I’m in the Brandywine Review

It’s always strange when someone asks to interview me. I’ve been writing for a long time, and I’m a little surprised when the tables are turned and I’m the interviewee. There’s a level of control when you’re the one with the column because you get to formulate the topic idea, ask the questions and control where the story is leading.

I consider it a huge compliment, as well as a learning experience. Seriously, everyone who writes or reports for a living should have to be in the “hot seat” at least once. My talk last week with Cindy, aka Caco Smith, a wonderful glass artist and creator of Caco’s Crafty Business column in the Brandywine Review was truly lovely. She is one smart cookie. Her questions were on target, and I definitely feel she is doing her level best to help her readers navigate the often-foreign world of marketing. I really enjoyed her first column for them.

So, without further ado, take a look at our conversation about marketing, publishing, mixed-media art and more.

Pinterest Testimonials from Artists

This month’s column is up on Create Mixed Media where I decided to talk about Pinterest and how it’s being embraced by artists and other creative people. Pinterest is a new social media phenom that’s growing in global membership with each passing day.

Here’s a little secret of mine. I’m lucky to have more than 1,500 Facebook friends, with the majority of them being other mixed-media artists and crafters. Considering I’ve been on Facebook since 2008, this is not a huge number of friends, but then again I rarely go looking for people to friend. Social media is not a numbers game to me. I’d rather have two people following me who really care about my work and what I to say rather than 5,000 people who will never look at my Timeline or bother to read my Tweets. I believe in quality versus quantity in life, business and even social media.

Because of this approach, I have made some über talented Internet friends whose opinions and values I trust and respect. Whenever I want to bounce an idea for one of my columns off someone, I find myself going to my Facebook page and asking questions. The responses I get are tremendously insightful. I received so much positive response to my Pinterest questions that I thought it’s a shame to keep my friend’s thoughts to myself. I wanted to share their brilliance with you, too.

Here’s what other artists are saying about Pinterest:

“It is a phenomenal tool, for both creative inspiration and for social networking. Just as one needs to be pinning responsibly, people also need to be responsible for content of what are pinning. Make sure before you click “pin it” that the photo is something that you want all of your followers to see. Pinterest is like any other social media, we are often judged by what we present to the world – good or bad!” — Suzann Sladick Wilson  of Beadphoria (my artist friend who originally invited me to join Pinterest a year ago).

“My advice is to brand your photo with your url and bless people who pin your work!!” — Kathy Cano Murillo, aka The Crafty Chica

“Pinterest has become a huge source of traffic to my blog. Pin away!” — Theresa Momber

“I need a Pintervention! I love using it for color inspiration, and finding quotes to use in my artwork. I’m fine with my work being pinned as long as some kind of link or credit is given so I can be found as the artist.” — Jen Osborn (no, not the person in my CMM article whose family did a real Pintervention. She remains anonymous).

“By using Pinterest, I can better bookmark, organize and categorize all the things that keep me inspired as an artist and photographer.” Niki Miners

“I like it. It’s another way to get my work out to a wider audience. And what a source for inspiration for the works of others and fabulous color combinations. It’s an easy way to help define what you are drawn to.” — Doris Arndt

“Now that Pinterest has changed their TOS and rules, it is more welcoming to artists. When artists raised concerns about the rules, Pinterest was very proactive, listened, and made changes quickly. I’m impressed with them as a company. I’m back on Pinterest and do brand each photo like Kathy. Every photo on my blog or those that I pin, have my copyright and website url. I thank those who repin any of my work. The CHA Design Section does have a Pinterest board on which we pinned items we saw or had displayed at the show.” Carol Heppner

“I love pinterest – it’s a wonderful source of inspiration and a way to connect with a larger audience. ” — Heather Powers

“I LOVE Pinterest and use it almost daily! It is a great source of inspiration and provides insight into trends because people are USUALLY pinning the best of the best images and things that interest them RIGHT NOW. It’s free trend research! As far as having my own work pinned, I encourage it. I watermark all of my images with my logo and web address so that if my image is pinned and that info is not provided by the original “pinner”, people still know the source of the image and can find me. It is the best kind of advertisement money can’t buy — not only is your image potentially exposed to millions of people who may or may not be involved in crafting, but it is a huge compliment that people choose YOUR image to pin. Who doesn’t want their work to be cataloged along with the best of the best? I sure do!” — Jennifer Priest

