How one dog artist markets for commissions

How do you market commissions if you make or aim to generate most of your income from commissions?

This is a question which applies to very many artists whether they draw or paint adults, families, kids or their dogs or cats - or other creatures.

Yesterday - on my long walk around my local huge (prizewinning) park - I spotted this in The Hub Cafe.  

As a result, this post is about how one dog artist (Ryan Hodge) markets his work as an artist who produces dog portraits - and the lessons that others can learn from his exemplary marketing practices.

Woof Portraits

I also spotted several things which were, to me, obvious good practice

• an example of the work of the artist
• a business card which contains all the contact details
• a QR Code (quick response) for scanning and finding out more quickly
• good presentation of content and information - so no need to bother the cafe staff with questions
• plus an ideal location - in the centre of major dog walking territory

I was intrigued so looked into the set-up a little more - which is why it's now getting a blog post.

I have to say the website I found is a model of good practice in terms of keeping things simple but presenting everything potential clients need to know and do in a logical way

Dear Facebook - I'm not buying adverts from you EVER!

Yesterday I wrote about about the RSW Open Call for Entries - and then posted it to Facebook. Later I took a look at it to see if there had been any comments - but the post had received very few visitors and I couldn't work out why.

Today I worked out why! This is the message below the post on my Making A Mark Facebook Page.

Boost this post to reach up to 493 more people daily if you spend £14.

The absurd plea for me to spend cash with Facebook

Facebook has decided it wants to generate advertising income from this post before it gives me any traffic for it!

Important Messages for Facebook

I have a few messages for Facebook

1. I have no connection whatsoever - financial or otherwise - with the Royal Watercolour Society or the Bankside Gallery.
2. When I first joined Facebook you had Pages which were recognised as Information Pages. 
• Now you treat everything as if it's EITHER Personal OR a Business - when actually there are a lot which are neither - they're providing information!
• Neither my Making A Mark blog nor my Making A Mark Facebook Page are a business. 
3. I'm NOT selling anything with my blog and I'm not selling anything with my blog post. I get absolutely no income whatsoever from highlighting Call for Entries from many and diverse sources. (The same applies to all other Calls for Entries). 
4. As I'm NOT generating an income, I'm very definitely NOT going to be spending any money on adverts!
5. I will NEVER EVER spend any money on the Facebook platform in order to generate advertising revenue - especially when
• it is currently experiencing financial difficulties and behaving in a rather desperate way in trying to bump up advertising income
• I consider my content is being held to ransom by Facebook algorithms!

This is quite apart from the fact I've read many reports from artists over the years that paying for adverts on facebook has no positive impact on their business.

Yesterday's post on my Facebook Page

Facebook would also do well to remember that 

• their overblown overstaffed platform and the current Twitter hiatus is going to result in the generation of new and more effective slimline social media platforms - which cater better for users.
• treating your users badly now does not create a warm fuzzy feeling about Facebook going forward......

Call for Entries: Royal Watercolour Society Open 2023

The RWS Open is run by the Royal Watercolour Society (RWS). It was formerly known (until recently) as the Contemporary Watercolour Competition. 

The DEADLINE for entries is Monday 9th January.

The RWS chooses to invite open entries for an exhibition at the Bankside Gallery via a separate open competition rather than in an annual exhibition dominated by artwork by members. Instead they have a Spring and Autumn Exhibition by members and a seperate open art competition for non-members.

the RWS Open is the largest open-submission water-media exhibition in the world, attracting thousands of submissions nationally and internationally each year.

I'd love to know how many the number of artists it has attracted in the past. I've commented in the past on this claim and

• I'd have expected one of the American open entry competitions to have maybe attracted more....
• the RWS needs to be very careful about using claims like that because unless they know the number of entries they attract beats those who submit work to the RI's Annual Open Exhibition - otherwise they could get into trouble with the Advertising Standards people.

Why enter the RWS Open

The primary benefit of this competition is it acts as a platform for applying for membership of the Royal Watercolour Society. Indeed, I'd go so far as to say don't even think about applying unless you have submitted to this competition and been selected and hung!

Other benefits are:

• your selected artwork is hung in the RWS Open exhibition at Bankside Gallery, located next to Tate Modern on the Thames Path
• your selected artwork will appear on the Royal Watercolour Society website for the duration of the exhibition and afterwards
• You can become part of a network of present and past exhibiting artists
• If you come to London for the Private View, you get to meet Members of the RWS for networking and potential Membership proposal. 
• you are eligible to win various prizes and awards (to be announced).

The RWS Open - Call for Entries

You can view the artwork selected for the 2022 RWS Open exhibition on the RWS website. I suggest you also pay attention to which artworks won prizes.

Who can enter

Review: Episode 5 of Portrait Artist of the Year 2022 (Series 9)

This is a review of Episode 5 of Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2022 (series 9)

The artists are lined to to hear the outcome of the Judges deliberations 
and which three are selected for the shortlist.

I'm still very frustrated by the NOW TV app which refuses to behave in terms of rewatching sections of the episode i.e. refuses to stop or advance to a place before or after its current place.

