Whimsical Artist Jake Hose Creator of the Seattle Cats Series

February Update

2012-02-24T23:36:00.000-08:00

A lot of things have been going on this past few weeks and most of them have been going in the right direction. I have finished programing the first song, with no vocals, for the upcoming studio project and I'm pleased with the results.

Have learned a lot about building music from the ground up in FL Studio Producer Edition and things are now starting to click in this massive music program. Luckily I've been in professional recording studios recording music before so I have some foundational knowledge of mixing and "Premastering"...I've played in a few bands but I've never made all the music so this has been a great learning experience!

Painting almost everyday has been the rhythm in the studio working on the "Romanian Gypsy Princess" and it's coming along, been painting the first layers on the wagon. This is a poor shot of it in the studio, but it should give you an idea of how it's coming. It's going to be AWESOME, might not even sell the original, might need to put this baby in my "private family collection" We'll see.

With all of this skill building to accomplish my dreams requires lots of study so I read 3 of Jim Rohn's books who is a favorite of mine. I highly recommend them if you have not read these and you want some real knowledge, these books are fantastic.

1) "The Seasons of Life" by Jim Rohn

Basically all things in life can be related to seasons and this book I found so fascinating, wow...

2) "The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle" Jim kicked butt on this one too.

Basically their are five pieces to life:

1) Philosophy, what you know, how you feel about the past builds the next piece.

2) Attitude, about life...from your attitude you create the next piece.

3) Activity, activity eventually builds the next piece.

4) Results, this is the fruit of the activity, from the activity comes the final piece,

5) Lifestyle, this is how you live, the quality of life that you have created.

Ok, great book....

The next book I read was "The Treasury of Quotes" and that was taken from Jim Rohn's seminars and I think I've read this book before, but anyways, great book, inspiring.

So the next series of books I'm going to be munching away on will be in preparation for the business expansion that's coming up right after the "Romanian Gypsy Princess" is finished. These books are:

1) "How to Profit from the Art Print Market" written by Barney Davey an authority as an adviser to artists in the art market. I'm obviously making money in the art market now but this guy knows all about the Art Expo shows in New York where I plan to show when our team is ready.

2) "The Artist's Giclee Handbook" since I've got this brand new, huge, Espon Giclee printer and need to learn how to use it, to put together this expansion, I got this book written by Susan Fader.

Alright well that's about it, nothing going on, just stagnant, lol

Jake Hose

New Music Project

2012-02-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it's about that time again and I can feel the musician side of me wanting to express itself again.

I've been thinking about it for many months and what to do about it.

After recording my last studio project, a few years ago, I got burned out with the music. So I'm going to get back up and utilize more of my musical talent again for another project for 2014.

I'll be reading a few books about music composition, song structure, lyric writing and so on to help pull me out of this stagnant place musically and help to further educate myself in preparation for this next music project. This is something I need to do for myself, with like 8 or 9 studio projects under my belt, I've come a long way with the music too.

This music project won't be at the sacrifice of making more visual art, yet it will be a project that I'll be patiently piecing together one piece at a time until it is released sometime in 2014.

I know some of the best Music Engineers in the Seattle area, like David Lange, and will produce some of the music myself and then bring it into a recording studio to lay the vocals down, premix/master the music, and then get it mastered.

Since records are becoming more popular, I'm thinking about producing a short run of collectable vinyl, along with cds, with my art on the record too. Then I'll be selling the new music project on my website and at my art shows around Seattle.

Anyways, looking forward to making more musical art wish me luck!

Painting Monster Mountain

2012-01-24T17:47:00.000-08:00

Ah, it's been great to get back to painting and being an artist!

I've been hammering on the business side of things for the past month or so and it's an unbelievable feeling to block out the business side of things (and all it's pressure...) and get back inside the art.

What you are looking at is a private commission called "Monster Mountain" and this photo isn't all that great but wanted to share with you how it's coming along. Now what's special about this piece is that the family that I'm doing it for, has a child who has been influenced by my art inside there home.

He drew a picture and they asked me to take it to the next level and here it is. There all kinds of special things about this piece but that's a cool story.

Prints of Monster Mountain will be available to the public and they are going to be awesome, but it will be a while...perfect for a childrens room, perfect for someone that wants something cool and unusual for there home or office. :)

Thanks for reading,

Jake Hose

"Leading an Inspired Life" by Jim Rohn

2012-01-18T22:59:00.000-08:00

I've overcome a lot of handicaps in my life and one of them has been the trouble reading... But no matter how difficult it was, and sometimes still is, I make it a goal to read and keep reading.

I've made myself read art books, business books, personal development books, sales and marketing books, books about accounting, books about communication, psychology books, web design and interactive multimedia books, spiritual books, whatever to push myself to learn something new.

It's all been a challenge but I've learned to appreciate a good book. I'm reading a book right now called "Leading an Inspired Life" by Jim Rohn. It is a big, heavyweight book that covers a broad range of advice from business advice to accomplishing goals and learning how to develop and refine your lifestyle. Now some things in this book are not new to me since I have been a student of Jim's for 6 or so years...

It's been a great book and I've started another discipline and that is starting a journal that I write valuable things down that I want to go over later. In Jim Rohn's book "Leading an Inspired Life" I have written several pages of notes with page #s as references.

My business partner Tom is a very smart man, one of his accomplishments has been to graduate Law School at the top of his class. Studying is easy for Tom, and he showed me his journals and I'm now working on mine.

I would have to say that I give Jim Rohn's book all five stars because it is a great one and I have become much more intelligent by reading this book.

Here is a link to the book, you will love this book if you are thirsty for knowledge, you will not like this book if you don't want to be intellectually challenged, ok this is not a simple book. http://www.jimrohn.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=9&products_id=850&zenid=0r47aej4887qdoqmu8dadrnf55

Take care,

Jake Hose

Advice On Getting into Art Festivals

2012-01-17T22:30:00.000-08:00

Jake's Art Festival Promo Kit

Being accepted into art festivals is a big deal for me because it allows me an opportunity to travel, sell art, and to meet people in the community. Most of the shows that I do go through a jury process and if you are one of the lucky ones, you are accepted.

Art shows give a serious artist the ability to meet a few hundred people on a weekend, give out a couple hundred business cards, sell art, give brochures, and do everything else to make your mark. Never underestimate the power of a good art festival, for your resume, for your confidence, for your life experiences.

Doing festivals has given me the ability to excel as an artist in the market place.

I want to talk about the importance of establishing strong professional relationships with the festival organizations.

Let's say you are a new artist that is contacting a festival organization for the first time. Let's say that you are applying to the festival and need to send some samples of your work.

My advice would be to knock their socks off by going the extra mile by putting together what I call a "Festival Promo Kit". I've been working on refining my kit for several years and I'm proud of how it has come out. You want them to remember you, or you are just another artist applying for the show.

Some festival organizers have been really impressed at my level of professionalism, I was happy that they noticed the care I put into representing my art.

There is nothing cheap about doing art festivals. You might need to spend 5,000 to get the booth and the products ready to sell, then it's off to spend thousands of dollars to book shows.

I.E, before you know it, you've got a small fortune in getting it off the ground. Then you find that there may be 1,000 artists applying to one show that will only feature 250 artists. How are you going to compete with these numbers, these odds?

It's hard, that's why most artists, after doing one festival tour give up. When you start out at doing art festivals it's not uncommon to have it take several years before you begin to have a profit coming in.

Hard to get into shows, when you start out you are a "no body", no body wants "no body's" work.

But if you are new, hang in there, give yourself 10 years of doing art festival shows and things will change if you got what people want. Show them that you will never give up and eventually people will be buying your art because you'll be a familiar face.

So how do you get a leg up, with a "Festival Promo Kit"! Sure, it's expensive to go all out but I think that it is well worth it, show pride in your business, people will feel it, especially around the movers and the shakers in the art world.

