Today we are featuring Maria Muchararska, an artist with a playful style. We spoke to her about her art.

When did you become involved in art?

I was born Poland into an artistic family, so I had a feel for art right from the beginning.  After the divorce of my parents, I lost all the chances to developing myself or take an education in that field.  In Poland and in my case at that time, this was not possible.

I started art seriously in 1999, beginning a full-time Art & Design course in college at the same time.

What inspires your work?

Life, just life inspires my work!  ……Life is the biggest creator of everything!

What do you hope to achieve from your art?

I don’t know…..I just like to pass messages to people…., my pain, happiness and all my strong feelings.   Mostly the passing on of someone close or whom I love or animals, that make a deep stamp on my soul…..I don’t want them to disappear! I wanted or want them immortalised for eternity.  Also wars or other human tragedies ‘shake’ me strongly and I want to pass my small message to mankind, I want to stop them.  I know that it is unreal, but that is a small thing, which I can do…..

Do you have any long term goals?

Not exactly……I would just like very much to see or hear from somebody, who likes and understands my art, that’s all….

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Colin Bailey is a UK artist and printmaker living and working in Hastings, East Sussex after living in Rye for ten years and Kings Cross, London for fifteen years. We feature his work today, with his fantastic use of perspective Colin gets real depth in his work which gives it a lovely feel. We spoke to Colin about his art:

When did you get into art?

My mum was a comercial artist and my granddad was an artist (apparently he knew Lowry – but thought he was rubbish!) I have always been into art – have never really had a “proper job”. It is mainly with the evolution of the Internet and through my website that I am now actually making a living out of it.

What inspires your work?

I suppose in a nutshell, textures. I have always been fascinated by the process of various objects breaking down over time; Demolitions, Goynes on the beach, paint on the side of fishing boats etc. Even when some my work is perceived as representational or even photographic I savour the small accidental marks, the building up and breaking down of layers and the sheer  flexibility of the paint.

Is there a particular piece of work you are proud of?

My personal favourite is Rockdog – An almost abstract paintings with an joky title that is actually an accurate record of the textures and colours of a rock on the beach near Hastings.

What are your future goals?

To build my website to the point where it gives me the freedom and opportunity to involve a wider audience as I develop and take more risks with my work.

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Today we are featuring a guest blog post from David Parrish, a creative industries business advisor in the North West who also runs a creative network online. Take a look below at some very interesting points that he raises when it comes to promoting your art and selling the story behind it…

Sell the Story Too!

Marketing is about looking at things from the customers’ point of view and focusing on customer benefits.

So what does this mean in practice for artists, designers and photographers who want to sell their work through Artybuzz and other channels?

As a customer I want to buy artwork – but I want much more as well. And I’m prepared to pay more for it. So how can you add value, delight customers, and raise your prices?

One of the things you can sell is the ‘story’ behind the work. When friends admire a print (or original) on the wall in my home or office, I want to be able to tell them about the artist, their inspiration and what it all means. I want to be able to tell them about my connection with the creator and my appreciation of the work. So please help me!

Ideally I’d want to be able to say that I met the artist and discussed the work with them. This connection with the creator is part of what I’m buying. Of course if I buy online I might never meet the artist, but you can help me by providing some information about yourself and the work, almost as if we had talked face to face.

So your artist profile is important – and a paragraph about the work, why you created it, how it’s connected to other work by you or others etc – is part of the package I want to buy into.

It sounds odd, but many artists, designers and photographers don’t fully understand what they are really selling. They fail to appreciate customers’ perspectives and what the buyer actually wants. Sometimes the customer is really buying intangibles, such as hope, culture, a connection, an experience or a ‘show-off factor’. Those who understand this can bundle it into the package for the customer – and charge more as a result.

Effective marketing involves listening to customers. This is not a matter of selling out but working in partnership with them to make the deal even more valuable to them – and to you!

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Copyright © David Parrish 2010.

Published by Artybuzz with permission.

www.davidparrish.com

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Today we are taking a look at Derek McCrea’s artwork. We spoke to Derek about his paintings;

When did you start creating your art?

