACE ENRICHMENT

Surface Enrichment refers to Carving, scraping, rubbing/compressing, engobe (an application of colored clays to the surface before firing), an application of clay forms.

It also refers to Staining with acrylic or water color or oils after bisque firing and glazing.

Glaze is a surface treatment of a glass, melted on a clay body. This is usually done with metallic oxides that give color in addition to other chemicals that will give other effects.

SUBMITTING GUEST BLOGS

Art-Tique welcomes guest blogs encouraging artists and writers to develop their skill sets, provide advice concerning good business practices and interesting subject matter. Information concerning your work is acceptable providing you also include subjects of interest to other artists or writers. You may also include jpeg photos no larger than 600 pixels at the widest point and 72 dpi. Please also include a short paragraph about yourself when submitting a guest blog. Unacceptable subject matter: No profanity, graphic sex, sexual themes, violence or frontal nudity is acceptable. Subject matter will be reviewed by Art-Tique for content and acceptability. Please submit rss feeds for guest blogs to localartevents@art-tique.org. The subject line should be Guest Blogs.

 

About Our Guest Bloggers

 Joan Beiriger: As a self proclaimed art licensing junkie, Joan continues to search for art licensing info and share it with other artists to help them license their own art. Joan creates art for products. Her robust body of art is in collections, product examples (mock-ups), and in Photoshop layered files that can be easily customized to manufacturer's specifications. View my complete profile

Ethel Jamfrey

An award winning sculptor in bronze and clay, Ethel Jamfrey pursues her fascination with horses and their movement through her artistic creations. While she has pieces in private collections across the country and has shown her bronzes in Albuquerque, New Mexico, San Francisco, Palm Springs and locally, she is still developing her style and expression in sculpture and returning this year to hand built forms in clay…and bronze.

Her early work in sculpture had its rudimentary beginnings in the long summers of hot afternoons on the farm when she whittled poplar suckers into horses and crafted “paper Mache” into a model of her Paint horse. By the time she went to high school she was painting in oils with discarded brushes and left over paints that someone had given her. Her great fortune came to her in the wonderful teacher she had in Art at Madera High School, Heinz Kusel. His passion for art and life was boundless and he conveyed it to his students. He recommended her for the Bank of America Award in Art which she received as a senior in 1961. As a student at Fresno State she was again fortunate to have had Adolf Odorfer as her Ceramics teacher. Odorfer was from the “old school” of learning which demanded that students understand the medium of clay and how to make it work for you within the bounds of its physical and chemical properties. Under his strict supervision and guidance her “sculptural mind” was formed. It is a way of looking at 3 dimensions that reduces it to its simplest form. It takes the essence of a subject instead of interpreting it literally… to show movement, interesting composition and form with an awareness of positive and negative shapes…showing characteristics of the subject without “copying what God has already done better”.

Graduating from California State University Fresno with a Major in Art and Minor in Life Sciences, she became an Art and Biology teacher for 38 years.

Along the way, between teaching and “life”, Ethel found time to continue sculpting in clay, and learn the craft of working wax and casting bronze…as well as breeding, raising, training and showing Arabian horses, and photography, and spontaneous gesture drawings of horses on clothing, logo’s for horse entities, etc.

Her emphasis currently is on clay forms in high relief on a plaque which allows for a pictorial quality as well as actual three dimensional images. These pieces will be fired. Experimentation with surface enrichment in glaze (fired) and acrylics as well as use of different clays is also part of these adventures. Subject matter is also in an exploratory state. She plans to continue her work in bronze as well using Plastilina (clay with linseed oil mix) as an original form medium.




Gail Daley

I am a self-taught artist with a background in business; for many years, I worked at the IRS and when I retired, I took over the office management of my husband’s pool service company. For many years, I have done my own promoting and marketing of both my art and for my husband, developing our own advertisements and brochures. I am president and newsletter editor of Clovis Art Guild. As Director of Art-Tique, I publish an on-line newsletter concerning local art events and I find places for local artists to show and sell their work.