art tips

Final Call for our Art World Expo Christmas Fair Vendors!

Are you an artisan or independent rep looking for a holiday event to participate in this year? Look no further and join our exciting Christmas Fair this year!

We have a limited number of tables left for vendors at our Christmas Fair on December 16! Submit your registration today here: https://theartworldexpo.com/exhibitor-information/ Questions? Call Monika Blichar 6049996177

We love to small businesses and Artisans and our Christmas Fair will be no exception to sharing the love for all things unique and local this December!

Thank you to Two of Hearts boutique in Kits for donating $5-$25 gift cards to spend in store! Lots of raffle prizes every 30 minutes!

Preview products, join the convo and connect with participants on our Official Facebook Event Page!

When you attend this COMPLIMENTARY ENTRY EVENT, you’ll find:
-Over 50 vendor tables including art, jewellery, fashion, hand knit goods, make up, skin care, chocolate, baked goods, kids accessories, essential oils, dog accessories, home decor, and health and wellness products and services and much more! Everything you need in one venue to complete your holiday shopping and networking! Ask our vendors about collaborations, participating in your events or if you’re a gallery or boutique owner, come browse to see if you could work with one of our Artisans in 2018!

-Fashion Shows by John Pfaff, Carolyn Bruce Steampunk Jewellery, and West Coast Hatters on models provided by award winning female body builder fitness models from Team Fitness! Yes! Exciting!

-Cheeses Crust Food Truck-Gourmet Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Drinks! Really good sandwiches!

-Raffles every 30 minutes-Prizes from local vendors and of course, many of our sponsors from Art World Expo! Tickets sold on site!

-First 100 people through the doors receive a complimentary goody bag! No purchase necessary! Just be one of the first 100 people at 11:00am sharp!

-Face Painting for kids and adults by award winning body painter and visual artist Francoise Boise ($10/person) She’s amazing! Don’t worry, she will do Holiday themed paints too!

-Silent Auction Benefiting Make and Break Arts Foundation-all proceeds support independent Artisans and Arts Programs and Exhibitions in BC. It’s a win win! (Huge line up of awesome stuff to bid on-great for holiday gift ideas and of course-gifts for ourselves!)

-Arts & Crafts Station for Kids-leave them at the craft station and go shop and mingle! We have you covered!

-Finally, when you’re all done, take a photo at our photo booth with visitors from the North Pole! Capture a memory and celebrate Christmas 2017 with us!

Current vendors:

Monika Blichar

Art by Edy

Carolyn Bruce Designs – Steampunk Jewelry**FASHION SHOW**

West Coast Hatters**FASHION SHOW**

John Pfaff Art & Fashion**FASHION SHOW**

Fashion Show models sponsored by Team Fitness-Award Winning Female Body Builders from BC!

LumberJax Custom Wooden Jewelry

Karolyn’s Tupperware

Inner Harmonious Peace

Kathline Essential Oils Accessories

Jennifer Haase, Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant

SPOIL YOURSELF, Cristina De Vellis

Jessica’s Homemade Alfajores-Baked Goods

Fifth Avenue Collection by Pardeep

Younique, Amanda Cherewick

The Sweet Doodle

Whisk Premium Matcha

Copper Paw Designs

Coastal Storm Gallery

Dagmar Doubkova Herbal Life

Bodacious Butterflies

Scentsy Kristi Weaver

SweetLegs Vancouver with Julia

Love Eco Jewels

Spain Gourmet Canada

Radiant Life Hoops & Styles

Petite Hippo

Earth Meets Spirit

Boise Art Works-Face Painting for Kids On Site $10/each

Deanna ArtFORMS

Diamond Movement

Andrea Renée Blackett MONAT

Diva’s Niche

All Day Shine by Julie SeneGence Independent Distributor # 384814

Crafts By Julia

Bryce Musil Azrael’s Forge Gems and Fine Jewelry

Taylore Mcmanne Jewellery

Top Three Tips for Summer Painting

SUMMER STUDIES: Top Three Tips for Summer Painting
by Monika Blichar

Summer is just around the corner and with sun and light to inspire you, it is the perfect time to paint in studio! Here are our top three tips for painting in studio this summer!

Choose Your Subject Matter-If you don’t have a target, how will you know where to shoot?

