Reader’s Choice
We are very pleased to announce the winner of the ‘Reader’s Choice – Name that Vase’ contest that we hosted in April! There were so many great ideas and suggestions, which you can read at the link above. I want to sincerely thank everyone who participated.
Our winner, based on your choice is Crystal Jones! Congratulations! You can view more of her writing here. You can see more images for ‘Shattered Blue’, and her beautiful poem for this piece. Thank you Crystal! If you would like to receive a free linocut print from me, please get in touch on my contact page.
‘Shattered Blue’ – Raku Vase 
Close up – ‘Shattered Blue’ 
‘Shattered Blue’ – Raku Vase
Stargate Kitty
Recently a spacial anomaly was detected in Nova Scotia. It was a baffling occurrence. How did I know that the raku pottery vase Rokonlélek was a Stargate? It seems my faithful studio cat Chairman Meow is not content to just explore this quadrant of the universe.
The Chairman would like everyone to know he is available for modelling gigs!
Integrating Blogging with Art
I am fairly new to the world of blogging, and recently I have been thinking about my progress. One of the things I am working on is integrating my social media, blog and website into my artistic practice.
I would love to hear about how other artists do this! If you have any words of wisdom you would like to share or tips, feel free to comment below! I would also love to connect with more of you on social media, so feel free to reach out to me on any of my channels. What social media channel have you found most effective for your blog?
beautiful name for such a magic vase!
Thank you! I hope you are doing well and having a great week!
I am, thank you. I hope you are doing great too! Beautiful name!
Thanks! The sun is finally out again, which makes me smile! Glad all is well.
I love the vase at the end.
It’s more than beautiful. 👍👍
Thank you for your kind words! That vase has special meaning to me. I hope you are having a great day!
I wish you a wonderful day too.😻😻🌹🌹
Shattered blue is beautiful 😊❤ Your chairman Meow is handsome 😊❤
Thank you, and I will pass along your compliment to the Chairman 😉 I hope you are having a beautiful week!
I have been doing it w’out thinking. Thanks. I love beautiful or interesting images.
Thanks for the feedback and kind words. I hope you are having a great week!
“What social media channel have you found most effective for your blog?”
Heh. I have a grand total of about three dozen followers, so I’m not the one to ask! Thanks for the mention of Rokonlelek again! Your kitty is quite intent.
You are very welcome! It was a great and serendipitous name for that vase! I was reading about your self publishing adventure (could not comment on that post for some reason), and I really look forward to seeing how that all unfolds. I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!
Beautiful vase.
Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you are having a great week!
You are most welcome and yea I am trying to have a great week.
Congratulations to Crystal! I love your Stargate Kitty and the owl.
I’m not an artist at all but I love to look at all kinds of artwork. So, this suggestion is from an arts appreciation perspective and may help some artists find a larger following (and even sell some pieces).
On Twitter, I follow an artist from Edmonton, AB: Jay is Painting | @JayIsPainting | https://twitter.com/JayIsPainting. About 4 years ago, he started something called the #ArtAdventCalendar, which encourages artists of any type, any ability to post their artwork daily, beginning December 1 up until Christmas. It’s not about selling, it’s about sharing your artwork during the Christmas season when everyone needs a respite from the politics / ugliness that Twitter can sometimes become. He keeps track of the artists participating and will retweet every tweet with the hashtag and/or that tags him.
I’ve been following him for two years. The first Art Advent Calendar had over 200 artists participating and last year’s roster grew exponentially. I can’t remember the count but it had at least doubled. Artists are from all over the world, from all skill levels, and represent a wide variety of genres i.e. painting, mosaics, photography, wood carving, fibre art, sculpture, pottery, just about everything. Last year some young people joined in and there were even crayon pieces. It’s a lot of fun.
The payoff: Jay is rigorous in his encouragement of retweeting/liking/following the artists whose work you like, and its amazing how willing people are to fill their feeds with art. I follow about a dozen artists now whose art I never would have seen without the #ArtAdventCalendar. I’ve even purchased a set of photos (of the prairies, of course) from someone I follow on Twitter. From what I see, it looks like many artists have had the same results.
My advice: Follow Jay Is Painting and he’ll begin to talk about the Art Advent Calendar in November. Also, you can search the hashtag now, to see what I’m talking about. Best of luck to all artists. The world needs to appreciate the beauty you produce so much more than it does.
I just checked my twitter, and I am already following him! I will have to pay close attention this coming November for his posts!
Thank you for your suggestion, I really appreciate you taking the time to tell me about his twitter.
I hope you are having a great week!
This is awesome! Thank you for the mention and the honour of choosing my poem and name for you wonderful art piece! I don’t think my appreciation is coming across as strongly as I mean it 🙂 I’ll definitely contact you- I’d love to display the print in my home!
Also, I have many art friends who use Instagram as a means to share their works worldwide and also communicate with “fans”.
Chairman Meow is one lucky feline to have such amazing props for photographs! I hope you have an amazing day/night/week! <3
Thank YOU so much for writing something beautiful to go with my creation. I really appreciate and am kind of honoured when people take the time to participate, and your poem was a perfect fit for the piece.
I got your email and replied. If you have a preference for one of the prints on my site, please let me know that too!
I hope the rest of your week is wonderful! Thank you again!
Well, apart from social media, there is one other thing which I really, really think you should seriously consider: Google Adwords.
I have a friend who has used them, with great success. It costs him a grand total of – hold on – 5 to 10 cents (!) for each potential customer who actually clicks on the link to his shop!
Think about that … 🙂
(oh, and the beautiful thing about it – you *only* pay for people who actually click on your ad, not for the people who just see it!)
But apart from that – you are just amazing! I mean, everything – the texts are fun and exciting to read! And the artwork is fabulous, special, beautiful, mysterious – and totally unique! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Just be yourself, and you cannot help but be a success 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much for the information and a great idea I will have to look into! It sounds like it could work very well!
Thank you so much for your very kind comments about my work and my site. It is so nice to hear such positive encouragement.
I hope you are having a wonderful week full of good things!
I am glad you think it can be useful for you! If you have any questions, please ask – I will be happy to help. 🙂
May your weekend be beautiful and happy 🙂 🙂
Kitty!
haha!