In the Trenches -- Life As An Itinerant Artist
Old posts, and new. You can find posts from my previous blogs by selecting archive in the sidebar to the right. Newer posts are displayed here, in chronological order. Feel free to comment or drop me a note.
First Friday in Northville — Photography Night at State of MInd Gallery
The first Friday of every month, downtown Northville galleries and restaurants host the monthly Art Walk. This month, the resident photographers at the State of MInd gallery in Northville, MI will be at the gallery to share stories with you. The Art Walk is a great...
A few thoughts on marketing
Asked in a online forum recently: I am thinking about what I could do differently for the next year for my shows and I am thinking about whether involving a marketing company to do some marketing in the city where the show is held would make a large enough difference...
Holiday Note Cards
Some of you may remember my holiday note cards from years past, and the notes I've sent personally. I always like to use personal images rather than commercial note cards, and I'm finally making some of these images available to you. Each card features a single image...
Printer calibration image
Many times it's hard to tell if your inkjet printer is spitting out exactly the color it's supposed to. Having a test image that represents the full gamut of the color spectrum may help to check that. You can make your own, download them from various color labs, or...
Some tips for backpacking with a camera
Carry Less than You Think You'll Need I've done a lot of packing with cameras and gear over the years, and every year I carry less and less. This past summer I went on a three day trip with nothing but a Canon G11, instead of carrying my 5D and lenses. Once I got used...
Michigan photos, southwest images now available at Yellow Door
Yellow Door Art Market is now open in Berkley. Yes, it's true! April and Steve McCrumb, owners of the fab gift outlet Catching Fireflies, have opened a 60+ artisan market two doors down from their flagship store. It's on Twelve Mile in Berkley -- you can't miss it....
“Bacon in the Sun” — A different kind of landscape
Completely created in the studio, this photograph was the brainchild of some raucous behavior back in 2009. Somehow, at one of our shows, our friend Wendy Baxter had commented on how hot it was and said she was bakin' in the sun. That morphed into her nickname --...
More than one way to skin a cat
I was asked recently if WordPress can be used to create a whole website, and a shopping cart. The short answer is yes, you can build a website from scratch on it. The bad news is that you'll need to learn how to design a template around their existing structure if you...
Bigger is better! Another art show bin idea.
A while back, I was carrying extra large prints to complement the 30x40" framed work on the walls. I built a folding bin from solid oak 1x4" stock to accommodate these prints. Essentially a three-sided frame, it is hinged on the two back corners, and held open...
Anatomy of my booth labels
One of the things that is useful in the context of any art exhibition is to identify the artwork and provide some details to the viewer. In a gallery setting, these are most often white, with black type, set in a consistent location to the lower right corner of the...