Welcome to Women in Watercolor’s blog newsletter, Women in Watercolor Working Together!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Women in Watercolor wishes everyone a wonderful Holiday Season and Happy New Year!! Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and any others you might celebrate at this time of year.
Monthly Featured Members
Instead of featuring just one member this month, we are going to feature a few!
The WIW Members Only Exhibition is open for entry RIGHT NOW through January 8th, and here is a sneak peak of a few of the amazing entries from our members.
Remember
- The 1st Annual Women in Watercolor Members Only Online International Exhibition 2024 is OPEN FOR ENTRY NOW through January 8, 2024.
- Any Women in Watercolor Member is welcome to enter the Members Only Exhibition. This is a non-juried online only show.
- Don’t forget to join our WIW membership before you enter the show.
- Please Note: The entry rules for our Members Only Non-Juried Exhibition are different than those of our International Juried Competition. Please read the FULL prospectus on the website carefully before entering.
- Major Differences: Painting must be painted PRIMARILY with watercolor. (You can use other mediums as well.) You DO NOT have to paint from your own reference photo.
Become a WIW Member NOW so you don’t miss out!
See More Information on the website: https://womeninwatercolor.com/
Members Exhibition Sneak Peek
Part 2
Jess Kodad
“Sisterhood in Bloom”
United States
Linda Shaner
“Remington”
United States
Renate van Dongen
“Curious Cows”
Netherlands
Jane Stoddard
“Three’s Company”
United States
Suzanne Accetta
“Unspeakable Praise”
United States
Adina Ghinaci
“Imaginary Landscape”
Romania
Susan Payne
“Forlorn”
Australia
I hope you enjoyed this Sneak Peek of some of the gorgeous work that has been entered so far!
ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT to enter! Full prospectus is on the website.
Enter the Exhibition NOW!
WIW News
Don’t miss out on everything coming up!
WIW Members Only Exhibition
You do not want to miss our FIRST Annual Members Only Exhibition!
This is a non-juried online only members show.
The Prospectus is up on the website!
Join the MAILING LIST at the bottom to get updates!
Entry is OPEN NOW. Entry closes January 8, 2025
Remember to become a WIW Member before you enter!
Tips From the Top
Lynn D. Pratt
Having a Social Media Presence for Your Art
Many people have varying opinions on having Social Media accounts and whether they want to be a part of it or not. Whether or not you take part in social media for the personal side of your life, I do highly recommend having a social media presence for your art!
If someone sees your painting somewhere or hears about it, they can easy search you up online and see more of your art. You can add contact details to your page (only if you want to) so someone that finds you online can contact you to purchase paintings or hire you for a commission.
Social Media pages are free and easy to set up, where having a website can have monthly fees and more difficult setups to get started. Especially if you are just starting out, free is always best!
It is very simple to start a page for your art on a social media site without having to add any personal details about your private life. Most just need your name, email and/or phone number and you don’t even have to share those publicly.
If you are just getting started, I would suggest Instagram as the easiest way to start a page and add images without having any personal information out there. You have the options of allowing comments on your images or you can turn that off if you don’t want any interaction.
Facebook is very good as well, especially if you are looking for more interaction with others. Facebook tends to get more comments and you are able to join art groups or friend others if you are interested.
Below are a few other reasons you might be leery of starting up with social media and some suggestions to help you feel more comfortable.
I Already Have a Personal Account, I’ll just Add my Art to That
If you already have a personal social media account, I highly recommend starting a separate account for your artwork. You are welcome to share your paintings on your private account as well, but you don’t want the general public to have access to your personal photos of your family and friends in order to see your art. I suggest making a separate art page that you can set to public and adding art related posts only. Keep your private pages private. If you meet other artists at a class or show, you probably don’t want them seeing photos of your children and your daily life just so they can see your art. It also looks much more professional to direct people to an art only page if you are trying to sell your art, teach classes or further your art journey.
I’m Not Good with Computers or Smart Phones
If you are not tech savvy, you can still easily have a social media presence. Most accounts only take one or two minutes to start up and most will walk you through the process of what to do. You can always ask a friend or relative for help as well to show you the ropes and get you started.
I’m Not a Professional Artist or Looking to Be One
You do not need to be a professional artist in order to post your art online. Sharing your hobby or passion with others is a great way to enjoy it further. Having all of your art photos in one place also makes it easier to share with friends and family and looking at other art this way is a great way to spark your creativity and keep you motivated to keep going.
I Don’t Have a Good Camera to Photograph My Art
Having a good camera and some basic photography skills is definitely suggested if you want to have a career in painting and art. However, you don’t need that to start having an online presence. If you have a simple smart phone or digital camera you can easily take pictures of your art with that. Simply lay your painting down on a flat surface in good lighting. It is preferable to take photos of your paintings before they are framed and behind glass so you don’t have to deal with the glare on the glass. Placing your unframed painting on a wood table, pretty backdrop, or plain white surface works perfectly. You can take a photo from straight overhead or tilt it in the frame, take a few and choose the one that bests highlights your image. It does not need to be fancy as long as you can clearly see the painting. If the photo is not perfect, crop it down so the painting looks the best.
I’m Worried About People Stealing/Copying My Art
If you are not posting your art online because you are worried about people printing out an image instead of buying a print or using your image as their own, there are many things you can do to help prevent this. Of course, nothing is perfect, but you can definitely make it a lot harder.
When uploading an image keep it under 1MB in size. To make sure your image is under 1MB in size you need to crop your image to: 1200 pixels maximum on the longest side. Resolution can be: 72 pixels/inch. This makes your image the perfect size to display on websites and the internet without overloading the site. It makes it clear to view, but not large enough to reproduce if someone copies it off the page or tries to print it larger.
Another option if you are worried about people reposting or copying your image is to add a watermark to it. This can simply be your name going across it, your website or an actual copyright symbol. There are many free programs you can download that put a watermark over your image. FastStone Photo Resizer is my preferred one I use on my computer or Watermark is the free app I use on my phone. There are of course many others as well for just about every way to crop and add a watermark to your image.
I hope this article helped if you are thinking of creating a social media profile for your art. One of my favorite things to do to relax is to look through all the wonderful art online. I have met many other artists friends this way, sold lots of work and networked for new jobs and classes. You can add as much or little as your personal information as you want to and only interact as much as you would like to. The possibilities are endless. I hope to see your art soon!
**VERY IMPORTANT: Always remember if you are posting paintings online done from tutorials to TAG and CREDIT the teacher in the description/post. Do not post paintings you have done from photos or artwork that you do not have permission to use. Even if you tag the original artist, you should not post paintings done from their work without their permission first. **
See more about Lynn D. Pratt and follow her on Social Media!
Meet More Members
Here are a few more members we would like to introduce you to this month! Click on their social media links to see more of their work.
Don’t forget to check out our Members Gallery to see work from ALL of our amazing members. If you are not a member yet, and would like to join us, CLICK HERE for more info!
Christina Elkins
USA
Olesia Kharlamova
Canada
Sally Cant
Australia
Don’t Miss Out
Join Our Membership
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Women in Watercolor Working Together
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Edited by Lynn D. Pratt
Women in Watercolor was created to help encourage, support, and promote the outstanding women that are working in this medium on an international level.
Through online competitions, and in-person events we will work together to build each other up, learn from each other and increase our individual and overall success.
Thank you for supporting the Women in Watercolor!
Lynn D. Pratt
