Well, it is done… I have a website completely designed by me, managed by me,and updated by me. hoorah! Personal control over my face on the world… couldn’t have done it without iweb. (oops, just showed my mac undies)
It can be so hard as an artist to do it all… time to do the work that makes our lives bearable, time to make the money to afford to do the work. Then there is all the rest; a website, a blog, a marketing plan… updating the website, the blog, the marketing plan…
And ‘managing’ the artwork… photographing it, uploading it, keeping track of it (i.e. who is showing this piece? when do I get it back? who bought it? did I remember to varnish it?). Matting, framing, archiving, repairing/restoring (yeah, work gets damaged sometimes, not always by me).
Not to mention maintaining the studio! Storage of finished paintings, storage of unfinished paintings, storage storage storage. Works on paper, where to put them? I got a great deal on rolled linen, but geez, it is a BIG roll. And where did I put that box of framing hardware…. oh, there it is, underneath the figure drawings…
well, truth is obvious… organization is not my best attribute. The bigger studio I have, the more I spread out. I laugh at the ‘House Beautiful’ spreads in artist magazines, that showcase artist studios…. pristine wood floors? Neat shelves? No stacks of anything, anywhere? Come on, people!
All I ever want is one more horizontal surface… all that promising space for me to lay out another work in progress. Friends call me up, ” I have a table, do you want it?” Even as I’m saying no, it comes out yes.
Why is that?
I have new classes starting next week, I’m very excited about them. Check out the Classes page on jodymattison.com to see…
later gator
Well, building and maintaining your own website certainly is a hobby all in itself. It’s time consuming and requires a lot of thought and organisation in order to make your website navigable and pleasant and thus keep visitors returning. Not only that, but if you want people to find your website in the first place, you’ll need to ensure you’ve mastered your SEO. It will take a number of months for you to start building traffic and rankings, but if you keep plugging at it and build a base of users, you’ll ultimately achieve your goals.