3 Ways to keep your Art Safer

What an interesting week this has been.  I decided to add some of my "Wash Tub" drawings on as downloadable art on my Etsy Shop.  In hindsight, I started feeling a bit uncomfortable about having the actually artwork available in that format.  It makes it very easy to steal.  I've actually received a number of comments recently on my Facebook feed advising me to "Copyright or better Watermark" my art as "Soap Makers" specifically were going to use it for their labels.  No offense meant to soap makers reading this, I'm just telling you what I've been told.  



I do know, as an artist, that all my original art I create is automatically my "Intellectual Property" and is legally protected from unauthorized use.  Taking the time to get an official copyright on your art would probably make winning an infringement court case easier but I don't believe it is completely necessary.  I'm not a lawyer but that is my understanding.  I actually had already created an account with eco.copyright.gov website and had listed 10 of the 13 wash tub drawings there with the intention of having them copyrighted.  I stopped the process midstream because I didn't realize that they had implemented a much higher fee structure recently and it now costs $85 to copyright 10 visual art images when before it was $35 for a whole file folder full.  I assumed I had answered something incorrectly so I decided not to proceed to the check out.  

Who knew that low and behold, just a few days later, I would be faced with that exact "unauthorized use" issue myself.  I had a recent Etsy sale and when I looked at this Etsy customer profile I immediately noticed she was a previous SOAP MAKER. (Alarms and Bells began ringing in my head!)  There was also an Etsy Shop linked to her name so I took a little peak at her listings and was immediately greeted with shower curtains and bath mats all covered with my artwork!  She didn't even take my name off the image.  

Now, she claimed she thought it was okay and that I didn't actually say in my listing that the files were for personal use only.  Of course that isn't true.  I clearly communicated that fact about 2/3rds of way down in my listing description but obviously she didn't read or didn't think she was going to be caught.   I contacted her immediately and to her credit she pulled the 10 listings down but had the nerve to ask me for a refund.  

The popularity of this series is making me rethink a few things.  I'm doing a better job of putting a watermark right in the middle of my smallest files to discourage future thievery.  I've also thought about making the image more of a poster design rather than my 100% my pure artwork.  Here is two of my more recent drawings wash tub drawings, "Rooster Cluckburn" and "Bathing Broodies".  




1.  WATERMARK your artwork- I created a file in Photoshop that give me 4 color choices for my watermark.  I add it to the top center of my smallest print at 50% opacity.  
2.  USE ONLY LOW RESOLUTION IMAGES-  
3.  USE GOOGLE IMAGE SEARCH TO MAKE SURE YOUR IMAGES ARE NOT BEING USED WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION.- Just like searching for words in Google you can also search images by choosing the little camera icon.  You then upload the image you want to search for and it will give you all the examples where that image or a similar image is found.  

Today, I came up with this bathroom poster format using the rooster and the hens.   I have included the 4 colors all available on my Townco Studio Etsy Shop as printable art.  I think they turned out cute and hopefully there will be Etsy Shoppers that want to purchase the files from me.






   






Just a little side note:  I learned something today.  To be able to print the "cent" sign like I wanted on the above poster designs, I found out that if you hold down the alt key on a PC and type 0162 it is the keyboard command to give you that ¢ symbol.  How cool is that?

Roosters and Rock Climbing

My newest painting "In All His Morning Glory" 24 x 36 Acrylic

Today was one of those very rare overcast days here in Las Vegas.  A little bit on the windy side but beside that, it was a PERFECT day to go out for a little hike.  Since I just finished my newest painting titled "In All His Morning Glory" I thought it was perfect to "Kill two birds with one stone" sort of speak.  For the past six months or so I have tried to take a photo shoot of my artwork as part of my saying goodbye ritual. I include myself in the photo as if it was a family picture of sorts.  While, this painting hasn't found a new yet, I wanted to be ready just in case.  Also, if we wait much longer, the temperatures here will be too hot for me to handle.

We often just head out of town toward Lake Mead (that is the edge of town we happen to live on so we can be out in the desert in just a matter of 15 minutes or so).  There are a number of places that have outcroppings of beautiful red rocks that make a good backdrop with just little bit of hiking.

