Posts Tagged ‘top ten’

We’re planning to go to our first film festival in a few weeks – the Sedona Film Festival. A friend has a rough cut of his film in the festival, and we’re just downright curious to see lots of indie films, as we are slowly discovering the joys of these gems. Cool Hunting spotlights Sundance and some new films.

From JPG Mag, the best of their Tritych challenge….

One - A Few - More by Cheryl Andrews

On thinking back to the “way things were,” a reflection on “type.” Kind of interesting to look at “the way we were.”

Upside Down, Left To Right: A Letterpress Film from Danny Cooke on Vimeo.

Totally appropriate for me right now, as I am listing some deadlines  for shows I would like to enter. From Alyson Stanfield’s Art Big Blog comes “Calls for Entries.” I have become very selective with the show deadlines I add to my calendar. Where possible, I try to enter anything that is not juried, especially if I have work already completed. I also look closely to see if I can use existing work for a show. Trust Alyson to be extremely timely!

Wish you had a manual for your new toy? Manuals too hard to read and understand? From The Best Article Every Day comes the best phone manual – I LOVE the creative marketing and design!! Be sure to check out the Bonus on The Best Article – very clever!

Out of the box from Vitamins on Vimeo.

Also from The Best Article – a few good laughs…….How to Properly Place Employees: (I could probably do this for teaching…..)

1. Put 400 bricks in a closed room.

2. Put your new hires in the room and close the door.

3. Leave them alone and come back after 6 hours.

4. Then analyze the situation:

a. If they are counting the bricks, put them in the Accounting Department.

b. If they are recounting them, put them in Auditing.

I spotlighted OrigamiJoel a while ago, and here he is talking about the papers he uses for folding….and adding paint. Love this guy’s work!

I don’t normally read the NY Times, but I discovered Nicholas Kristof’s column on Change.org and thought it was great. Here is a column of questions to Melinda Gates after she returned from Bangladesh, about what individuals like you and me can do to change the world.

Since women’s health has become a political hot button, read Margaret and Helen’s take on the Komen fiasco. I LOVE these ladies!!!.

I discovered this wonderful blog, “Letters of Note.” Wonderful letters from all assortments of folk, but my favorite so far has been this letter from a former slave to his previous master. Absolutely exceptional and beautiful, and “in your face” in an craftily literate way.

Have a great week – let me know what interesting things you find on line.

There’s a lot of great pictures and all on line for this week, but I just stumbled on this video that is a MUST SEE for women. It’s an important statement about women in our society. Knowledge is power. “Misrepresentation.”

From Cool Hunting, a really interesting photography contest: repurpose a pattern.

Great stuff on JPG Magazine – voting on one of their contests – lots of movement to these pictures.

Mathias Roller

 The 10 Most Anticipated Films of 2012 – from The Best Article Every Day

Here’s a really interesting post from Laura Bray – really unusual – about make “play food” for the kids to use in their “play” kitchens. I loved the pasta, and this ravioli is genius!

thought-provoking from The Creativity Post: The Responsibility of the Audience. thoughts from you?

Also from the Creativity Post: Mozart, Newton and You? Again, very thought-provoking. I love this comment:

“Creativity is essential to particle physics, cosmology, and to mathematics, and to other fields of science, just as it is to its more widely acknowledged beneficiaries — the arts and humanities. Science epitomizes the extra richness that can enhance creative endeavors that take place in constrained settings. The inspiration and imagination involved are easily overlooked amid the logical rules. However, math and technology were themselves discovered and formulated by people who were thinking creatively about how to synthesize ideas — and by those who accidentally came upon an interesting result and had the creative alertness to recognize its value.”  Your comments? For example, were Gates’ opportunities more important than his drive and talent?

From the 365 Project – this week’s top ten:

Microwires by peter/zip

Now this is weird…..Bent Objects by Terry Border, from The Best Article Every Day….

And from SewCal Gal comes a virtual tour of Hoffman Fabrics – really interesting if you’re any kind of a fabric-oholic….really interesting to see the process for producing all those yummy fabrics.

That’s it for this week – let me know what you find that’s unusual on line this coming week!

Someday I’ll get to the Houston Festival again, but in the meantime, I can live vicariously through blogs! Here’s some great eye candy, plus a few other goodies….and Jack Nicholson……

From Frieda Anderson comes a look at some spectacular quilts from The International Quilt Festival in Houston.

