An interesting thought, a video to go with the painting

The way we communicate is changing rapidly and more about video content than written words. Even Instagram is filled with short clips. I would like to have a interactive virtual gallery to show my work that does not look fake and most do right now. However, another option is doable. I think if an artist were to do a video showing the creation of the painting and finally display the painting in a proper setting will rule if you can get through the learning curve. If real adventurous it could be like a documentary. Wouldn't it be great if a collector also had the video story to go with their favorite painting?

Well that idea was hatched up a few months ago and still not quite there. Starting from scratch it is complicated! There is a significant amount of information on U-tube to help anyone along.... and overwhelm you with information at the sometime. The silver-lining, if you are persistent eventually the video and film buzz words begin to make sense. So far I made half-a-dozen videos or so using various programs and cameras. Every step required additional equipment that also needed additional parts to get it working. Amazon was at our doorstep daily.

Splendor, on the beach

Splendor 20x24 oil on linen (6/14/20 canvas 1341)

After some silly missteps, like forgetting to turn on the camera resulting in missing sequence clips. I managed to narrow the equipment down to the I-phone paired with an Idiskk (128g) enhance external storage and a simple blue-tooth remote.

Film editing was the most tedious part of the learning curve. Adobe Premier Pro is where I started by any measure the industry standard. After months of ups and downs discovered Adobe Premier Rush, a simpler version.... and life is better. The cool thing, when watching a movie and seeing those neat special effects, I know how it was done. However, getting the external mic to work with my I-phone still eludes me.... more equipment for sure.

Time-laps is my favorite, where the video races through very quickly to a conclusion. There are several ways to do it. The phone as an option on the menu bar or in a video editing program like Adobe Premier Rush. A one-hour video can be reduced to 6 or 7-minutes without serious editing. I-phone will do it by a simple choice on the menu bar.... a perfect option for short clips on Instagram. Not tried it yet.

Because of all this research I also accumulated a pile of 20x24 test paintings with some ugly videos over the last few months. In the process of salvaging some of the videos using the time-lapse option to post on U-tube as a first step. Nothing fancy but you must start somewhere.

Fast and Furious

Before uploading I spent the day looking at U-tube tutorials which helped. A bit easier than I thought, and they have FREE music I can use in my videos....duh! I used Envato, a paid subscription for the sound track.

More to come!

SIPSwimming-in-Paint

A virtual game, some internet love!

BoldBrush Gallery Exhibit - "LOCKDOWN"

Maymont, Summer Koi

44x50 oil on linen - Available as a Fine Art Reproduction on paper or canvas

As a participant in the BoldBrush Gallery's first virtual exhibit "Lockdown Exhibit" I was honored with a feature in the Informed Collector (5/28/20). The feature was also promoted on BoldBrush social media channels Instagram and Facebook 

My Instagram notifications started popping in the morning. So, I knew something good was up. A few days later still popping. When Gallery openings started canceling exhibits or going virtual Boldbrush stepped in with serious online marketing tutorials daily. One of their ideas was an online gallery to exhibit and sell from. Now you can pretty much sell from all FASO venues like the BoldBrush monthly contest. When you enter click the box your price and contact is posted with your entry.... about time! The Lockdown Exhibit was the first and they have made some sales for the artist who also receive all the proceeds. FASO also expanded the range of art beyond representational to cover 3-dimensional, digital and photography in the monthly contest. 

For artists this should be an extremely exciting time to be in the game of making and selling art. Over the last decade more has happened in the last 3-months to make artists standalone and in control of their art. Artist no longer must rely on the traditional system to get exposure or sell their work! About time! Online sales were the gift of the century. Took a while to take hold and when it did FASO was in the right place at the right time to help a segment of the art community get onboard a very fast-moving train. Build it and the public will come.... FASO did!  

Think of it this way, over the last 20-years bits and pieces were scattered worldwide and this huge magnet was turned on and drew it together in a nano second. The switch was C-19! We would have gotten there eventually, but this was a global switch! Everybody had to get a ticket and did so willingly.    

Every artist needs champions to succeed, our fans, collectors, and galleries if we have one or more fill that role. When the latter fails, and it happens all too often we must step in and look at how we market differently. If you are going to sell art or buy art as a collector FASO is the only place to be outside major auction houses selling high-end investment art.... if you're into that!

The traditional system has excluded artists from many important venues because of the need control the money. Art is big $$$$. Always down to $$$$. This year the foundation was blown up!! A virtual game now.... may the best one win!

SIPSwimming-in-Paint