3 Things You Should Know About Marketing Your Art + Some Resources

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Fielwork is an important part of my work and it gives me great stories to tell, like getting to sketch this endangered Nene goose on the Big Island of Hawaii. People want to know how and why artists do what they do.

1. Ya gotta have a plan. A marketing plan. The process of creating one will tell you who your potential buyers are and how to reach them. It will also help you sort through all the options, opportunities and possibilities to figure out what makes the most sense for what you do and where you live.

All ready for North Coast Open Studios!

ACTION: Check out Art Biz Coach. Buy the book, take one of the classes, subscribe to her mailings. She knows what she’s talking about.

2. Time to stop whining about how you don’t want to spend time at the computer. Unless you have a Marketing Manager, it’s a hat you have to wear. And the ring you must toss it into is the internet. The good news is that doing so is, in fact, more a matter of time than money.

These days, at the very least, you must have (and use and update as needed):

– A website because you can’t be a professional artist without one and it makes your work globally available 24/7/365

– A Facebook “fan” page because there are over 800 million members who are potential fans

– A LinkedIn account because professional connections count. A lot.

– A newsletter using a service like Constant Contact, which will also be a place to maintain your mailing list. You don’t have a mailing list? See Action item no. !.

Also to put into the mix: a blog (I use WordPress. Lots of artists also use Blogger), Twitter, Google+

My work set-up. Since I use my iMac to view my images, it's also handy for doing quick marketing tasks when I take a break. But I make sure I get my painting time in every week.

ACTION: Come join fellow artist, Becky Joy, and I over at our new Facebook Page “Artist Marketing Tips That Really Work!”. We both use social media for our main marketing activities and we’ll be happy to answer your questions or find someone who can.

3. Believe in yourself. It’s a privilege to be an artist. It’s an amazing feeling of validation when someone buys your work. But you have to keep going- improving and learning no matter what. You need to be able to continue to grow as an artist and nurture your talent. And YOU CAN DO IT!

On location at Torrey Lake during a Susan K. Black Foundation workshop

ACTION: Take a workshop or a class, try a new media, work on something you’ve been stuck on (I’m going to be working on painting water).  I’ve been to the Susan K. Black Foundation annual workshop a number of times and can’t recommend it too highly.

Finally, a lot of people think that artists are magical creatures, kind of like unicorns, and what we do is the result of a gift we’re born with. There’s some truth in that, but working artists know that being the best artist you can be is WORK. The best work in the world.

Mongolia Monday- Wildlife Profiles: Argali

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Ikh Nartiin Chuluu argali ram, April 2005: This big old ram let me follow him around for about half an hour.

I’m starting the New Year with a new series on Mongolian wildlife. These will be short profiles with essential information and interesting links. First up is the animal which brought me to Mongolia in the first place, the argali, now one of my favorite subjects.

Species: Argali (Ovis ammon)

Weight, height and horn length: Argali are the world’s largest mountain sheep. A large ram can weigh as much as 375 lbs (65-170km). They stand from  3-4″ (90-120cm) at the shoulder. The horns can measure up to  65″ (165cm).

Argali rams, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve, July 2009; I peeked over the ridge (after dragging my oxygen-starved body up a steep slope following my guide) and what should I see...a big group of argali rams, twelve in all.

Conservation Status: Near-threatened (IUCN Red List)

Argali rams, Baga Gazriin Chuluu, July 2009; Same trip as above, but this time the sheep were within sight of the road. I simply stood by the car and took lots of photos of these six beautiful boys

Habitat preference: mountains or large areas of rocky outcroppings in the desert steppe, some open desert; more recently found in mountain steppe (Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve)

Argali rams, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, August 2010; In all my six trips to Mongolia, going out to see argali every time, this sighting was the jackpot....five rams less than 50 yards away and I had them to myself for at least an hour.

Best Places to see argali: Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve; They may also be seen at Baga Gazriin Chuluu and Ikh Gazriin Chuluu, both local reserves (no websites)

Argali ram, ewe and lamb, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, July 2011; Typical sighting of argali up on the rocks.

Interesting facts:

-There are no argali in captivity, neither zoos or reserves. The only place to see them is in their native habitats.