Autumn Beauty by Barbara Shapel

Refracted Lily - Gloria Hansen

From the folks at C&T Publishing comes a wrap of market with some vendors that look so wonderful!

From Susan Brubaker Knapp comes another look at Houston Market.

A cool discovery on YouTube…I’m not one for music videos, but this reminds me of something the kids on Glee would have done. From Panic At The Disco comes “Ready to Go.”

From JPG Magazine comes pics from their latest – “Smokin'”. As usual, great stuff!!

Space Flower by Greg Byer

From Mad Magazine comes a very different offering – a look at a USO tour. From someone who ALWAYS watched Bob Hope, this article gives good insight to life overseas serving our country.

And also from Mad comes a send-up of the Family Circus….great cartoons by Bill Spleen…..

From The Best Article Every Day comes great ways to maintain your learning. As someone who will probably never stop taking classes, there’s some great stuff here to explore.

And now this….is really wrong – and oh so funny……suppose The Shining had been a romantic comedy…….someone with waaayyyy too much time on their hands……

Yeah, this week was not really motivational…..I keep reminding myself I am retired, and I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to….but I still feel the need to accomplish things…and I didn’t do much this week…….including getting caught up with Google Reader. So the above quote is taken from an article on Dumb Little Man about motivating yourself. Good way to start out the day!

From Alyson Stanfield’s blog Art Biz comes Ten Tips for Pricing Your Art. Pretty timely for me, as I am looking at some print venues. It was interesting, being told at one art show that I was in that I was WAY underpriced. This should be good food for thought – and planning.

Maybe I am so used to having a web presence that it seems like second nature to me. After all, we’ve been on line since 1998 – ancient, almost….So I have a hard time when I find a new artist (or an old one) and can’t find a web presence. Such is the case with some artists from our last weekend in Sedona/Cornville. Arlene Walsh is a “local” lady – Payson, AZ. I’ve seen her patterns for years, and actually bought a few to make “sometime in the future.” Scroll down on this site to see a selection – some fine Southwestern images.

From C&T Publishing comes a giveaway – Mickey Lawler’s Skyquilts. First of all, C&T books are class all the way. Secondly, this is a gorgeous book!!

Along the lines of “what were they thinking” comes the National Costumes for the Miss Universe Pageant…..Here’s Miss Ecuador….

Some very interesting ideas for wearables….check out Miss USA – a little ridiculous, if you ask me!

X-ray photography as art – some cool stuff here….be sure to get to all the sections.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you know I am scanning and putting all my slides of China from 30 years ago to digital. The Best Article Every Day has a section on 21st Century China – you need to scroll to the article. Some amazing photos of a changing country. Be sure to check out the photo that comes after this one.

And I just love the juxtaposition of the bagpipes and china on this next one…..

“Women play the bagpipes as they stand on a beach in Hong Kong, on October 9, 2011. Finding practice areas in the densely populated city is notoriously difficult for practitioners of the instrument traditionally associated with Scotland and Ireland. However, the pipes enjoy a loyal following throughout much of Asia and are a regular feature of military and police bands across the region.(Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)” (From the website)

And one more….”The Miao ethnic minority dancers perform during the Opening Ceremony for the 9th National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of the People’s Republic of China, on September 10, 2011 in Guiyang, China. (Feng Li/Getty Images)” (from the website)

Thieving penguins…..who knew….

Have a good week – let me know what you find online!

I wanted to look at something different this week, and I find I’ve been spending a lot of time looking at YouTube – it constantly amazes me what one can find there. I followed a link to an artist who creates creatures powered by the wind. This was my inspiration for everything else I’ve found this week. Theo Jansen’s Strandbeests.

Ao this video led me to check out a couple others from BBC. I admit to watching Graham Norton – he is so funny, and he has great guests. Well, I love Helen Mirren. Here’s a great bit about being naked in film.

Then I decided to go and check out one of my favorite artists, Andy Goldsworthy. This video starts with a look at some of his work, and then it movesto a sixth grade project – kids making similar work out of natural elements found in their own school yard. (Kids and art – so close to my heart.)

Then I went searching for some Broadway stuff, and I found this great parody of Chicago, “Glossy Fosse.”

And a little more from Forbidden Broadway: Chicago…..

