Lets Talk Art, Episode 4 – Photographer Steven Crainford

December is one of the busiest time of the year – preparing for the holidays, and then traveling and meeting with family and friends. It has been quite challenging to find interviewees for my “Lets Talk Art” series that could actually make it in December, but at the end I got the green light from Steven Crainford, one of my photographer friends from the Artists’ Network here in Toronto, as well as the producer of all my Giclee prints.

Steven has over 15 years of professional experience producing and selling his artwork, and I have consulted with him on several occasions about marketing tactics and selling art at art fairs. He is a very generous individual and I learned from him quite a bit. So its my pleasure to include him in this series!

Visit Steven’s website to see more of his fabulous photos, at www.StevenCrainford.com. If you are in Toronto, make sure to follow his shows. He will be showing in January 3rd-28th at Twist Gallery (1100 Queen West) in a group abstract show titled TRUE COLOURS.

Cheers and Happy Holidays

Moshe

Watch other episodes of Lets Talk Art right here

Guest post by Steven Crainford: 6 Questions to Ask When You Want to Buy Photography as Art

Lets Talk Art, Episode 3 – Artist Kelly Medford

Today’s episode is with artist Kelly Medford, who lives in one of my favourite places on earth! I caught up with her while she was visiting the US, and we had a great chat about her career as well as what Artistic Success means to her. And like always, I included many of her paintings – the art speaks for itself!

Make sure you visit Kelly’s website and blog, there is more beautiful art available there: www.kellymedford.com and http://kellymedford.blogspot.com/

Cheers

Moshe

Watch other episodes of Lets Talk Art right here

The holiday season is a busy time for art shows and sales, and I am happy to take part in as many of them as I can! So today I would like to invite you all to another one, on the east side of town, where I am participating with many other great local artists. The venue is LucSculpture School & Studios. I have four paintings at the show: Striper Cafe, Blue Star (both are still discounted to only $100), City Center Motel and Hotel Del Rio (with a special price during this show, only $150, instead of $200).

Here are the details of the show:

Art & Craft Show at LucSculpture Gallery

663 Greenwood Ave. at Danforth (one block west of Greenwood Subway station)

Show dates: November 22 – January 7, Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6:30pm

Opening day: Saturday, December 3, 2011, from 11am – 6pm

Artists will be at the opening. Some work will only be available during the opening day

Free admission for everybody

All artwork up to $250

416-461-7936

www.lucsculpture.com

Cheers

Moshe

Related posts and other shows you can find my art at:

• Small Art at Gallery 1313 – November 16 till December 18
• Bows Art at the Hang Man Gallery – November 29 till December 24

I am happy to invite you to Bows Art, an holiday show and sale at the Hang Man Gallery, where I have couple of holiday artwork, “Snowy Pine Cone” and “Playing My Dreidel” (both $150, framed). All artwork in the show is under $500.

Lets Talk Art, Episode 2 – Jacqui Murphy at Art Allies

Today I have interviewed Jacqui Murphy, who started the organization Art Allies. Art Allies’ goal is to connect between the artists of Waterloo Region (Ontario, Canada) and the local high tech community. There are many talented artists in the region and more than 500 high-tech companies, and this connection was just natural progression for Jacqui, who worked for more than 15 years in developing the tech sector, and has a life-time love for art.

I love what Jacqui is doing in her region, and I would love to hear more about similar initiatives in other parts of the world. So do you have a story to tell me? Why not leave a comment on this post or send me an email?

Cheers

Moshe

PS You can reach Jacqui Murphy via Art Allies’ website www.ArtAllies.com. If you liked it, feel free to share, like, tweet or forward this to your friends. Thanks!

Watch other episodes of Lets Talk Art right here

I am happy to invite you to a holiday art show at the Gallery 1313 on Queen Street West. The show is featuring miniature works of art, salon style exhibition and sale. All artwork in the show is up to 8″x10″, and not more than $150.

I have 7 pieces in the show, four of them are 6″x6″x1.5″, the Seedlings Series and Blue Chamsa, and the other three are 8″x10″x1.5″, Gaga Calling, Coffee for Two, and Ice Coffee.

Small Art Show and Sale

Gallery 1313

November 16 – December 18

Opening Nov. 17 at 7pm

1313 Queen Street West, Toronto ON

Hours: Wednesday through Sunday 12 to 6pm

www.g1313.org

Cheers

Moshe

I am very excited about a new initiative I started recently, and this is the first post, of hopefully many to come, of “Lets Talk Art”.

What is Lets Talk Art?