My kit can include:

1) The application for the festival

2) The payment for the festival

3) A very nice business card

4) Sometimes a CD Rom with art on it for the Jury Board

5) A full color art brochure

6) A cover letter with color copies with more samples of art

All together in a nice folder, now that's nice and if I was a festival organizer I would notice the difference. Now, some applications are done online, but if you need to send them a physical mailing then go all out, show them your sincerity.

Hope this was useful,

Jake

Artist Advice Have A Business Plan

2012-01-16T12:48:00.000-08:00

Artist Advice Have A Business Plan

Have a business plan, seriously, make yourself have a focused direction and commit to that direction. Don't allow your emotions to determine your future, "I only paint when I feel like it", is a phraze I hear a lot. That's like "I only work when I feel like it". Emotions are important...But the discapline of your emotions is even more important.

Now back to a business plan; Who do you think will win the game?

1) Team # 1 is fully trained, they practice, prepare, learn, read, study everything there is to know about winning. They have a whole set of game plans and ways to win and they use it. Tonight they are playing Team # 2.

2) Team # 2 only gets out of bed when they feel like it. Sometimes they won't get together for days or even months. They don't have any goals, but they "hope for the best". When they get into playing the serious game of life, they hope that they will magically get a win!

Now when these two teams play each other, which one do you think is going to win? Which one would you invest in? Which one would you admire the most? Which one do you think is going somewhere?

These are the tough questions, I'm asking that you seriously make yourself have some goals and focus on them and your career as an artist will become realized or established. You may not see results over night, but you will eventually see that working off a game plan summons you to take action and that action results in descaplined, focused activity.

Jake Hose

Jake Hose Artist Update January 16th 2012

2012-01-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

"Eloping" (pictured above) is our brand new piece, it came out in December and finished up a wonderful artistic output fro 2011! The original is already sold, however we will be making a variety of prints on paper and embellished prints on canvas for this new year!

Ok, so we have been working very diligently on the business side of things since the completion of Eloping, it's been hard work to say the least, and are now back into the studio working on a commission called Monster Mountain and its coming out awesome.

The other painting that's about half way done is the Romanian Gypsy Princess and that ones coming out wonderfully too.

We are working on setting this years festival shows up for a strong season regardless of the economy, we are determined to continue to succeed no matter what. If we don't find a way, we make one. This will be our strongest push out with art festivals and we will be hiring a couple Sales Reps to help with this busy season.

We'll be having 2 10x10 festival booths designed to be at whatever shows we want to do and we'll be putting them together at certain shows for even more exposure. With this in mind, we will be investing thousands of dollars in redesigning the 2 booths for this season so that the look remains attractive, extremely competitive, and fresh around our work.

We bought a large Epson printer last year to begin this expansion for the 2012 year. That means we now have 3 Epson printers dedicated to publishing our work. This is helping to add to our efficiency since the demand of our work is going up and we are ready to meet that demand.

When the festival expansion and the new Giclee prints on canvas are fully "market tested" and we are ready to move on to more growth, we'll be ready to expand with more gallery accounts. The profit margins will be good enough to sustain an Artist/Sales Rep/Gallery Owner relationship with a win win approach. We give this roughly 2 years to develop the products to get to this next point.

Back to the studio goals for 2012, I'm working on all that in my head. I have a whole stack of drawings for painting ideas that I'm flipping through. I want to make some of the following imagery for 2012.

1) Monster Mountain, a select commission. (working on now)
2) The Romanian Gypsy Princess, a new addition to the Ethnic Princess Series (Working on now)
3) Chivalry, another romantic medieval painting to add to this budding series. (Thinking...)
4) The Swedish Princess, another addition to the Ethnic Princess Series (Thinking...)
5) Cats at the Puyallup Fair, another addition to the Seattle Cats Series (Thinking...)
6) Club Cats with DJ Pepe, this ones going to be awesome! Another in the Seattle Cats Series! (Thinking...)

Well, that's about 550 hours of painting time, so wish me luck. I can't wait to see them all done, they are going to be a great collection of imagery for 2013!

If you are interested in some of these originals, they may or may not be available for long. We have decided to offer payment plans to make it easier to obtain these more expensive originals too.

Take care,

Thanks for your interest!

Jake Hose

Why I am So Successful

2011-12-20T23:27:00.000-08:00

I have been working on cleaning out the head (printer head was clogged) on my Epson printer tonight and I popped in a CD and thought I would write something for you.

Why I am so successful, has allot to do with one person that I have had the benefit of knowing through a mentor of mine many years ago...

If you were to look at my private library of books and lectures you would find many treasures of intellectual paramount...

One of the greatest and most influential mentors of mine has to be Jim Rohn hands down.

If you are serious about human development and human understanding, his teachings are at the top no doubt.

I recently purchased a collection of his lectures and a book to help remind me of some things and help me to grow more as a human being.

I am a full believer in human development and obviously human achievement. Jim Rohn's lectures will change your life as it did mine and you will greatly benefit from them if you are serious about human development.

If you have not heard of him before, it is with great pleasure and reverence that I share his site with you. http://www.jimrohn.com

Not only have I become greater as a human but also as an artist, his teaching are worth the money and by all means, buy something and you will see. He is sadly no longer with us (tear) but his teachings have influenced millions.

Best to you,

Jake Hose

You Tube Update

2011-10-12T18:53:00.001-07:00

Update for August 2011

2011-08-03T23:37:00.000-07:00

We just finished up our show in the lovely city of Bellevue Washington and it was wonderful. We meet many exciting people and some of our collectors from Seattle came to get more art! The weather was great and the show featured many of the best artists from the Northwest and around the country. It was an honor to be selected and we'll be back next year.

On the business side of things, we recently purchased a new 24" wide Epson giclee printer that we will be using to make hand embellished prints on canvas for next year. This will fill the gap in between our small paper prints and originals. This will be in addition to the expansion of our festival booth, for some of next years larger shows...

The new art we are currently working on now is as follows;

1) 4 new dragon paintings of our fun loving dragons to add to our new dragon series! Yes, these are awesome.
2) "The Romanian Gypsy Princess" to add to the Ethnic Princess Series! Wow, set in Transylvania Romania...
3) A new piece entitled, "Eloping", featuring a Bavarian knight and princess on a horse traveling through the woods! This one is going to be awesome, set in Bavaria Germany, one of my favorite places!

More Advice on Becoming a Professional Artist

2011-06-09T00:37:00.000-07:00

More Advice on Becoming a Professional Artist

First of all, being a professional artist is hard work and the pay can be unstable at times. If you are seriously thinking about becoming a professional artist, you may appreciate this straightforward advice.

1) Know your weaknesses, then do everything you can to develop them into strengths. Not all weaknesses can be changed, but you will be surprised how many you can make strong.

2) Get out there, make it happen, fling yourself into the unknown and see what will happen. Greater opportunity is “out there”, so be adventurous.

3) Focus yourself; many times an artist will have so many different directions that they lack this focus. Hone in on a certain market for your work and make it happen.

4) It’s a business, so don’t take it personally if people don’t like your work, so what, you are looking for the buyers that will invest in your future.

5) Artists are tuff; be a tuff artist, weather the storms that reality faces you. You in turn will become stronger and wiser within each experience in life, if you choose.

6) Expect some failing, it is inevitable, people learn from failing as well. Be content that some times things will not go as you wished they would.

7) Be happy, for succeeding, as an artist is one of the most challenging occupations in the world, so celebrate your successes.

8) Push yourself, to develop more as an artist, when it gets too easy, push and keep growing. You will be rewarded for doing so.

9) Think long term, every piece of art, every show builds upon each other toward a higher level of opportunity and potential.

10) No dependency, upon others to make your future success happen. There is no one that will discover you. You make yourself visible to an audience through doing shows and promoting then “they” will discover you.

11) Dedication will make things happen. In the art market, there are allot of artists that are super dedicated and you will need to be too.