If you’ve ever done auditions of any kind….or if you just know horror stories, this is a riot…

Now this one is just downright feel-good – especially if you’re of a certain age-bracket that used to jitterbug…or so I’ve heard (snort…).

Some very cool science and math in this water droplet…..

I LOVE Vi Hart and her math doodles……watch the cool patterns that happen in this doodle….

And to finish this post off:

Have a great week exploring the web!

Oh my goodness. Today is the third amazing day in a row! It all started on May 1 when I began the first season of Cocreating Our Reality and practicing the Laws of Abundance and Attraction. I started with changing my thinking to always being positive. The first week was very tough, as I became aware of just how negative many of my thoughts were. Eyeopener, to say the least.

So when I retired the end of May, I knew I was going to become a full-time artist – something I have wanted to do for YEARS. Each time I wrote an abundance check with the New Moon, great things happened. So how does Monday Marketing and Top Ten come together? Well, if you’ve been following the blog, you know that on Mondays I have been looking seriously at marketing the business and our art. It’s been all about organization and learning and getting out there. At times it seemed like I was just doing more things and not having anything to show for them.

The rationale part of me knew that I was laying groundwork, and I would have to be patient. Now here’s the top ten for us since June 1 when I started the heavy work for marketing.

* I started with lynda.com and took some classes on Facebook and Twitter, making changes and setting up pages and addresses and plans.

* After getting them set up, I then started a class in Linked In, as I had an old profile from over a year ago. Again, I worked through a class on lynda.com to do all this. So the profile got set up.

* One of the things suggested in the Linked In course was to join some groups and become part of the conversations to develop our networks.

* I joined Art Business and Art Marketing, as well as a few others, and I heard about a call for work for a show in Tucson called Tikkun Olam. All work was 12 inches square and reflected on crises facing the earth.

* I offered to help and sent out information about the show throughout my various networks, plus I made a piece for the show.

* I attended the opening reception for Tikkun Olam (see the post here) and met and chatted with the organizers of the show, two artists from Tubac and Santa Fe, plus talked to a couple of people interested in the piece I created (you can see it here – it’s the yellow piece). What was so cool was to get the positive feedback from the organizers; they loved the piece and (as I found out today) the hanging system.

* I sent thank you notes with offers of additional work to the organizers the next day.

* I got an invitation as a result of the reception to join a group of artists planning a show in October in Tubac (a major arts mecca in southern Arizona) and attended the organizational meeting today.

* This show will be October 22 in Tubac, called Anza Energy. We’re putting about a dozen pieces in the show. And…..

*One of our marbled pieces, Ocean’s Bounty, may be the piece on the main poster for the show, and…..several of the pieces – if they don’t sell – will probably go into a spa resort as part of a water show in Tubac, and….one of the galleries whose owner is also participating, has a couple of our pieces now in his gallery as part of the publicity about the Anza Energy show.

So……get out there and do the work – your art and your marketing!!

Once again, great stuff on line this week. I actually lost a bunch of hours last weekend on YouTube. I found the video below, and that led to another, and then another…I stopped at “Slumdog Price is Right.” The amount of creativity out there – that people are willing to admit to – is staggering.

On to what I’ve found this week: Great photos from World War II – Lest we forget….images from World War II

Thinking about making a book? Contributing a book? Here’s really good advice from Joanne Mattera Art Blog. What about ne-time use of your images? There’s a lot of good information in here about points I hadn’t considered.

THE. BEST. PARODY. EVER. Especially if you know the music to West Side Story…..

Boy, have wedding invitations changed! Here are 50 Stunning Wedding Invitations – I love the “wheel”!

Via Alyson Stanfield’s Art Biz Blog comes this article of “speed dating for artists and retailers.” This is a really cool concept – check out the article – and successful.

Fine Fine Art Studios Online comes a timely article on doing your art inventory – something on my to-do list for the next month.

From Rayela Art comes a review of Hand/Eye Magazine. Wow – that is definitely on my subscribe list. I agree with Rachel’s comment about wanting to have something in your hands to admire, even though you can see some of the same things on line.

One of my favorite artists is Chris Jordan, who does a series called “By the Numbers: Portraits of Global Mass Culture,” which points out environmental facts in an “in your face” piece of artwork. This is his “Whale.”  Go to the site and zoom in – Depicts 50,000 plastic bags, equal to the estimated number of pieces of floating plastic in every square mile in the world’s oceans. It is an amazing piece of work. On the one hand, you are stunned by the statement, and then when you zoom in, you are horrified as each plastic bag becomes noticeable.

