Gathering subjects

I'm not going to have much to show on the border collie this week because life outside the studio is getting in the way of creative progress. I'm squeaking out little moments here and there to work on it...but it's not going to amount to anything big on the updated pic. I'll save that for next week when life gets back to normal a little bit more.

Anyway, I had done a little bit of photo taking research online and really read the owner's manual for my camera. I actually picked up some tips and tricks and also learned about what my camera can and cannot do. I know, I know...it's a point and shoot and doesn't have the OMG bells and whistles that the DSLR cameras have. But it's what I can do at this point with the studio camera budget. I digress...

I did discover that my sport continuous mode is pretty much useless...and that was why I bought the Nikon Coolpix. It takes the photos at only 3 megapixels in that mode and there's nothing I can do to change that. The ISO setting cannot also be adjusted in sports continuous mode either. So, for a spell, I was pretty bummed that this new camera was going to take really sucky action shots. I can't draw off of sucky, grainy photos. One night last week, I stayed up to some ungodly hour (I think I hit the bed at 3 am) and read a lot of photography stuff and figured out how to use the auto mode on continuous and with the right ISO setting set manually. Finally, I can take some good action pics.

Last weekend I had taken Ocean to his AKC herding instinct test in CT and packed the camera to grab some pics in between our tests. Using the Auto Mode/continuous and the appropriate ISO setting for bright sun, I snapped away for about an hour. I have to laugh, I think I took a couple of hundred photos as the shutter snapped at .7 frames per second. Out of those couple hundreds pics, I think I saved 25 as potential reference pics. LOL I had to do some cropping and tweaking with auto correct on what was left...but I got some images that looked like this -

That, I can work with and I can create from. I am so thrilled I figured out how to get photos I can work from without shelling out money for royalties or from the Wet Canvas reference library (where there are other renditions of images I'm interested in floating around out there.) Oh yeah, Ocean did earn his certificate on sheep! Here's a link to the first run my little boy did in the morning:



 Yes, he is so not his brother, Lars. LOL

With my new knowledge of how to use my camera, I am going to start seeking out different horse and dog events to collect more numbers and more diverse reference photos. Friday, I'm going to hit a local dog specialty show where they are having all breed obedience and see if I can catch a few good working shots. I'll be doing some NADAC agility with Lars this weekend and even thought it's inside, I'll play with settings and see if I can get some good quality agility pics.

This week, I had been a little all over the road with "what do I do next?!?!?" in my journey on developing my studio. I wrote down in my idea book that the first priority is to build my body of work. That really should be my main goal in my artistic mission. Of course I have to keep on top of marketing, web development, blogging, etc. but, I'm a little bit stuck in where I can go and do with getting my art "out there" to people who will fall in love it it with the pieces of work I have now. So, refocused and back on track...build the body of work and the rest will fall into place. :)

Weekly pupdate

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, I have the rear end all done! Now, I'm moving towards the back, the flank, and the torso. Earlier this week was dedicated to the final detail on the right hind leg. Today was more or less getting the base laid for the areas I'll be working on now. I did finished up today's work with starting a little bit of the top back detail. I'm quickly approaching the half way mark and I can't wait until I start work on the head.

Website updates of interest

Got something crossed off the bottomless studio "to do list" and added two new pages to the website! Last night while the house was quiet with slumbering dogs and spouses, I was able to add a webpage for Oceans Of Petals where you can purchase the original and the limited edition prints if you so choose.

Equus2 Oceans of Petals page

I was also able to finally get a page on the website where you can purchase note card sets of my artwork that I offer on both Etsy and eBay. Now, you can purchase note card sets directly from me and leave out the middle men of those selling platforms. I have clickable images so you can see the cards close up...more close up than those on either Etsy or eBay. Just like on the other sites, the card sets are $12.00 and $2.00 shipping. At some point I will categorize the cards as the inventory grows. But, at this point, all of the cards are offered on the same webpage. 

Equus2 Note Card Page

I'm hoping tomorrow to have a "pupdate" on the blog. So, you'll have to check back and see where I am on the border collie. I'm moving along nicely on it...the rear near is all done and now I'm moving on to the dog's torso. 

Catch you all later!!!

Weekly pupdate!

O.M.G....two blog postings back to back!!!

Doing some housekeeping

This week in the studio has been more me doing stuff behind the scenes...updating the website and tweaking a bunch of stuff on there. I've changed the text box backgrounds so they are a little bit easier to see and read. I have all of the buy it now buttons on the pages for pieces that are either for sale themselves or I have limited edition prints available for. The works in progress page got updated too to show the border collie drawing. There are some other small things I've been tinkering with that have to do with coding and making sure the site looks the same on a laptop/desktop as it does on a smart phone or tablet.

There's some other pages and big updates I have to make and those will come over the next couple of days/weeks. I have a notebook of things I need to do for the art biz and as something pops into my head, onto the notebook it goes. I am tackling things one at a time as I move down the page. I'm making sure that I don't pick and choose the cool stuff I want to do now and leaving the not so cool stuff for another time (which most likely will become "never".) I'm finding it's a good way for me to prioritize and make sure nothing gets left to the way side. Some of the "to do list" you guys probably wouldn't even notice because it's marketing or me talking to someone to get some feedback or ideas about a new path or whatever. Some things will become new webpages, events, or things my collectors will find interesting. I think I will give a shout out to the things that my Equus2 fans would find interesting on here...just so all of you guys will be kept in the loop. 

Here's the website link for you inquiring minds!! - http://www.equus2studios.com

Something else I've been wrestling with is the reworking the pricing of my art. After talking with a friend of mine who is an artist (she works in oils and has a great impressionistic style - http://roxannesteed.blogspot.com/) the price of my original works were way, way too low for the amount of detail and time that goes into them. I was basically giving them away...and therefore devaluing what I was creating. For what I was charging, I was probably making about .75 to 1.00 an hour on them. That's crazy. :( So, after researching and researching artists who created art that was very similar in style and detail to what I create. I figured out a new pricing scale that I feel good about and what is fair for the level of artistry and craftsmanship I put into the piece. This pricing scale is also opening up a section of my business I wasn't planning on opening up because I wasn't feeling good about being fairly compensated for my art. You can probably figure out where I'm going with this...but I'll leave you in suspense for a little while.

I'll close out this posting with a photo I took with my new camera - Inquisitive Lars. :)

I'm not sure if this will become a drawing at some point. The level of detail I would end up getting wrapped up in would be similar to what I got into with his puppy pic (which is sort of stalled right now because I'm having a hard time in my brain seeing the forest for the trees with it .)  I was hoping to take a bunch of new potential reference pics at the agility trial I was at this weekend. Well, a head cold rolled in and I had a hard enough time just running Lars let alone function in between runs. So, next time.... I will take it along with me to the herding instinct test Ocean will be taking in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some great working photos of herding breeds doing their herding thing and then offer those great images to you all some day (if herding dogs are your sort of thing.)

'Til next time!