12) Not everyone makes the cut, the cut being a successful future in art. Just like trying out to be an Army Green Barrett, only a few make it. So try, to look at it from a competitive angle, and be all you can be.

13) Drugs, don’t get strung out on them because you will loose all your potential and direction. You have to gauge things in a clear mind or they can become delusional.

14) Face the fear, developing your art into an image brand in front of an audience can be a frightening experience. But the more you are in the public the more it becomes second nature to talk about your work and entertain your audience.

15) Handle money well, don’t spend it all, save and invest for your future and for stability when all of the leaner times come when things aren’t as good.

16) Make your work stand out, this will have people notice what you are doing much quicker, whether it is with your choice of colors or whatever.

17) Set goals, to reach the ideal place, one needs a plan to go by. Goals have to be up there in the top 3 things that are the most important for career development in anything. Never think one can drift to the top of a mountain, it takes a climb to get there.

18) Make art to sell, forget about the starving artist crutch, forget about the sell out crutch, make art that you love and that connects with people on purpose. Starving artists are everywhere, but successful artists see opportunity and profit from it.

19) Work, work very hard on developing your skills both as an artist and a business person. I cannot express how important it is to develop your ability to handle money and know the business angle of things…

I could keep going on but I’ll conclude with this; never give up and realize that it will probably take longer and cost more to reach your goals then you initially thought. Most artists start broke and with little potential. With persistence and discipline you can get to almost any place in life.

Using Lines of Perspective and Light Source

2011-05-30T17:25:00.000-07:00

Using Lines of Perspective and Light Source

Sometimes I’ll put a perspective in a painting, most people may not notice that there is a technical subtlety in the work. I thought I would draw some lines out to show you some of these two techniques commonly used in art.

Points of perspective were “developed” in the Renaissance period when art began to look 3 dimensional. You can learn more about this here: http://www.webexhibits.org/sciartperspective/raphaelperspective1.html But really many cultures had their own theories of perspective or didn’t use it at all like the art made by the Aborigines. You can see Aboriginal art here at: http://aboriginalart.com.au/

In the above painting, notice that in the composition are objects that line up with the lines. This should be done so that it looks less technical and more natural and organic.

In the above photo I used the term "Ray Cast" that is really not the right term to use unless I was making a video game, "Light Source" is more proper. But anyways, notice how all the light and shadows align with the sun? This helps the painting register in the viewers mind a 3 dimensional image. Not all light is so easy to create but I could talk for hours about surface texture but not now.

Now, sometimes I’ll use multiple light sources and reflective light on purpose, that’s the beauty of painting surreal-like whimsical art. This painting was just finished it is called, “Back Home”.

It has a dark skinned Jesus, because he was not white. It is a part of a series of cool Christian art that’s available for sale on http://www.funwhimsicalart.com/. People from all different cultures like my Jesus prints and that’s pretty cool. If you are a budding artist and haven’t used some of these techniques, you might want to try them when you want a painting to look 3 dimensional.

Videos now on YouTube

2011-05-28T22:54:00.000-07:00

There are a series of videos that I finally ripped from a documentary that was produced by Randy Sparks who now is an acclaimed movie producer, go Randy. Randy was Paul Allen's PR man during the Seattle SeaHawks buy out. He has had his short films in some film festivals and more! He shot these in High Def when it was really expensive to have a camera that did that, somehow, they look rough over the net but now you can see what we did years ago if you didn't get a DVD back in the day.

Financial Advice for Artists Written by an Artist

2011-05-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

Financial Advice for Artists Written by an Artist

There is a common stereotype of the starving artist, if you do some research, it will be obvious that many artists make good livings, and some make way more than Doctors, Lawyers and the likes. Not all Doctors make allot of money, not all Lawyers make allot of money, and not all people with high level degrees make lots of money. Let’s call it an illusion.

I say all this to say, if you want to go broke, spend more than you make. American society is structured to infuse the people with a subliminal message that the more one makes the more they can borrow. Credit card companies are great at revealing this, for once you start making more money, then you are “blessed” with a higher credit limit. This maybe good, this maybe bad but for most people it just gets them more in debt.

This living beyond a person’s means has destroyed financial stability and financial potential for the average person or family in America. Everywhere you look, someone wants to sell you something you cannot afford and with easy credit cards and zero percent interest for a year, can tempt almost anyone into spending more than they should. Many people have simply become a casualty of a commerce driven, bank driven, society.

The bottom line, no matter how much money you make, live within your means and do everything you can to live more modestly than the “Jones’s”. If you make 100,000 a year and have a 40,000 dollar car loan, a 350,000 mortgage and 20,000 in credit card debt, you could still be in the behavioral mentality of borrowing more than you make. If you begin to make even more, then you will simply become even more in debt, that’s what the banks love as they eat away at your money with interest that you could invest for the future.

Now this is complicated and I’m an artist not a financial guru, financial articles are abundant, but in the end, if you want to become financially stable as an artist, you need to learn to save and invest. Little money makes big money. Successful artists have strong business skills and any artist can learn these skills if they really want to.

I have seen friends of mine that are millionaires become almost poor over night, I have seen poor people become well off. I have seen poor people stay poor from the lack of a better plan, if any. It is not how much you make that makes a difference, it is how you manage money that will.

I could write many pages on this, but not all debt is bad debt. But consider that strategic borrowing is common to position an investor into a better financial position. But even this can topple over, if the risk of the leveraged investment debt is not backed by a “worst case scenario” exit strategy and a way to pay it off.

Money management is an art that encompasses creativity, strategy, patience, risk, and articulated planning. If you are a serious artist, your art is a commodity and when an artist retires they can continue to sell those art assets as a part of their retirement income. Your focuse should be to develop a following for your work so that you retire famous and successful.

You should then have a comfortable retirement along with benefiting from other investments such as precious medals and a ton of other options available for you depending upon how succesful you are during your career. This will help to stabilize any sudden loss in demand for your work, and it happens to every artist at some time. I’m really not a financial advisor but just want to wet the appetite of someone that could benefit with learning the art of money management.

List of Major Points-

1) Spend less than you make

2) Borrow only to generate a return.

3) Live modestly

4) Financial planning is an art and a habit

5) Invest/Save/Invest

Never try to “Keep up with the Jones’s” it’s a great way to go broke.

Leap of Faith

2011-05-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is a new painting just finished. Leap of Faith is a fun way of connecting with the black sheep, you know who you are. Prints will be available in 2012 along with a whole collection of art I have planned to complete for the rest of the year, quite exciting. Leap of Faith was created using acrylic paint on canvas. This photo will not be the one we use to make prints from, we’ll get our photographer to get it ready for us.

Lets Talk About Paint

2011-05-24T18:31:00.000-07:00

If you are a budding artist thinking about painting you may find this article useful. I have people ask me about paint sometimes, so I’m going to answer some things about acrylic paint.

This is just my opinion, but I wouldn’t mix oil paint with acrylic paint because it may separate. I do see artists doing this but oil paint is oil based and acrylic is water based, does that sound familiar?

Oil paint hardens over time and cracks while acrylic maintains its flexibility, this is one major reason why I paint with acrylic paint. Some people don’t like painting in acrylic because it dries really fast but you can add a “retarder” to the paint to slow the drying time. But choosing paint is a personal preference, I’ve tried just about every type of paint and acrylic is my preferred paint.

If you are serious about making art, specialize in mastering a medium instead of jumping from anything to make art with. Yes this is only my opinion but many times I see artists doing art in every type of medium yet nothing is above average.

It’s because it takes many years to master a medium.

Ok, with that said, here’s some labels on paint and what they mean. The symbols on these paint tubes represent how dense the pigment is in the paint. A filled block means that the paint is opaque, an x through the block means it is partially transparent and a blank box means that it is transparent.

This may matter, may not, it just depends upon what you want to do. Thickness of paint, or “body”, can be important too. If you want to build up the surface of the painting with lots of texture you will what to choose a tube of thick paint of your choice.

