"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance."
~Aristotle
Without a Word, watercolor on paper, 4" x 2"
Available on ArtByUs
I’ve been in the process for several weeks of coming up with a new design for my website. What task! Surely, I thought. I know my business. A website design should be easy. Well, it wasn’t exactly, but I did want to share some insight I’ve gained while going through the process.
I browsed several website template sites. While I found good things, after awhile they all looked the same. I wanted to use XHTML/CSS for the design. That requirement on my part eliminated a good portion. I had at first considered a flash site. They’re so slick, they are. I didn’t mind the music. However, Google doesn’t index flash sites or rather they didn’t until very recently. The search engine apparently needs a bit of fine tuning though before all is well.
I had just finished another web design project. Frankly, I enjoyed all the coding, the SEO work, everything. I did a bit of work with some free Flash templates that come with my HostGator hosting. If you want a challenge, trying learning Flash on the go. That experience brought me back to coding my own site, but where to begin?
I stumbled upon a program called WebCeo. This free tool helped me research my keywords. Using what I thought were good search terms, I discovered that my niche hadn’t been developed. I decided to dig deeper. More fine tuning of keywords put my on the right track for the art side, but what about my image? Again, just be chance, I came across another site that provided invaluable in terms of inspiration. The BestDesigns site is loaded with nice, slick website designs of actual websites. Heavy on the Flash, yes, but using the site helped me focus on what I wanted.
I chose several sites that appealed to me. I looked for the common tags for these sites: aged, CSS, clean. Using this information, I then brainstormed on what I wanted my site to convey. After much discussion and probably boring my husband to tears, I’m confident I have a design. Now comes the fun part–coding.
"I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful."
John Constable
I miss Door County. I was there last month with my sisters and their families, our annual reunion trip. The weather was iffy and downright severe sometimes, but the times were great. Door County has such a magic about it. That’s what I miss. Fortunately, with painting, I can recreate and relive those days. Here is a painting I did using reference photographs from both winter and summer in Door County.
Icebreaker, watercolor on paper, 10" x 8"
Available on ArtByUs
Winter was the inspiration for my seas, and summer the source of my ferry photo references. This is my depiction of the ferry going from the mainland to Washington Island.
For me, this painting evokes the cold spray of the frigid Lake Michigan waters. I can feel the cool breezes that bring the icy feel of the lake. I imagine the small ice chunks on the shore, bobbing up and down with the waves. Ah, memories.
You may have noticed my links, but if you haven’t visited Squidoo, you’re missing a great opportunity to market yourself. With Squidoo, you create pages that are called lens. A lens is a static page, your canvas as it were, to create a page about a topic of your choice. It can be your love, like art. It can be a focus of your life, perhaps health. It can be a hobby, a place you love, anything. Then the fun starts.
Squidoo works in a controlled type of set up like Blogger. You are given choices of modules to add to your lens. Some are basic like text areas and lists. Other modules are money-making like Amazon and NetFlix. There’s even modules for eBay and ArtByUs to feature your artwork and auction. You pick and arrange the modules as you please. More than one of a type can appear on your page. You are allowed to use some basic HTML to customize the look and feel of your lens.
What are the benefits to you? Visibility. The site gets a great deal of traffic. The format is very attractive too. A visitor wants to browse lens. Lens are fun to create. You can have more than one. Some people have lots of lens–over 100. Then there’s the money. When you add that Amazon module, you can add your associate ID, if you have one. You do make money on other revenue-focused modules. So does Squidoo, but it’s their site.
I’ve had my lens for awhile now. Other than Zazzle, it has been my best paying non-art outlet. Nice too that my earnings can be sent to my PayPal account. Here are some examples of my lens.
Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
I published the first of my series of Door County paintings today on ArtByUs. Here’s my latest.
Open Gate, watercolor on paper, 9″ x 6″
Available on ArtByUs
I opted for a winter setting because frankly at some points during our vacation it felt nothing like spring/summer at all. That’s the thing about Door County. Unlike home, when there’s a chance of rain it means it’s going to rain. The percent chance is just talk. Actually, I had something different in mind for this painting and when I began the present work, I hadn’t realized that I was using the other side of an abandoned work. Not that it detracts from the scene, but those things happen sometimes.
The setting for this painting is Cana Island where the appropriately named Cana Island lighthouse is located. Interestingly, visitors can now climb up to the tower and walk the catwalk as it were. You can get an idea from this painting.
See that black railing? It feels like it’s about a thousand feet up. It’s actually about 65 feet. I must confess not to climbing the tower, but consenting to be in a photograph my husband took from the top looking down at me, waiting patiently for his return.
The waters were wild that day we visited. I have enormous respect for the seas, which Lake Michigan is–an inland sea. How can you not when this is coming right at you?
We were reminded of the impact of weather our second night when the electricity went out in the campground during a wild storm. Park staff inexplicably locked the shower house, the one safe shelter in the place. I can’t recall ever feeling so vulnerable and at the mercy of whatever was going to come our way. Needless to say, inspiration for my “Nature of Door County” series.
Bad Behavior has blocked 137 access attempts in the last 7 days.
