Printing Your Art

Shilshole Bay Marina - Seattle, Washington Using your artwork and photographs for a worthy cause or even creating merchandise would be a wonderful way to use them! Here are several suggestions on how you can do this: 1. Charity Auctions : Organize an art and photography auction, with the proceeds going to a charity of your choice. This can be done in person or online through eBay for Charity or Charity Auctions Today. 2. Art Shows for Charity : Host an art and photography exhibition where you display your artwork/photographs and charge an entry fee or sell pieces with proceeds benefiting a nonprofit organization. 3. Collaborate with Local Organizations : Partner with local charities, schools, or community centers to create art and photography workshops or classes. You can donate some of the fees or sell your artwork to support their programs. 4. Create Merchandise : Turn your artwork and photographs into merchandise (like prints, greeting cards, or apparel) and sell them, donating a pe...

Pink Salmon by Carol Selling artwork as an independent artist without an established following can be challenging, but there are several effective avenues to explore in the United States. Here are some of the best places to consider: 1 . Online Marketplaces - Etsy : A popular platform for handmade and unique items, including artwork. It's user-friendly and has a large audience. - Saatchi Art : An online gallery that allows artists to sell original artwork and prints. They handle shipping and customer service. - Artfinder : A marketplace specifically for original art, connecting artists directly with buyers. - Redbubble : Allows artists to upload designs that can be printed on various products, from clothing to home decor.  2 . Social Media Platforms - Instagram : Use it to showcase your artwork and connect with potential buyers. Utilize hashtags and engage with art communities. - Facebook : Join art groups or create a page to promote your work. Facebook Marketpla...

Now that you have converted your artwork to a digital format it is now time to find out what you can do with it!  I like using my digital art and photography to design products, sell prints, and for adding to my stories and articles that I like to write and post. Some of my artwork can be found on Etsy at www.earthsflowers.com . I use the company Printify to upload the artwork and attach it to products that I can sell, from cups to clothing. This company interfaces with Etsy so once I design something I upload it to Printify which is easy to link with my Etsy and Pattern (full website that they offer) store. I normally use Photoshop 2023 for my designs as well as utilizing some options available through Printify. I will also use templates that are available in the Canva app too. In Canva I can use their templates or design my own. It really is a mix of options that I use from Canva, which is a paid service if you want their premium products to download in .png format (with no backg...

Flatbed scanning of artwork Need more room for all those paintings to hang on your wall? I'm in the same boat, so when I finish a painting, I do a 300-dpi scan of it to create a digital file. Home scanners are typically good at doing this, but if your artwork is large, you must find someone with a large-format flatbed scanner or take a high-resolution photograph that isn't blurry or doesn't bow on the sides. Practice makes perfect! I try to stick with painting on canvas, boards, wood, and paper in 12x12 or smaller, and if your flatbed on your copier/scanner doesn't fit the entire artwork, you will need a program where you have several scans showing all the painting and then merge it. I use Photoshop, and it works great!  If your artwork is larger and you can't make scans of all the artwork on your home printer/scanner, then there are alternative ways to do it. First, I would advise finding someone who has a business doing large format art scanning. They usually turn...

I thought this was a very thought-provoking article on Georgia O'Keefe. Check it out at the following link:  Georgia O’Keeffe Before She Was Famous | The New Yorker

Eli the Crow Okay, I'm not a multi-talented artist. I just like to dabble with acrylics, watercolors, and photography. I have also been totally enthralled by the Heirloom Traditional Paint Company out of  Kentucky, so much so, that I painted my kitchen cabinets myself. I have now bought enough paint to redo every piece of furniture I have. Why? It is because I love playing with colors. Maybe I never really grew up! Coloring books even made a comeback for adults in recent years. I should have thought of that idea first!  I usually digitize my art and then throw it onto my gallery. I am not concerned about sales as much as having a place to put my art. I enjoy viewing it and seeing if I am making any progress in my skill set. I don't always sit and do art, or take my camera everywhere I go, so my progression is really, really slow, but then again, that really isn't my goal in my hobbies and crafts. I just like doing them. I don't need to be the best, or the greatest, or h...

Viking Ship I took this photograph when we were in Norway back in 2014. I have made my grandkids a large poster with it and a canvas for my Norwegian Aunt on my husband's side. She loves it except it would be nice if she could see the buildings on the dock too. They were obscured by the beautiful ships but overall she was very pleased with it. Waterfalls galore! I saw so many and each one was unique. The beauty of the landscape was incredible. If you have never ventured to this historic and rich culture you should! Adventure awaits you. This is the Church on the Island where my Mother-in-law and Aunt were born and raised. It is in the village of Gursken, on the western fjords. The beauty of the rocks of Norway The beauty of the landscape was around every turn and place. The rocks were amazing, a work of art in nature.  Ulriken Cable Car  The cable car was pretty scary for me, considering I am afraid of heights, but I ...

Steer Skull I have always wanted to paint a Steer Skull. This one looks like it still has one eye and the other has shriveled away. I like it, and I love the colors. My style of art is to have vibrant colors for the background.  Hope you enjoy viewing and if you would like to see it on my website, Click Here !