If you are just starting out painting or whatever you may want to sample a variety of paints made from acrylic and oil or even watercolor paints to see what you like to make art out of.

New Book "Your New Glasses" by Tom Ryan

2011-05-24T18:29:00.000-07:00

New Book “Your New Glasses” by Tom Ryan

I was at my first gallery show at the Karen Lucas Gallery, with my writer, debuting our new coffee table book. People got to see it for the first time and it was nice to see my photographer, Gary McCutcheons there to see how it was coming along since I hired him to photograph almost everything in it.

It was a real chore to get the art ready for the book and we worked on compiling the book in business meetings for about 2 years. So the new book will have 2 versions, a handmade version that will start around 700.00 and a show version that we will autograph at our shows that will be around 100.00 or so.

We will be having a small amount available to our fans in our festivals that start in June. This photo is one of the first prototypes of the show version and the high end version is at my writers house and that one looks awesome.

Back to Painting

2011-04-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

I had to take a couple of months off from painting to do the business taxes, reorganize the business files, and get ready for the art shows that are coming up. It wasn’t easy to do but worth it. I also had an intense crash course in learning Quick Books 2011 Premier Retail Edition, which wasn’t easy, and transitioned the bookkeeping and inventory management systems into it.

Not all that artistic, but I like things to run as best as possible, makes for a healthier business…If you have your own business and don’t have Quick Books, it’s great. The learning curve is rough though but most large programs are like that. In fact, have no idea how I figured it out…

Now I’m back to painting, yeah!!! Above are some cool abstracts that didn’t take forever to do and they were really fun. These 4 little 8x8 acrylic paintings are drying right now and will be in this year’s shows. They have about 8 layers of paint with imagery and a hint of gold inside some of the texture, me love doing abstracts. This is a pretty poor shot, because they are exceptional in person!

Interview with Northwest Artist Kenneth Dahl

2011-02-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

An Interview with Northwest Artist Kenneth Dahl

Oil painting by Kenneth Dahl

Ken is an artist that I admire and hope that you will enjoy getting to know more about. Ken Dahl has been a personal mentor and friend for many years and it is an honor to get to do this interview. This is a real interview conducted by Jake Hose.

How long have you been an artist?

Perhaps a more accurate question of artists is "How long have you known you were an artist?". I have known that I was an artist for about 40 years or so, but only gained the confidence to begin seriously marketing my art within the last 10 years.

Would you explain to us what inspires you?

Love. I know, that sounds... over-romantic, but when we really get down to the root of what inspires art, it is the love we have for the subject matter we do art about - whether it be music, writing, or visual in nature. In conjunction with that fact is the reality that artists create art that is "loved" by the masses because of the things we all have in common. Art is full of emotion about a certain subject... a subject that is playful, or joyful, or sorrow, or sadness, or freedom and escapism, or imaginative and full of fantasy, or just peaceful and pleasant to look at, all emotions that all humans share.

Can you share with us how you make the art?

I am an oil painter, so I construct visual images in layers of drying times. The sky or background comes first, then the paint needs a week to dry. Within about 5 or 6 drying times I have a finished painting. Oil painting is not as free and expressive as acrylic because you must "hold that thought" for a week at a time - before continuing with your vision of a finished piece.

Who tends to appreciate your art the most?

I believe subject matter, more than any other consideration, is what attracts my buyers. I have found myself primarily painting scenes of actual popular locations such as well known lighthouses, or specific ocean beaches that have well-known landmarks. From a marketing perspective I have found that it adds buying potential when a prospect buyer is emotionally connected to the subject matter.

What are some of your most popular works and why?

In addition to painting particular well-known geographical locations, I have also found that the paintings I have wanted to do the most are the ones that sell the most. Somehow, and I know not how, the public "knows" which work your heart really went into. My three most popular pieces are "The Storm", "Christina's Lament", and "Reflections of Ruby After Sunset".

Are there other artists in your family?

Not that I know of, and not that they know of yet...

What have been some of the high points in your art career so far?

The highest point was the day I realized that I should be making a living with my art. This had less to do with the progression of my talent, and more to do with the progression of my personal and spiritual growth. Again, love, not only love for art but love of oneself, more important than anything else, will be the thing that launches a consistent art career. When I began celebrating my own potential, my art career began.

What have been some of the low points?

An artist who really wants to build a successful art career will truly learn the meaning of "being an island". My lowest points have been those times when I realized that an artist must fan their own flame. Great compliments from friends and relatives are not enough fuel to build an art business. Sitting at open air festivals and having little or no sales is probably the hardest thing for an artist to experience, but also one of the most educational and profitable learning experiences. The lessons I have learned through the rejection of my art have made my present and future inventory goals more full of potential than all the buyers and complements have.

What are you working on now?

I am currently working on a 10 to 12 piece series on Maui, primarily of documenting the little historic town of Lahaina. I am also working on a series of tropical mermaids.

You have sold art to collectors around the country, how did you do it?

By painting subject matter for a specific sport, ice fishing. Then I used the internet to advertise to all ice fisherman from North Dakota to Michigan. The same approach could be done for collectors of classic cars, or hot air balloon enthusiasts. Again, painting subjects that certain groups of people “love”.

What exciting goals do you have planned for the future?

I am actually branching out into the world of photography, and will soon be creating a nation-wide franchise of photographers in a bold, new undertaking that has never been done. In addition to that, Over the next 5 or 6 years I plan on visiting all of the islands of Hawaii and documenting the things that stand out as the most memorable scenes in vivid, original oils.

Many say that artists are different than other people, would you agree?

Artists, in a word, are crazy. Actually, that’s not a fair representation… we are… “Commissioned” if you will, to reflect the beauty everyone sees – back to the viewer in images and sounds and words that make sure the masses don’t forget or ever underestimate the beauty they’ve seen. It is our job to remind people how beautiful THEY are. For, in truth, in order to “see” beauty – one must possess beauty. We confirm inwardly to the viewers of our art not so much the beauty of our art, but the beauty of themselves, for beauty is truly in the “eye of the beholder”.

What do you think is the most challenging thing about being an artist?

Having to fan your own flame as a serious art business builder. “If it is going to be, it is up to me”. Not giving up, no matter what, because art is your “calling”.

What do you think is the most enjoyable thing about being an artist?

Laughing out loud or crying out loud somewhere between being almost finished and finished with a piece of art that you KNOW the magic canvas and the magic brushes had more to do with than your talent. When you realize you were just being used by Some incredible Creative Force in the universe you either laugh or cry or do both at the same time with a indescribable joy that is only shared by fellow artists.

What have been the most valuable career lessons you have learned?

1. The public will not see my art as a wise financial investment until I have a significant amount of inventory (a very large body of work). 30 to 40 art pieces in a lifetime will not a successful art career make.

2. An artist’s financial potential is significantly increased by painting in series of subject matter.

3. Listening to the public’s art buying desires is not changing who you are, but simply recognizing what century you are in. If I can somehow fit my artistic expression into what the public wants without completely giving up what I want to paint, I will be much more successful.

Being such an accomplished artist, would you have any advice for a budding artist that wants to make it?

If you honestly believe the world has been waiting for centuries for your incredible art, then you have the potential of becoming a successful art business owner. If you lack that level of excitement and belief in your own work, forget it. 99 percent of success is just being excited about what you have to offer the world.
An “art career” is NOT a thing that one “tries” for 10 years to “see if it works”, but a lifetime commitment to fill the earth with your art. If you want to do art as a hobby, that is absolutely a noble goal, but if you want to build a successful art career you must “know” that one of your “chief purposes” for being on this planet is to create hundreds of beautiful art pieces throughout the span of your lifetime.
Be careful not to use your art as the main source of your self-esteem. You are not beautiful and amazing and unique and incredible because you have the talent to create impressive art, but rather – because SomeThing bigger than you and I designed you as beautiful and amazing and unique and incredible. Artists are not a higher life form, just life forms who have been commissioned to document the beauty experienced by our generation. Like John Lennon sang…”For we all shine on, like the moon and the stars and the sun”
The more art you sell, the more people who are blessed with enjoying your gift. And the more time freedom created by the financial success of your art, the more TIME you have to create even MORE wonderful art for the world to experience.