I'm happy with how this piece turned out

Today we found an amazing hollowed rock formation that we had not noticed before and even as clumsy as I am, I was able to work my way over to it.  The hollowed out area was rather large and a whole group could find room to stand inside.

A photo collage posted to my Instagram acct

Side angle of the formation

Beautiful red toned rocks everywhere

Brad showing off

Me standing at the edge

Inside the formation

The Rooster Wins

#3 drawing- the Rooster

I love the creative process.  From the idea to the sketch to the final composition.  Oh at times it can be frustrating but over all I find joy in "Pulling it all together". Often, I find myself becoming consumed with the process that I am working on.  You know, waking up in the middle of the night thinking about painting cows or a cute image popping into your head at the craziest times.

That is how this little fun project turned out.  I had seen a picture of three cows peeking out behind a barn door and I just couldn't help but think I wanted to adapt that concept into my own artwork.

#1 drawing of the cow

It all began as 3 separate and rather simple sketches in my sketchbook.  Oh, I could draw all 3 together but I like the freedom that I feel when I just draw separate elements.  Photoshop allows me to arrange my composition and clean up the little mistakes that a pen and ink sketch won't allow.  Now that I have it figured out I just might offer a colored pencil or painted rendition.

#2 drawing of the pig

It started with this little cow sketch I began on Thursday night and finished it up on Friday afternoon.  Since I was responsible for the art gallery in Boulder City all day on Friday I even had time to finish the pig sketch, the second sketch in the series.

Yesterday, I found myself in one of those "CONSUMED" moments.  My goal was to clean my house and I kept trying to stay on task with that goal but my mind kept wondering back to the fact that I needed a third farm animal. I knew it must be a feisty rooster that was in my head but I just hadn't met him yet.  Needless to say, the mopping just had to wait.   I didn't even take the time to take a photo of the rooster while he was still in my sketchbook.  The minute he was finished, I ripped him out and threw him on the scanner so that he could join his barnyard buddies in their digital PNG world.

So here are a few of the final images all put together.  I arranged them in reverse order of the usual "Farm Animal Stack" we see.  The cow, then a pig and finally the rooster on top.  I even played around with adding a mouse in there but decided that it made it too busy and beside it breaks the hard and fast rule of odds. (Odd numbers are more interesting than even numbered subjects)

I used the images to design not only a poster but added a greeting card and sticker to the lineup.  I've already made them available on my Etsy Shop for purchase and they will soon be showing on my Website,  Redbubble (this site allows you to order all kinds of products with my art on them) and EBay, hopefully later today.

Country Plaid Christmas is HERE!

I know that I am about as late as an artist can be getting out Christmas designs here in the middle of  October, but it is what it is.  I stopped painting cowbells long enough last week to work on 6 new 2018 Christmas Card designs that I'm calling "Country Plaid Christmas" and they are now up an can be ordered on my Etsy Shop and Website .

Lately, I have noticed how popular black buffalo plaid is on the country decorating Facebook groups I belong to.  I can understand it because it looks great.  I have always loved plaid and there is just something about black and red that screams classic country Christmas in my mind.  So with that introduction, I present to you the fruits of my labor and I use the word labor loosely because designing is way more fun than hard work.

Christmas Surprise

Chihuahua Christmas

Crowing Rooster

Tangled Christmas Mouse

Cardinal 

Decorating Mouse

Making Mockups Almost Like a Pro

It has been a very busy time in the studio as of late.  I've been jumping around like a chicken with my head cut off just trying to stay on track.  I find myself the week of my combined show where I am 1/3 of the art exhibit and even with that load shared it is a great deal of work.  Our theme is "Fur, Feathers and Fins and it is turning out to be a really fun show.

Besides all of that flurry of activity I have spent a great deal of time on my computer working to improve the product pictures on my Etsy Shop.  I developed about 4 room templates that allow me to showcase my artwork framed and hanging on an imaginary digital wall. I can adjust the frame orientation and size because they are all separate layers in Photoshop.  Having these templates created are half the battle.   Now I'm sure there are more professional images out there but I'm pleased with the outcome of these mockups and wanted to share them with you.








