Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Vibes of Spring


"Growth" by primalpainter


This is a shot I took yesterday of a blossom on my almond tree.  I was going to leave it "normal", but I just can't seem to resist twisting and warping and spiraling it into abstract energy art.  It's pretty cool, I guess, but I still like the more psychedelic abstract images with wild colors better.  It's starting to become clear to me that not everyone shares my taste in wild, loud visuals..lol  Anyway, this is the best I can do at keeping it conservative at this point.

I've been into bold wild colors since junior high at least.  When I was younger than that, I had posters of horses on my walls (we had 12 horses), then I discovered the wonderful world of blacklight posters, blacklights, and other trippy special effect lighting.  Now keep in mind, this was way before I even knew what the word trippy actually implied, so apparently my visual tastes are just my natural state.

"Gentle Touch of Angels"

This one is a shot of a pear tree blossom.  It's kind of pretty, soft and romantic.  I wonder if my taste will evolve into something more...mature?  Maybe, but I doubt it knowing me, although I might do some softer versions of abstract art just to experiment.

I was reading a blog yesterday where a website guru was analyzing someone's site, and he said that the only thing this person's site would do for him if he were to buy one of their products was to give him some exercise as he carried it to the trash.  I thought that was harsh.  His closing advice was that people need to create products that the public wants, not create products that you like to create.

I can see the wisdom in that for a commercially run business, but what about artists?  It would seem to me that as an artist, it would be important to stay true to yourself and create what appeals to your own visual and emotional taste.  If you don't do that, then wouldn't that be selling out? 

Don't get me wrong, I've certainly done that in the past, and while it was more profitable to design for the public, ultimately it's not fulfilling and even feels fake.  As an artist, I think it's really important to stay true to yourself and find the niche of buyers that have the same kind of taste.  Although, finding those people that have the same taste as me might be like finding a needle in a haystack...I dunno....lol

Well I'm off to enjoy another nice day!  This is my favorite time of year.....watching the flowers grow and bloom, hearing the birds chirping and the frogs chirping....  watching the trees green up.....love it!

Later,

Laurie

6 comments:

  1. Laurie,that 'gentle touch' is beautiful. It may not be your typical style, but I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

    I'm thinking I would have not a second to spare for that "website guru". It's one thing to be honest,and another to be brutally unkind. I think that what you do should make your heart sing. If pleasing the public works for you, than go for it. But if pleasing yourself works for you, than definitely go for that too! (And yes, I know what that sounds like...;) Nasty guru.

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  2. I'm with you, sister! You are bonafied in your art. I love almond blossom season...

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  3. Fabulous art~ I like it! Are you planning on selling it on your Etsy/ArtFire?

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  4. I love what you did with these, and it is so YOU! It may be different than what you normally do, but it's still what you do....play with and tweak pictures! And, Mr. Guru...whatever! I have tried to create for the public, and it doesn't make me happy. Art should make the artist happy with what they've produced.

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  5. Hey Melinda, Thanks for the encouraging words, I'm starting to like that second one too, Nor the first one as much, though. The second one from a distance with my aging eyes looks like dancing angels, I may change the name. And I agree, Bad Guru, BAD!

    Henna, thank you so much, I really need to hear that sometimes and today was one of those days! And yeah, spring is here...wheee!!!!

    Taylor Lynn, my fave young person, I'm going to sell prints on both etsy and artfire, might get a couple up today. Soon I'm going to make pendants out of them. I was wondering, how do you ship and package yours? I was thinking priority mail with their free boxes with the print sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard. Any advice?

    Della, Thank you! I was starting to worry about ya, hope you're feeling fantastic! You're right, designing for the public as an artist is a drag. Did you ever play with gimp any? It sure is fun!

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  6. Hi Laurie, my fave blogger~ very cool about the prints! :) And making pendants out of them sounds awesome... I'd like to do that, my problem is- how? Let me know how you're going to!

    And as for my shipping- when it's an 8x10, I ship it in a padded envelope. (We have recycled mailers, but I guess any would work.) If it's a smaller size print, like a 4x6, I put it in an envelope with a piece of cardboard. Your idea for shipping sounds pretty good, too, though- I bet you could even sandwich the print with cardboard and put it in a Priority Mail envelope, which would cost less than a box.

    Oh, and I know this comment is already long enough LOL... but about the ArtFire free month thing, oddly I never got any notification, and though it says my link was clicked twice, it doesn't say that anyone actually signed up for a Pro account through it. ? So I don't know what happened with it, because you obviously signed up for Pro. It's kinda weird...

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