From Happy Place, Brilliantly Smart-ass Responses to Completely Well-meaning Signs.

And finally – the really critical stuff we should have learned in math – from The Oatmeal:

I’m getting caught up from a few days off, so I’m overwhelmed with all that I’m reading and seeing on line this week. The first article from Dumb Little Man has some great thoughts on productivity, perfect for me now as I try to be productive and at the same time not flit from one thing to another.  “Is Your Passion for Productivity Hurting Your Creativity?”

Also from Dumb Little Man, and in line with the last post, comes finding time for meditation. “Three Ways to Bring Meditation into the Chaos of Daily Life.” Sounds like my life on a regular basis…although not as much now that I’m not teaching. (Have I mentioned at all that I’m retired?!?!)

I enjoyed the one or two times I have dyed fabric. I played everything by ear, bot really sure what I would end up with. I discovered one very important lesson – I have a LONG way to go to get good at this. One person who already is there is Vicky Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber. Read about her process just in creating a monthly color palette, in this case reds. And many of us know just how difficult it is to achieve the right red.

Since I am actively marketing my Etsy store, I discovered a blog related to all things Etsy, called Handmadeology. Lots to explore and read about – I’ve already picked up an idea for promoting my holiday sales.

And…for those of us getting older….remember Wayne Newton as a young sensation? Check out Mad Magazine‘s send-up of a new album…..you have to go and look – won’t spoil the surprise here…..

And also from Mad – Dick Cheney’s resignation letter….you’ll laugh and cry at the same time for poor Dickey…..

I am really taken with the flash mob concept, and this one is pretty cool – Ravel’s Bolero at the Copenhagen Central Station. Imagine a full orchestra just appearing….loved the bassoon, and wondering about transporting the percussion section….

Anyone using Pinterest? I’m having trouble getting it to work – maybe it’s because I don’t understand it totally, or maybe…it’s because the IMac is over 5 years old and not happy these days….Anyway, I’m a sucker for post-it art. I’d like your feedback on using Pinterest.

In memory of September 11, here’s an update from The Best Article Every Day about the World Trade Center.

Finally, to end with a tie-in to the beginning: 20 Ways to Be Better at Life Today, fropm the folks at Nerd Fitness (how can you not love that?)

This week has some really cool pictures and a few extra videos, including one that could become my latest obsession….Enjoy!

Writing the Artist Statement – some good thoughts about making the unexplainable explainable. From The Future Buzzcomes 50 Viral Images so far for this year – some GREAT stuff, plus you can surf to the other sites.

Coming September 14 – A Day of Reality on Climate Change.

If I were 20 years younger, I would be so behind the Khan Academy as a new way of teaching and presenting material in mathematics. This guy could revolutionize the teaching of math, and I love how it is coming more popular – I have a friend who’s son is just beginning the program as part of his homeschooling, and he will love it – and it’s free.

We are talking a new bad habit for me – I caught this video on “zenspirations” by Sakura, and I could become hooked….

From Alyson Stanfield and the Art Biz Blog comes “Collecting Your Collector’s Names.” Good ideas for keeping track of who is buying your art.

A new blog I’ve discovered – Write It Forward and the post “Thriving in the Choas of Publishing.” Interesting for those of us thinking of doing ebooks.

From The Best Article Every Day comes Top 100 Little Know Websites Everyone Should Know About……there’s stuff here that just amazes me….NerdBoyfriend and Fearthe GayChicken…..just sayin’.

I discovered this site by accident a couple of weeks ago, and I have been faithfully watching videos and slowly trying them – a new free motion quilting video for 365 days. The Free Motion Quilting Project is addicting.

And finally, a very clever video called Typolution, using nothing but type to tell a story.

Send me cool stuff you find on the web – I am entranced with this technology!

Welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday….never know what you’re going to find! Plus I love reading about what people are doing. And blogs about history – but I’m staying away from current politics – makes me too angry and depressed, and I just don’t need that! So here’s just the cool stuff….

Speaking of politics (and this will be the last time, I promise), when I do look at headlines, I scan Al Jazeera in English. If you depended on just the US media, you wouldn’t know nearly 75% of what is actually going on around the world. Forget your previous conceptions of Al Jazeera – this is good all-round news.

