Posts tagged ‘The Biz of Art’

January 22, 2011

Self Promotion Gone Wild!

You believe in my work and I will help promote you!

After a year full of complete life changes, including loosing a house, a cat, and my mother-in-law, having a beautiful baby boy, and rebuilding everything, I am creating my website anew to reflect my desire to be an extremely successful artist.

Mother and Child 1

See? Isn't that awesome?

Please help me out. It’s free ;) …or you could invest in my work, but that’s later on down the page.

1 – Request a Link

Let’s link to each other! It’s good for our SEO. In layman’s terms, that means we become cooler in the eyes of Google.

In order for me to link to your site, you must have content on your site that will be of special interest to my visitors, and you must place a reciprocal link on your site. Links to your site from outside sources help to improve search engine optimization, so what are you waiting for?

Please copy and paste the HTML link below onto your site, and then shoot me an email detailing your link url and title. Spammers will be ignored, so don’t even bother.

MyPreferredHTML Link :

<a href=”http://www.rachelmcotton.com/”>Fine Art Paintings by Rachel M Cotton</a> Savannah artist sharing artwork and tips for creative growth

2 – Write a short blurb about me

Rachel M Cotton

You know me!

If I have done work for you in the past or if we grew up in the same town, write a your impression, your memories, or your kudos abut me and be featured in a blog post on my new site. Again this helps us both. I get an awesome blog post and you get some much deserved PR! Email your writing to rmcotton.art@gmail.com.

3 – Show your support for the Arts

In addition to being a great supporter of my own work, I am also a great supporter of the arts, including art education, collecting and business. If you or your company has done something wonderful to help support the arts in your area, please share that with us, so that we may share it with our readers. Or if you have heard of something wonderful happening, please share that as well. There are good things happening in this world, and we would love to hear the positive.

Or Invest in Artwork or Sponsoring An Artist (Me).

There are also several ways to invest in my work.

1 – Commission Custom Work

Butterfly Ballerina

Butterfly Ballerina - A Commission

The majority of my work is from people like yourself that want an original piece of work for their home or office. I have been known to do portraits of people, pets, and homes, specialty work for nurseries and children’s rooms, as well as some pretty atypical requests. Pieces are affordable, and I happy to accept payments. As an emerging full-time artist, prices for my work have more than doubled in the last 2 years. I can only see this trend continuing as I am now in Gallery 11 in The City Market Art Center in Savannah and my commission availability is decreasing rapidly.

2 – Purchase Existing Originals

Between painting custom work, I like to work on my own projects that reflect my growth and exploration of technique and concept. These pieces mark my artistic progression. Many of these particular pieces will exhibit, but they are also for sale to art lovers and collectors. Each piece is registered with the Fine Art Registry and comes complete with a Certificate of Authenticity.

3 – Purchase Prints

Old Rusted Chevy - A Painting

Your Dad may like this one!

Most of my paintings are also available as open edition prints. Limited Edition prints are available on a limited basis. Prints are created by quality scans and/or photographs of the original piece, the colors are matched to the original, and the piece is printed either on quality photographic paper or as a high quality, archival giclee print. Please let me know if you are interested in a print of a specific painting.

4 – Sponsor a Competition

I regularly enter prestigious competitions both nationally and internationally. Entry fees can be very expensive ranging from $25 – $100 per competition. You pay an entry fee or two in return for the following:

  • PR on my site with a link to the sponsor site with additional promotion across major social media outlets
  • 20% of the awarded prize, 20% to a charity of your choice, if prize money is awarded
  • A Full Press Release to the newspaper(s) of the Sponsors choice for promoting local arts

5 – Sponsor an Exhibition

The time and resources it takes to prepare for an Art Exhibit are great. As an artist and an entrepreneur, I am prepared to enter into a partnership with an individual or company in a collaborative marketing experience. The Sponsor may receive the following based on the partnership agreement and sponsor amount:

  • PR on the my site with a link to the sponsor site as well as promotion on various social media outlets
  • A Full Press Release to the newspaper(s) of the Sponsors choice
  • Sponsorship listed on invitations and marketing materials at the Opening
  • Tasteful Advertising at the Exhibition and Opening Event
  • A percentage of the total sales of the exhibition

Please contact me with any questions or inquiries at rmcotton.art@gmail.comThank you for your interest!

