Oil painter

How would you describe your art?

I try to keep my paintings simple to allow the viewer to slow down and look deeper and feel the nurturing and healing rhythm of the universe. Lately, the animals I paint look directly at the viewer, inviting a conversation or perhaps just an acknowledgment of our commonalities. Using thin washes of transparent color, I let the oil paint drip and mix, sometimes using rags to blend, sometimes adding thick, juicy brushwork – depending on the personality of the animal I paint.

What artist(s) living or dead inspire you? Why?

I’m inspired by both Franz Marc and Marc Chagall for their use of color and imagination. I like the work of Sarah Rogers – her bold color and loose, semi abstract wildlife paintings resonate with me. Locally, I am inspired by the fauvist colors and great design work in Bob Coonts’ paintings.

What are your thoughts on selling art?

To me selling art is about building relationships. To do that you have to engage in conversations – which is why I have totally embraced social media. It is said that the internet has changed how we purchase art – for better or worse. I agree that the internet has opened up new avenues for art appreciation, and certainly I make sales via my website/Facebook – but it is not merely because I’ve put the work out there. I work hard at starting conversations about art – and nurturing relationships through social media, newsletters and attending art events.

What is the biggest challenge you are currently facing as an artist?

Time. I am not yet in a position to pursue painting full time, so I am constantly juggling my “day job” – which, thankfully, is with a great company involved in the arts – with my painting time, marketing my work and family time.

What has been the biggest victory or success in your art career?

This is a hard question – sometimes seemingly inconsequential or non-related events are what eventually leads to success. I think for me a turning point was when I finally figured out what I wanted to “say” with my art – and had the confidence to say it! Being juried into the Women Artists of the West (www.waow.org) group last Fall was a major accomplishment.

What are your short term artistic goals? And what are your long term goals?

My short term goals are to complete a major body of work and continue honing my skills artistically. Long term I would like to be a position where I am in a few major galleries and supporting myself entirely with my art.

Anything else you would like to share?

I was juried into my first WAOW show this Spring – the show opens June 4 at the Weighorst Museum in El Cajon, CA. I was also commissioned to create four original paintings and over 100 reproductions for an upscale hotel project in Vail, Colorado. I used to be impatient to be a full-time artist – now I understand that this is my journey, and all things happen as they should when they should. I just need to remind myself to trust the process.

Kate can also be found on the Art for Conservation website, Twitter, and CafePress.

Kate Dardine | Featured Art Palaver Artist is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

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Each week I host a free weekly webinar to help you sell more art. Each webinars contain about 20 minutes of content and end with a live Q&A session. If you can’t make the live event the audio recording and slides are available for free afterward.

The next webinar is on SEO practices for artists.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it basically means taking steps so that search engines can find your information when people search for it. Are you an oil painter that specializes in painting bumblebees? Would you come up in Google is I search for “bumblebee oil painting”? I would hope so.

I’ll talk about the small steps you can take to improve the SEO for your site so those people interested in your artistic niche will find you when the search the web. Usually it is just a matter of tweaking the things you are already doing. And a lot of what I teach is lessons I have learned the hard way. But since I started taking these small steps I watched my traffic quickly increase.

If you are investing in an online presence for you art then you want traffic. There are two basic ways to get traffic. 1)Pay for it with ads. 2)Optimize your site to be found my search engines. For most of us SEO is the cost effective way to go.

Please join me for the live event and bring you questions. And as always if you have issues you want me to address you can leave questions in the comment form of this post.

Below you will find the audio, video, and slides for this webinar.

SEO for Artists Webinar

If you’ve never taken part of a webinar this is a great chance to give this effective learning tool a try. You can join either through your computer and the internet or you can call and listen in via phone. And that is all you have to do, listen in. As you listen your microphone or phone is muted so no else can hear you. Please let me know if you have any questions about the webinar format.

Search Engine Optimization for Artists | Helping Your Fans Find You is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

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