A tip for aspiring artists

So something I didn't realize as an art student, was how important it was or would become to have the skills to photograph my own work. As a student it was more about having good representations to make into slides to enter shows etc. and I relied heavily on my dad who's BA is in photography (though that's not what he's done professionally). Technology has evolved (in the five years since I graduated) and I have a website, this blog, and a facebook page for my art and my routine is to photograph my art and get it online for people to see as soon as I can after finishing a piece. Again my dad has been a tech savvy help here, when I got my first digital camera, I've borrowed his tripod, he showed me to the free editing program that I use, he had a more high tech editing program that I've started using more and more, my photographs of my art have come a long way. It's still really tricky, I have a tendency to take my art all the way to the edge of my paper etc. and you can tell if the cropping turns out weird.
Photographing art is tricky and sadly I can't afford to pay a professional (and I hear a good one is hard to find, I've been lucky to have one when I need it) all or even half the time. I wish that I could have taken a class on photographing my work, or that one had even existed. Meanwhile, I'm doing the best I can.

Here's to those who teach art, especially to children, I may not agree with all their ideas or theories but I have come to decide that I just can't do it. I had the opportunity to teach an art project to a few groups of children. I'm sure it's part me and my lack of experience (my projects may have been more than the age groups could handle), but I really love art and I take it very seriously, I also have views that differ from a lot of people. With this project I had come up with these kids, based on some of what I do, it felt a lot like casting pearls before swine. In each class there were a few who went to work and did good with the projects and I suppose it should be worth it just for them, but the rest, it felt like we were wasting their time and mine. It makes me sad to think that that's the world these kids are growing up in.
Here's to the kids that got it though. Bless their hearts.

Watercolor blocks

I would like to thank the person or persons who invented watercolor blocks. I normally use Arches watercolor blocks because I like the paper and because it's wonderful not to have to worry about my paper warping. I've been working on a specific painting and I wanted a different size than the watercolor blocks I normally use.

 I still used Arches paper but I didn't tape it down or stretch it, with a smaller painting you can get away with that but apparently my paper was too big because it's been warping.  A reminder to me and everyone else to tape or stretch larger pieces of paper and a reminder of just how nice it is to have watercolor blocks.