Would you let Google use your art for free?

My husband brought this article to my attention today, about how Google has been asking artists to create skins for them for free. The reward to the artist, naturally, is “exposure”, that insipid internet currency.

I am familiar with this sort of scenario, not with my art work, but rather with travel writing. Ever since I started my other blog several years ago, I have been asked to provide my writing to various websites in exchange for “exposure” more times than I can count. My reactions to these requests have ranged from cheerful acceptance to indignant refusal. These days I usually just ignore them entirely.

So why the varied reactions? I’ve found it hard to come up with a blanket policy to determine how I handle such requests. Whether or not it is in my best interest to provide my writing for free depends on several factors. For example:

• Is it for a cause I believe in? By submitting my work for free, am I helping a really cool website grow? Am I helping to promote someone or something I care about?

• How much “exposure” are we talking about? Will it actually direct traffic to my website or lead to paying gigs for me? Sites that ask you to write for free often exaggerate the number of readers they get or expect, and these days most of them doing the asking actually get less traffic than I do.

• What else is in it for me? Will it give me practice writing in a new style? Will it help me explore a new topic that interests me?

• Who will be earning money from my efforts? Am I OK with that?

Now, back to the art/Google scenario at hand. Would I jump on such an opportunity? Probably, given where I am in my art career right now. Perhaps it would leave a bad taste in my mouth that a large, profitable company was asking me to work for free, but in the end I would probably stand to gain from the scenario overall. But Google is not asking me; it is asking much more well-established artists. Artists who are well-known in their fields, who already have loads of exposure for their work. For them, Google exposure would not necessarily be a benefit. In fact, as the article mentioned, artists agreeing to work for free for a giant, profitable company such as Google could set a “dangerous precedent”, one that would harm artists overall. It makes perfect sense to me that so many are turning Google down.

If Google asked you to provide artwork to them for free, would you do it?

Tags: news, thoughts

Yet another reason to love winter

When it’s 0 degrees out, it’s perfectly acceptable for me to throw my long winter coat over my studio clothes and go shopping. Never mind that those studio clothes are really paint-stained sweats with holes in them. A nice long coat makes it all ok. Yay winter!

Tags: thoughts

Too Old

I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do with myself when we decided to move to Munich. I had a hunch I wanted to more aggressively pursue my career as an artist, and so I investigated going back to art school as an option. I found the website of the Akademie der bildenden Künste München and eagerly read through the information presented for those hoping to be admitted for an art degree course. I got so excited thinking about life as a full-time art student – how much I would enjoy the various challenges in each course, how much I could grow as an artist with all that new knowledge.

And then I started reading through the admissions requirements. And then I came to this bit: (Section 6.1.a.)

Minimum Age: Eighteen years at last birthday
Age Limit: Thirtieth birthday

Fabulous. My over-30-year-old-brain just isn’t worth their time. Too shriveled and useless to benefit from art school!

Tags: thoughts

Studio!

The single most exciting thing about our new apartment is that it contains a room which I get to use as my studio. A whole room just for my art! I’ve never had that before. It’s thrilling. I love this room. It is big and bright and has a big window with a lovely view.

Except for my easel and art supplies, my studio is still pretty empty – I want to get to know the room a little bit before I decide what additional items I want to acquire for it. Plus I love how much floor space is available for me to spread out in.

Speaking of the floor, it is brand new – the landlord had it re-done right before we moved in. While it looks fabulous, the pristine surface has me terrified. What if I stain it? Get paint on it? Ruin it? For now I’m using a couple rolls of the fabric floor covering the movers left here (at my request) to keep myself sane, but I’d like to come up with a better (and more attractive) long-term solution.

The walls create a similar stress point: they are newly painted and hole-free. But the good news is that here in Germany we are required to re-paint them when we move out anyway, so in theory I can go ahead and mess them up as much as I want. Still, it’s hard to make that first mark…

Tags: thoughts

Getting back into things

I spent the last month and a half of 2007 traveling without a single art supply; so far 2008 has mostly been occupied with settling in in our new apartment in our new city (Munich). One of the most exciting things about this new apartment is that I have a studio in it. I’m still figuring out how I want everything arranged (and what additional furniture I’d like for the room), but I have managed to get the easel set up and have started a new painting. I’m very excited to get back into the rhythm of painting daily. I also plan to start updating this blog more regularly.

