Ed Lea - Blog
Early days, but very cool to see you using your badges:
http://joannemariol.blogspot.com/
http://adamsoils.wordpress.com/
http://boldartist.homestead.com/index.html
Let us know if you have put a badge on your site 
Q: What happens when thousands of people use your recently updated website?
A: They find bugs…
Although we have bug tracking software, it’s always nice to hear from artists and visitors to the site when they find a problem, we really appreciate the time taken to write in. It’s especially nice when we hear about improvements you’d like to see.
You may have seen in the website header that we have a link for comments, feedback and suggestions. It’s a great place to let us know what you think we should be doing. Check it out http://artflock.uservoice.com/
Just a quicky - ArtFlock got it’s first 100 followers on twitter! You can find us here http://twitter.com/artflock
Log into your ArtFlock account and get yourself a badge for your site or blog. Congrats to boldartist for being the first!
As a girl she dreamed of being an architect, but the numbers just weren’t there.
“I didn’t have the necessary qualifications – math and physics,” British artist Sara Huxley-Edwards says in looking back at her school days. But she’d always been good at art, and “sort of drifted into it.”
Today she works on her paintings in a rustic studio in a village called Snitterfield, near Stratford-upon-Avon. “Plenty of tourists,” she notes of the town made famous as the birthplace of Shakespeare. Huxley-Edwards describes her mixed media paintings – often with layers of paint - as semi-abstract. Lately, she’s been exploring dining themes – a plate of fried eggs, groupings of pitchers, glasses, a pear, an onion. They hint at the quiet satisfaction in the aftermath of a dinner party, she says.
Huxley-Edwards recently put down her paints long enough to discuss her work.
So you started out wanting to be an architect. Are there any architectural influences in your work? Is art in any way like architecture?
I’m not sure there are any similarities between architecture and art, other than they both create. I did do a series of paintings based on buildings though, years ago. They were long, thin canvases filled with skyscrapers - a sort of layering of buildings, textures and mixed media, echoing the makeup of a city.
Do you remember your first painting or piece of art?
My first piece of art, that worked for me, was a painting competition that I won. I was about 8 years old. The prize was to go on a television show called “Tiswas.” It was very popular in Britain in the ‘70s.
My first paid commission was to paint a water color picture of a boat. I was 16. I think I was paid 30 pounds for it, which I remember thinking was a really good sum of money. I then went on to pain a train picture for the same customer – all very photo-realistic. Probably technically very good, but really dull.
In between then and now, I’ve done everything from interior decoration paint jobs and murals, shop signs, paper mache pots and jewelry to teaching in a college for 15 years and being an examiner. I’ve had a studio for four years, and now I’m just an artist and that’s all.
What’s your studio work space like?
My studio is the top floor of an old barn. Beautiful in summer, but absolutely freezing in winter. Consequently, I paint better in summer. I hate being cold.
It has two huge windows with old, arched shutters – very aesthetically pleasing and quite inspiring when I’m warm enough. I find working in my studio very relaxing. If I have a week or two where I can’t get to the studio, I start to get irritable. I need the release of making art.
You describe your work as semi-abstract, with many layers of paint. What draws you to this style? What is it that you like about it?
My degree is in textiles and I think that’s why I’m drawn to texture. Layering the paints and using mixed media allows me to work and rework until I arrive at something I’m happy with. I like the history of the piece being evident in its creation – the ghost images almost breaking through, of a painting on a painting. I like the idea that if my work was stripped back, there would be about six paintings on the canvas before I arrived at the final image.
Over the years I’ve done a lot of collage and it keeps resurfacing no matter how hard I try and move away from it. I love working with paper because it’s such an incredibly versatile material. Words often occur in my work too. I’m trying to move away from that but again, I like words and they keep creeping in.
What’s your work process like?
I hate being distracted, and I become completely absorbed when a painting is going well. Even a phone call is annoying. I remember the first time this ever happened to me. I was about 12, and still at school. We were reading John Steinbeck’s “The Red Pony” and when I looked up the whole class had gone out to play. I’d been so totally absorbed in the book that I hadn’t even heard the bell. I remember being really cross with my friends for not telling me.
