An Eye On Health And Strength….Horus Is Watching Over You

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ancient, egypt, egyptian, eye, eye of horus, god, health, hieroglyphics, horus, pharaoh, prosperity, royalty, strength, symbol

A colorful eye of Horus by Sharon Cummings.  Copyright 2017.

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Making M.O.N.E.Y. While I Sleep…

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abstract art, abstract art for sale, abstract prints, art for sale, artists, buy art, buy modern art, buying prints, canvas prints, career, goals, hard work, making it as an artist, making money, modern art, modern art for sale, money, perseverance, print sales, prints, prints for sale, selling prints, sharon cummings, strength, success, successful artists

 

I am back this morning from a 3 day getaway with my daughter.  We had a blast in Orlando enjoying the Gaylord, noshing and shopping!  While I was away, I sold 15 prints between Etsy, Society 6 and Fine Art America.  I still have to smile big when I realize how amazing it is to “make money while I sleep” or in this case vacation.  For years I resisted selling prints of any kind.  I thought they would reduce the value of my originals.  But the opposite has been the case.  I’ve been able to raise the prices on my originals and commissions and enjoy a steady income from my prints.  I no longer have to paint 6 hours a day plus promote myself for another 6.

Of course it wasn’t easy to get to this point with my prints.  Many countless hours have been spent over the last 2 years using intensive social media promotion to get my prints “out there”.  I have blogged, Tweeted, Facebooked, Buffered, Houzzed, Waneloed, Pinned, Tumbled, Link’d, Stumbled and Googled my way to sales 7 days a week (except for small bits of time off here and there).  And for the past year, I have had a group of 12 other artists and photographers that I cross promoted with daily. On average, I’d say I spent 4 hours a day promoting myself and cross promoting others.  Whew!  That’s a lot!  Especially when all I really want to do is create.  However, it has finally paid off and I can now make sales even when I am on vacation and doing nothing to promote myself. Since May 1st, I have not done any cross promoting and very little self promotion.  About 30 minutes a day 5 days a week.  And I get weekends free again!

Hard work…….it can pay off!

If you have goals for your life, do not give up!  And for goodness’ sake, do not listen to those who tell you that it can’t be done. 🙂

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It B.U.R.N.S……..

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abstract, art, burn, burning, burnt orange, candle, canvas, contemporary, copper, dark brown, eclectic, electric, energy, fire, fires, flame, flames, gold, heat, heating, hot, inner fire, modern, ocher, ochre, orange, painting, print, reddish brown, sharon cummings, strength, strong, warm, warming, warmth

Burning spirit

Coals within

Glowing hot

Never dim

Yellow flame

Golden eye

Inner heat

Desires cry

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Her Heart Has Wings…

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abstract, abstract butterfly, affirmations, bugs, butterflies, butterfly, chakra, chi, christian, colorful, dream, earth, empowered, energy, feminine, feminine art, grow, growth, guidance, guide, heal, healing, healing energy, health, icon, insects, joy, joyful, ki, light, meditation, original, path, poet, poetry, positive, power, powerful, prana, pretty, qi, religious, sharon cummings, spirit, spiritual, spiritual art, strength, strong, strong women, totem, uplifting, vibration, vibrational, vitality, watercolor, whimsical, wicca, wing, woman, women

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/her-heart-has-wings-spiritual-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Her Heart Has Wings

Her heart has wings,

for more than flight.

They give her strength.

They give her sight.

Her heart has wings,

battered by the wind.

They do not break.

They help her bend.

Her heart has wings,

that can’t be tied.

And hopes and dreams.

That won’t be denied.

Her heart has wings,

for so much more.

Her body has limits.

But her spirit will soar…

3 P’s – The Art Of Selling Art

Tags

art, art career, art selling, Artist, artwork, career, creativity, facebook, google +, google plus, hard work, how to promote your art, how to sell art, how to sell prints, learning, original art, patience, perseverance, photographers, photography, pinterest, practice, print selling, prints, promoting, self promotion, self representing artist, selling art, sharon cummings, skills, social media, strength, stumbleupon, twitter

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/inner-strength-abstract-painting-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

If you are an artist or photographer who has a dream of making a career out of your craft, you will need three things:  practice, promotion and patience.  And you will need them exactly in that order.

Practice means that you will be painting a lot of paintings.  Many will be thrown right in the trash because they just didn’t work out.  Photographers will be taking many photos in a single shoot only to find that none of them work or if you are lucky one is good enough to list for sale.  You will try new things that will either be total flops or lead you to something really cool and interesting.  You will invest money that seemingly never pays off.  These days I sell about 5 prints a day on average from the various POD sites I am on and about 2 originals per week. The majority of what I am selling now is work I have created in the last year.  Since I have been selling my art professionally for over 10 years this means that I am a much better artist today than I was back then.  I have removed 100’s of images from my portfolios because as I practice and improve, I realize they aren’t my best work anymore.  If you have just started creating photography or any kind of artwork within the last 2 years, I guarantee you that you need a lot more practice before your work will sell really well.  If you look at the famous creatives most of them never sold early work while they were producing it and many never made a dime from it at all…money was only made after they were dead.  In the Internet age we have so many opportunities that they never had.  So keep creating regularly.  The more you produce the better you will become and eventually sales will start rolling in.  Babies do not come out walking and neither do artists.  We crawl first.

