Ode

... to the long disregarded blog. Sadly, Facebook has usurped your power, made you a distant object in the rear view mirror of my to do list. You are a passing thought, a "should" and then dismissed with a sigh.

Facebook has made it so easy to share, too easy for the slovenly, with it's quick 120 character punchlines. Does anyone really regard those as ambient intimacy as we are told we should? Or are they merely easier to brush off than a lengthy blog post, or even the briefest of blog entries, that requires more clicking of keys to acquire the meat of a thought.

Like many things, dearest blog, you will morph, you will transform. Let us be mindful of the possibility that your new incarnation may be the Monarch that once was the caterpillar and not another application that lulls us into sleepy discontent as the time wiles away.

Los Pinos 12x12" oil on wood ©Nicole Strasburg

Affordable Web Presence

The amazing web gal, Amy Love, fabuloso designer and web programmer for Santa Barbara Printmakers has a special offer to anyone needing a website. She has put together a fantastic package deal, a website that has up to five pages (such as, about the artist, gallery and contact page) the gallery pages would include up to 16 images all for $500.


Here is a SAMPLE of what the web site would look like. It's a very clean template, easy to navigate and read. If you want more images or pages she can do that as well she would charge an hourly rate or by project if you want something more complicated.

template

The only thing NOT included in this $500 package is your domain name... which would cost $10 a year to register and the web hosting ( you must have a big main frame site that hosts your inclusion in the ethers) which would cost approximately $50 a year, both of which Amy could help you establish.

Amy has worked with many artists building their websites, mine included. Here are a few links if you want to see more of what she can do for you.

www.nicolestrasburg.com

www.lizbradyart.com

www.roeannewhite.com
www.valorifussell.com

Amy's own website with many more samples graphicengineering.com

Not only is Amy an incredible web person but she was first trained in print. She has designed and project managed business cards, postcards, announcements, greeting cards and advertisements. She is a one stop shop for your graphic needs. I can't recommend her highly enough, she is one of the easiest people to work with and gets the job done quickly and efficiently.

To get in touch with her you can either reach her through her website OR send an email to amy.love@gmail.com

Web update

Afternoon Storm 12x12" ©2008

New images have been added online
at the home site Nicole Strasburg dot com.

Seurat at MOMA

Inspiration for the day.....

Seurat sketchbooks at MOMA in New York.

View them online HERE

Solana Beach Gallery....

Check out the new link on the gallery site HERE.

Fall Color

Beautiful fall colors from the blooming persimmon tree.

Inspiration:

Mien's studio BLOG
Sara Mitchells BLOG
and photos of her fabulous books

Getting Plugged In

For the past week I have been spending my time tethered to my desk, working at marketing and "spreading my seed" so to speak. I enrolled in a tele-class through smARTist Art Marketing several months ago and I'm finally getting around to employing some of their many tactics on web marketing. There was a list of 9 things to do to get noticed on the internet.

1 - have your own website, of course!
2 - have a blog and post regularly
3 - have a "my space" page
4 - write reviews on Amazon
5 - sell on ebay

Okay, the last four are somewhere in my memory bank. I, obviously, have not gotten around to those other four things, yet. I will get back to you ....

I DO however have a new my space page HERE. Oh, it's still in it's infancy, there isn't much there, but it IS a placeholder for things to come.

AND, I did open an Etsy shop. You can see it HERE. I will be listing many of the prints I make and perhaps some of the stock in my studio that is small. It will save emailing clients all the images of paintings available. I DO adore my dealers, so for my larger work, my newest/latest work will have to be found at their galleries.

Progress. Moving forward. Baby steps.