Time Is Running Out

Soon I must return to my normal job, that of carpenter/builder. In my heart I am an artist and always will be. In the last six weeks, I have been clutching at the straws of the life I have always wanted but dared not to venture into. From the time I left school, I wanted to be an artist, but I was pointed in the wrong direction by teachers. My art teacher obviously didn't spot any talent because I got no encouragement there. My teachers told me I should follow the subjects I did best in. It wasn't what I really wanted but I didn't have any other options open to me. My father died unexpectedly when I was 14 and I lost someone who would probably have given me invaluable guidance at that particular crossroads of life.

Throughout my life, I have had moments when I could no longer suppress my desire to paint and this is one of them. I have given myself a crash course in social media and websites etc. etc. I have uploaded as much artwork to the Internet as I can and I'm still uploading. I've painted new stuff, entered a whole load of contests, but I suppose six weeks is not anywhere near enough time to get noticed. However, at least my work is there for everyone to see now. I don't paint a load of weird and wonderful paintings, but pictures where people can see what they are (and I'm not having a go at weird and wonderful art because I appreciate that too, it's just not my style). Some of my photos have been very abstract though! I'm not changing my style or what I paint just to find buyers. I hope one day, I will find my audience. This time, I'm not giving up. Soon, it's back to building for me. I need to feed my family, but maybe one day things will be different.

Do Not Touch!

I stayed up late painting last night. I got so tired and now I'm still tired because I got up early. My head is full of confusion and the worst feeling of all that you get when you have just finished a painting, the feeling that you just need to do this, that or the other to the painting. Why can't it be like at the end of an exam, when somebody takes your papers away and you can't do anything about it. There should be an emergency number that artists can ring when they are just finishing a painting. Oh well there isn't and I did 'touch up' a few bits on my painting, this morning. I don't know if I improved it or not. I don't even know if it's a good painting. I will put it out on the website later, but I didn't get that magical feeling of 'did I really paint that?' The best solution is to forget this painting and get on with the next one. We'll see!

Lost Artwork Turns Up

Something that's been worrying me a lot lately, is the apparent disappearance of my paintings that I did in England. When I moved to Sweden, I shipped all of my things here too, to my fiancée's parent's house. All my art equipment, paint and paintings were carefully packaged in one box. At some point, I had taken a couple of paintings, paints and brushes from the box. That was several years ago. When I began uploading my work onto my website, obviously I wanted to include my old work, but I couldn't remember where the box was. I asked my fiancée's dad for the box and he said he didn't have it. I searched every room at home without success. As the weeks went by, I became more and more anxious, especially as my fiancée's mother hates my guts. I didn't trust her with my things any more. At the weekend, my fiancée's dad came over. I was outside, photographing artwork. I asked him again if he had found the box. He said no and left. About ten minutes later he pulled up in his car again. he said he had the box. What a relief! I've already uploaded a couple of versions of a Jimi Hendrix painting and a one of a horse and dray outside a brewery. I can't wait to put the rest out. I'll only put the best ones on the website and maybe the rest can go on facebook.

Reproduction Quality

A big problem was brought to my attention this week when I sold the first print of my latest watercolour "She's A Rainbow" Apparently, the image which I had uploaded to my website, was not of the highest quality. You couldn't see from the on-screen image that there was anything wrong, but in any case, I uploaded a new and much better image and made every effort to get as close to the original painting as possible. This also gave me the option of selling my painting in larger sizes. That's great, a little added bonus, although I do try not to go too much bigger than the original painting. While I was changing this image, I looked at some  of my other paintings. Some of them I am really proud of and I look at them and think, "did I really paint that?". When I get that feeling, I know I've done something good. I don't get that same feeling when I view them online however. I have decided that I need to go through all my paintings and re- upload them all. I want my audience to get the same excitement from my paintings as I do. In the next  few weeks , I will be going through each painting and trying to get the absolute best image  I can, uploaded onto my website. I'm sure that all of my paintings will then be available at larger sizes. I'm not worried about anyone seeing the same image twice and thinking "oh no, no another repeat". Most people only ever view one or two paintings at a time, so even though they are older paintings, I don't think many people will have seen them before.

