Friday, January 9, 2009

. . . where was I?




Oh, yeah, I opened my etsy store and announced it yesterday; then I joined twitter, so you will all have to go check out my occasional answer to "what are you doing?" Then I rearranged my blog site, scanned some art, made some art, and emailed announcements to everyone I know, and some people I don't know. My sister Ann in Detroit faved my etsy shop, so I checked to see if she had sold anything, but she had just bought. She is a gifted and compulsive knitter and should try to sell her wares on etsy. My mother-in-law called after receiving my email announcement. . . she loved my flickr pictures of the farm. My sister Hildegard called and told me she had emailed my announcement to her decorator friends in Destin, FL. Suffice it to say, I spent too much time on the computer.


Last night, after settling down to finish reading my book, with the TV on for company, I hear a commercial for a "Starving Artist Sale" this weekend. "Sofa-sized" original oil paintings as low as $19; many smaller works as low as $7; and nothing over $59. WTF??? How is that possible? I may go just to see what a $59 4' x 6' original oil painting looks like. Anyone know? No wonder they're starving.

6 comments:

Jeane Myers said...

well! isn't blogland just amamzing? a community at your fingertips! your site looking very spiffy and if you figure out why you need twitter, please let me know! I barely have time for my blog, but maybe that's the reason for twitter - a place for people in time crunches! I think you will find there is a reason they are called 'starving artists' - it's pretty commercial stuff.....stay out there Mary, stuff is happening!

Melinda said...

Good post! You've done a lot of important work and it will pay off later.

Had to laugh when I read about the ad you saw for "Starving Artist Sale". I've been seeing the same ones this week in my town.

Here's the thing. The "artists" are factory workers in Southeast Asia being exploited (making pennies an hour)in the same way clothing workers are. They probably paint on top of "patterns" preprinted on canvas.

I really don't know how the perpetrators/salespeople/distributors make any money at all with the ad costs, hotel bookings and transportation. I guess it's that old saying, "Volume. We profit through a large quantity of sales."

Goes to show you how badly we need art education in schools...

Anonymous said...

I wonder what it was like being an artist before computers came along? Maybe the computer is some kind of throttle to ensure that too much art doesn't get made...

I'm always amazed at these types of art sales - it must confuse the public about what the value of artwork actually is. I admit I did put all my work on sale at a show last year, but nothing was as low as $59. Hope this isn't a trend...

Blue Sky Dreaming said...

Hi, I was just over at your flickr site and your work looks so great in the photostream! Good luck with the Etsy site!
Mary Ann

RosieK said...

I so agree with what's been said by you and Jeanne - which reminds me I've spent too much time here already so bye for now ! And thanks

Mary Buek said...

Jeane: I hope you're right, "stuff is happening"... Martha Marshall says she's now addicted to twitter. She wrote on her blog about it. I'm willing to try it as soon as I figure out how it works.

Melinda: I had no idea that's how those "starving artists" paintings were created. The perpetrators must be making money or they wouldn't do it. Those poor people really are starving. Wish we could put a stop to exploitation in all areas.

Bob: For some reason I consider my time on the computer as wasted, but probably it's really not. I could easily become addicted, I think. So I try very hard to set a limit. I think, too, that I'm slow to figure out the technical aspects of the internet, so it takes more time than I want to spend.

Mary Ann: Thanks for looking at flickr. I have been using it for a couple years now and I enjoy seeing other's photos.

Rambling Rose: Thanks for stopping by before you got off the computer. Do come back.