Well, that will be the last question, thank you Ken for taking the time out of your busy schedule to do this. We cannot wait to see more exciting art of yours in the future.

If you would like to follow or purchase Ken’s work you can on his website at: www.kennethdahl.com

Old Book of Etchings

2011-01-24T23:57:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of purchasing an antique book of etchings by artist Adriaen Van Ostade a few years ago. I never heard of him before, but once I saw this collection it was obvious that he was a master from the old world.

The book was old, written in Dutch, so I could not make sense of it. After some research I learned that Adriaen Van Ostade was a Dutch painter from the Northern Renaissance era.

His work is historical, featuring Dutch peasant life and what it was like to live back then. It celebrates the beauty and folly of the ordinary person, and that’s really special. It almost seems that his work expresses a deep appreciation for them.

Looking through this book, it took me to another time and into the heart of the old world. What a wonderful experience… Oh, how different it is from our overcomplicated existence...

The painting above, The painter in his workshop (self portrait) (1663), at the Sempergalerie, Dresden, is one of my favorites because it captures the brilliant essence of him in his studio. I feel like I’m there, there with him as a friend, caught in the magic and inspiration. Paintings like these are so powerful and moving.

The Dutch painting style was the most sophisticated of its time, and to me, houses the “Holy Grail” of techniques for any serious artist that wants to go beyond simplicity.

I have been studying this style of painting for several years now and it has greatly enhanced both my understanding of art as well elevated my work. Thanks to these wonderful artists from long ago, carrying their traditions down to all of us.

If you would like to learn more about Adriaen Van Ostade, you can here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaen_van_Ostade

www.jakehose.net | www.funwhimsicalart.com

The Last Seattle Cats for 2011 is now done!

2011-01-18T16:00:00.000-08:00

The Last Seattle Cats for 2011 is now done!

This is the new "Story Time" acrylic painting in the Seattle Cats series. Tomorrow, my photographer will be taking professional shots of all 6 of the new paintings in the series! These have taken a couple of months to get ready.

Now I'm done with the Seattle Cats for this year, next time I'm in the studio, I'll be creating more Christian art followed by another in the Ethnic Princess series. I got some fun ideas...

What Great Artists Have

2011-01-17T21:10:00.000-08:00

What Great Artists Have

(The above piece shows exceptional skill to make a long story short. It is from Russia, click here to view more Russian miniature art.)

Being considered a great artist is subjective, meaning that it is subjective to interpretation. It is also subjective to comparisons with other artists’ works of similar style. It also can be great art but not socially acceptable at the time like some of Monet’s work.

With that out of the way, if people are telling you that your work is great, it probably is. If you feel the same way, it probably is. Perception is reality, if you are considered a great artist, then you are a great artist.

So what do great artists have that other artists tend to not have? That’s a tough question but consider what great artists tend to possess.

1) Great artists tend to be prolific. They know that their skills will fade if they do not keep them sharp. There is no substitute for practice, practice with the expectation to create great art. In other words, creating art with excellence.

2) They expect to create great art. They expect every piece of art they do to come out great or the greatest they can make it. All artists have bad days; some bad years…So in every artists body of work there are poor made pieces, good ones, and hopefully great ones.

3) Great artists do not create great art on accident. They know what they are doing, they are constantly looking for something they can learn to make them even greater. They never settle for a “comfort zone”, instead they keep pushing themselves to grow inward to express that outwardly.

4) Great artist tend to get rewarded with great accomplishments. if they are career minded. Greatness and acclaim tend to go hand in hand with artists that are promoting their art in a suitable environment.

5) They tend to be passionate about what they do. Every fiber of their being is passionately involved in creating the art. This passion captivates their audience.

6) Great artists tend to have a strong belief in themselves. This is important for one cannot become great without arousing the desire and belief to want to be great.

7) They tend to encourage themselves with positive self-talk. Words like “I can do this” or “I can overcome this challenge”. Self-talk is a big one, if you don’t believe you can be a great artist, then you will never be one, or worse, already be a great artist but never appreciate it.

If you want to create great art or better art or just improve at anything, raise the bar. The mind has a mysterious way to help you get over the bar. Once you get over the bar, raise it again and again. You will be surprised at how far you can go by raising the bar!

I’m sure there could be a book written about all this but great artists tend to be great inside and their art expresses that.

Written by Jake Hose

www.jakehose.net | www.funwhimsicalart.com

Getting Ready for the Art Festivals

2011-01-17T01:13:00.000-08:00

Getting Ready for the Art Festivals

Wow, its already that time! Some of the things I will be starting to do now is begin printing and packaging all the art I’ll be selling at the shows. This is allot of work, kind of fun, kind of not. I have been working for several months to get to this point, working on new pieces of the best art I can make.

The trick, I’ve found, is to not make too much inventory but not make too little. I’m starting to need to make more prints of new art, because last year, I sold out of some new art.

So I’ll be making more because when I go into the festival shows, I won’t have anytime but to focus on having a great series of shows! One show after another and it is a lot of fun meeting everyone. You meet tons of people, some from all over the world, and it is cool, to hear some of their stories.

My art festival shows start in June and end in late August, I’ll do some huge ones and I’ll do some small ones. It’s great to get to meet some of the other artists that work like a dog like me too; it’s normally a mutual appreciation thing.

When it comes to the shows, I’m not very competitive. I mean I want other artists to succeed too. It’s not all about me and I never want it to be. I see some artists get too competitive; almost view you as a threat, I think that’s missing the point of being an artist. I do art because I love to or I wouldn’t be doing this stuff.

I’m glad to have lasted this far and it’s a huge accomplishment for me to see my booth all set up and I feel like it’s paying off. It took 17 years of hard work to make this dream come true.

Well, before I start building my inventory back up, I’ve got to meet with my photographer, Gary, down at his studio in Puyallup. He’s going to take pictures of the 6 new Seattle Cats pieces of art, and then we’ll be ready to rock and roll.

Then comes ordering all the products to manufacture the inventory and contacting the festival organizations and submitting the proper paperwork. And who said being an artist was all about making art?

www.jakehose.net | www.funwhimsicalart.com

Artists are Strange?

2011-01-13T22:33:00.000-08:00

“Artists Are Strange?”

All the highly creative individuals I have met, including myself, have all been somewhat bazaar. Its always interesting meeting people that have a sense of uniqueness in a mass media world.

Artists are strange because that creative side of theirs has to come out, somehow and if it doesn’t they can become unhappy, depressed, and even suicidal. So it is a necessity for some artists to make art to live a happy life. It is also a sense of profound therapy for them.

A non-artistic individual may not understand that artists think differently. In fact, how their brain processes thought can be really different. After doing some research, I found that there is no direct connection between artists and mental illness. However, strong creativity can appear to be crazy to everyone including the artist! lol

Creative people are the visionaries who develop our future culture in many ways. Artists, as a whole, have a powerful ability to touch a culture inspiring it to flow with new ideas. As Albert Einstein said,

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Some people do not understand the value of artists since they tend to struggle with drug problems and living a “normal” life. With so many creative ideas inside one’s brain it can make an artist loose focus. And focus is important to not live a “starving artist” lifestyle too.

A creative person lives two different lives. They tend to have a natural urge to escape the reality of life to channel their creativity. When they are creating art, they escape and detach from what we call the normal life. In this “zone” artists create their most brilliant work. In this sometimes secluded place, artists may almost completely loose touch with reality and time.

No kidding and this is why artists struggle with keeping a stable life.

