This is a guest post by Imagekind artist Warren Keating who is an award-winning artist whose paintings reflect the culmination of 25 years in both figures and landscapes. He has had numerous solo shows of his paintings in the U.S. and Mexico, as well as having sold directly to a variety of collectors around the world. He has been featured on CNN, and has had several articles written about him in Los Angeles area newspapers. Currently, Keating is represented by several galleries in San Francisco and Los Angeles. His latest series, “Overview” was selected as an LA Times Calendar pick; it is currently exhibiting at M.J. Higgins Fine Art in Downtown L.A.

If I were talking to a particular artist, I could assess in more detail how that painter should go about finding a gallery to show his or her work, but I will attempt to give you a quick guide to how I found (and tips for how I continually find) representation.

To start, please don’t set out with the notion that you are searching for the Holy Grail of artists’ accomplishments, that a show in a renowned gallery is a silver bullet that will cure all of your art career difficulties. While I wouldn’t rule out that possibility, it is not a useful goal for the emerging artist. Rather, your goal should be to become aware of and involved in your art community, cultivate relationships with collectors, dealers, and, hopefully, museums, and become a salesman of your own work. You will need to learn to think like an art dealer. In my 20 years’ experience, when I’m busy with self-generated exhibits and don’t have time for much else, that’s when the galleries finally start calling.

1. Get The Picture

Good photography is a must when submitting, publicizing or selling your work. An inexpensive ($100) light kit with 2 fixtures containing 500 watt, color-balanced bulbs is the best light source for photographing paintings, and now you can get a really decent digital SLR camera for under a thousand dollars. If you are on a bare bones budget or in a hurry, you can use sunlight, but there will be more image-deteriorating reflection on paintings that have any sheen whatsoever. A polarizing lens is a must, to help minimize any glare from your light kit, and is absolutely necessary if you try to photography your work outside.

After I have color-adjusted and sharpened the images of my paintings, I upload them to my Imagekind account to keep copies of hi-res files of my larger paintings ready to make a large print a for a presentation or exhibit.

But, it’s also crucial to get the picture in a more allegorical sense. It’s important to make your best impression with the most appealing and accurate images of your work, a resume that says that you are a committed artist and an attitude that lets the dealer know that working with you will be a pleasurable and lucrative experience.

2. Research the Gallery

Before the rise in popularity of the Internet, the emerging artist had to drive around his or her city, or state, to visit galleries to see what kind of work was displayed within before considering whether to approach that dealer or not. Now, it’s easy to get a good feel for the dozens of galleries in an urban area within an hour without leaving your home office.

The more educated you are about the art world around you, the more quickly you can navigate it to find the venues where you fit in. Often, while an established gallery has as stable of artists, the emerging artist can find exhibit opportunities from within the up-and-coming venues. It behooves the artist to keep track of the local art scene to become aware of these new exhibit opportunities as they come into being.
When submitting, I use my very best work, and, while my paintings are all basically depicting people from overhead, I also show a variety of sizes, colors, crops, etc. and include that I have limited editions prints available of my work, high-quality giclees from Imagekind.

3. While You’re Waiting, Find Other Ways To Exhibit

Emerging artists that hit a brick wall and complain that, after approaching all of the galleries in the area, there is simply no way for them to get an exhibit. Harnessing some of that frustration, the successful artist will find a juried exhibition, country club, art fair, co-operative gallery, etc. Be wary of vanity galleries that charge hundreds or thousands for a show. Personally, I don’t think that’s the way to go, but I may opt to do that as an investment at a future date.

This year, in addition to gallery shows, I’ve participated in two major charity events in the Los Angeles area, an internationally-juried competition in Dallas, several online competitions and exhibits in Second Life, The Ventura Art Festival and I’m painting a mural at my daughter’s elementary school. Hey, many of my neighbors are a lot richer than I am and can easily afford my work.

As life often goes, once you’re busy with all of these other exhibits and are feeling overwhelmed with alternative exhibit opportunities to which you’ve said, “yes”, the galleries will start to return your calls. So, my advice to the artist that is having difficulty getting into galleries is to sell and exhibit so much that you don’t need them, and then they’ll come calling.