When you are choosing something to paint this summer, try to choose something you haven’t ever tried before. Think of places you have visited or will visit this summer and take photographs then add these to your collection of what you want to paint. Recently, I went to Saltspring Island with students and captured an array of beautiful images that I would like to paint this summer.

Here are two photos. On the left is the original photo at Cafe Talia on Saltspring Island. On the right is an edited photo in the SuperPhoto App which helps me see the painting before I create it.

Get Outside!

Make sure to take advantage of good weather and go outside to look at colour, shadow, perspective and light. With every season, there are new aspects to observe when it comes to nature and our surroundings. If you are painting cityscapes, be sure to go wander around and look at buildings and how the sunset or morning glow affects light and shadows. If you love nature, try walking in the forest at different times of the day to see the colour differences in leaves or trees during different times of the day. Think about how to create these colours and also how to capture the movement of a forest in your painting.

Challenge Yourself

Painting new subject matter can be a challenge but can also be immensely rewarding. Challenge yourself by trying new subject matter or experimenting with using new materials. We recommend getting new pastes or resin sands and trying them out in your next pieces. If you haven’t tried yet, here is a product we recommend by GOLDEN

As usual, we invite you to join us in studio and paint with other beginner and experienced artists. Our studio special this month is $17 art classes (reg. $40) which you can find Here! All proceeds from this promotion help us meet our summer fundraising goals with proceeds to summer arts programs, Art World Expo production and support for artists in our community.

Art World Expo Tips-Gaining Recognition for Your Art

By Monika Blichar

Carolyn Bruce Designs at Art World Expo 2016

No matter what industry you are working in, the primary goal is to sell products and services that customers will keep returning for again and again. As artists, we must remember that this is our main goal-to sell art that people will want, again and again. As we near our annual Art World Expo in Vancouver, here are some vendor tips for gaining recognition for your brand as an exhibitor and well into the future of your art career.

1-BRANDING 101

Making sure that your exhibition looks good is crucial. No one wants to buy art or products from a shabby stall that is disorganized, lacking presentation, nor one that is ill managed. Some of the simplest things to be sure you have when you are displaying your work and business publicly include:

-business cards with your logo, contact information and website

-a banner behind or in front of your booth with your name

-links to social media accounts with the same logo and banners

-price tags, inventory sheet and receipt book

-a way to take payments

-a sales person working for you if you are not comfortable selling your own work

2-PRESS RELEASES & MEDIA

If you are doing the marketing for your brand, don’t forget that the media is your best friend! The more that you can gain media attention, the better! Draft a simple press release with your information, dates for an upcoming exhibition, and invite media such as newspaper journalists and bloggers in your industry to interview you in your studio prior to the event. There is a lot to be said about artists and businesses who are being talked about in the media and likely, they have sent their information to the press deliberately. A buzz from many websites is amazing, so be sure to send to many media outlets. After all, getting attention on varied sites and in publications just helps you get more visibility and brand awareness in new networks and social circles. Be creative too-consider creating good karma by helping raise money for local shelters, food banks or other worthy charities by donating proceeds of your sales.

3-MERCHANDISING

Many artists are shy or leery of merchandising their work. In my opinion, the best thing about being an artist is that you can work on something one time, and then sell it over and over. As an independent artist, this has been a very lucrative way to continually improve and add to my business model. You don’t have to go all out and purchase stock like you used to in the olden days either! There are many sites which help you design work and will even market it for you for a commission. Some of these sites include Zazzle.com and Society 6. I’ve heard mixed things about merchandising; some artists believe that selling prints or cards can be like selling out-while others make fortunes by selling prints, Iphone cases and home décor items. I tend to recommend that with more merchandise options, you are able to do more with your art and reach wider audiences: cards, books, ebooks, tshirts, IPhone cases, home décor throws and much more can get to the hands of people who normally couldn’t afford your work or perhaps are looking for unique designs on different items. Have a look at multi-million dollar artist Damien Hirst’s site and link to his online shop http://www.damienhirst.com/ A great site to start with if you haven’t yet is Society 6 https://society6.com/prints

As always, best of luck! If you found this useful, please share. If you have a comment to add, get in touch! artists@theartworldexpo.com

Finding Inspiration-3 Tips for Artists

by Monika Blichar

One of the hardest things artists struggle with is finding inspiration. We have no shortage of ideas that come to us, but actually finding inspiration for individual pieces or collections can be tricky! This is even more true when you experience a creative block-nothing’s coming!