“I’ve been on pinterest forever! I don’t brand each and every photo on my blog – only the finished project shots & I’m thoughtful about what I put on my blog because of pinterest. ” — Vicki O’Dell

“I am a new and huge fan of Pinterest…..just ask my hubby who doesn’t see me at night until the wee hours!!! I love to just go look at all the stuff I pinned for inspiration…it’s everything I love in one place! How does one go about branding their images…..that might be something I might look into since many times my work is repinned but there is no name attached to it…..???” Laurie Mika

“I LOVE Pinterest. As an artist, I would LOVE to have my work being repinned, it is a fabulous place to find things without having to specifically knowing what you are looking for, like you would through a search engine. I have found the most awesome ideas for decorating, places to shop and things that inspire me. ♥ I don’t think that they should be making a big deal out of legalities and such. I have heard some negative concerns. If it is on the web, why wouldn’t someone want to reach as many folks as possible~ that is what privacy settings are for.” — Tracy Dove

“I love Pinterest and I’ll tell you why…. because it’s free advertising for your art. I don’t sell my art but I have bought art by going to the link in the original post. I have pinned Jane LaFazio’s art because it’s amazing. I also like that I can find information about supplies, artist techniques and tips.. It’s more detail than Facebook and not as tedious as trying to find something on an artist’s website.” — Sharon Newby

“Hey Jen, I love Pinterest and I agree with Sharon, it’s a great way to get your work exposed and direct them to your blog or business website. I don’t worry about images being stolen and used for commercial use by others because the images are 72 dpi and because they are so small they can’t be used for much.” — Melissa Harnett Ustik

“Love it, and am happy to be pinned if they credit the source. I don’t have much free time either, but I budget the time into my Social Networking slot each day. I pin my own work, if people don’t like that so be it. It’s only a small part of my page. Besides, with the Pinterest terms, they really send out a mixed message on that front.” — Margot Potter

Blog Hop winners

Thanks to everyone who commented on my iPad cover as part of the Balzer Designs Stencil Blog Hop. It was so much fun and I hope you had a great time checking out all the wonderful artwork using Julie Fei Fan-Balzer’s neato face stencils.

Congrats to Margie H and Katalina Designs. You two won a 1 oz plunger of ICE Resin. Be sure to email me your address and I will get those sent out to you next week.

TGIF, right? Here’s wishing everyone a very Artful weekend!

Destination Creativity Blog Hop

I think I’ve told you before, but my friend and fellow artist/writer Ricë Freeman Zachary has the most AMAZING book that just came out called Destination: Creativity, which is her one-year account of traveling the United States researching and writing about the best national art retreats across the country. Her husband, EGE or the Ever Gorgeous Earl was her official photographer, driver and caretaker who make sure  Ricë ate right and took care of herself during such a hectic schedule.

 Ricë has scheduled a blog hop with some fellow artists to talk about Destination; Creativity. Readers who leave comments on the artists’ blogs will be entered into a chance to win a copy of her wonderful book. There are 9 of us participating, so there’s a good chance of winning if you participate.

My day for the blog hop is Monday, October 10th. I plan to review Ricë’s book during my day, as well as say a bunch of other wonderful things about EGE. The blog hop begins today, October 3.  

Here is the schedule of the planned hop:

1. Monday, October 3rd: Melanie Testa
2. Tuesday, October 4th: Seth Apter
3. Wednesday, October 5th: Mary Beth Shaw
4. Thursday, October 6th: Carla Sonheim
5. Friday, October 7th: Lisa Myers Bulmash
6. Saturday, October 8th: Melissa Manley
7. Sunday, October 9th: Deryn Mentock
8. Monday, October 10th: Jen Cushman
9. Tuesday, October 11th: Jill Berry

I can’t wait to see what the others are saying about Destination: Creativity. Shall we go look?

 

What the heck is a QR code?

Not sure if you’ve been following my QR code adventure that began this summer at the Craft and Hobby Association or not, but my conversations on the topic seem to have hit a target with some folks.