From Cool Hunting – a really interesting take on working with crystal – including rings and weapons….

From Cool Hunting this week also comes where to play on Bora Bora. I REALLY want to go on vacation now!!

From the JPG Blog,  a new contest – photos are FABULOUS!!

Antelope Canyon, Abstract #1 by Linda Clifford

Also from Cool Hunting, a short video of an art show in Mexico:

Cool Hunting Capsule Video: Liquid Sculptures from Cool Hunting on Vimeo.

From MAD Magazine, a look at the class of 2015 (hey, it’s the teacher in me…..).

Seven Steps that May Dramatically Boost Your Happiness from Dumb Little Man – some good ideas here. One step? Follow your bliss.

If you have not discovered fractals yet (and forget about all the math involved – just go for the beauty), you need to look at Fractal World. Here’s their fractal of the week:

Shopping more at Farmer’s Markets more? If you follow Summer Tomato, you will be able to tour farmers’ markets around the world. Here’s Shanghai….

Mix zentangles, ATC’s and color, and you get Enthusiastic Artist‘s  gorgeous work!

Have a great week – send me cool stuff you find online!

I so enjoy reading all my blogs in Google Reader – what a wide range of art that’s out there, commentary, gorgeous eye candy….so much available through the net. Makes me glad I live at this time in history when I can sit at home and just explore. So enjoy this week’s finds!

After years of dealing with No Child Left Behind comes Borowitz with this gem: No Politician Left Behind….seems only fair….

Talking about art fairs, this is an excellent post from Fine Art Studio Online about what NOT to do – and when I did the few shows, I was careful to not break any of these rules – because I HATE it when I’m ignored.

Joen Wolfrom is a major player in the art quilt world, and I own (and refer to) all her books. She has a blog, Playing with Color, and it’s a treasure trove. Just recently it’s all about blue – gorgeous! And to add to that, she gives us hmework to improve our own use of the color – and the pics are AMAZING!

Now here’s an idea that reminds of work by Andy Goldsworthy: Sand Art by Jim Denevan. So fleeting….

Speaking of Andy Goldsworthy, I was introduced to his work about 10 years ago, and I pine for a few of his books to own. I’ve been through everything the library has, and I’ve watched Rivers and Tides several times. The juxtaposition of art IN nature is beautiful. Google some images for him and you won’t be disappointed. This is one of my favorites:

In case you are even more interested, here are some items from Amazon (and yes, in the interests of full disclosure, I make a couple of pennies if you follow the links…).

Since I’ve been working on improving my machine quilting, I loved finding this next site for P. Nosa – and you can see his solar-powered sewing machine….

Now for somethng different – I’m looking for some good websites on the following:

* Basic yoga poses (needs to be for the overweight-can’t-bend-down-person)…..

* Feedback from those of you who have used Fine Art America – how did you do and would you recommend it?

* A good water color class on line…..and

* Great places for sightseeing and food in Oregon – specifically the coast and Portland….

Any and all help greatly appreciated!

I’m not so much of a tech geek as I thought, as it wasn’t until about 4 months ago that I finally realized how Google Reader works. Now I love scrolling through to find new updates, and I’ve figured out how to start a draft of a blog post for Tuesday Top Ten. And there’s more already bookmarked and waiting for new posts. Such an amazing wealth for an information junkie like me!

An update of the classic Elements of Style (to which I still own two copies…): From Cool Hunting, a site with loads of VERY cool stuff…..

Some very beautiful art quilts made with Indian silk by Sue Reno, posted on her blog.

Great photos of women during war from Child of the Moon

Tose of us of a certain age will remember Mad magazine, and for some of us it was forbidden reading material. In case you didn’t know, they have a blog, and today’s artwork celebrates 3000 hits by Derek Jeter. I’ll let you peek for yourself…..it’s worth it…..

From Mamacita at Scheiss Weekly comes this great post on teaching. It really resonated with me, because these are all the things I’ve done over the years to relate to kids at all levels.

Here’s a very cool giveaway from a very talented artist, Marie Segal at Art From My Heart. These little guys are great – unzipped hearts. Check it out and start following Marie – she has some great blog posts.

As artists, marketing is a large part of our life, as you can tell if you follow my Monday Marketing posts. Renee Phillips from Manhattan Arts is an “artrepeneur,” a term I really like. Check out her blog for some really great tips and motivation.