Koi Fish Having FUN with acrylic paints......trying to paint  Koi Fish . I still need more practice, but it is relaxing to paint. I never know how my paintings are going to turn out. Sometimes they are really good, and I am totally surprised. Other times, I think to myself, "What was I thinking?" The good thing is I can paint over and start from scratch.  Never a wasted canvas! Below is one of my photographs from the Seattle Japanese Gardens that I used as an example: Koi 

Some call me Cerulean blue.   I am a coat of many hues that range from Cyan the great to the depths of the dark deep blue.     I’m not really one but many.   I sometimes overlay my bluest of friends.   I may be dimmer than some but I can accent anyone.    I love to be the colorful flower swaying in the wind or the backdrop of the sky as the white fluffy clouds cluster nearby. My Artist friend uses me to be a fragment of the color of a fish in a tropical sea or the background of a pink salmon breed.   I am versatile at best and can be used with all my palette companions, especially sunflower lemon yellow, flaming tomato red, or that outrageous lime green. I tend to light up the sky behind the tall snow covered mountains or help that bright frothing white to accent the towering swells that are turbulent in the precarious Bay. I have to admit though my favorite place to be is with a vase of other colors swaying in the breeze. I am ...

Vera Ritter - Artist I have posted some of my art and photography on line at Fine Art America and have developed a following from around the world.  I don't really care about selling my art but I love sharing it with people as a way to showcase my progression as I move through life and develop my talents in these areas.  I have always loved landscape photography with mountains, water, boats flowers and/or wildlife.  I am not a Photographer who enjoys doing Photography for weddings or events.  I love looking through the lens and finding the right composition for my photographs to preserve them as a memory.  There have been many trips where I have had a wonderful adventure and when I look back at the photographs they flood me with good memories. I know when I leave this life those memories will fade and the photographs won't have the full meaning unless I display, explain and show them to the world.  I need to do a better job at defining that moment in ...

  I wasn't sure what I was in for when I went to the Paul McCartney "Out There" Concert last night but found out that it was one or actually the best rock and roll concerts I have ever been to! We arrived early to have dinner at the stadium and that was great timing on our part.  People were still arriving around the time the concert was suppose to start.  It started late but they had music playing with pictures and art work streaming from the large projector screens.  The Beattle's photographs and video clips that were shown brought back memories of long ago.  We had an awesome dinner at the stadium and a great view.  Paul's crew and the Safeco stadium really worked in "harmony" to make a spectacular show entertaining and comfortable for sitting or standing over 3 hours.  Paul made a point to publicly thank everyone associated with setting up and working the show!  Paul McCartney can play and sing like it was yesterday!  He played ...

I've noticed the trees with their shadows and light illuminating in the sun and even the fog.....seeing reflections in the water and the two tone colors of miscellaneous things in a distance.  I have seen things I don't normally see because I have started learning to paint.  I have opened up a new world filled with wonders that reflect light and a rainbow of colors. In my photography I have seen composition and searched for the "right" light but in painting I am seeing the world in a whole new light. I am excited to have this adventure.  I will post my work as I am learning and seeing through my imagination.  This one is appropriately called "Pacific Northwest Camping."  I used acrylics on canvas. 

Ok...so I took art in High School and a ceramics class in College eons ago and just scraped by.  I can see beauty from the lens of a camera, distort it if I want and make it into something it may not have been but can I paint? I see the beauty of the landscape and draw it into my mind but how do I get it to hands and transfer it to the surface of the canvas? I birth two children who have the natural talent of the arts and are painters in their own right.  It just flows natural to them.  Did it skip a generation? Could it be that I never really took the time to try?  I always seem to be in a hurry.  Never slowing down.  Some people would say that I have ADD!  I don't.  I use to be so ambitious that I forgot to take time for me and sometimes for my girls.  I was a corporate slave! Dare I say that?  Don't get me wrong.  I was just someone who had to be perfect.  Make the right decisions and do everything the right way. ...

We found a quaint old watercolor in our crawl space in the attic that my husband's Dad acquired sometime in the 1950s from Norway. It was rumored to have been a wedding present to his Grandparents. It's called Ulvik on the Hardangerfiord. I believe the watercolor painting was made between 1870 and 1897. It was signed by Margaret Ruff. We found a Margaret Ruff who was an Artist and Etcher that was born and resided in Philadelphia, PA but traveled and studied abroad in Europe. She was a member of the Boston Art Club. She was a student at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and had exhibits at the Boston Art Club, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, National Academy of Design, Paris Salons and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She had also studied under Thomas Eakins. We believe this is the same Margaret Ruff who painted the watercolor. If anyone knows anything more about this work of art or the Artist please comment. Thanks!

I recently went to an Art Show and met a lady there who teaches Art. She said the misconception in learning Art at any age is that the lines or details have to be perfect instead of how the Artist sees the image in their mind or in person. Forget perfectionism and just flow with the creativity that you the Artist conjure up! She told me not to worry about perfect lines or edges or even having things perfect at all...the artist abilities lie in how they see the world NOT how the world controls them. Do you get that? I did and now I have an easier time in letting out my artistic concepts. They don't have to be perfect! Next time you see a painting or a drawing would you draw it the same or different then ask yourself why?