I've been really wanting to change things up with the website for a while, and get my page "out of the box" - literally and figuratively, but kept drawing a blank when it came to designs.  Occasionally I'd see a really sleek artist website, and want to do a re-design mine, but ultimately I'd end up in the same place - dead in the water.

Then, my boss, Marcus, sent me a link to a website describing a way of designing sites using a grid system, and on that page was a thumbnail to a site that inspired me to actually do something.  It was simple, elegant, it was professional, it was sleek and it was all in black. 

I've never really liked websites all in black, and I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route myself, but I loved the way that their site just sort of had everything appearing to hang in mid-air. I even tried doing something that was all white, but along the same lines of "content just kind of hanging in empty space," but I kept coming back to the fact that I mat in black, [[[[[[[[iframe]]]]]]]] in black, and for some reason, my work looks best on black.  Besides, my boss rightly pointed out that the all white was just too austere, and just wasn't working.

So I tinkered with it, and ended up coming back to the all black.  And for some reason, this time it worked - especially how the images and colors really popped off the screen, visually.  I loved it.  Boss loved it.  Showed it Alvin and he loved it, and thought we could make it work. I was going to code it myself, but hubby's getting ready to use the Yahoo! Grid System for a project at work, so he asked if he could design the basic frame work.  And by golly, he made it work exactly how I envisioned - right down to the navigation that follows you down the page, so it's always ready to take you where you want to go. 

There were a few bugs, which I'm proud to say I helped fix, and then I also migrated most of the content into the new design (and made it work).  We really did get it to look almost identical to the original mock-up in Fireworks.  Actually, even better.  Still a couple little things I'd like to get nailed down, but it's up, and it works.

My favorite part is the new logo.  For ever I've been picking a font, making a logo, and then being dismayed when I saw everyone and their brother using that font for everything soon after.  This time, I've got that licked.  I used the signature I use on my artwork.  No font for that! LOL  It's simple, and it's unique to me and my "brand."

Without further ado, here is the new site design (or just visit the site, here):

A couple years ago, I applied to be a member of a co-operative gallery in gorgeous downtown Staunton - the Co-Art Gallery. A while later I received one of the nicest, and oddly encouraging, rejection letters. They said they saw potential in my work, but didn't feel I was *quite* ready for their gallery. They also encouraged me to work on my photography and then re-apply the next year.

Well, the next year came and I had just had Jade. I knew there was no way on earth I'd have enough time to devote to my duties as a member, so I decided to wait another year.

So, a couple weeks ago, I decided it was time to "try, try again." I had to go to Staunton anyway, to drop off some artwork at the Staunton Augusta Art Center (for an art auction), so I figured while I was down there I'd stop in at the gallery and pick up an application.

I filled in the application, printed out my resume and readied my work example photographs, and sent it all in. I wasn't all that hopeful. I am not always the best judge of my own work, and I figured, they'd probably just look at my work, shake their heads and say, "Nope, still not ready." And really, I'd have been ok with that.

I was in the middle of a design project for my boss when the phone rang. At first I figured it was my boss calling, as he does several times a day, but noticed it was an unfamiliar number and the name was something to do with "Photo." I was like, "who on earth is THIS." The voice on the other end had a pleasant British accent, and imagine my surprise when she introduced herself as being from the Co-Art gallery. My first thought was, "Wow, they're giving their nice rejection notices via phone now!" ..

Quite the contrary. She was calling to let me know they'd looked at and discussed my work and were willing to give me a small space in their gallery.

I'd like to tell you my first reaction was elation, but really, it was more shock, amazement, and even a little fear. You know, the usual, "What if they change their minds?" "Will I be good enough to keep up the quality and rotation of work?" Of course, to be completely honest, that's my first reaction to most things. I need to work on that.

She gave me an in-depth critique of my body of work, which she described (apologetically) as "brutal" but I really found it very honest, constructive and extremely helpful. There wasn't a thing she pointed out that I didn't agree with, or feel I could improve on, and I was overjoyed at the things she pointed out as positives in my work. She also made some suggestions for what theythought might be the strongest pieces to use as my first pieces for exhibition in the gallery.

Of course, their next gallery rotation is this coming weekend, and of course everything I'm submitting for my exhibit space needs to be freshly matted/framed, so I'm hoping and praying my photos and framing materials come this week so I can get them in this month. If not, it's no big deal. They'll reserve some space for me and I'll hang the pieces in October.

The four pieces I will be exhibiting are:









So I guess I can mark one more thing off of my goal list as a photographer. Co-Art, here I come!!

I've been wanting to enter our county fair's photography competition for a couple years now, but never seemed to find the entry info in time. This year, I found out who to contact and e-mailed them WELL in advance. I didn't hear from anyone, and so I e-mailed again, and still didn't hear anything and after a while I just figured it wasn't meant to be.