4. You Had Better Be Ready

Right after you read this, spend some time, hopefully in your studio, thinking about your art, where you want to be and what your next step is. Don’t be in a rush in this moment to enact your marketing plan or crank out even more alluring work in your studio. Take some time to think about why your art is important, why someone should buy it, why it should be in a museum or history book, if that is your goal, and write it all down. You can edit it later, but, after reviewing what you come up with, update your Artist’s Statement and Bio. I’m pretty much going to sell a couple of paintings on Ebay and a print or two on Imagekind no matter what I do, so it’s easy to stay busy, but I make it a point to take time out, sit in my studio, look at my paintings, analyze where I’m at and imagine where I can go.

Be honest about yourself and your art and seriously commit to whatever plan you come up with. If after you do all this, you’re in a meeting with a gallery, and something about you, or your work kills the deal and you don’t get the gig, then, consider this: A relationship with a gallery is a big, time and energy-consuming commitment. Often the dealer is saving the artist a lot of time, headache and heartache, because the dealer knows that the work will not sell to her audience.

5. Create a Brand with Social Media Networking

Instead of sitting in your studio and waiting for that big opportunity, create a following without enlisting the P.R. machine of the biggest galleries. As you create work, post it into a half dozen Social Network outlets. I take video of myself painting, and have a YouTube following. You’ll quickly find that the prolific artist that creates interesting art has more posts to share with a better audience, so you’ll become more prolific and your work, more interesting. There are experts that can explain viral marketing much better than I can, but I can tell you that a good idea (creative vision or process), wrapped in media (images, video) properly disseminated (blog post, video/image upload, link, email, comment) will most likely go viral to some degree. People can’t help share what is cool, and there’s something cool about every artist. One just has to figure out what it is, how to capture it and how to disseminate it.

Well, for those of you that are sitting around, frustrated with the rejection that you’ve received from galleries, now you have plenty of things that you can do to advance your career as an artist while you’re waiting for that big break. Good luck.

Warren Keating is an artist in Los Angeles. For more information, go to http://www.WarrenKeating.com. His original work is sold at KeatingArt.com and prints of his most popular paintings can be purchased from http://KeatingArt.imagekind.com.

Tomasz Jedruszek is a Polish artist who creates some of the most stunning and beautiful CG works. His designs have been featured in several noteworthy publications. Tomasz was born 1977, educated in math and physics, and has a masters degree in Engineering & Architecture. Since 1999 he has worked as a freelance digital artist.

Moment of Glory

Wish for Strenght

Princes of the sun

Where were you born, where do you live now, any other background info?

I was born in very small town in Poland 32 years ago. I spend most of my life at Silesia area where I finished my studies of Architecture. A few years ago I moved down the map to the south of Poland to a place named Bochnia, near Cracow. Our plans are to continue towards the south soon. Nine years ago, during my studies, I realized I needed grow up and take care of my adult life by myself. One thing I discovered I was able to do at that time was drawing. I was quite desperate about making a living from it, but soon realized how many people are willing to pay good money for my work. Since then I am working as a freelance artist. I think that was the best choice I ever made.

Polos

Abordage

Page finder

How would you describe your work?

It is flexible, both about time and earnings. I am my own boss and deal with my time according to my current needs which is great. I create things from scratch, directly from my imagination which is even more exciting.

Battle of Blackwater Bay

Lost city

Prison

What processes and techniques do you use to create your work?

I use Photoshop on a pretty old computer and an even older wacom tablet. Recently I have been spending a lot of time with my son and have gotten back to pencil hand drawings again to make some pre sketches. I like it more than sketching digitally which I normally do for work related projects because it is faster and there are tight deadlines.

Winter blockade

Robert Baratheon command

Cleftjaw Reavers

How did you get started?

With lot of pain. I started by trying to copy some comics, years of hard work at the desk with pencil and lot of wasted paper. After that it started to look like someting worth  showing publishers. My first job was near my university. A polish RPG games publisher gave me a chance and later helped me find connections abroad such as in Spain, Great Britain and even the US. I then began working for myself and have become recognizable on the market; couple successes and here we go!

Icarus Day

Warfleet

Wolf's wood Hunters

Any notable accomplishments?

