May 14, 2013

Day 14 - Marketing Challenge



Today's assignment from :  http://lesliesaeta.blogspot.com/

The assignment was to give away something free, then link it from your blog to facebook.   I have really gotten good at linking, but I might have made this one too complicated.  Please let me know if you think so. 

This give-away started earlier in the month.  First I tried using a widget that appeared on the bar under the big photo on the fanpage.  No one entered that one so I finally removed it.  Next I tried creating an event.  Five people did enter that I will include their names twice because it took some doing to figure that one out.  So far there have been around 50 new likes on my fanpage which could be a coincidence. 

I've been doing give-aways for about 6 months, done by filling out an entry form at my studio, very low tech, but there were over 90 entries last month.  That one was for a painting of a jelly donut. 

Link to fanpage:
https://www.facebook.com/carol.josefiak?ref=tn_tnmn

Last month's giveaway

More about the Marketing Challenge........

One of our assignments recently was to look at some new blogs especially ones related to marketing.    After looking at a few I was astounded by how much I don't know.  There are even blog radio shows about how to improve social media using facebook and pinterest.  Pinterest was the biggest shocker to me.  I had heard of it, but it wasn't until a couple of weeks that I noticed how some of my paintings from Daily Paintworks had been pinned. Pinned?  I kept investigating, then about a week ago I joined and started making "boards",  found out how to link to my facebook page and now I am hooked.  It is fun to look at other boards and have become a follower of quite a few boards.   I put a link on my blog, too. 

Today I listened to one of blogs I mentioned, it was the one about social media, and changed Pinterest to a business account.  I don't quite see the difference yet.  I have become so fascinated by all this, that it is consuming a lot of time.  In the end, it is probably still better to use most of your time to paint which is the best way to improve and then, hopefully, sell paintings. 

The 30-day marketing challenge with Leslie Saeta, where all these blogs are listed has opened my eyes about all that is out there about marketing.  Thank you, again, to Leslie for this treasure trove of information. 

I'll include my latest painting just to prove that I am still painting. 

 

Mother's Day Flowers

Painting of flowers that I picked yesterday.  The jar is one I got from an antique story in Blacksburg, Virgina. 

 

 

"Just Picked"



 

8 x 10

Oil

 

I'm concentrating on keeping the brushwork loose and used some of the techniques I learned from the Dreama Tolle Perry workshop that I attended.  It always takes me awhile to incorporate what I learned into my paintings.  I started with transparent colors first, then layered on the opaques.  

 

Demo for painting

 

First, I toned the canvas using Rembrandt's Transparent Red Medium.  The reason I use it  is because it makes the final painting more luminous when it peeks through here and there.  I started by measuring the distance between the eyes, then using that increment to place nose and top and bottom of the head.  I started with the darks.  (Before even starting the painting, I did a couple of drawings and a study with oils)

 Then I started adding the white and grays, trying to include temperature difference to make it more interesting. 

 Finished up by adding details, lightening the ears, and adding the color.  I never met the dog in person, but the owner said the fur was black even though the photo looks more brown and white. 

Sold - at LibertyTown Arts Workshop show "Feast for your Eyes" - April 2013

 

 

 

 

 

A Balanced Diet - 11 x 20

Oil

 

 

 

 

6 x 15

Line-up

Oil

 

 

I said I would do another collage to be sure I remembered how and I'm glad I did because I learned how to do a border.  I like ipiccy even more now. Just  google ipiccy.  I guess I could use this as a badge, too. 

 

 

 

Day 6 of the Marketing Challenge by Leslie Saeta

 

Today our challenge was to create a badge (which is displayed on the sidebar), then connect it to our facebook page and blog.  The only trouble I had was trying to figure out how to put a border on the badge. I'm still not sure if I did it correctly because I used a background and then placed the photo on top of that.   Look closely and you will see that it is a little uneven.  If anyone knows how to create a frame or border or ipiccy, please let me know. 

 

Still I have really enjoyed learning these new things.  Ipiccy is useful for scrapbooking, making calendars and cards, etc. 

 

I even made coupons yesterday using the collage from the day before. 

Day 5 of the Leslie Saeta Marketing Challenge 

 

Create a collage and put it on facebook and your blog plus link to Leslie's site.  This was the toughest one so far for me, but I am learning a lot of new things.  Google alert, yesterday's challenge, was a new one for me, too.  Have you ever heard of it?

 

Here is a link to Leslie's Blog which includes the challenge. Leslie Saeta's Blog Thank you to Leslie for providing this kind of help.  Here on my blog, I can confess that it took a long time to learn how to do this.  I have never used ipiccy before today.  I think I will try to do another collage tomorrow to make sure I remember how to do it. 

 

 

This is a painting that I did in 2008.  I hope it is okay to say that it is a favorite of mine and that is   because of its simplicity.  I like the hard and soft edges and the way some leaves are detailed and others fade into the background.  It also has a little abstract quality to it. 

Pink and Red Roses

8 x 10

(framed in a wide gold frame)

 

Available for purchase on my website

Leslie Saeta started a 30 day marketing challenge today, May 1st.

  I am working on the first challenge to start a mentoring group, one that exchanges ideas and helps one another. 

I just realized that it would be a good idea to link my blog to my website.