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

An Unlikely Connection

Networking

While pursuing like minded artists, I found myself on an international site called Paintings I Love http://www.paintingsilove.com/ - basically an artist social network where you upload your paintings and the community vote and comments on each other work. I think for isolated artists (many are) it's a support group and at some level a way of receiving validation. 

Cyber mates

The community is a very good mix of entry level and professional artists. PIL had another aspect, international connections. I made many cyber friends, but one in particular, a young emerging British Impressionist I’ll call "Night Painter". We teamed up, formed an alliance and became cyber painting mates. We chat art on a daily basis, swap information, support and mentor each other. I push him he pushes me. It works because we have identical goals and in truth completely committed to careers as fine oil painters and will do what it takes!!  To date I’ve found few with that commitment and when I do, those are the emerging and successful ones. I think many are caught up in the romance of art and the idea of being an artist and once they understand the commitment (if they ever do) have to make a decision pleasure or professional, and what they expect from art. If not, it’s a recipe for absolute failure. Being an artist as it turns out is a very complex undertaking. For me its 24/7, for night painter it’s not, his challenges are greater than mine. He also has full time employment and I might add very demanding at that! Yet he still tries to paint daily or if nothing else catch up on favorite links or watch one of his art DVDs waiting for his weekend of painting. His situation is typical for an emerging artist. Even so he’s making serious progress building his base. I’m 24/7 and as result moving faster and one might say “plowing the path” night painter gets a glimpse of his future.

This unlikely connection allowed both of us to cross international lines, In my case London with the Venice in Peril Exhibit at W H Patterson and him International Salon at Greenhouse Gallery. San Antonio, TX. We both enter juried online and brick & mortar gallery exhibits. We do this because we know if we stay "isolated" as many artists do, we won’t grow and develop into truly fine oil painters, our main goal. You have to know what your competition is and match or better it!! The best way to do it, enter prestigious national and international shows. These events are always at the better galleries, hence the “best exposure” and the “best company”

While our plan is simple the goals are monumental, but like anything if you break it down into workable pieces it becomes manageable. It's different for each of us but we both choose to build a proper foundation,  a good product first! There's no point marketing a bad one. Developing your craft, receiving validation, making connections, joining like mined groups and organizations needs to be in place first!