Likewise, non-artistic people tend to find being creative is the hardest thing to do, compared to ordinary things like getting groceries and paying bills. For them, detaching from reality and getting “out there” is an uncomfortable experience.

Artists can be so “real” that most live life with their heart on their sleeve. As if creating art has a way of stripping them of superficial things in their personalities.

Artists are like time travelers or explorers of the unknown. They bring back, for all of us, things that once did not exist.

Thanks for viewing the new BLOG!

2011-01-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

I have been working on getting this together for a while now and it's good to know that people are accessing this new blog from all over the world!

Be it on accident or not, thanks for coming by.

We will be continually adding more content and we are in the process of registering our new baby with the search engines! I will do my best to add content that is interesting.

Videos are coming, lots of them:)

2011 Art "Best Friends"

2011-01-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

This is my new piece, just finished it a few seconds ago. I'm pretty proud of it, took me many hours to learn how to paint this stuff. Sometimes a piece is super hard, sometimes it's not, this was somewhere in between. I've got one more to finish for my show in Feb at Karen Lucas Gallery, wish me luck.

Talking About Your Art

2011-01-10T14:18:00.000-08:00

Talking About Your Art

Learning to articulate what, how, and why you create art is incredibly important to your audience. If you have not learned how to do that, then I would suggest writing down a couple questions and then answering them.

1) Why do I do art? This answer should reflect your true core desire, people that want to know why you do art, and deserve to hear the truth. This adds value to your existence as an artist, in their minds, and in yours.

2) How do I create art? This answer should remove all the flowery art speak and get to the core. People want to know how you do it and be told in a brief and clear manor. Now they understand your art better, that should make it more appealing to them.

3) What kind of art do I create? The idea and output of being an artist means so many things to so many people, that clarity in purpose is important. For example, I’m a whimsical artist; I like to make happy pictures with humor and romance mixed with lots of color and fun! I can paint just about anything…but this is what I prefer to do.

With some practice you can train yourself so that at your shows you can be open, honest, passionate, and enthusiastic about your art. You will definitely see the difference in value that you bring to your audience from being a resource of knowledge for them.

This may sound intimidating, well it can be, but there is no excuse for practice. :) Whatever you do, please do not exaggerate anything when it comes to your art. I mean, be genuine and heartfelt to your audience, which will open up doors.

Finding Your Artistic Voice

2011-01-05T19:46:00.000-08:00

Finding Your Artistic Voice

Some artists get pushed into college, boxed in with techniques, forced into a standardized mold, but never encouraged to find their inner voice?

After school, they find that they are 1 in a million other artists that know the same thing.

Now I don’t mean to be against how one was taught, just the tendency to stay, or be stuck inside, a box of rules. This box may need to be broken to unleash an artist's true potential.

It is known that some teachers can limit an artist's growth by standardized rules. But going against the rules help to development an artist's individualized style.Because it is the rules that separate one style of art from another.

In other words, if it is not from a preconceived process it is “wrong”. I say they are wrong, very wrong. Some teachers do not have the skill or talent to develop a student's full potential...

Finding your artistic voice only comes from you. It is a result of finding what you really like to create, how it is created, how it is expressed, and how it is delivered. It is from experimenting with techniques and learning as much as you can about art. Then an artist will have the tools to articulate and express one's passion.

It is through honesty, insight, and self-reflection. In short, you need to take who you are and channel that creative power through a medium of choice.

As a creative person such as an artist, your voice sets you apart. It gives your work an edge, which if done properly, will get you noticed. It takes guts, lots of it to break away from the norm.

A tenacity and adventurous spirit is needed to break apart the techniques that you have learned and create individual arguments, throw out what you do not want, to illuminate who you are.

Then you have your voice!

“The Significance of Art”

2011-01-03T22:01:00.000-08:00

“The Significance of Art”

The study and understanding of history has been largely based on archeologists finding art.

If it weren’t for artists living in different time periods, we would not know much about our history on earth.

The artists of old wrote with pictures like the ancient Egyptians along with other civilizations…sometimes the only thing that lasts from a civilization is a fragment of their art.

Just like thousands of years ago, artists today play a tremendous roll in influencing and shaping society. It is a part of the interdependent calling of artists around the world.

I don’t think that most artists can see how important art is based on our current time period. We live in a time of the great commercialization of art, décor art and the deterioration of “pure art” and it’s future significance.

In short, our society has been saturated with more art, this I believe, has cheapened the overall experience of art to the average viewer. People’s tastes have been cheapened along with it. Most people do not know what “good art” really is. Some do not care but just want a painting to match a chair in a room.

Regardless, it is within the inner fabric of our humanity that we love to express ourselves and touch others around us. We should, we really should no matter how talented we are.

Art is a connection point that illuminates the human condition and a universal language for us all to benefit from. Not only do artists document history, their contribution enriches society.

Written By Jake Hose

Art Work in Progress- Late 2010

2010-12-20T09:27:00.000-08:00

Art Work In Progress Late 2010

This is one I've been playing around with in my head for about a year now. It's called "Love Under the Mountain", an 8x8 acrylic painting on canvas. This is one of six minis that are being worked on to add to the Seattle Cats series for 2011.

I'm adding some butterflies, mushrooms and flowers to give it more personality. This still needs some color adjusting, more detail, and the light and shadows refined before I'll sign it. Once it's done, I'll have some prints available at the shows. This one has been allot of fun.

There's about four coats of paint on this flower. This will give it a tonal brilliance once the painting is varnished. I'll flip the art upside down sometimes to block out the subject matter so that I can see the color composition better. This helps to make color decisions better and so on.

Below is a photo of it finished! Now when all the rest of them are done, I will be taking them down to Gary Mccutcheon, my photographer, and we'll get a great photo to print from. Then we will make prints of them and have them available at ours shows in 2011!

The Ones That Succeed

2010-12-19T22:41:00.000-08:00

The Ones That Succeed

No matter what one pursues, the ones that “make it” are the ones that are 100% dedicated to what they do.

They are focused on making their dreams a reality. Excuses are not what drives a determined person to the finish line nor do they buy into self doubt.

People from all walks of life, and from different professions, have overcome great adversity be it poverty and the likes, to make their dreams a reality.

How? Their success came from their deep desire to become more then they are, to unleash their full potential. It does not matter who you are, what your circumstances are that makes you successful at what you do. It is your passion manifested into reality that makes your dreams real.

People will attack your dreams; they can undermine your sincere desire to make things happen. This is common; so don’t be discouraged by it. Many people do fail at what they set out to do, but not you.

While the airplane was being developed, it had resistance from some people if it would work or not. Once the idea was realized, that you could fly in a plane, the other people took notice and eventually accepted it.

If you are a dreamer then you have the exciting ability to create things that enrich other peoples lives. Dreamers mold and shape a large part of our reality, look around you, almost everything man has made is from ideas.

It takes courage to make your ideas a reality no matter what you set out to accomplish. It does not matter if your dream is to become a scientist or an artist, it takes that same amount of energy and focus to become more then you are.

The ones that succeed are the ones that will do everything in their fiber of being to make their dreams a reality. The ones that fail are ones that don’t care as much. They may want success but they may not want to work hard for it. But Caring is an essential human value, for you must care for your dream to make it real.

I hope that this inspires you to dream and do.

Written by Jake Hose

The Magic of Color and How to Mix Them

2010-11-29T22:32:00.000-08:00

The Magic of Color and How to Mix Them

Color has a magical way of arousing emotions! Color has the power to energize the mind. Much of my work is saturated with an orchestration of color that creates tension and visual release. There is a broad tonal quality that’s inspiring to the imagination and charges the work with dynamic visual energy.

One thing is true, I love color in my work! Color is one of the greatest assets an artist has to create the mood of a masterpiece. So artists do not be afraid of color!

Certain color combinations have the power to alter moods and project well being and emotional harmony to the viewer.