Having spend the last two weeks abroad on tour with our annual artist retreats, Painting Dreams International Art Tours, I have thought about inspiration quite a lot. Being in a new place has not only inspired me to make new and entirely different work, but has also opened up my palette for a thirst for something more in art and creativity. I thought I would share my top three tips for finding inspiration with you while sitting in our city apartment on a Sunday evening in Wroclaw, Poland. Feel free to try them out, share and connect with me on social media and share what you’re doing to find inspiration!

1-New Environments

We all know that stepping away from your day to day routine can spark an enormous amount of insight, creativity and inspiration. Each time I travel, I make sure to document my surroundings carefully as I always find some kind of spark of intrigue in the things around me when I create paintings especially. In our suite this year, I have been delighted to see antique furniture and items that are engaging in my curiosities. I haven’t painted any of these items yet, but have taken pictures so that I don’t forget and can incorporate them into my art later perhaps.

My room where I’ve been writing and sharing my trip, art and visits to galleries. Below are some of the cool pieces in this suite.

2-Challenge Yourself

Another thing to remember when looking for ways to find new inspiration is to challenge yourself. If you’ve always painted flowers, try buildings or landscapes. If you’ve always made abstracts, try doing a portrait or a plein air painting outside at a local park. You don’t have to travel far to try new things! It’s just about the conscious effort of finding new items, people, or local things to draw on for inspiration for new work. I also recommend trying new products. Recently, I worked on the two paintings on cedar blocks below with beeswax, fabric, pearls, paint, pages from “The Winter’s Tale” by Shakespeare too! I added word cut outs from magazines and even dried leaves!

These are the two pieces that were definitely outside my norm. Both are available for purchase. $150/each or $250 for the set.

3-Research

If you are really stuck on finding inspiration. I leave you to the wonderful world of Google. Where anything is possible and researchable. Try typing in a word or era and see what you find! The possibilities are limitless and everything is “Google-able!”

Check out this Google Doodle by 11 year old Audrey Azhang, the 2014 Doodle 4 Google winner.

In response to the question, “What would you invent to make the world a better place?” more than100,000 Google Doodle contest entries were received from students in grades K – 12.

Azhang told Google:

To make the world a better place, I invented a transformative water purifier. It takes in dirty and polluted water from rivers, lakes, and even oceans, then massively transforms the water into clean, safe and sanitary water, when humans and animals drink this water, they will live a healthier life.

From: http://searchengineland.com/doodle-4-google-winning-illustration-earns-winner-30000-scholarship-spot-googles-homepage-193568

Don’t forget to like my page on Facebook and connect with me on Twitter! I share lots of daily tips, progress and love to hear from artists all over the world about their work!

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Monika-Blichar-1556162547959003/?fref=ts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MonikaBlichar

20 Tips on How to Market Your Art Work

by Monika Blichar

A large majority of artists that I work with throughout the year tell me the exact same thing. “I just want to paint, I don’t want to learn how to market. I want someone else to do that for me.” While that is a great goal to have, the reality is, if you don’t promote yourself, no one will. Period.

Over the years, I have been able to get quite good at spotting trends, meausring statistics, and learning new tools to help promote my own work and also my projects. I can say that even though technology is constantly changing and new platforms are emerging all the time, once you have a basic idea of how to promote effectively, you will see some great results that will make your art career THAT much more successful.

Here are my top 20 tips on how to market your art work. If you enjoy, be sure to send this post to a friend and connect with me on my varied social media platforms. I love to help artists grow and by sharing, you can help others succeed too!

1-Be Consistent. Share on your networks on a regular basis. Your networks are like storefronts, make sure they are not empty for long periods of time or you won’t get any visitors!

2-Be Positive. No one likes a negative nancy on social media or at events. Remember that you are the FACE of your brand as an artist and that you will attract positive customers and affilates if you are positive, enthusiastic and energetic about your work.

3-Engage with Your Followers. When your followers comment on a post or share your newsletter, be sure to thank them or respond in a timely fashion. This makes your followers feel as though they are really becoming a part of your community and in turn, they will help you share and engage when you post.