The Artists

The artists of Episode 5

The artists for Episode 5 are as follows. I provide some detail which got left out of some of the bios on television. Links to websites are embedded in names.

• Fawzi Ebrahim (Instagram) - a retired engineer who is now a full-time artist. He lived in Baghdad before studying engineering in the UK and stayed to live in Halifax.
• Sara Gregory (Instagram) - graduated from Stourbridge College of Art and then spent 25 years as an art teacher, teaching students from 7 – 18. After a 'significant birthday' she quit her teaching job to focus more on her paintings. She's now Portrait and Figurative Artist working in her studio in Whetstone.
• Binny Mathews (Instagram) - a professional artist who trained at Bournemouth College of Art and at Farnham School of Art (1978-80) and is currently based in Chelsea Studios, London. She's an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. Her work has been exhibited in exhibitions at various prominent art galleries including the Summer Exhibition at the The Royal Academy of Arts. She is qualified to teach and provided one on one tuition.

Her works are to be found in the collection of the American Embassy (London), The National Trust, HRH The Prince of Wales, British Gas, Carpenters Hall, Seagram and others in the UK, Europe, China and the USA.

• Harriet Merry (Instagram) - Studied art to A Level and worked for many years as a picture editor, selecting and commissioning photography for national newspapers and magazines before becoming a mum. Got back to art in 2019 and now works in ink producing very effective collage drawings.
• Samantha Messias (Instagram)  - her drawings are created using pencil and charcoal. She is self-taught in relation to hyperrealism and has a studio in Chester. 
• Rosie Philips (Facebook | Instagram | Twitter) - a 21 year old self taught painter. She is a former barista who now works part-time for female art co-operative the Jade Tree in Norwich and exhibits in Norfolk - below is her self portrait. Looks very promising to me!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rosie Phillips (@rosiephillipsart)

• Nina Ruminska (Instagram) - Born in 1989 Toruń, Poland. Currently based in Dublin, Ireland. Likes to paint people from life during a time of quiet sitting and reflection.
• William Savage (Instagram) -Studied at Lavender Hill Studios (2011-13). Exhibited in RBSA Portrait Prize shows 2014, 2016.
• Robert Ware - studied at Glasgow School of Art (BA Fine Art Painting and Printmaking 2017) and The Heatherley School of Fine Art (Portrait Painting Diploma 2021). Has been selected and exhibited in juried exhibitions (Royal Society of Portrait Painters; Royal Institute of Oil Painters; Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize; Wales Contemporary/Cymru Gyfoes International Art Competition )

The Sitters

The sitters for this episode were:

• Dame Stella Rimington (age 87) - the former Director General of MI5  (the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency i.e. spys!) - from 1992 to 1996. She now writes thrillers.
• Big Zuu (age 27) - Zuhair Hassan, known professionally as Big Zuu, is a British rapper, grime MC, songwriter, DJ and television personality from West London.
• Alexis fFrench - a British classical and soul musician, composer, producer, and pianist. Ffrench was the best selling pianist of 2020 in the UK and is apparently is the fastest-growing classical artist in the world - with half a billion streams.

Size and Content of Self Portrait Submissions

Judges looking at the Self Portrait Wall

Every week I look at how the self portraits can be analysed in terms of format, size and content.

Art Exhibitions in Significant London Art Galleries | Autumn / Winter 2022

Significant London Art Galleries are those that are well known - but are not as big or as significant as the major/national art museums and galleries which I covered in the last post

This is a summary of the art exhibitions this Autumn / Winter in 

• the Courtauld Gallery
• Dulwich Art Gallery
• Royal Academy of Arts
• Wallace Museum

To be frank, I'm actually quite disappointed by what's on offer this Autumn. There's nothing which is making me jump up and down with excitement!

Other art galleries include:

• Barbican Art Gallery
• Hayward Gallery
• Serpentine Galleries
• Whitechapel Gallery

But these often have exhibitions I'm not much interested in. However, if you love contemporary art by international artists in various new manifestations they can be a good place to visit.

SIGNIFICANT / MEDIUM SIZED ART GALLERIES IN LONDON

Courtauld Gallery

Somerset House, Strand, London WC2R 0RN

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The Courtauld Gallery, Shop and Art Café are all cashless

The Courtauld Gallery

The Permanent Collection

The Courtauld's Permanent Collection is EXCELLENT. Personally I periodically go to see the Collection rather than the exhibitions, although the latter can be interesting. I haven't been since the refurbishment of the galleries but I'm not looking forward to lots of plain white walls.

This is the Virtual Tour. 

From the Virtual Tour of the Permanent Collection

The Courtauld’s much-loved permanent collection ranges from the Middle Ages to the 20th century and has been completely redisplayed and reinterpreted. These enhanced spaces have allowed The Courtauld to give visitors greater insight into this world-leading collection than ever before.

Fuseli and the Modern Woman: Fashion, Fantasy, Fetishism 14 Oct 2022 – 8 Jan 2023

An exhibition devoted to a remarkable group of around fifty drawings by Henry Fuseli, one of 18th century Europe’s most original and eccentric artists