I was first introduced to painting in 1984 by my mother. I was 15 years old at the time living on a country farm in Willacoochee, Georgia. During the summer months my mother started taking art classes from a local South Georgia artist named Jimmy Petersen. I received lessons from Jimmy several days a month for 2 years. My medium at the time was oils and subjects I focused on included landscapes and seascapes. I also learned from numerous Walter Foster books. I joined the US Army and continued self-study for over 20 years of service throughout the United States and Europe. Art has always been my passion and adds a balance to my life. I have painted consistently for over 24 years now. I am inspired both by beauty and by life itself. If I am having a bad day, or week I do not paint. I only paint when I am in a great mood. Sometimes I may go a month without painting. I will have dream about an image, or see something I think would look great painted and I get excited and feel an urge to capture the image in a painting.

Do you work on your art full time?

I do not work on my art full time and do not make a living from my work. I have had a full time job in the military since 1987. I do retire from the military in October 2010 and hope to have more time to devote to art at that time.

What do you hope to achieve in the future with your art?

My future goals with art are endless and progressive after each work I complete. In 2009 my goal was to be represented well in my home state of Georgia. In 2010 I am branching out to surrounding states for competitions and gallery presence in Alabama and Florida also. My plan is to contiune to grow in talent and exposure every year.Most of all, paint because you enjoy it. If you do not enjoy painting you will give up. You may give up on art but art will not give up on you! The way I find inspiration is by taking photos of beautiful places everywhere I go. I have developed the eye to see art in the environment and can see a work being painted, take a photo of it and save it for the day I am motivated to create a work. Sometimes I use many photos combined to create one work. Creating art for me is a way of life. Something I enjoy. When I started painting in 1984 I did not know at first that I would always paint until my third or fourth painting when I started to get better and gain more confidence. Once I painted a painting I was proud of I knew I would always paint because I loved the way it made me feel. Painting leaves me with a sense of accomplishment that will carry on after I am gone.

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We have just launched the ‘Top T Shirt Design’ group on Artybuzz! This group is for anyone who has a t shirt designs uploaded to Artybuzz… if you do, add your best designs to the group to get them noticed, commented on and purchased!

We’re looking to get more t shirt designs uploaded to our website because what we have seen up to now has been great, so we want more! If you have something uploaded onto Artybuzz, or something in your portfolio that you think could be suitable for a t shirt then upload it, it’s worth a go and will give you increased exposure as well as expanding your product range on Artybuzz.

All you have to do to have a t shirt design made available for sale is upload a PNG file at exactly 2000×2000 pixels…simple and a great way to get your work recognised in ways you may not have thought of previously

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Today we are featuring the work of Jaison Cianelli, a fantastic painter with an interesting and often abstract style. His works are very vibrant and work fantastically as both art prints and canvases, so be sure to check out his work. We asked Jaison a few questions about his art.

When did you become involved in art?

When I was a child I would draw everything around me.  I received my first painting kit when I was eight or so.  My painting style really started after college when I spent a summer on Nantucket.  The sky and water was so open and vast.  It was at that point I knew what I wanted to create.

What inspires your work?

What I paint mostly comes from how I feel inside.  I often have music playing and that really inspires me.  The weather outside changes what I paint.  But not like how you would think.  If it’s snowing out, I end up painting beach scenes or warm sunsets.  Wherever I go I’ll take note of and remember patterns, the feelings, and colors in nature.  But I try and be free and spontaneous when I work on the canvas.

You have a very abstract style at times, do you use any unusual techniques to create your works of art?

I’m self taught and I just do my own thing.  If I see something develop on the canvas that is different than what I set out to create, I’ll go with it.  Many of my best paintings are a spontaneous play with all my mistakes.  I use a lot of paint.  I love to create globs of texture by pouring and flinging paint.  Sometimes this can be seen on the surface of the painting, and other times underneath the many layers.  I like to see how paints drip into one another while still wet.  And when almost dry I often go through a paint removal process to bring out the peaks and crests of the texture.