Lets Talk Art is my new online video blog / TV show, where I interview artists or other professional working in the visual art industry. They come from all over the world, and the main theme connecting them all is “Artistic Success”. I am most interested in sharing with my readers and viewers tips and insights from artists who are full time working on their artwork. How do they define artistic success? What tips and secrets of being full time successful artists they can share with me, and with you? And so on.

I will try to publish one episode each week, with variety of artists from different places, working with different media’s, and in different stages of their careers. Who knows, maybe you will be the next interviewee? If you are interested to share your experience as an artist, gallery owner, curator, or even art collector, please let me know.

Episode 1: Artist Jill Price

In this episode I have interviewed artist Jill Price from Barrie, Ontario. Jill is such an energetic individual, who loves to share her experience. I have met her during the first cycle auditions for the Art For Love Canada TV reality show, and she has made it to the next level, so I really hope she will get in and we will see much more of her.

In the interview Jill shared with me her background, her inspiration for making art, what her current style means and how she defines “Artistic Success”.

So go ahead, and watch/listen the first episode.

Once you are done, I would love to get your feedback. Did you like what you saw? How can I make it even better? Would YOU like to interview for one of my next episodes?

Cheers

Moshe

PS You can reach Jill Price via her website www.JillPriceStudios.ca. If you liked it, feel free to share, like, tweet or forward this to your friends. Thanks!

I have really enjoyed and valued the feedback I received from many of you when I had to choose paintings to submit to an art show. It was amazing to find out that my favourites were not always other people’s favourites, and that a painting I didn’t like much was actually a “best seller”!

So, I want to do this more. Here is your chance to direct me with my future artwork.

I have started playing recently with encaustic, and painted few pictures. I also just finished a new watercolor which is in a different format from what I used to, so I will add it here to for your review. I wanted to get your opinion on them.

Do you like them?

Is there any one strong composition that you think I should investigate more?

Tell me also what is it that you do not like in these paintings.

Battered Life, watercolors on paper on board, 12"x36"x1.5", 2011

Word Machines - Why, encaustic and oils on board, 16"x16"x1.5", 2011

Word Machines - Why, detail

Word Machines - How Many, encaustic and oils on board, 12"x24"x1.5", 2011

Word Machines - How Many, detail

Sky Full of Lighters, mixed media on canvas, 24"x12", 2011

Any comment will be appreciated.

Cheers

Moshe

Related posts:

• Be my jury – which painting should I submit?
• Watercolor covered with encaustic – alternative to traditional framing

My daughter had an art assignment at school, to take her digital camera and snap some photos. She took the bikes couple of days ago, and just went to the local community centre, and took some photos. When I checked them out today, I found these gems in them.

So, being in the spirit of sharing the art, she permitted me to publish them here on my art blog. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. And yes, maybe I am not objective about it, being a proud daddy and all of that, but you tell me what you think. Aren’t those great?

Daniella, "Class' Fan", photograph, 2011

Daniella, "Down from here", photograph, 2011

Daniella, "Abstract", photograph, 2011

Daniella, "Suburbia Sunset", photograph, 2011

Daniella, "Fence Frame", photograph, 2011

Daniella is also an avid writer. You can check her blog at: http://daniellamikanovsky.blogspot.com

Cheers

Moshe

Related posts:

• But Aba, You Are An Artist!
• 10 Tips for Abstract Photography

Survey Results from Technology Pains and Tips on Surveys

Few weeks ago I wrote a post asking everyone to fill a quick survey about Technology and Art. In this post, I shared with the readers the results I got from almost 100 participants. For example,

Out of 99 people, 73 indicated they are using Facebook. That is 73.7% of replies. With all the scrutiny we have against Facebook, we still believe that it is a useful tool for us.

And:

About 20% complained it is just too technical, and about the same number of people feel they don’t have enough control over their content.

These were not the highest pain with technology that artists have. Do you know what is the highest one? You can read all the details and find out on FineArtViews.

Artists Creating Their Own Opportunities

In this post I introduced Karen Taylor, an abstract artist from Toronto, who started two groups, Solid Colour and Colourshift Collective. The article describe the groups and Karen’s history, but more importantly, it shows how artists can take matters to their own hands and create together their own opportunities to present and sell their artwork.

Don’t miss this post! You can read it too on FineArtViews, right here.

And like always, I am looking for interesting topics to write about. Artist success stories, tips on marketing, building your own future, handling challenges, questions on technology and almost anything else related to our passion – the arts! So if you have an idea for me, or a question, just let me know. Feel free to add it to the comments of this post or send me an email.

Cheers

Moshe

Related reading:

• Technology Pains and Tips On Surveys
• Two recent FAV articles
• Resources for Artists – all my posts that will help you with your art career