When it comes to mixing color, there is great debate among some color experts about using a color wheel. It seems to them, that there is a better way to mix color, I agree. I agree with the fact that if you want to learn how to put complex color arrangements in your work then you should mix color from your soul.

Mix color in a way that projects how you feel about your art and its message. Mix color in experimentation to develop and gain a deeper articulated understanding of color. Trends in color come and go, but great emotional, intelligent color execution is timeless.

Color mixing can be intimidating and it should be because there are millions of colors you can create, but in this range of options there is great freedom to express how you feel through the use of color.

Color vibrates in rhythmic patterns on the visual field much like the rhythm of music and this color arranged in a certain way can give life, not only to your art, but also to your audience. It is the emotional experience of art that makes art great, it is less how much skill you have but how emotionally charged a piece is that makes a master work that transcends time.

To mix color, experiment, experiment greatly and if you mix something you do not like then do not use it. Struggle until you find the right mixture to use in your painting. One of the greatest pieces of advice to a new artist is to never use color to not waste it on your pallet. An artist needs to develop a color sensitivity that also includes an insight regarding when enough is enough.

It is much better to throw away some extra paint then to over color a work of art just to use up the rest of it. In fact many artists ruin a piece, not because they do not have talent but because they want to use up the rest of something, do not be like that.

I throw lots of color away, it is a part of the process of creating the work. I sometimes mix way too much color and that’s ok. It is better to mix more then not enough.

Best to you!

Written by Jake Hose

My Awesome Art Journey

2010-11-29T22:28:00.000-08:00

My Awesome Art Journey

In my life it has been an awesome thing to meet so many people from some many walks of life. I have gotten the opportunity to sell art to people that are celebrities and that’s a real cool feeling. It’s just as cool to sell art to children too. I know they are growing up with my art and no money could ever be more valuable then this understanding.

Whoever that buys my art, it’s awesome to know that they like my work enough to want to make it a part of there life. People that collect my work tend to be really cool. People that want something different, some of them are very unique individuals that appreciate what I’ve poured my soul into.

As an artist, having people support and “get” what you are doing is a real blessing. I think all artists need the support of others to help finalize an artist’s dream. No matter who buys or supports what I do, I appreciate them all. Because being an artist is a hard thing to be.

We live in a world that sometimes does not appreciate art for what it really is. But art and the expression in art benefits society in a way that is crucial for the enjoyment of all people. That understanding is a beautiful thing and that is one reason why I love what I do, I love to touch people and inspire them.

It is a great honor to leave a legacy that is good for others. I care less about the money, even though I can be very well paid to do what I do.

I think it is less about the artist and more about the value of what they do and there contribution. And if you are an artist, you are a special person with a gift to enrich society, and if you aren’t you are just as special.

Written by Jake Hose

Advice for Artists “Why Do Art Festivals?”

2010-11-23T14:46:00.000-08:00

Advice for Artists “Why Do Festivals?”

I’ve been doing large and small festivals around the Seattle area for close to 6 years know, wow, what a “long strange trip it’s been”. I got some advice; if you have never done shows, save yourself some money by doing the right thing the first time.

If you are just starting out, or if you aren’t, doing festivals can be one of the best ways to advertise, sell, and promote your art.

The advantages of doing festivals are many. On a weekend, hundreds of people could see your art and buy it too. You get to meet and interact with people that enjoy your art and get valuable feedback. Some artists make a fulltime living just doing art festivals and some really enjoy it.

If you are just starting out, you may find that most galleries will not accept your work because you may not be established enough. This rejection shoots down most artists and some of them quit and feel like failures… but not so fast.

Many artists break into the art market by doing shows then they work with galleries later, while still doing shows. You may find that the galleries that had turned your work down years ago now will take it because you have built your name and that means that it will be less risky to feature your work.

Some Advice On Doing Art Festivals

Start Small

Festivals can get really expensive so step into it gradually.

Doing a show with 2,000 people in attendance is a whole different experience then one with 450,000.

Once you have some confidence and have adjusted to what it takes to do shows, then start to go for the bigger ones too. But keep in mind, just because a show is bigger does not mean you will make more, but you will tend to get way more exposure.

Have Prices On Everything

People, most of the time, will not buy your art if it is not priced. They will think it is not for sale.

Communicate With Everyone

The more people you know the better. Talk to other artists, talk to the festival administrators, and talk with everyone that comes in your booth. It doesn’t matter if they buy something, if you want to be known in the festival circuit and among people, then be open for friendships.

People buy things from people they like, unless you have something that they want more then your lack of people skills. Unfortunately, no one has to have art, so being friendly and open is a must.

Be Humble

Fact is, no matter how great you are, do everything you can to be humble because you will look wise and seasoned among your collectors and others.

Price It To Sell It

Make things affordable and competitive to people as long as it is still profitable. Some artists give it away and that’s not how you make money. But likewise, some artists price their art out of the market, and they don’t make money either.

Be an artist that moves art, one way or another. The more art you have going out the door, the more you are building your name and brand. These actions will eventually reciprocate to people looking for you for art.

Now if you are making art that is expensive to produce, this will make it have a higher price generally speaking. This normally makes the work move slower, if so, that’s ok.

You may need to wait until later to have a high enough demand for your more expensive work, before it will sell. If this is the case, I suggest not lowering your prices but to make cheaper prints or cheaper art for people to buy at your shows.

Size of Art Matters

Don’t make art that’s huge and think that most people who parked 8 blocks away will be willing to drag it out while moving through thousands of people. Now there are artists that do succeed selling larger art, but really, that’s not the norm.

Instead, keep your art and other products the size of a shopping bag or the size that they can easily walk out with. This makes buying your work easy. I started doing art shows with huge pieces of art and quickly found this one to be true.

Decorating Your Tent

Do whatever it takes to look professional among your audience. If your booth looks cheap, messy, not thought out, someone will notice. With an organized, well displayed, art booth you will be looking good and people will take you and your art seriously. Look around and you will see the artists that have done shows for many years “look it”. Try, to a certain degree, emulate them.

Take Credit Cards

I once ordered a meal at this restaurant and when I was ready to pay, they told me they didn’t except debit cards. I thought, ‘what?’ this is 2010 and everyone else around is using debit cards…this was embarrassing, not that I didn’t have money, but embarrassing if I was the owner of that restaurant.

Bottom line, if you don’t accept credit cards; forget about making a profit at festivals, people today buy with plastic.

A Tent Sign With Your Name and Business On It

The more professional you make your business look the better, people will not come up to you and say your booth doesn’t look good, they just won’t buy something. With a sign in your tent with your business name shows people that you are running a real business.

Hang in There

Doing festivals are rough but enjoyable too. You may find yourself working 13 hours every day of the show. After the show, you may need to do some accounting and so on.

In fact I’ve worked around 40 hours on a weekend doing shows before, but that’s what it takes to make a name for yourself. All I can say is hang in there; if it were easy everybody would make it as an artist.

When I first started doing shows, I was like a deer in the headlights, one blur after another. It took a couple years to get used to it, now it’s fun.

Be Consistent

Pretty much the same product at the same show for a while to build your recognition, when starting out, it’s better to do the same show a few times to solidify your name in that particular festival. The first time you hit the show, people may not know who your are, may not even buy things because they have never seen your work before. It’s called consumer confidence; you need to prove to them that you are not a “flash in the pan”.

The next year, there you are, at the same show, now they start buying. When they think of a festival, you want them to think of you and your art. That takes time. Just don’t think that because you have great art, you’ll instantly be a success at festivals. If you really think that, you’ll find you might be one person selling art around 400 other great artists, then you’ll know.

In closing, this is why doing art festivals is one of the best things to use to make a name for yourself.

Written by Jake Hose

What I Enjoy About Being An Artist

2010-11-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

What I Enjoy About Being An Artist

First off, I want to say that I have worked incredibly hard over 17 years to make a name for myself and have paid tremendous dues...

Beyond all the trouble and hardships of being an artist, below are some of what I enjoy about being one.