January 23, 2009

The New Shop is no longer open

Sorry, Guys, but I just couldn’t handle the particluar plug-in I used for the shop.  The navigation was terrible, the formatting detestable – YUCK!!  So, I have taken it down, BUT I can still get you anything you desire that has my work on it.  And remember, I can always do a specially commissioned piece of art – just for you!

Until, I redo the shop, you can go to My Red Bubble store to buy high quality prints, cards, and even some t-shirts.

Happy Day!

January 22, 2009

The New Shop is Open!!

The New Shop at Cotton Studios is now open for business.

There may be some kinks to work out, and I am not certain I am a fan of the navigation, but check it out!

October 20, 2008

Online Information Tracker

Join me on Second Brain!

Second Brain has been my life saver! I keep track of everything on here.

I regularly browse the net looking for really awesome artists, reference sites, and other things that interest me.  With Second Brain I can keep track of all of these AND organize them into folders.  Plus I can keep track of RSS feeds I find online, upload documents, keep track of my social networking information, and so much more.  By marking items public or personal, you can also limit what is shared with others.

Second Brain works like bookmarking on a browser on crack! It is one of my favorite tools.  Check out my SecondBrain here.

October 15, 2008

Every Artist MUST have a Website

I have created a sample website for artists using Google Sites that should act as a guideline for artists who are in need of a website, but hesitant about the mysteries of the web and web site building.  I built this basic site in about an hour and a half.  Check it out.

Sample site with links to Tutorials

Sample site with links to Tutorials

If you have any additions, corrections, or questions concerning this mock up site, please let me know!

Thanks

September 22, 2008

Printing Our Own Money??

I get the Daily Heller everyday, and Steve Heller offers a little illustration/design history in every blog.  It seems that the future is always related back to the present in the world of art.  The new is simply a re-invention of the past.  It’s all been done before – or has it?

Daily Heller by Steven Heller.

In today’s Daily Heller, Steve poses the idea that we may eventually consider printing our own money – each state to encourage economic growth.  Can you imagine that??  Seems odd to me, but boy, would I LOVE to be one of those designers.  Maybe I should go ahead and try my hand at it.  Thanks, Steve, for a wonderful idea!!

September 12, 2008

Ilustrators!! You gotta check this out!

Book Publishing Companies – Publishing Books – WEbook Online Company.

So if the next big thing for writers is the wide world of online ebook publishing, then the next venue for illustrators must follow suit.  Check out this awesome site where you can browse other people’s writings, and why not try and hit them up to use you as an illustrator?

Did I mention I love the web?

August 21, 2008

Procrastination and Super Human Abilities

I have a very important project I am working on at the moment, and I am excited about it, so why do I feel the need to stop working and clean my house. First of all, I am not a cleaner. I can’t stand it to be honest. So why then, am I doing everything but this project I am so excited about? Why am I procrastinating??

I read Structured Procrastination by John Perry, a Stanford Philosophy Professor, to try and understand myself a bit better. Apparently I have committed myself “to tasks with inflated importance and unreal deadlines, while making [myself] feel that they are important and urgent”. I am not satisfied with this theory however. My tasks are important and the deadlines are real!! I have emails to prove it.

However, his article was thought provoking and did instill in me the idea that as long as I am procrastinating by doing other tasks that must eventually be done anyway, I am not a lazy slob of a human being.

Tell that to my still un-showered body as it is now 3:30 pm on a Thursday!

So, by putting structured procrastination method to use I found something very interesting:

While Cloroxing the kitchen counters, I found myself thinking about my very exciting logo project and actually developing visual ideas. I was not simply mindlessly cleaning, as I thought, but I was doing two necessary things at one time- cleaning AND brainstorming. One mindless task and one fully mindful task.

Imagine my husband’s surprise when I filled him in on my super human powers. I can actually do two necessary tasks as one time!

My only problem is now I have no excuse for floor that needs to be mopped nor my own dirty self. I suppose I should keep some things to myself…

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