I have a few commissions that I need to get to work on. I also need to find a good local source of art supplies. I went to check out a couple shops in my new neighborhood, but their offerings are limited. So much to do…

Tags: thoughts

Work in Progress: Tomoko

I often reach a point in a painting where I really love something about it, even though I don’t love it as a whole and I know it’s not finished. I get kind of panicky at this point, because I’m afraid that if I work on the painting too much more, I’ll ruin whatever it is that I love about it.

Take this demo done by another artist, for example. I like several of the early drafts of his work – how did he know to keep going? Perhaps because he had a clear image of the goal, perhaps because he was following a certain technique. I’m still experimenting with my techniques, and don’t know what my finished paintings will look like when I start them. This painting has gone through many iterations already to get to where it is now.

Realism isn’t the goal, although I do strive to make my subjects recognizable. I like it when paintings are a little rough around the edges, and I try to resist over-polishing my works. But I also don’t want to quit before they’re really done.

What I probably need to do is learn to get over it. Just plow ahead, and not be so afraid of ruining a half-finished painting. I can learn from mistakes. To take away this feeling of ‘preciousness’ that I start to associate with my works, I should start making more of them. Work on multiple canvases simultaneously, and hold myself to more of a schedule. It’s too easy to put painting on the back burner when things get busy around here.

I’m going to be traveling for most of the next two weeks, but when I come back I will start a new painting schedule. Start at least one new painting each week. Also, at least one new art blog post per week, to help me reflect on my progress.

Tags: acrylic, painting, portrait, thoughts, work in progress

Apples and their reflections

30 x 45 cm, oil on canvas, 1992.

In high school I took two years of AP Art. One year my theme was portraits, and the other year it was fruit. I can’t remember exactly why I chose fruit. Probably as much for its ease as anything. You don’t need much space to set up a still life. Fruit offers an array of colors, textures, and shapes for the artist to play with. And except for the inevitable decomposition that occurs if you drag out the work too long, fruit proves to be a rather static and obedient subject matter.

This particular painting is the only piece of my early work that I have here in Zurich. For some reason it traveled here with me, stowed away in my portfolio case full of otherwise blank and unused art supplies. I’m not really sure why – this isn’t my best painting from that time, or even my favorite.

I have started on another portrait, but I have also been looking around for another subject matter to try out. This painting reminded me of my earlier fruit period, and once again drawn in by the ease and simplicity of this subject matter, I decided to set up a new still life. I’ll let you know if it proves fruitful.

Tags: fruit, oils, painting, still life, thoughts

Yoshiko

40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006-2007.

I’m not sure this one is finished (which is how I feel about most of my paintings when I post them here). I do at least need a break from it – I’ve stared at it too much. I’m looking forward to starting something new. Perhaps this time I’ll get several canvases going at once.

Tags: acrylic, painting, portrait, thoughts

Katy

40 x 50 cm, acrylic on canvas, 2006.

This portrait was a new challenge for me, in that it is the first full portrait I’ve done recently of a person whom I’ve never met in the flesh. Not knowing the subject makes it difficult for me to improvise too much, and I found myself worrying much more about likeness than I usually do. Nonetheless it was a joy to paint, as I had several lovely photos to work from, and the client was a dream (providing information and photos, and leaving me plenty of artistic freedom). It was a commission done for Jeremy, who gave it to his wife Katy as a Christmas gift.

Tags: acrylic, painting, portrait, thoughts

The artist speaks

Hi there. OK, this isn’t really a big deal, since I blog all the time on my other two blogs. But I think I’m going to start writing on this one, too. I’ve found (with my vegetarian blog, for example), that when I write about something, it helps my thinking on the subject. And my artwork is something I have been thinking a lot about recently.

Basically, my back story goes like this: for my entire life up until my junior year of college, I lived and breathed art. I loved making it. I loved taking classes in it. I loved exhibiting and selling my work. I did a lot of all of this. I even started college intending to major in art.

And then I just stopped. I can give you a lot of reasons why I think this happened, but that would take all day and probably bore you to tears, so I won’t.

With the exception of an occasional sketch here and there, I didn’t make a single piece of art for ten years. I always thought I would start again sometime soon. I hauled my box of art supplies from apartment to apartment, and kept it with me through at least four intercontinental moves. I’ll start painting again as soon as I have the time….

Well, now I have the time. About a year ago, I quit my job and decided to take a little time off. I was suddenly faced with more free time then I had ever had in my life. I had no more excuses, and slowly started painting again. At first it was terrifyingly intimidating, but I’m getting over that.

One of my goals for the coming year is to make a whole lot more art, and see where it can take me. I’m very excited about the possibilities.

Tags: thoughts