My sweet husband hadn't given up though. He scoured their website a few days ago, and finally, buried in some other info, found the entry details. The deadline hadn't passed, but it was that day, so I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to get my photos in. I (incorrectly, as it would turn out) thought you could only enter three photos, so I picked the three categories I wanted to enter, ordered the prints and then went to go find some suitable frames and mats. I went with my usual black on black mat/frame, but a slightly different frame than I normally use.

Once I put them all together, I really liked how everything looked.

I entered the following photos:

Portrait:


Still Life:


Computer Enhanced Photographs:


So I packed the photos and kids in the car and headed over to the fairgrounds to check in. I had been under the impression there was a fee to enter, but found out those were the prize amounts ($5, $4, $3) - hence my confusion as to how many I could enter. Oops.

They checked my photos in, and all there was left to do was wait until the decision was made on Tuesday afternoon. We weren't planning on going to the fair until Wednesday, so I kept checking the website Tuesday, hoping to find the results. I did see that someone else had won "Best in Show" and the Sweepstakes Award (most blue ribbons won by a single photographer), so I really wasn't all that hopeful. In fact, I kind of wondered if maybe some photos wouldn't get in at all, and maybe there would be some reason mine wouldn't have gotten in. Hey, no one said I was an optimist.

Wednesday afternoon came, and we headed out, and of *course* the first place I headed was to the Exhibition area. I browsed around looking at the various photographs and categories, and noting which had won prizes. Finally I found one of mine - the Portrait of Jade and Alvin's Mom. No ribbon. Then I found my Still Life and it had a 1st place ribbon. Woo hoo!! Then before I could turn the corner, Alvin says, "Hey, congratulations!" - turns out he'd found the third photo and it, too, had won 1st place in it's category. Can you believe it? 2 out of 3? I told Alvin, "Hey, I think I just paid for our fair tickets with my $10 in contest winnings!"

It may not have been the most prestigious of competitions, but there really were some wonderful images and work represented this year, so I feel proud to have won, and I think I can finally say I am an "award winning" photographer.

I can hardly wait until next year, when I'll enter more photos. Who knows, maybe I'll win the coveted Sweepstakes or Best in Show awards.

This morning, as I was getting ready to leave for church, I noticed I had a voicemail on my cellphone.  When I called to check it, I expected a wrong number, or maybe even that it was an accidental voice mail from me calling myown phone to locate it yesterday.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear it was from one of the volunteers at the Ellipse Arts Center in Arlington, where I have a piece currently on display in their "Photo '07" show.  As I was listening to the woman introduce herself, I realized, "Wait a minute, they only call to give *good* news..." Sure enough, she was calling to inform me that just Friday, a gentleman had come in and had purchased "Variety is the Spice of Life."  What awesome news!  Although hopeful, I hadn't really been expecting the piece to sell, so this was very, very good news.

Then she said something that made me smile even more...she mentioned how happy she was that I'd sold my work, because she thought it was a great piece and especially since Frank Day, the juror, had mentioned it.  I was floored.  The juror actually mentioned my piece?  Specifically?

Curious, I went to their site to see if there was a copy of his juror's comments, and sure enough there was.  I scanned through, and in the first paragraph, I found the following remarks:


(To read Mr. Day's full Juror's Statement, click here.)

I couldn't be more happy.  I went into this show just happy to be part of it at all, not really expecting much more than just a chance to participate in a great show, and so I am surprised and just as happy as a clam to have not only sold my piece, but to have actually had it noticed and mentioned by the juror, Mr. Day. It was a much needed pick-me-up to my confidence as an artist.

After talking with a friend who is a fellow photographer and web designer, as well as another artist friend, I decided it was time to change up my photography site's look, to go along with the new logo.

After a couple weeks of work, we finally have it up and operational.  There are still a couple of small things we'd like to tweak here or there, but it does feel good to have made the changes, and I think the new design is (hopefully) much more sleek and professional looking, not to mention easier to navigate.

Here are some screenshots from the newly designed site:






In other news, I have quite an exhibit schedule this spring, including a women's conference, two art auctions, an "art in the park" festival and a downtown art festival.  For more information on any of these, please see my website's "Updates and Events" page.

It's a new year, and with the new year, I decided to implement some (I think) much needed changes to my web site. 

It all started with overhauling the way I do my keywords and titles - which I revamped, in hopes that people can find me more easily using search engines.
Next up was my logo.  Now, don't get me wrong - I love the logo I've used since the beginning of my venture into art photography, but lately I was starting to feel like it was time for a change.  So, instead of a collage of four flower images, which are much more representative of the work I did early on, I have now opted for a collage of several of what I think are my "better" pieces.