My studio is in Snitterfield. I live in the next village over, so it’s all very handy. I could never work from home. First of all, we don’t have the room. Secondly, I have two young children who would always be wanting to help. Thirdly, and most importantly, I would feel obliged to continually do the washing, the cleaning.
I like going out to the studio, as it defines that time as soley work time.
Are there particular times of the day or night that you find more productive?
I keep a notebook next to my bed because I often seem to have really good ideas for making art in the middle of the night and it used to really bug me that I could never remember them the next morning. Now, I write them down and get a better night’s sleep.
You’re doing a lot of paintings with dining themes. Why did you choose that theme?
My love of good hotels! I love luxury – good food and good wine. I like the relaxed atmosphere, the design, the comfort, the presentation. All of it. But I can’t afford any of it, so I have to be content with an occasional meal out. I also love having friends over for dinner at home. I don’t know if it’s the artist or the perfectionist in me, but I love the details and I’m a very sociable person.
I think you get the best out of life if you work hard and play hard. I want to capture those moments after a dinner party, when guests are satisfied and relaxed.
What’s next?
I’m just about to start a new series of collages where I’m drawing inspiration from my father and his musicl. He’s a jazz musician, and consequently I’ve spend a lot of time in jazz clubs. They have a great atmosphere and I want to do a series of cut paper instruments with hands and lights – images from the clubs. I like collage and cut paper because I can do the layering thing again and again, but not stick it all together until it’s right.
I think it’s a terrible mistake to let work go out to galleries if you, the artist, aren’t happy with it. I’d rather put fewer pieces out, and know that my best work is representing me. I’ve noticed over the years that if you have a really successful painting and a really awful one, they’ll both sell. It’s the middle ground that’s slower going. Sometimes I keep a painting in the studio for months because I can’t decide if it’s finished. That’s when the layers get really thick, as I’ll continually add to it until I’m satisfied.
Here at ArtFlock we really value your comments. We’ve open a neat new forum where you can post and vote for your favourite suggestions http://artflock.uservoice.com/
You can suggest anything you’d like to see on ArtFlock, or comment on what’s there now - it’s up to you.
If you’ve never checked out MyDeco, you should. The site aims to bring together a wide range of products with many inspiring looks to fit your budget, expert designers on hand for advice, and simple 3D tools to help you plan your rooms before you even set foot in a design store. It’s also the perfect way to design a room with pieces from Artflock and display them in a virtual room that you design.
This week at MyDeco they’re celebrating Art Week, where they will put special focus on simple ways to accentuate the walls of your rooms with accessible and delightful art. Artflock is partnering with MyDeco for the week to offer you a special promotional coupon for one of our hand picked artists: Sara Huxley-Edwards. Sara’s style explores comfortable and intimate topics, portraying the ambience of a satisfied dinners or parties through the texture and color of the paintings.
Using this special promotional coupon you can buy Sara’s work for an additional 20% the normal price.
Just visit MyDeco.com to purchase the art at a 20% discount or to see how it will look in your room. We’ve put some of our favorite works from Sara Huxley-Edwards here for you to look at.
The EmptyEasel and ArtFlock competition winners have been announced. Well done to Rachel Ash with 174 votes and Sandi Whetzel who, rather strangely, both ended up with 174 votes.
It got pretty exciting towards the end and the lead changed hands a few times. Congratulations to all those who entered, the competition got well over 1000 voters involved!
Now it’s time to organise the prizes, with Rachel and Sandi both getting a custom designed website and domain name each worth over $600!
We will post back when those sites are live.
Fancy winning a free website for your art / craft work? You’ll have to act quickly as there are a couple of opportunities. Firstly, you can win just by uploading artwork to your ArtFlock account. Each artwork uploaded is counted as an entry so the more you upload, the more chance you have of winning! Log in to your account to get started
As if that wasn’t exciting enough, you can increase your chances of winning by visiting the Craft Boom blog. Just submit a comment to that post and you are in with a chance to win!
There’s another competition too, it’s a little late to enter, but you can certain vote for who you’d like to see win, head over to http://www.artflock.com/competition/emptyeasel/ and vote now.
After much feedback the artwork uploader has been totally modified. You can now set default settings to save adding in the same information each time. The image uploader has also been improved so that you can see the artwork as you enter its details. Uploading artwork is now very quick and easy. The error messages have also been improved so you can see where if going wrong! Would be great to hear what you think.