Here are my current mockups and I really like the country flair of the barn wood frame and the potted red geranium.  Makes my Rooster painting, "Rise and Shine"Rise and Shine a perfect fit.  I couldn't have found a better mockup design for my giraffe painting "Reach for the Sky"Reach for the Sky then this little stuffed elephant on a distressed turquoise chair.































For my line of art magnets I decided to create a mockup of a refrigerator surface with a number of my images attached to appear as magnets. When I was showing all the templates to my husband mostly because I feel that I have to justify to him for all the hours I have spent sitting in front of the computer screen in the past 4 weeks since learning anything Photoshop, to point out to me that magnets wouldn't attach to a stainless surface.  REALLY!  I do know this, but you are supposed to focus on the beautiful artwork not the refrigerator.

Both of the originals of these two paintings have been sold but the good news is that I can create fine art prints of both of them and I offer them on my Etsy Shop up to an 8 x 10 matted to 11 x 14 size.  Prices range from $5 to $50 depending the size of the print and if you want it matted or not.   For larger sizes you can contact me and we can make arrangements to have one printed and shipped to you.  My collection of 4 x 6 art cow magnets are also listed there on my Etsy Shop and are priced at $6 each.  Cow Magnet Collection

I encourage you to spend sometime looking at my shop.  I regularly add new artwork there and am working to build a nice inventory of handmade gifts that feature my artwork.  To see more of my artwork you can hope over and check out my website gallery by selecting the "My Art Gallery" link above or clicking this link Julie Townsend Studio.

I would love to hear from you, so Go a head and leave me a comment below.

It's Red Dots and Red Ribbons For Me

I think this is about the 4th or 5th year that I have been involved in the Helldorado Art Show and Auction.  It is really one of my favorite local shows at this point.  The art is amazing and so winning a ribbon there is really special.

I entered 4 pieces total and won a second place ribbon in the acrylic category on my painting, "Rise and Shine".  That piece also happened to be bid on and so I only brought home 3 pieces and this ribbon.  This piece was nearly the last painting I have completed.  I really wanted to enter it in my solo library show but didn't quite make the deadline.

The whole time I was painting this piece I struggled with it.  I had initially tired to paint a mottled background in blue but I struggled with that and especially with the foreground. It just didn't seem to work out the way I had it in my mind.   I loved how the rooster was progressing,  but I felt as if he was floating in the middle of the canvas and I didn't know what to do with his feet.  I was pretty sure I wanted a fence post with morning glories but things just didn't seem to be lining up right.  

The current and final background was actually my 3rd attempt of painting it over.  I'm so pleased that I just kept at it even though I felt that I might just scrape the whole piece.  I love the bright colors and the combination of detail and pop art together.  This will not be the last time I combine these two styles I am sure.  

In April I had taken this piece and entered it into the Clark County Fair and Rodeo in Logandale and I received a very positive response with it.  I actually won 2nd place in the show with it.  Of course the competition wasn't as stiff as it is with Helldorado.

  

Ribbons are wonderful, but art sales are the true compliment paid to an artist.  Well unless you win BEST OF SHOW ribbon.  I'm guess that ranks up there pretty high.  I will miss this piece, but I am happy he found a new home where someone appreciates him enough to pay their hard earned money for the privilege of hanging him on their walls.

Now even though I have sold the original painting, there is still prints and merchandise available that can be ordered with this image.  I personally turn most of my artwork into small prints (4 x 6, 5 x 7 or 8 x 10), 4 x 6 art magnets or stickers.  These are all available on my Etsy store.

Julie Townsend Studio on Etsy

I've included just a couple of images that shows just how great this image would look on products such as prints, book bags, sweatshirts, mugs, shower curtains or phone cases.  You can click this link and it will take you right to this image to place your order.  What a great gift for any "Rooster" lover on your list.