Taking The P

I must admit that I am a bit surprised by some of the work that has sold on Fine Art America lately. The first one I noticed , was a photo of an urinal. That was followed by images of a roll of pink toilet paper and a microscope view of vaginal cancer. Now somebody has bought a print of a flattened, rusty Pepsi can. I'm not having a go at the artists/photographers that sold these prints, good luck to them, but I'm asking the buyers, couldn't they have found something better? Did they make their purchases as a joke? There is so much fantastic art available to buy. What makes an art collector go for these types of images? I can look at all sorts of art and appreciate it and the work that has gone into it and there are so many such artworks, that I just  can't look at them all. So how do these strange and vulgar pieces of work get attention and even sold? I don't know the answer, but I feel they are making fun of the many brilliant artists out there and especially those who are struggling to make a living at it. I wouldn't put myself in that category but I would like to be there one day. One of my next pieces of work is called "The Final Frontier 5 (or maybe 6 or both)". This is also a "toilet paper" photo, but my image, although having a laugh, would look good on anyone's wall. It's the result of my creative mind and hopefully will provoke curiosity from those who view it. Yes, I'm having a laugh, but not at the expense of other artists. I want them to laugh with me. The biggest difference  between my artwork and those I first mentioned in this post, is that my work will not sell.

Is Digital Art Killing Traditional Art?

There's a question for you! Personally, I have never tried digital painting. I don't know anything about it really, but I am curious as I've seen so much fantastic work produced by those using it. That's something to try in the future. I do feel however, that digital photography  is  killing my traditional watercolour painting. I get so many ideas just now, my head is spinning! What I don't have is time to act on them all. I can produce a whole catalogue of new digital images in a day if I want. Not any old rubbish, but stunning works that would look great in any exhibition. My problem is, that I want to paint watercolours, but I can't possibly be as creative and productive as I can with digital imagery. I have ideas for paintings and all I do is write them down on a "to do" list. I sat down this morning and said to myself, right! now I am going to paint something. Then I see a beautiful rose which has flowered today, on the kitchen window sill. I'll just take a quick photo, I think. No such thing! My mind starts to wander and before I know it, I'm taking photos of other things and then experimenting with lighting and digital effects. Help! All this at the same time as I try to build up my following, attract buyers and look after three young girls. Anyway, I'm off to try again and this time I'm going to focus on painting and leave the camera alone.

Which Category?

Sometimes I produce a piece of work which I'm not sure which category(ies) it falls into. This true of  my latest upload, Psychedelic Roses. It started from a photograph so I could class it as a photograph, but I don't  really dare say what other categories it comes under now. Could it be: digital art, abstract, pop art or something else? I know where I am with my usual medium, watercolours, but this is a little different. Can anyone help me out? You can see this work on the slide show.

Attracting An Audience

I seem to spend nearly all my time lately, trying to build up an audience for my website, blog and facebook page, as well as trying to get more followers on Twitter. I would much rather be producing new work but it's a chicken and egg thing. The hardest thing is getting likes on facebook. If I write a post with a link to my website, people click 'like' on the post, but don't click the link and then like. A more direct approach is to enter my work in competitions. This works well for individual pieces of work, but it doesn't get people to look at my other work. I do have a very varied selection of work, so if I put out a link to a flower photograph, my audience for that photo might think that's all I do and totally miss my abstract work or watercolour landscapes or whatever. Anyway, if you have time, please have a browse on my website or if not maybe next time you view one of my images, click previous, next or view all. You might be pleasantly surprised. http://1-martin-howard.artistwebsites.com

Pixel Lupins

Today, I uploaded a series on 10 abstract photographs, Pixel Lupins. These photos are designed to look at their best when they are viewed full screen. Smaller images just look like poor quality close-ups. The bigger, the better and what you should see are vibrantly coloured images with fantastic shapes, giving a similar effect to stained glass windows.

New Work

Yesterday, I finally managed to produce a new watercolour painting - my first for nearly eight years! I was wandering about like a headless chicken before I started it. It's hard to just pick up where you left off, after so long. Not only that, but many of my tubes of paint had dried out. I still managed to produce something though. I just hope others like it too. It's an abstract which isn't my normal cup of tea. I like it anyway. The thing now, is to continue painting. My whole life, I have had periods where I have painted several paintings and then just stopped for long periods. My first big batch was 1989, then 2005 and now hopefully 2013. I don't know why this is. It could be a lack of time, subject matter or inspiration. I just don't know the answer but it probably helps, not to run out of ideas for pictures. On that note, if anyone has a photo(s) that they think would make a good painting, please let me know.

Black and White

I've been uploading a few black and white photos lately, paired with their colour alternatives. These are for a contest I'm entering. One of the photos was of a steam train and after I uploaded it, my viewing figures went up drastically. That photo quickly pulled in 28 views. I only wish my artwork was as popular, but I suppose the reason for the photos's popularity was because so many are searching for steam train pictures.