Last night I got into one of those trances while creating some new work. I sat in front of my monitor and for about 3 hours I did not look away once. I had my iPod plugged in, phones off and drifted into a world of my own.
It's nice when you get the chance, but after, I had what felt like an eye hang-over! Does anyone have tips avoiding getting caught up in this? I considered setting an alarm on my mac that went of every 15 minutes to remind me to look away.
Anyway, you can see the piece I have been working on here, not quite finished yet
As you may have noticed, ArtFlock.com has quietly launched a new feature that enables artists to publish everything they have in their ArtFlock account onto their own website. It's only open to selected artists at the moment while we test everything, but we'll be rolling it out to everyone over the next few weeks.
I thought I'd share the first site here which is my own (I promise I'll add some more work soon) so take a look http://edlea.com. You'll also notice that it's possible to import your blog from wordpress or blogger.com etc right into your site, so it's a great way to get all of your online presence together in one place.
ArtFlock has partnered with Moo.com to bring you discounted Moo products. Discounts are available to all ArtFlock.com artists here.
We have posted a few suggestions of how you can use your Moo products, but we’d love to hear what you’ve done with yours.
Andrew Graham-Dixon explores Spain’s art history. He reveals how the north of the country has produced some of the most dazzling art of the modern age. This programme covers the history behind the art which is fascinating, worth watching!
Only available to watch online for a few days on BBC iPlayer
We’ve been meaning to add a forum for a while, there’s always a bit of chat through the comments system but we wanted to give ArtFlock members somewhere much easier to communicate. To post to the forum, you have to be an ArtFlock.com member. If you’ve already signed up, then you can reach the forum here.
We also hope this will be a great tool to communicate about the future of ArtFlock so please make any suggestions you want about features or promotional ideas.
Happy posting!
We’ve just added a new feature to ArtFlock called an “Activity Stream”. If you use Facebook, you’ll be familiar with the concept, it’s a running diary of activity around you, your work and people in your Flock. It appears on your dashboard (the first page you see when you log in) and displays the 15 most recent events.
So now every time someone leaves you or your art a comment, or favourites you, or joins your flock etc, you’ll see it happening instantly in your account. It will also let you know what people in your Flock are doing too.
So now, the more active you are on the site, the more traffic you’ll get to your work and profile. Ideal for alerting buyers and collectors who follow your art that you have added a new piece for sale!
Brent Hoberman (of lastminute.com fame) is set to revolutionise the world of interior design this week with the launch of MyDeco.com. The site will enable visitors to create a virtual room, decorate and furnish it with products from many stores like Ikea or Cath Kidston and share the design amongst the community. All rooms are modeled in 3D so you can get a good look at how your home will turn out before you even start to decorate. And of course, what room would be complete without an original piece of contemporary craft or fine art? For that very reason, ArtFlock has partnered with MyDeco to offer original artworks through the MyDeco site. Any artist on ArtFlock is eligible as long as the work meets certain criteria.
At this time we’re urging makers and artists, who produce art & craft that can be enjoyed in the home, to upload some more work to their account! MyDeco has already been reviewed in the Sunday Times, Telegraph and other mainstream media. They have a great PR campaign lined up and this is an amazing opportunity for artists and makers to promote their work.
ArtFlock has always been about making original art and craft accessible to the mainstream - we want everyone to enjoy your work as much as we have and the MyDeco partnership is another step along the way.
“Curated Collections” is a new feature on ArtFlock.com that will enable everybody to get involved in art. A Collection is made up of 13 artworks which you choose - curating your own collection is much harder than it sounds.
When selecting a body of work, you have to make sure the aesthetics among the 13 artworks fit - that means checking colours compliment each other, shapes and texture of the works flow though all of the work and that there is a common theme.
If you would like a challenge, and think you can put together an exhibition, then visit the collections page. We’ve also included a few tools so that you can show your Collection(s) off to your friends, family and colleagues.
Oh, and one more thing, if any of the work sells via your collection, we’ll give you 10% commission!
I spent a bit of time browsing through the site this morning, and I thought I had seen every artwork going but I'm always surprised to find some little gems that I had totally missed. I've listed a few below, or click here to see all of my favourites.