Those of us who post lots of pics of our work on the web need to be aware of watermarking to protect our work. Creating the Hive had a great tutorial this past week on just that. It’s on my list of things to do as I update my Flickr stream.

Interested in seeing what color does? There’s this very cool Color Designer on line that lets you mix colors as primaries, complementaries, and so on. Very instructional…and fun! Visit it and play around – you’ll find it very helpful.

On a more serious note – a video I first saw on the environmental blog A Note From Your Mother: gorgeous, scary, depressing, and amazing…you need to watch it.

It’s Monday again….and it seems like all I did was read, look at emails, and set up buttons and the like. This is the “time-sucker.” So my goal for this blog post is to try and identify what needs to be done each week for marketing and set up a kind of calendar to work with.

This is what I’m dealing with: Ebay, Etsy, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Cafe Press, Zazzle, newsletters, a website, lynda.com, flickr, and a blog. I am trying to avoid doing all of this every day, because nothing else seems to get done. I’m brainstorming as I write, with the hope that by the time this post is done, I will have a plan.

Ebay: hubby handles almost all of this, including postal trips. But…if we are going to increase sales, we need more product, and I would like to help with the actual marbling. So…..marbling weekly. I do need to update the About Me page…..

Etsy: the bulk of the organization is done. But…I need to be adding product on a regular basis, which means I need to keep making things. It would be nice to have one new product up each week, if not more often. One of the goals this week is to add some of the major artwork (even though I don’t expect to sell it on Etsy, it is more exposure) on the site, as the pictures are redone. I want to continue with the circles marketing, which, if I have enough products, could be done every day – 15 minutes for this. Plus, I need to keep working…….

LinkedIn: profile is done, and I have registered for several groups for business. I have found already difficulty in keeping up with reading emails each day from the groups and have already deleted one group. This week I will determine which groups look to be the most advantageous. I also need to complete the setting up of a profile of artwork.

Facebook: I read this several times a day. I have a fan page which needs serious work, as well as Art From The Heart, which is to support healing art after the Tucson shootings in January. I have added FB buttons to my blog and this week to my website. I have read the Terms and looked at all the privacy settings. I also went through the photo stream stuff for FB and fixed photos for both the personal and fan page. I need to really think through what is going to happen with the Fan Page.

Twitter: I am finishing a class from lynda.com on using Facebook and Twitter for business, and I highly recommend the site. For #25 you can choose different trainings all available for a month at your schedule. I picked up all kinds of little tips, most of which have already been implemented. But….and this is a BIG but….the time for tweets and what to tweet. By syncing a lot of the programs, my blog appears on Twitter, FB, LinkedIn, my tweets appear in a couple of places. I don’t think I can go further with this – the tweet button is on the blog and soon to be on the website. This is one area that needs some serious scheduling. Since I use TweetDeck (which is free…), I can schedule and keep track of who’s following and what is getting retweeted. So…I’m going to use Sundays for scheduling business tweets for the week, and I will look through the twitter feed once a day to see if there’s some good stuff to retweet.

Cafe Press: I have a site, a free one, so I am limited as to the number of products I can put up. I haven’t looked at this in several months and it needs serious work. To have a store isn’t much money each month, and I could have a lot more products available, but the issue is marketing and driving people to the site. I have some great digital stuff already to go, and I need to start planning around the holidays, reading about marketing through Cafe Press, and so on.

Zazzle: Ditto for Cafe Press……both are not a high priority right now.

Newsletters: oy, it’s been months since a newsletter went out, and I have all these contacts where nothing is happening. I used Constant Contact last year for a few months, until I couldn’t keep up with the demands and school at the same time. I was happy with it, but disappointed that not many people actually read it. I need to go back to a newsletter and offerings at least once every three weeks, and more during the holiday seasons. I need to check out Mail Chimp, which is free, and I have heard people have good luck with it. I’ll try and make this a priority this week.

Website: Most of the changes to the website have been made by my wonderful web lady Suzan. I need to get a couple of buttons set up, and then do something about newsletters and contacts. I also have some pages to add on Digital Marbling (TN), and I need to evaluate “print on demand” for artwork. This is a “need to think about” topic…..

lynda.com: I have until Friday to finish my month of training. I still need to finish Twitter, and I want to get the html newsletter course done. I am not going to continue with Dreamweaver because it isn’t a priority.