While you are busy perfecting your art, there is a key ingredient to success that cannot be overlooked.  Much like creatives of yesteryear we have to have someone believe in us and “get us out there” in order for our work to sell.  For them it was luck and chance by being discovered by the right person at the right time.  These days that someone is ourselves.  You must believe in your work and be willing to share it with the World.  Social Media provides us with instant access to millions of people from the comfort of our own studio computer, laptop or phone.  We can connect to a mind boggling amount of followers with a few clicks.  As an artist or photographer who lists on online galleries, if you are not using ALL of the FREE social media sites available to us, you are completely missing the boat.  This post would be way too long for me to delve into all of the ins and outs of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, etc. but there are tons of free resources online to get you started.  Check out the link to my social media in my blog and see what I am doing.

Once you have the discipline to create new work on a regular basis and you are willing to put in some hard work promoting yourself what you are left with is time. It takes time to become successful.  Patience will be your best friend for awhile.  A year ago today I was only selling about 1 print a week and 2 years ago only 1 a month!  Now it is 5 a day!  But that did not happen overnight.  It took about 2 years to get moved up in searches and it took about 6 more months of creating new and better art than I was used to producing and HEAVY social media promoting to see the magic start.  And I am still learning and improving myself.

Not everyone is cut out for the kind of hard work and perseverance that an art career requires. But if you can commit to at least 3 years of constant creativity and as much promotion as time will allow, you can definitely find your market and succeed!

Inner Strength…

Tags

abstract art, art, art marketing, Artist, artists, artwork, career, challenges, contemporary, contemporary art, creativity, hope, inner strength, life, marketing, modern, modern art, painter, perseverancec, sharon cummings, strength

You hear it said often that success “looks” a lot like hard work.  I disagree.  The most successful people I know make it look easy.  It doesn’t look like work at all.  It would be more accurate to say that  success “feels” like hard work.  To make it as an artist you have to have a lot of “inner strength”.  Yes, you will be praised but you will also be severely criticized.  You will make sales, but you will also spend countless hours emailing/talking on the phone with people who never buy.  You will create amazing pieces but sometimes sit back in disbelief each day as the days turn into months or years without that work selling.  You will make artistic friends and creative enemies.  You will have days when you are so motivated to create that you feel as if your soul and brain will burst out of you into the Universe and you will have days where it feels an effort to sign your name.  Mostly you will have to market yourself like crazy.  You will eat, sleep and live marketing.  Social media marketing.  Business card marketing.  Brochure marketing.  Art show marketing. Cost per click/pay marketing.  It has gotten to the point that when people ask me what I do for a living, I pause because I am a “marketer” more than anything else. But dig down deep during these times and find that core fortitude…you are an artist.  Never lose sight of that….keep creating and tell them “I am an artist.”……

Find “Inner Strength” here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/inner-strength-abstract-painting-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Making The Old New Again…

Tags

12 step, aa, alcoholics anonymous, art, beach sunset, buy, courage, for sale, get, get well, god, healing, health, inspirational, lotus, lotus flower, motivational, niebuhr, online, orange sunset, paintings, peace, poem, poet, poetry, prayer, prints, reinhold, reinhold niebuhr, serenity, serenity prayer, sharon cummings, strength, sun, sunset, sunsets, sunshine, twelve step, understanding, warm sunset, well, wisdom, yoga, zen

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/serenity-prayer-with-lotus-flower-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

I have a lot of artwork stored in my computer.  I’ve listed some pieces, only to take them down later due to lack of interest.  But what I have found is that I can continue to work with a piece at a later date to create something entirely new and fresh that DOES get a lot of attention!  This is a very new process for me.  In the past, when I was done, I was done.  I never went back to an old piece to rework it. I think that the digital age has really helped me over this hump.  Out with the old and in with the new!

12 Steps…

Tags

12 step, aa, addiction, addictions, alcohol, alcoholic, alcoholics anonymous, alcoholism, art, beach sunset, bulimia, buy, courage, drug addiction, drugs, food addiction, for sale, gambling, gambling addiction, get, get well, god, healing, health, inspirational, motivational, niebuhr, oa, online, orange sunset, overeaters anonymous, paintings, peace, poem, poet, poetry, prayer, prints, recovery, reinhold, reinhold niebuhr, serenity, serenity prayer, sex addiction, sharon cummings, strength, sun, sunset, sunsets, sunshine, twelve step, understanding, warm sunset, well, wisdom

 

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/serenity-prayer-with-sunset-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

 

I am not an alcoholic.  In fact, I rarely drink and when I do I am such a lightweight it is laughable. A half a glass of wine and I am good.  However, I have done a 12 step program.  I am a recovered Bulimic.  Bulimia is a form of food addiction.  I have not binged/purged in over 20 years.  It was a long and difficult journey and I got some professional help too.  