I also have changed the font I use on my logo.  When I picked the original font, I thought it was whimsical.  Now, I see it used *everywhere* and more and more on things more craft oriented.  While there's nothing in the world wrong with crafting (I do a fair bit, myself), it's really not what I want people thinking of when they look at my site and my business card.

This is the new font - I think it's much sleeker:



So, of course, that meant editing my logo everywhere I use it - on other websites, on my business card, on my bio cards, but I think the effort will be worth it.

Then came the big job - one we've been putting off and putting off, but needed to be done.  We finally created a "Clearance Items" page, not only because people love a deal, but also because I really like to bring different things each time I do a show, and I would really like to begin turning over some of my stock of show display pieces.  So, like any business, it was time for a clearance sale.  The biggest headache was creating images for all of the items, and then editing the shopping cart code for each and every piece, but I just kept plugging away at it, and finally finished this afternoon.

Hopefully these changes will really help bring people into the site and bring more exposure for my work. 

After two years of good intentions, but missing the call to artists, I have finally succesfully entered a piece into the Ellipse Arts Center's Photography show. 

For a while now I've wanted to enter something into a show that was mostly photography, since many art shows tend to focus more on paintings and more "from scratch" type artwork.  I was first given a brochure for the Ellipse show, back when I joined The Art Group gallery in early 2005, but I had just missed the deadline.  Then last year, I totally just forgot, and missed it again.  This year I was determined to enter, so, around Christmas I went to their website and downloaded a brochure and application.

Then came the agonizing task of picking which three pieces I would enter. I had three that came to mind almost immediately, but soon thereafter I started questioning myself and wondering if they weren't edgy or artsy enough. I looked up the work of the guest juror, who would be judging the pieces, and tried to figure out what might appeal to his artistic style, but we do very different kinds of work, so I really wasn't sure I had anything that would qualify from that standpoint.  So, I then enlisted the help of some friends on a message board I frequent.  I posted several different photos of pieces and had people vote on the one's they liked best.  The first three I'd chosen were the clear favorites, however, other people brought up very good reasons to consider other pieces.  I started questioning if perhaps I should bring something that was less popular and more edgy.  Everyone I asked, including several fellow artists whose opinions I respect a lot, seemed to have a different, but very valid, reason why their favorite three should be entered, and one friend even went as far as to scour my entire body of work and pick three that weren't even on the original list - also with very good reasons why she chose those pieces.

Finally, because I realized I needed to order the photos to have enough time for them to ship and for me to frame them, I just did a "1,2,3...PICK SOMETHING." and chose:

"Variety is the Spice of Life"


"Ivy Window 2"


and "Old Barrels"


The way the Ellipse Show works is that instead of the usual, "Submit slides, with your entry form and fee, and we'll get back to you," you have to prepare up to three pieces, and actually bring them, check in, and then they judge all the pieces and notify artists the next evening if all three pieces got in.  If you don't get a call, that means you have 1 or more piece that didn't get accepted, and you need to return the next day to pick up whatever didn't get in.  We live over 2 hours away, but thankfully, my husband's parents live in the area, so we planned just to stay with them and visit with family and local friends during the stay.

We dropped off my artwork Wednesday morning, as soon as we got into town, and then waited and hoped for a call Thursday evening.  It never came, so I was nervous.  I didn't go into this with high hopes, so I thought perhaps nothing made it in.

When I went to pick up my artowork on Friday, I had butterflies.  It didn't help that the gentleman in line in front of me was told, "I'm sorry to tell you that none of your pieces were accepted."  My heart sank.  Then my husband came and patted me on the shoulders, which I thought meant, "There, there, it'll be alright."  Instead I heard that "Variety is the Spice of Life", my largest piece, had gotten in. Alvin had seen the piece over in the "accepted works" area and that was why he was patting me on the shoulder.  Granted the other two pieces didn't get in, but I'm just happy to have gotten even 1 piece accepted, and the one that would have been the hardest to transport back home (it's about 31x31).  It's one more thing I can put on my resume and feel proud about.  I'd be over the moon if my piece were to win one of the awards, because it is a competition as well, or if the pieces sells, but really, getting in is prize enough for me.

My work, and the work of the other artists, will be on display at the Ellipse Arts Center from January 26 - March 10. 2007.  Full show information, and the art center's hours of operation, can be found at the Ellipse Arts Center website.

I got my acceptance card from Art at the Mill for the fall show, and am very happy to report that two of the pieces I submitted were accepted:

"Variety is the Spice of Life" (framed size 31x31)



and "Colored Glass Quartet" (framed size 26x26)



These two pieces will be on display for sale at the Art at the Mill show held from October 7-22 at the Burwell-Morgan Mill in Millwood, VA.  For more information, visit my website, and click on "Update and Events".