I love to share my art with others and see their reactions to it, even negative reactions can make me laugh and think. When I’m painting, I’ll also be wondering what my fans and others will think about this new one. It sure is nice when I know that what I’m doing is touching someone in a positive way.

Sometimes I can see someone walking by my booth, when I’m doing festivals, and suddenly turn around to look at one of my fun pieces of art. Then they may start smiling, cracking up, and I can tell that the experience was good for them. The happiness in the art made them feel happy.

Seeing a child’s eyes light up in wonder and getting the feeling that they understand the power of art, sometimes better then the adults. That’s a priceless experience.

There is nothing like the feeling of people collecting my art and knowing that they will one day put it on a wall and share it with others. This new art becomes a part of there lives, what they like and a way to express their tastes and emotions. This is all very cool and surreal.

Sometimes I’ll get some mail from someone that became inspired by my work and that is special too. Sometimes being an artist, I need the support of my fans it can be a lonely and hard road. so I have a special place where I save all my “fan letters”.

I enjoy being in the studio and blocking out what’s happening in the world and getting into my creative world. That’s a wonderful feeling to be captivated by an artistic purging and realization of a dream becoming a reality, right before my eyes.

Sometimes the daily demands of life make creating art very hard to do. So I've got to work extra hard to get enough time to go into the studio and create. This makes every painting even more valuable to me.

Today is a great time to be an artist, stores are full of everything you need to make whatever you want and this is an awesome time for creative expression.

I enjoy very much so, getting my art back from my photographer and seeing what it will look like in print form. There is nothing like my art under the lens of a gifted photographer...

It’s a great feeling knowing that some of the art I have out there will touch and inspire others in some magical way, long after I’m gone and this is a special honor, it's good to be an artist.

Written by Jake Hose

Artist Advice "A Business Plan"

2010-11-19T22:09:00.000-08:00

Artist Advice “Developing a Business Plan”

"I've got this business, now what?"

Why have a business plan? Most businesses that don’t have one are reactive in the market not proactive in the market. Most businesses fail because they do not have a business plan.

Business plans are hard to do; they make you focus in a way that makes one have to make decisions, risks, and investments to accomplish business goals.

I can tell you by experience that having a business plan will most certainly save you money in the long run and future headaches because you will have already debated a feasibility study within your business goals.

It is much harder to make mistakes in the market if you have already thought it through methodically.

Now this may sound like something that an artist would not want to do because it runs against the grain of whim and creative inspiration. However, there is an easy way to develop a business plan that will help the artist.

This is called a flexible business plan.

A flexible business plan is realistic in a way that opens your planning up to opportunities that may come your way that maybe even greater then what your plans are.

How someone with an MBA might make a business plan and how an artist may make a business plan maybe very different based on the skill set of each one and that’s quite ok.

I have been writing business plans for a few years now and I have come up with a system that I designed for my company that, in my opinion, rocks.

This is after studying various business plans and going through the confusion of studying somebody else’s goals lol…

Now you can relate a business plan to a blueprint for building a home. Would you trust anyone to make a sophisticated home without showing you the plans? The builder brings you the plans, you debate whether you would like another door, bathroom, or whatever…

This is the same with running a business; a business plan is designed to build a company through a series of well thought out goals. For the artist, here are the categories:

Within a certain time frame a successful art business needs goals in each of these categories:

Vision- Where do you see your company going? Vision is important, if you want to do festivals then plan accordingly. I believe that the first 10 to 15 years of an artist career should be focused on intensely developing an artist’s name. It takes a long time to be known as an artist.

Production Goals-You should have goals on creating art and or making products to sell…These goals need to be forecasted within a year, 5 years, or even ten years out.

Promotion Goals- After your art products are made then they need to connect with a market be it galleries, online, offline, festivals, word of mouth…We are talking sales. You will need goals on where you need to make connections to sell your work.

Accounting Goals- As a business owner, one needs to have a ledger that properly records the sales of each item and how much inventory your business has. This will help during tax time having an accurate recording of business receipts and so on. You will need a system on how to efficiently log these numbers so you can see your progress.

Within these parameters a budget needs to be established on how much it will cost to develop these goals, how long it will take and when they will happen.

If you focus every year on developing these categories and integrate them into your business plan, you are much more likely to succeed building your business faster than someone that is sporadically operating in the market place. By no means does this article cover everything you need to know, but remember a game plan is much better then no game plan.

Written by Jake Hose

Professional Advice For Artists: Art Branding

2010-11-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

Professional Advice For Artists:

My intention for this article is to help other artists that may not know what to do or know why things are not as good for them. All this stuff I believe is sound advice and I've read many books on business and still have many to go. :)

Art Branding

I would have to say that branding is one of the most overlooked, yet essential, components for a successful art business.

Error # 1 An Unclear Signature

Simply put, when a person buys a piece of art with a scribbled signature and puts it on there wall, most likely, they will eventually forget who that artist was who made it.

A clear signature does them a favor and yourself by creating a better connection for them to acquire more art from you…So an artist’s name is an essential component for a solid brand and should be on every single thing that is a part of the artist’s marketing collateral.

Error# 2 Body of work has no continuity

What if you picked up a book about science fiction and after reading it you realized that the book drifted into various genres. Will this leave you with a foggy and unclear impression of the actual genre?

This may leave you unsure of future books by this author. A focused body of work all goes together, it may use the same colors, same imagery, the same technique and so on.

This is an essential component to image branding. This continuity gives an artist an identity to make a following, an expectation, and builds trust with collectors. Just because an artist can make anything does not mean that they should.

Art as a hobby means you can make whatever you want, but not in business. For example; the auto maker Farari is known in the market for making sports cars not mini vans.

If they made mini vans, in my opinion, this would create a negativity in regards to there brand and they would feel it. By the way, Farari doesn't need to expand there product line, they are already successful at building sports cars.

Error# 3 Work lacks quality

To put it simply, the better the art is, the greater its potential. Ebay is saturated with fast and cheaply produced decor art to name one example. This is not a negative thing, however, if you desire to work with fine art galleries, then quality is what they want.

Quality is essential in maintaining a proper brand. In this highly competitive art market, the artists that tend to succeed the most are ones that impress art collectors with quality and refined artistic ideas.

So my advice on this matter is never settle for less, if you can make it better, then that is what you really need to do. This is developed by an artist’s true desire for excellence and this desire becomes manifested in the body of work.

Error# 4 Work is not made for a target market

The professional artist makes art designed to sell, they should carefully choose how each piece is created and whom they think will connect to it. Developing an artist career is very expensive and an artist will take less risk with a solid portfolio of commercialized art.

It is not enough to tap into a market, an artist needs to diversify in a way that creates stability, these things take time, that is why most financially successful artists are in there mid to late years in their careers.

Here’s another example of a targeted market, if you are looking for motor oil, you won’t find it at the fabric shop. The reason being is that the market is used to, and expects, to find motor oil at the auto parts store. This is an obvious example; motor oil is targeted to sell at the auto parts store.

Same thing with art, in this huge art market, an artist needs to focus on a particular target market(s), be it art festivals, book illustration, graphic design and so on.

In the beginning, an artist should experiment with the market and see where their art tends to connect with an audience, and then they need to focus on that particular niche to expand on that demand. An artist’s image brand should be refined to cater to capitalize on this niche(s).

If you look closely at successful artists you will see all or some of these branding components working to build their careers.The more of these, the better.

Written by Jake Hose

Jazz Cats from the Seattle Cats series of art

2010-11-16T06:47:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of my latest acrylic painting to date called Jazz Cats. This is right after i sprayed 3 layers of varnish over the top and when It's dry, I'll send it down to my photographer Gary Mccutcheons so that we can publish the art into prints for our shows.

I'm pretty exhausted now, been working on this for the past 3 weeks and will need a few days to recharge. Art like this is hard to do, but i love a challenge!