Many, but recently I most happy with my contract with Wizards of the Coast and Sony Online Entertainment and of course my Digital Painting award on latest CGSociety “Steam Punk ” Challenge.

Vale Pact Greyjoy

Men of the Mander

Spear Brigade

Where can we find more info and keep up with your work?

Best source for all updates would be my site www.morano.pl. You can also visit my secondary portfolios:
http://morano.cgsociety.org/gallery http://morano.cghub.com/images http://legendsofnorrath.station.sony.com/community.vm

And of course my Imagekind galleries: http://morano.imagekind.com

Wardens of the Reach

King's army

Dryads

What artists inspire you?

That’s a very long list! Actually, I’m still adding new names to it all the time. Jjust to name a few from my top 100: Gierymski, Malczewski, Rosinski, Manara, Gimenez, Brom, Mullins, etc. etc.

Turn the Page

Bloodrider's Arakh

Horsemen Starfall

The conceptual photography of Dutch artist Jacky Groen is both breathtaking and awe-inspiring. As one commenter puts it “Jacky’s work often sweeps the viewer not only into a visual journey, but also an emotional and spiritual one. Inspired by moments that touch us all at some point in our lives, she has the special ability to translate them into images that we all can relate to and find truth in.” We couldn’t agree more.

Destiny

Isolation

Where were you born, where do you live now, any other background info?

I was born in Amsterdam, but a few years ago I moved to the South Coast of the Netherlands. I always wanted to live near the sea, and the constantly changing intense skies and the beautiful light that endlessly inspires me.

Past Glory

Solitude

Stranded

How would you describe your work?

My work is a blend of photography and digital art, I’ll always love my camera but must admit I’m more addicted to photoshop these days. I suppose it has to do with my personality, I’m a dreamer and an emotional person..I can express my fantasies and emotions in my conceptual work this way. With photography, Mother Nature is usually my inspiration..for conceptual art my inspiration is simply Life!

The Dock

Breeze

Hiding

What are your tools of the trade?

“My Eyes…My Heart….My Nikon”

Shine Through

Time to let Go

Are you a full time artist?

Yes I am.

Home

Memories

How did you get started?

About four years ago my brother gave me a digital camera as a gift and I was hooked immediately. I used to be interested in photography as a teenager though…ages ago when digital cameras didn’t even exist yet…

Shell

Heal

Any notable accomplishments?

This year I won an award with my wildlife photography and last year my work “My Way” was published in the online Esquire magazine. Also I’m happy to say almost all my work has been featured numerous times on various art sites.

Not meant to be...

Release

Where can we find more info and keep up with your work?

Of course all my work can be found at Imagekind: http://photodream.imagekind.com

And you are welcome to visit me at my personal website: www.PhotoDream.nl

Tulips

Still

What artists inspire you?

Gregory Colbert ~ Ashes and Snow. Such a gorgeous blend of photography and almost fantasy like serenity.

“Gregory Colbert’s Ashes and Snow is an ongoing project that weaves together photographic works, 35mm films, art installations and a novel in letters. With profound patience and an enduring commitment to the expressive and artistic nature of animals, he has captured extraordinary interactions between humans and animals.” www.ashesandsnow.org

Hope Springs Eternal

Prophecy

The below article is a guest post from photographer John Lund. His photography career has taken him many places and he’s had the ability to photograph many different subjects. However, few prove as humorous as when he photographed Truman the Lion. Here’s his story.

King of Beasts

The animal trainer told me that I would have to get rid of the sandbags from my studio. She was explaining the rules to me for photographing a lion in my studio. She went on to explain that he might think they are rodents and would be possessive. “Well, he can have them if he wants them!” I joked. “No” she said, “You don’t understand. He would have to kill you to keep you from taking them”. OK, lose the sandbags!

Lion Trailer

I had decided that not only would it would be fun to photograph a lion in my studio, but that shooting the big cat for stock would payoff as well. I certainly hoped it would pay off, because the cost to shoot the lion was $5,000. I asked Stephanie, the trainer and owner of Truman, the lion, how long I would get with him for that amount of money. “As long as he wants,” was her wry reply.