Julie Townsend Studio on Fine Art America

The Farmers Alarm Clock

Something to Crow About- 24 x 36 Acrylic

I remember my son Jason's 2nd grade class hatched chicken eggs in their classroom via an incubator.  That was a very special experience and if the parents agreed, then your student could bring home a baby chick.  I never had chickens as a child so I had to quickly education myself on what was expected of me as the new owner of a tiny chick.

We bought the scratch food and made a little enclosure.  We were so happy to watch our tiny feathered pet begin to grow.  That bliss lasted a couple months until one early morning I was laying in bed and heard a completely foreign sound coming from my back yard.  It sounded something like a very sorry example of crowing and it hit me that this wasn't the egg laying hen I hoped for but rather my chick was soon going to become a huge neighborhood annoyance.  Since we weren't really zoned for livestock, there was only one thing I could do.  We packed up the adolescent bird and drove to the local feed store.  We traded him for a nice looking hen to the relief of all my neighbor's.

With my recent focus on painting country scenes for the series that I call "Down Country Roads" I would be amiss if I hadn't turned my artistic skills to the staple of all farmers and homesteaders for hundreds of years.....The Chicken.  

I've finished a couple of pieces in the past few months that featured this feathered farm fowl and I had a great time painting and drawing them.  Last week I decided to write a poem that I'm calling "The Farmers Alarm Clock" and I thought it would be a good time to share it with my blog readers.  

I've actually been writing a number of poems this past month.  I think I've reached 8 or 9 in my folder I carry around.  I'm seriously thinking about turning it all into a book in the next year.  I even was thinking of titling the book..."Grandmas Too Silly by 1/2", but that is a bit premature I think since I have such a learning curve facing me.  Either way, I am really enjoying coming up with funny little verses to accompany many of my drawings.  After all my artist statement makes it pretty clear:  I'm an artist who loves Jesus-Trying to tell the story of His creation with some paint and canvas.  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.  Colossians 3:23"

A Farmers Alarm Clock

By

Julie Townsend

Don’t cover up your sleepy head

It’s time to throw off your covers and get out of that bed

I guess I’m going to have to crow extra loud

All your animals are forming a crowd

Waiting for you to serve them their morning meal

I know you can hear those pigs starting to squeal

It’s time to open up your eyeballs

Milk those cows and clean those stalls

Everyone is waiting so don’t you delay

No matter that it’s cold and you’re cozy where you lay

You have to feed the world you know

So grab your rake and pick up your hoe

Plow that field and bale that hay

The sun is coming up and you’ve got to start your day

This has been our routine down through the years

Don’t tell me you’re using that pillow to cover your ears!

For I’m the farmers best alarm clock

And it’s time for you to pull your work boot over that sock

Give a goodbye kiss to your wife

It’s tough I know but this is your life

Grab some coffee and run out that door

But first you have to put your feet on the floor.

If you liked that little rhyme then you might want to see more of my fine literary works you can check out my Sketchbook Gallery on my website because I have added a number of poems there.  While you are there, feel free take a few minutes to look at all my work.  I won't mind a bit if you snoop around.

Have a blessed day!

Something to Crow About

Something to Crow About

It was bound to happen.  I've been blogging about the progress I've been making on my most current piece for several weeks and this weekend the final paint strokes were made and my signature added.  I moved the piece off my easel so we could start on all the final steps of photos, varnish and preparing the piece for hanging.  

There is a mixed feeling of satisfaction and anxiety involved with this final process.  Satisfaction that the piece turned out as well as my skill level will allow.  That I have poured your heart into every step of the process and now I have the tangible evidence of my labors sitting propped against the wall.  

The anxiety for me comes in with the empty studio easel.  I don't like the feeling of not having a work in progress and the what-if's and unknowns until I have worked out the renderings for my next composition.   I like the control of knowing what I'm working on and feel a bit uncertain when I can't peek in my studio door and know what I have to do next.  Top these feelings with the reality of the March calendar and that I only have 2 weeks left until I have to hang my show.  Can I finish something substantial in these two weeks or should I just focus on small fun pieces, cowbells and using my new printer to add to my inventory of cards, magnets and prints?   I think the reality that I must face is that I will only have 4 focal pieces for my show when I had planned on creating 5.