These days I have a very healthy outlook on food and even at Thanksgiving keep my portions to what is right for my body.  I no longer crave the physical pain of overeating to mask the emotional pain from childhood abuse.  When I feel hurt, I grab a paint brush instead of a cookie. I am healed.

The Serenity Prayer was a big part of my recovery and I still repeat it in my head whenever I am feeling stressed.  It is a very calming mantra.  

For all of those who have dealt with addictions and have overcome, I solute you!  For those who are still struggling, I dedicate this piece to you. May you also find the peace, courage and wisdom you need….

3 P’s – The Art Of Selling Art

Tags

art, art career, art selling, Artist, artwork, career, creativity, facebook, google +, google plus, hard work, how to promote your art, how to sell art, how to sell prints, learning, original art, patience, perseverance, photographers, photography, pinterest, practice, print selling, prints, promoting, self promotion, self representing artist, selling art, sharon cummings, skills, social media, strength, stumbleupon, twitter

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/inner-strength-abstract-painting-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

If you are an artist or photographer who has a dream of making a career out of your craft, you will need three things:  practice, promotion and patience.  And you will need them exactly in that order.

Practice means that you will be painting a lot of paintings.  Many will be thrown right in the trash because they just didn’t work out.  Photographers will be taking many photos in a single shoot only to find that none of them work or if you are lucky one is good enough to list for sale.  You will try new things that will either be total flops or lead you to something really cool and interesting.  You will invest money that seemingly never pays off.  These days I sell about 5 prints a day on average from the various POD sites I am on and about 2 originals per week. The majority of what I am selling now is work I have created in the last year.  Since I have been selling my art professionally for over 10 years this means that I am a much better artist today than I was back then.  I have removed 100’s of images from my portfolios because as I practice and improve, I realize they aren’t my best work anymore.  If you have just started creating photography or any kind of artwork within the last 2 years, I guarantee you that you need a lot more practice before your work will sell really well.  If you look at the famous creatives most of them never sold early work while they were producing it and many never made a dime from it at all…money was only made after they were dead.  In the Internet age we have so many opportunities that they never had.  So keep creating regularly.  The more you produce the better you will become and eventually sales will start rolling in.  Babies do not come out walking and neither do artists.  We crawl first.

While you are busy perfecting your art, there is a key ingredient to success that cannot be overlooked.  Much like creatives of yesteryear we have to have someone believe in us and “get us out there” in order for our work to sell.  For them it was luck and chance by being discovered by the right person at the right time.  These days that someone is ourselves.  You must believe in your work and be willing to share it with the World.  Social Media provides us with instant access to millions of people from the comfort of our own studio computer, laptop or phone.  We can connect to a mind boggling amount of followers with a few clicks.  As an artist or photographer who lists on online galleries, if you are not using ALL of the FREE social media sites available to us, you are completely missing the boat.  This post would be way too long for me to delve into all of the ins and outs of Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, etc. but there are tons of free resources online to get you started.  Check out the link to my social media in my blog and see what I am doing.

Once you have the discipline to create new work on a regular basis and you are willing to put in some hard work promoting yourself what you are left with is time. It takes time to become successful.  Patience will be your best friend for awhile.  A year ago today I was only selling about 1 print a week and 2 years ago only 1 a month!  Now it is 5 a day!  But that did not happen overnight.  It took about 2 years to get moved up in searches and it took about 6 more months of creating new and better art than I was used to producing and HEAVY social media promoting to see the magic start.  And I am still learning and improving myself.

Not everyone is cut out for the kind of hard work and perseverance that an art career requires. But if you can commit to at least 3 years of constant creativity and as much promotion as time will allow, you can definitely find your market and succeed!

P.O.W.E.R.

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As an artist I often create “pretty” things that people love and buy to decorate their homes.  There is nothing wrong with decorative work and I enjoy making it.  However, in this new series called “The Looking Glass” I am getting in touch with a more visceral side of my being.  I am allowing images to form without thought of decor matching or mass appeal.  I am just “being” and what forms forms.  This painting titled “The Samurai” is very powerful to me.  It evokes strong emotions of strength but also of protection and safety.  I’d like this to hang in my entry way to my home.  The colors and image are strong, but the essence is soft and comforting.  What does he make you feel?

More here:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/the-samurai-abstract-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html

Also new today….”Life Patterns 1″:

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/life-patterns-1-abstract-art-by-sharon-cummings-sharon-cummings.html