Lion in the Studio

Back to the rules. There were five of us. Collette, an art director (I had pre-sold a greeting card idea to a greeting card company), Tiffany, my assistant, two friends and me. There were also three animal trainers each with a can of mace and a pick handle, though if you saw the lion you wouldn’t think any of those weapons would mean much in a pinch. Stephanie told us that none of us should “separate” from the pack. She admonished us that if any pieces of meat from the lion’s “treats” happened to fly in our direction, don’t try and pick them up. Avoid sudden movements, and, oh yes, if there was anything we didn’t want marked we’d better cover them up. It turns out that the lion can “spray” for fifteen feet!

Lion Standing

Truman arrived in a trailer, which had brought into my studio. We made sure that there was no way he could end up on the streets of San Francisco before we let him out. As Truman stepped out of the trailer there was a collective gasp from all of us. His regal bearing and taught muscularity was far more impressive than I had anticipated.

Shooting Lion in Studio

I had once asked an animal trainer who worked with both of Stephanie’s big cats, Truman the Lion and Safari the tiger, which one was more dangerous. She had told me that Safari was more dangerous because people thought of him as a big kitten and tended to let their guard down, but when Truman was around there was a more palpable sense of danger. I now knew what she meant!

Photographing the Lion

The two main images I wanted to create included a lion on a throne as the “King of Beasts”, and a shot of a lion trainer with his head in the lion’s mouth. We needed to have Truman in a standing position, sitting on a pedestal, various shots of his body parts, and a photo of him with his mouth open. To get a shot of Truman in an upright position I improvised super heavy-duty camera stand reinforced with a light stand. I was still nervous, as Truman weighs over four hundred pounds. One of the trainers enticed him to stand up and rest his paws on my makeshift stand by hold chunks of beef heart, on a stick, over his head. We used the same method to get him to stand on the pedestal. For his open mouth I just had to be ready for those lucky moments when he might yawn.

Lion Trainer

Most of the time he spent pacing in circles. After about forty-five minutes his circles started to get larger bringing him within a few feet of me. Stephanie said he was being sneaky about getting closer to me because he was curious. She also said that he was starting to get a little assertive and it was time to end the shoot. My $5,000.00 had bought me forty-five minutes of the lion’s time. It wasn’t long, but it was well worth it. Oh yeah, and before he left he did manage to “mark” the art director’s car.

Lion In Waiting Room

John Lund has been shooting professionally for over thirty years.  He was an early pioneer in the digital world using Photoshop 1.0 in 1990 and digital capture as far back as 1995.  Over the years Lund has taught digital workshops, written numerous articles on digital photography, served as DIGITAL IMAGING’s Digital Photography Editor, been a Photoshop columnist for PICTURE magazine, served on APA”s National Digital Committee, lectured extensively and written a book on Photoshop:  Adobe Master Class Photoshop Compositing with John Lund.  His stock imagery is licensed through Blend Images, Getty, Corbis, SuperStock and Kimball Stock. He currently works out of his studio in Sausalito, California.

More of John’s work can be seen at www.johnlund.com.

Kristen Stein is an award-winning Contemporary Artist living in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Region. Kristen’s works are currently available on a variety of online venues, or through her websites StudioArtworks.com and KristensCreations.com. Kristen’s paintings are in public and private collections within Australia, Canada, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and throughout the continental United States. Her art has appeared in numerous printed media including posters, book cover, CD Covers, calendars and program covers.

autumn fire

Singular Beauty : Green Glow - Tree Landscape

Where were you born, where do you live now, any other background info?

I was born in Ohio and grew up in California. I went to graduate school in Virginia and then spent about a decade in Colorado. A few years ago we made a big move to the East Coast and I now reside near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

5 blue tree cluster

Singular Beauty: gilded

How would you describe your work?