You can read my columns on QR codes at CreateMixedMedia, but now there is one more avenue to get some information on how sexy this new technology can be. Ricë Freeman-Zachary and I did a podcast on Wednesday explaining QR codes and all the cool things one might be able to do with them. Ricë is so darn fast and prolific that she already has the podcast live on her blog Notes From the Voodoo Cafe. Here’s the direct link to our QR code podcast.

If you don’t feel like following the links, here’s a general rundown. QR codes are short for Quick Response. They are those little squiggly square black-and-white boxes with squares in the corners that you scan with your smart phone. You must first download a QR code app on your phone, but these are free so it’s no biggie. The scan goes to a link and up pops up some kind of information on your smart phone, be it a website, a coupon, a video, a flash animation, etc. There are also QR tags, which are square colored boxed with triangles inside.

My QR tag is shown above. You need to download a tag reader from http://gettag.mobi to read mine. While it’s a little difficult to do this when the tag or code is on the computer, you would need to open your app, hold your smart phone to the computer screen, the phone will scan the tag and my face will pop up on your screen.

Here I am at Art Unraveled this summer when I was excited to open Destination Creativity and see my little blurb that I wrote for the book.

Ricë has taken the information I gave her about QR codes and just ran with it. She created the cutest book trailer for her fabulous new book Destination Creativity and attached it to a QR code that she’s put on her MOO cards and make stickers with, etc. I’m so proud of her! I feel like a momma bird watching her baby fly away.

I am seriously in love with Destination Creativity. Ricë and her gorgeous husband/photographer Earl, truly captured the collaborative and community spirit found at these amazing mixed-media art retreats held across the country. When I write about where I’m teaching, it’s usually at one of these events and I just feel so blessed and lucky to be part of these experiences. I promise once you read, Ricë book you are going to want to book a flight to the next Art & Soul or Adorn Me! (hey, check out my workshops if you click the link).

Also, my sweet friend Barbe Saint John (who is also a wickedly-talented mixed-media artist and one of the people whom I bounce my ideas off of) also blogged about Destination Creativity and has some cute pics of us on there. Check out Barbe’s post.

So with all this good information please, right now, go buy the book! Next, listen to the podcast.

Here’s wishing each of you a truly Artful day!

Finally…a new website!

 
  
Are you a list maker? I am. I have a list of things I need to do for myself that sometimes seems a mile long. One of the things that's been on my list for a while has been creating a new website.

I finally cleared enough from my plate last week to work on building a new website for myself. My dear friends at Paper and Metal Scrappers in Payson, AZ inspired me to get my rear in gear after they debuted their new site. Brenda said the provider they used made it really simple, so I decided to give it a try.

I've known Intuit as the people who make Quickbooks, but I had no idea they were doing website development/hosting. I downloaded my free trial, looked through the templates and got to work.

I knew that I wanted something graphic and bold, which made it easy to find a template I liked pretty quickly. Though it had nothing to do with art, one immediately caught my eye even though color scheme was nothing I wanted.

I started playing around with Sitebuilder lite, changing the color scheme, the links, the boxes, etc. I added my text, uploaded photos of my work that I had already manipulated in Photoshop Elements and started to build my layers, working exactly like I do when I'm doing my artwork.

I was pretty focused and worked steady for about 5 hours. When it was time for the babysitter to leave, I had about 80% completed. I picked it up again the next day and finished it with some tweaking here and there. I almost forgot my meta tags, but luckily the Muses thumped me on the head and reminded me that when doing something teckkie, it's important to speak both human and computer. (Without the right meta tags and keywords, search engines won't find you).

I learned html ago when I worked at AzCentral, but it was so tedious that my skills went by the wayside pretty quickly. Technology has come a long way and the people designing for companies like Intuit or GoDaddy or other web development companies are doing a great job at making things simpler for the end user.

If you've been waiting to do your own website, give it a try. You will need basic designing skills like using Photoshop or another digital editing program. It helps if you have some layout and design experience, but it's not an insurmountable task. With a little patience, you can do it!

One more tip. Website hosting does not have to be a big business expense. You can get a simple 5-page website for around $5/month. If you are working with a lot of images, you can ask how much it is to upgrade. Oftentimes its only a few bucks more a month. Do your homework by asking questions before you shell out $20/month for a business website, particularly if all you are looking for is an online portfolio.

So check me out when you get a chance. My new website: www.JenCushman.com