4-Offer Tips and Education. Offering tips on “HOW TO USE GLAZES” or releasing a video of yourself creating art to help other aspiring artists engages other in your work. Think outside the box when you release tips, how can you help your audience?

5-Create Good Content. No one will keep reading if you post boring, out dated or irrelevant content. When was the last time you kept reading a boring book or watching a bad movie? Think about it.

6-Cross Promote. Who can you cross promote with? The art supply company that you shop at? Another artist? The restaurant where you sell your work? Be creative and work with others to create cross promotions that will help both parties gain followers and fans.

7-Be Real. Don’t pretend to be someone you aren’t. Be yourself, everyone else is already taken….

8-Share your WIPs. When you are working on a piece, be sure to share your work in progress. It’s interesting for others to watch HOW you create.

9-Learn How to POST effectively. Schedule time to analyse your website stats and find programs that help you measure and post on social media. I use HOOTSUITE. You can check it out FREE FOR 30 DAYS by visiting my affiliate link here:

10-Experiement. Not all your marketing will be online. Be sure to take advantage of local community boards, schools, events and fairs. Donate to auctions, offer different services like painting murals or doing art cards. Experiement with your work and the market.

11-Contests. Everyone loves winning! #winning

12-Giveaways. Reward your fans by giving away tickets to an event, prints or cards. The investment that you make into giveaways will bring you more returns when your winners or fans feel appreciated. #everyonelovestobeloved

13-Sales. When you make a sale, be sure to share on your networks that it has sold. If you have sold something in a show or restaurant, be sure to practise a RED DOT for a few days so that others see you are an artist who sells. Some people are strange like that…they will ONLY buy if you demonstrate that you are successful in your sales records. (Be sure to keep track of your sales too-this will help you later in your career.)

14-Customers. Take photos with customers or ask them to take a pic with your art in their homes. Share on social media or even print pictures for a portfolio you can share with potential customers in your studio.

15-Affilates. BE AN AFFILIATE for other companies. Whether you promote products, software or events that you are using or exhibiting at, creating an affiliate income stream helps you share products, services or events you love while earning money for sharing. (Yes, you can make residual income by promoting other people’s products or services so long as they give you or you sign up for your own affiliate code!)

To sign up to be an Art World Expo Affiliate, visit: BE AN ART WORLD EXPO AFFILIATE!

16-Brands You Use. When you think of all the tools that you use, be sure to refer the useful ones with others so they can take advantage of great tools too! Sign up for an affiliate link first and then promote that link to people you think might like it too. For example, we use Freshbooks for our accounting software and when we recommend it, we share our affiliate link here:

17-Share Other People’s Work. Your fans and followers will appreciate you sharing because it will introduce them to new people and other areas in your industry, but because if they are really interested in your work, they too want to see what’s going on in your creative journey. This also helps you cross promote with other artists which helps both of you build bigger communities!

18-Inspirations. Post things that inspire you as an artist. Nature, fabric, old tires. Memes. W H A T E V E R. Show your audience how your mind works and don’t be afraid to open up.

19-Professional Development. Be sure to post when you are enlisted in professional development realted to your career. A painting retreat, specialty classes, or workshops are great ways to show your audience that you are always trying to improve your craft. If you are intersted in travelling to Europe with me this summer, please visit: Painting Dreams Art Tours Info (Our next info session is February 5 at my studio and gallery in North Vancouver.)

20-Participate in Events. Last, but not least, whatever kind of art or craft you practise, be sure to participate in events in your community or outside of it. Paint live on stage at a fashion show, organize an open studio at your space, enroll in events where you can set up an exhibit in your city or others. By far, the most effective way to sell your art is to be available in person so that you can share your story and why you do what you do. Make sure you participate in at least one event each quarter.

If you enjoyed these tips, be sure to share the love with other creative people you care about!

Have a question? Follow me on Periscope and ask questions during my live broadcasts! https://www.periscope.tv/MonikaBlichar

Monika Blichar possesses a B.A. from the University of Victoria with a major in English and minor in French. She has also successfully completed the post degree teaching program and is a member of the BC College of Teachers. She is fluent in English, French, Polish and basic Spanish. Her love for culture, languages and artistic pursuits continues to grow as she develops her own creativity and imagination through her varied interests in the art world.

This post is sponsored by Twin Peaks Construction.