  

Being raised in the Ozark Hills of Central Missouri I can tell you that I'm just having a blast painting these cute country scenes.  So you can put your mind to ease that I will continue to paint with this theme for some time into the future.   I'm actually hoping for more venues to open up that will allow "Down Country Roads" to be on public exhibit in the future.  I already have several ideas for my next morning glory covered fence line.

"Something to Crow About" is now available on my website in my landscape gallery.  Check out my other works while you are there. Just click here:  Julie Townsend Studio or on the gallery tab above.  If you are interested in purchasing an 11 x 14 limited print of any of my artwork, just send me a message and I will be happy to work out the details.   

Something Has Gone AFOWL in the Studio

I thought you might enjoy seeing my progression on a piece that I am almost finished with.  It's been about a 3 week process because I don't paint very steady.  A little bit here and a few minutes there is my normal studio habit.  I want to work on that this year but I find I get pretty restless and need to get up after only 20-30 minutes of painting.  I've yet to find that "zone" that other artists speak of where they paint for hours on end and late into the night.  

  

Photo 1- Initial Rendering

This is my first rendering that I did in colored pencil.  It is certainly not a fine piece of artwork but here I'm not really looking for detail as much as a feel and mapping out some of the composition.  I knew I wanted it to be about a crowing rooster on a wooden rail fence with an old wagon wheel.  The piece also had to have the signature morning glories that I have painted into the three other pieces in this "Down Country Roads" series. (Photo 1)

Photo 2-Rough Blocking in of the composition

This next photo is now of me blocking in the main elements of the composition.  I had to repaint that fence at some point because I realized I had made the classic mistake of letting it drift upward and I needed it to be straight.  I pulled out the trusty straight edge and got it back on track.  The background took me sometime to work out.  I finally decided on a the distant ruins of a barn and I think that was a good choice here.  Because I'm working with the canvas in a vertical position, I have a lot of depth to fill in the background. (Photo 2)

Photo 3- Adding Focal elements

With this photo you can see I've straighten the fence line and now begun focusing on the wagon wheel.  This proves to be a really challenge because I want it to have the illusion of leaning against the fence and so my perspective isn't straight on.  I'm not a draftsman or architect so getting the wheel to appear correct and balanced is an issue.  I choose to let it go off the page because it really needed to be that large in comparison to the fence post to look realistic.  I still think it may be too small but that is the difficulty I often face when painting a number of random items from reference photos that are not in the same setting.  (Photo 3)

Photo 4- Adding flowers, grasses and foreground hens

Now we are getting into the final elements of the composition.  I have decided the best thing to do to handle my lack of skill at painting circular wheel and spokes is to have an old board also leaning up against the fence with a healthy growth of beautiful morning glories.  All in all I'm pretty sure I made the right decision there.  I have also begun blocking in the two hens in the foreground. (Photo 4)

Photo 5- Rendering of details to add

This is a little rendering I did of what I had in mind of adding to my painting.  I wanted a couple of chicks fighting over a juicy worm for breakfast.  The sketch has also been added to my greeting card designs and I've matted and framed the original.  The resourceful artist and accountant in me will not let a good sketch go to waste lying in a forgotten portfolio but rather try to turn it into a future revenue source. (Photo 5)

Photo 6-Still blocking in the composition and adding depth

In this photo you can see I have blocked in the chicks and added more layers to the hens and depth to the morning glories and foliage.  (Photo 6)

Photo 7- And this is what it looks like today

 So here we are today and I'm entering into the final stages of this painting.  Did I mention that this canvas is 24 x 36"?  That is a rather large piece and so it does take sometime to work your way to the bottom.  Now I'm obligated to focus on all the details that still need to be added to make this piece really pop.  With a little effort I'm hopeful that this piece will be finished by the weekend and soon be available on my website.  I've taken you from "What the heck were you thinking" to "This might just work after all" to finally "I'm Lov'in it" all in 7 photos.  That is the normal progression for me as an artist.  It progresses from Awful-to Awkward-to Amazing!  Well at least we hope for the AMAZING part.

If you enjoyed my little assemblage of progression photos, leave me a comment below and take a minute to check out my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com.