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/4194
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/3705
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/3594
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/4318
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/3929
- http://www.artflock.com/art/action/view/frmArtworkId/1510
I hope you enjoy these artworks, would be great to hear which are your favourites through the site.
ArtFlock.com has been selected for Yahoo! Finds of the Year 2007 which rounds off this amazing year in style.
All of the categories have been judged by a closed panel, but there’s one award left to go - the all important People’s Choice. You can vote for us here (middle column towards the bottom). We’re up against some great sites, so it’ll be tough and we need every last vote!
Thanks to all the artists and makers on ArtFlock.com for getting us there - it’s your work that makes the site so great.
We’re too excited to keep the progress at ArtFlock.com under wraps so we’ve decided to launch a version 1.5 - which is on the way to version 2!
We’re not going to shout too loudly about this release as you’ll no doubt find the odd bug or two but we hope it will make quite a splash.
After a few months of drinking 10 or so cups of tea per day and spending many hours looking at a computer screen, the new [semi-skimmed] version ArtFlock.com has finally launched!
The site is still under development, but there were enough benefits to this version 1.5 to make it worth launching. Here are some of updates:
- Less downloads on each page, making it quicker
- Every artist gets a blog on the site (and they can import external blogs)
- Favouites, you can favourite artists and artwork
- Internal messaging. Each artist can now be contacted directly through the site
- Collaborative filtering, as you browse and rate artwork from the site, ArtFlock learns what other artwork visitors could be interested in
- *select artist range. Artists with good listings, updated profiles, great artwork images (and other factors) will be invited to become a *select artist which means they will have extra visibility throughout the site
- Comments added throughout the site, with links back to the commenter
- Your Flock - in the early stages of development, but you’ll be able to connect with other artists that have similar interests
That should give you an idea of what is happening, but log in to your account to find more new features. I’d like to wrap up this post with a big welcome to all the new artists, and a great big thank you to all the current artists whose work has made ArtFlock.com such a great success!
Thank you and happy 2008!
(p.s. if you haven’t voted for us at Yahoo! yet, follow this link to the ‘Peoples Choice’ - bottom middle column)
After a few months of drinking 10 or so cups of tea per day and spending many hours looking at my computer screen, the new version ArtFlock.com has finally launched!
The site is still under development towards version 2, but there were enough benefits to this version 1.5 to make it worth launching. Here are some of updates:
- Less downloads on each page, making it quicker
- Every artist gets a blog on the site (and they can import external blogs)
- Favouites, you can favourite artists and artwork
- Internal messaging. Each artist can now be contacted directly through the site
- Collaborative filtering, as you browse and rate artwork from the site, ArtFlock learns what other artwork visitors could be interested in
- *select artist range. Artists with good listings, updated profiles, great artwork images (and other factors) will be invited to become a *select artist which means they will have extra visibility throughout the site
- Comments added throughout the site, with links back to the commenter
- Your Flock - in the early stages of development, but you'll be able to connect with other artists that have similar interests
That should give you an idea of what is happening, but log in to your account to find more new features. I'd like to wrap up this post with a big welcome to all the new artists, and a great big thank you to all the current artists whose work has made ArtFlock.com such a great success!
Thank you and happy 2008!
(p.s. if you haven't voted for us a Yahoo! yet, click on the link at the top of the page)
Artflock.com would like to introduce our newest friend in the art business world, Imagekind. We think that they are a wonderful resource for all working artists and we endorse them to the Artflock.com community of buyers and sellers.
Imagekind.com is a print on demand art service launched in August of 2006. Completely free of charge, artists and photographers can post up their work, and start selling it within minutes. Artists can create a gallery, set their own markup for each individual image, and keep the profit for themselves. Imagekind makes its money solely on print production and framing. Imagekind sells digital reproductions and framing, whereas Artflock.com sells originals.
Artflock.com artists are invited to come over, and create a gallery. Now home to over 10,000 independent digital artists, Imagekind stands by its high print quality – and commitment to getting the best deal possible for its content providers.
Imagekind.com – Sell your prints online and keep the profit. Visit them on the web here.
GB
ArtFlock on Twitter
|