– While the rams do fight it out during the annual rut for mating privileges, otherwise argali don’t have set herds or harems. Who is with who can change through the day. Rams mingle freely with ewes and lambs, form bachelor groups or wander around on their own.

– In July of 2009, I was in the right place and the right time to be the first person to ever photograph an argali swimming a river…the Kherlen Gol, which flows through Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve. It was known that they do it, but since almost all the research on them is done at Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, where there are no rivers, no one had ever actually seen, much less photographed, it.

Happy Holidays!

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I’ll be taking next week off. See you in 2012!

(Created on my iPad using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro)

Mongolia Monday- 3 Proverbs About Friendship

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If you have many friends
You are rich

If a friend’s deed is successful
Your deed will be successful

Have many friends
Rather than a thousand lan

(a lan is a unit of Chinese currency)

Now Available!

Aside | | foxstudio

My Mongolia 2012 calendar, featuring images of my paintings, is available at my Zazzle store here

Mongolia Monday- Two Proverbs That Include Argali!

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Argali rams, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, April 2005

If a turag* is tired, it goes to the mountain

If a person is tired, he goes to relatives

This could be used when a person is tired and goes to visit relatives or advice to someone who is tired.

If the in-laws become bad, a person leans on his relatives

If wild sheep becomes weak, they can lean on the mountain

It says that when someone is tired or having problems with their in-laws they should go to their relatives.

(from “Mongolian Proverbs” by Janice Raymond, Alethinos Books, 2010)

*turag is a word for argali, the wild sheep

Portrait Drawings Of Mongolian People

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After looking through Drew Struzen’s wonderful book, “Oeuvre”, I got inspired to pull out some toned Canson paper and try some portraits of Mongol people I’ve photographed over the years. I’m not anywhere near his league, but I’m really having fun doing this kind of finished drawing again.

These are all on Canson Mi Tientes paper, drawn with a 6B General’s Charcoal Pencil and a white Prismacolor colored pencil. For the monks, I added a couple of other colors for their robes.

A herder from Ikh Nartiin Chuluu, 2005
A young monk, Gandan Monastery, Ulaanbaatar, 2006
An older monk, Gandan Monastery, Ulaanbaatar, 2006
Camel herder's wife, Gobi, 2006

Mongolia Monday- An Album Of Bird Photos From 2011

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I’m going to start a short series for the holidays of “albums” with images I’ve shot of various types of animals and species that I’ve seen on my travels to Mongolia.

First up are the birds I saw on this latest trip in August 2011. If you see a mis-identified bird, please let me know. The field guide situation for Mongolian birds is still not what it needs to be.

Finally, we didn’t go hunting for any of these birds. They are what I saw as we drove around or walked in the reserves and parks. Mongolia is an extraordinary birding destination that deserves to be better known.

Daurian partridges, Hustai National Park
Crested lark, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve
Houbara bustard, just outside the northern boundary of Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve (this may have been a rare sighting)
Whooper swan, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve
Demoiselle cranes, coming into Erdenet soum; part of a large flock
Eurasian (or Common) cranes, somewhere near Hayrhan, Arkhangai Aimag
White-napped cranes, Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve (endangered)
Grey wagtail, Tuul Gol, Jalman Meadows, Khan Khentii Mountains
Japanese quail chick (?), Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve
Common magpie, east of Horgo Terhiyn Tsagaan Nuur National Park
Daurian jackdaw, Amarbayasgalant Khiid
Cinereous vultures, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve
Steppe eagle, Jalman Meadows, Khan Khentii Mountains
Golden eagle, Ikh Nartiin Chuluu Nature Reserve

Now Available For Viewing: “My Mongolia: Paintings of the Land of Chinggis Khan”

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Saikhan Eej 18x14" oil Inquire

Tomorrow night is the opening reception for my solo show at Plaza Design, 211 G St., in Old Town, Eureka! I’ll be there from 6-9pm wearing a traditional Mongol del and boots.

And for those of you who can’t seen the show in person, I’ve created a new Page on my blog and posted most of the paintings there. Just click the show title at the top.