What do you hope to achieve in the future with your art?

I want to just keep following my heart and keep creating.  I want more people to see it.  What good is it to create art if nobody sees it?  That means I want everyone to see it.  I want to do something humanitarian with my art.  I want to inspire others to create.  I want people to know there is so much love and positive energy in this world and I want to share it through art.

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Today we feature Samantha Raymond, an illustrator Chichester who draws a range of different types of illustrations including animals, floral illustrations and more. Samantha spoke to us about her and her artwork, we asked here the following questions:

How long have you been producing your work?

I graduated this July from Portsmouth university in Illustration (BA).  Previous to studying illustration I used to produce large colourful abstract symmetrical paintings which i got to exhibit around sussex but decided to go back to uni and study illustration as have always been a big fan of illustration and wanted to start a career in it.

Where do you draw your influences?

I am inspired/influenced alot by stories – folk tales and childrens literature and the natural world, David Attenborourgh is the greatest natural world TV presenter! Illustration wise i love alot of illustrators who illustrated some of the great stories like Mervyn Peakes illustrations for Treasure Island, and John Tenniels classic Alice in Wonderland.  Also big fan of darker creepier work like Aubrey Beardsley, edward gorey, david roberts work for tales of terror, Tim Burton (of Course) and on a lighter note Charlie Harpers animal illustrations, hope thats enough inspiration for you!

Is there anywhere your looking to take your art in the future?

In the future i would like to focus on doing more black and white illustrations that are more focused on folk tales, which i have neglected recentley & also carry on with the natural world illustrations – I really like childrens number/ABC books and am putting together some images for a childrens number book focusing on different species of birds.  Also want to put together a portfolio of work on classic folk tales and stories – quite different areas but am very interested in both and could not do one without the other.

Do you have a particular work you are especially proud of?

I think that new work is the work i am going to be most proud of as it is something thats a new project so something to be ultra excited about – once i have done something i like to move on and progress – i get critical of finished work quickly! But saying that everything I complete and show to others there is a certain degree of proudness with it, (there is a LOT of work that gets thrown away and dismissed) but like i say i get bored of completed work quick and want to better it.  I know the ladybird illustrations i did have proved very popular with people – i sell alot of ladybird related things, though i like the reindeer image i did for christmas cards this year and the forest of lost time picture i have on Artybuzz is also a favorite of mine.

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Today we feature Veronica Hebard, an illustrator from Worcester with a unique style and some very interesting works. Artybuzz asked Veronica a few questions to delve deeper into her art.

What first inspired you to become an artist?

When I was a kid I was very fidgety and nervous with my hands – so I started drawing cartoons I’d watch on Saturday mornings.  I was also really into claymation but didn’t have the patience for it – it was faster to draw!

Where do you draw your influences from?

Looking at the sketchbook of other artists, Japanese wood block prints, colorful graphic design and packaging, Dutch painters and 80’s cartoons!

Do you have any long term goals with your art?

To keep progressing my illustration career and evolve my personal artworks.

What do you hope to gain from Artybuzz?

Another outlet for exposure and hopefully turn more people into art buyers!

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Many of us use Facebook every day, but have you thought about using it to promote your work on both Artybuzz to all the people you know?

Lot’s of people sell work to their family and friends each year, and the people we know usually have an interest in the latest work we are producing. It seems almost perfect to combine the two, art and friends that is, and using Artybuzz and Facebook provides the ideal platform to get your work noticed by hundreds of people at once.

You may not have considered it, but on your friends list on Facebook you could have hundreds of potential buyers and people who have a deep interest in your work, so why not tell all those people about it? Every time I upload a new piece of work to Artybuzz I go to the page where it is being displayed and share it on Facebook using the ’share’ button at the top right of the page. It only takes a second but it puts a link on my wall and a link in all my friends news feed on Facebook, making my new piece of work viewable and available for purchase by hundreds of people.

It’s pretty quick a hassle free and is a great way to get your work noticed. You can do it with your profile page too so your friends can see all your work.

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