Some of my works start with detailed sketches while others are created from a blank canvas layer by layer until the final painting is achieved. I like to work in a wide range of styles and materials as this allows me to keep my art fresh and new. I would describe my landscapes as moody, mysterious and atmospheric in nature. They allow me to experiment with color and texture while capturing the beauty of a wide open meadow, field, ocean, or impending storm, etc. Many of these pieces are directly influenced by my time spent in Colorado, California and Spain. My enchanted garden series allows me to capture a world of my imagination where birds, snakes, plants, flowers, trees, butterflies, etc. can be expressed in a wild whimsical way. They are bold, bright and wonderfully fun to create. My art-deco cubist paintings are my story-telling paintings. This style allows me to capture a certain sentiment or tell a story in the painting. Paintings influenced by September 11th, Hurricane Katrina and the deaths of my grandmothers are among the works in the art deco cubist collection.

Enchanted Garden : Birds of a Feather

eg2friends

What processes and techniques do you use to create your work?

My landscapes are created with many layers of contrasting colors working up to the final imagery that I am trying to create with the mood and feel of the particular landscape. I love creating a canvas that looks weathered and worn even though it is brand new. I achieve this through a variety of layers…..sometimes with molding paste, string, tissue, newsprint, sand, grit, flower petals, and a variety of other products added to the canvas (or removed from the canvas) during the painting process.

I daydream a lot! I often close my eyes and picture the painting before it is created. I rarely try to replicate a photograph, but instead use the colors and shapes as a guideline for what I want to create.

We are All Part of a Bigger Pattern - Patchwork US

Are you a full time artist?

Yes. I am a full-time artist. I feel fortunate to be able to spend my days doing something that I love. I am pleased that my customers, friends and family have been so supportive and have allowed me to pursue my dreams as an artist on a daily basis.

Dream Analysis According to Freud

How did you get started?

I remember being passionate about art from a very young age. I started by creating art as gifts for friends and family. Then when I was in graduate school studying for my Ph.D. in Economics, I started painting again as a hobby and as a way to focus my mind on something other than exams. I purchased website domains and listed several of my pieces on major auction sites like EBay. Over time, my hobby grew into a full-time business. I still use a lot of my economics background for the business side of things, but I clearly allowed the artistic side to take over and I haven’t looked back.

Rustic Glow

Meadow Plane

Any notable accomplishments?

I have been lucky to have some great exposure for my work recently.

A set designer for Warehouse 13 saw a collaborative work “Spirit of Autumn Fire” that artist Lyse Marion and I did together. This set designer chose the work to be displayed prominently on the Warehouse 13 set.

In addition to the exposure on Warehouse 13, several pieces will appear in an upcoming movie called “The Roommate” due in theaters in 2010, and a new TV show on FOX called “Past Life” airing in January.

A new book “Spirituality of Sex” features my “Shakti: Energy Goddess Design”

The Jazz Club and Angels of September were used as the cover art for the Allied Social Science Associations Annual Meetings.

Here Comes the Sun has been selected for the cover of a Jazz CD due out in 2010.

Mother Nature and Child was used in a logo for a Los Angeles based SIDS foundation:

Lastly, my children’s book “The Vegetarian Lion” was picked up by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for sale in the Children’s section of their website (also available through Amazon).

Here comes the Sun Modern Abstract

Marked Horizon Square

Where can we find more info and keep up with your work?

You can learn more about me on my website:  StudioArtworks.com
You can follow my blog: kristensteinfineart.blogspot.com
You can stay up to date on Twitter: twitter.com/kristensteinart
Or become a Fan on Facebook : http://artist.to/kristensteinfineart
I have an etsy boutique that offers originals paintings, handcrafted artisan jewelry and gifts featuring my artwork : http://kristensteinfineart.etsy.com
And, of course, you can find a large number of my prints on Imagekind: http://kristensteinfineart.imagekind.com

red meadow

Snow on the Ground

What artists inspire you?

I truly am inspired by everything that I see, read and hear. I try to watch and listen to everything in the world around me and incorporate this into my work in some way. There are so many artists whose work I enjoy. It would be hard to choose only a few and I would be certain to leave someone unmentioned. So, I will say that from the many forums in which I have participated, each artist whom I have met over the past 10 years has inspired me and motivated me in one way or the other. As for as the masters, I’d say that artists like Picasso and Gris have influenced my cubist works as well as the fabrics, advertising and illustrators from the art deco period. I have been greatly influenced by the colors and patterns used by Matisse and the geometric works of Rothko and Frank Llyod Wright.