Flickr: I have photos up, not all of them with copyrights, and there is a class on lynda.com if I have time. I’m not really sure what I want to do here….

And finally, my blog, Marbled Musings. I went a bunch of months with no new writing, and I’m at maybe three times a week. I need to get back to at least four times a week, and eventually every day. I have plenty to write about…and I need to stay up with my Google reader – as well as comment more on some of the posts. This is probably the biggest area for marketing that I have to schedule.

Weekly:

* Marbling fabric

* Work on Etsy products

* Sewing and other design

Mondays:

* Add Etsy product

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog post Monday Marketing

* Google reader and at least three comments

Tuesdays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog post Top Ten Tuesday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Wednesdays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog Work in progress Wednesday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Thursday:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog – Thursday Thoughts

* Google reader and at least three comments

Fridays:

* Add Etsy circle information

* Read newsletters from LinkedIn groups

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog Photoshop Friday

* Google reader and at least three comments

Saturdays:

* Read Twitter feed

* Blog posting on Specials

* Google reader and at least three comments

Sundays:

* Read Twitter feed

* Schedule Tweets for the week (i.e. Etsy, Ebay…)

* Blog Sunday Stories

* Google reader and at least three comments

Goals for next week:

* FINISH LYNDA.COM

*Update “About Me” page on Ebay

* Update Etsy products, especially note cards

* Evaluate how calendar is working

* See if buttons are added to the website

* Decisions on what will happen with the Facebook Fan page

* Long-term thoughts – what to do with CafePress and Zazzle

* Read and decide about Mail Chimp for a newsletter

* Spend some time thinking about what the website still needs….

Okay, I think I have a handle on this…we’ll see next week as I evaluate how the week goes. And…I’m taking some online classes!

Thoughts??

From JPG Blog, their new contest – Where in the World…….amazing places around the world…makes ya want to travel!

Sunset Over Milky Bay by Marcelo Vicente

Marie Segal’s blog Art from My Heart always has wonderful goodies she either makes or finds. Remember using popsicle sticks as a kid?   Follow her links for some great pictures, including furniture……

Who knew? Polyurethane projects as a new art form…You will always be surprised by the items on Cool Hunting.

From Cool Hunting this week, a cool idea for an artist’s residency – on a lake and sustainable – Rabbit Island.

Also from Cool Hunting, a rooftop garden in Brooklyn, harvesting its first crop: Gotham Greens.

An Inspiring TED Talk on vulnerability with Brene Brown.

Want to see more of the world’s paintings? From Lines and Colors, a post about a project of the BBC to put artwork in British Museums up on line – and it will be searchable. Looks like a lot of computer time looking at art!

I LOVE this idea from Alyson Stanfield’ blog ArtBiz…..taking credit cards at small art shows is always a bear for so many of us. Look what technology has in store for us:

Lots of great stuff on line this week – some very cool eye candy to enjoy!

From Cool Hunting, a site with some unusual items and projects… some original artwork “Field Recordings” by Bryan Graf

Also from Cool Hunting, one of the most unique book displays I’ve ever seen, as part of an art installation. The best pics are on the site, so check them out.

Vicki Welsh does some really gorgeous hand-dyes…here’s her latest batch for this month’s challenge. I could spend all my spare money to her weksite!

From Kate Harper’s blog – Legal Tips for the Starving Artist, and a very good review for all of us.

And even more from Kate – lots of articles on copyright and protecting our designs….I know for me this will be some serious reading this month – need to do it!

How will the price of cotton affect art licensing from Joan Beiriger’s blog – very interesting. I know that we have had to raise our prices for our marbled fabrics significantly.

If you are where I am in looking for gallery representation, then Joanne Mattera’s Art blog is for you. She has an article on gallery red flags that is very valuable….I’ve seen a couple of these flags in the past.

Also from Joanne is this article on Rethinking Artist’s Statements, again very timely for me as I redo a lot of things on the website.

Rayela’s Art (AKA Rachel Biel) is spearheading the fund raising campaign for the Textile and Fiber Art List. This is rapidly becoming THE place to find any type of textile art on line. If you are interested in becoming part of an outstanding collection of fiber and textile art, then visit and donate, even just $10. The eye candy alone is worth the donation!

Again from The Best Article Every Day comes Dear Photograph – a really cool idea to superimpose a past photograph with the current location. Clever!

Enjoy your week – send me cool stuff you find on line!!