Since I started taking Jon Morrow’s Guestblogging course I have stopped reading newspapers. I have stopped reading novels, too. And picking up the bedrooms. Actually, I have stopped doing nearly anything. Except sit at my computer and write. I am pretty smitten. Jon sent out an email recently, apologizing to all of us, students, [...]
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You. Yes, you. I want you to unsubscribe…
Yes. Your eyes are fine. And I still love you. Yet.. I want you to unsubscribe from my mailing list, if you hate the changes I am going to make. (What? you shout in agony, Changes Again?) Again. If I, at 51, have finally learned one thing it is
On Ignoring Everybody, throwing Cube Grenades and Why Hugh McLeod is wrong about marketing your art online
By Hugh McLeod This cartoon is not a cartoon. It is a ‘social object’. Says Hugh MacLeod, a successful American copywriter, cartoonist, blogger and book author. A social object, he says, is something that causes people to talk, share and connect on social media. In short: a conversation piece. Or, since we live [...]
I finally earned the respect of my youngest son
I finally earned the respect of my youngest son. I put a QR-code on my new business cards, something he did NOT YET HAVE AN APP FOR. He put one on his Iphone, scanned the code, checked it out and it works. (Of course it does!) You can get your own free QR-code here.
How to grow your email list quickly and another look at them darned stats
Letterpress card by Creativity Today is the Second Day of Reckoning. How have my stats done in the third month of my blog growing campaign? How I am trying to grow my traffic (just like you) I promised on August 20 that I would keep you informed of my stats. I talked a [...]
3 reasons why artists suck at selling their art
A picture of the artist at 4. Why was she not practising her drawing or selling skills at this important point in her life? Read on to find out. Yesterday an Australian Facebook friend jokingly called me a marketing guru. She was sending me a link about the importance of getting a lot of [...]
Don’t look at my stats, please
Card by Sycamorestreetpress Do you subscribe to my mailing list? Do you know that I can see wheter you open my newsletter, and if you click on any links? More precisely: did you know I can even see on WHICH links you click? You didn’t? Well, it’s true, I can. Not that I necessarily [...]
How to find your USP?
You can help me! No, you must help me. I am sure you can. All you need to do is answer a question. I need your help because I cannot see clearly what is in front of my eyes: I have been staring at it for too long. It happens to all of us: we [...]
Blogging why and how – part two
A picture of our cat in front of the Polka dot quilt I was making in august 2009. That specific post has mysteriously vanished.. the finished quilt is here. On to question 2 of the blogging course: Why DO I blog? Or may be a better question would be: why did I start a blog, [...]
Ik zocht een woord over mijn stad – a poem
More about this image here. .. in Dutch. Impossible to translate and explain, sorry! Utrecht Ik zocht een woord over mijn stad waar nog geen copyright op zat. Dat viel niet mee: de Nieuwegracht had Crone al. Heytze bedacht de mooiste taal van allemaal. Zijn zachte pen versterkt met staal maakt alle and’re dichters kaal [...]
How to blog and why Part 1
Do you happen to know this woman? You ought to. Think again. Look at her: she is not 20 anymore (‘She had finally escaped from the nightmare of youth’ – Anne Taintor). She is the active type, ready to climb a mountain if needs be. And she also thinks: she reads books, and not just [...]
Why make art? A guest post by Lari Washburn
Lari Washburn is an artist from Maine (USA) who writes one of these rare, authentic blogs. She does not post feel good stories day in and day out: instead she honestly shares what is on her mind – and what comes out of her hands. She has great taste in art and many of [...]
On the matter of having a style
Saturday’s newspaper carried an interview with Dutch graphic designer Anthon Beeke, whose posters are now on show in Amstelveen. The interviewer remarks he never realised some of Beeke’s designs were his, because Beeke seemed to have no typical style. Beeke’s answer:
A sweet spot or why I make art
A sweet spot is where a crawler draws breath. I did not use to know how to crawl. I would swim occasionally, to compensate for the many hours spent at my computer; doing breaststroke, with my nose high above the water. But one day two orange flippers appeared over my head, on the edge of [...]
Words, words, words
Hm.. if only I knew where to sign this thing! A quote I read somewhere, at some point. It has lived in my mind for years – I talk a lot to artists and we all have our secret fears just like everyone else. Fear of failure, fear of success even!
How do we know when we have found our style?
Adriaan van Dis, Dutch author. Side stitch # 14 How do we know when we have found our style? Bear with me- I will expand. For the Side stich mini-project, which I am doing with fiber artist Kathryn Clark (a fellow Pikaland Bootcamp alumnus), I have just posted my 14th early morning doodle. It started [...]
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