Author Archives: Amanda

About Amanda

I am an emerging contemporary artist specialising in bright and colourful landscapes, sunsets and abstracts.

New Mini Colour Project

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I’ve not had too much time to paint recently what with starting a new job and being mainly focussed on settling in and learning the ropes. I have however had a few hours here and there to get started on a mini project where my aim was to select a subject and create it in different colours. After the success of my Contemporary Poppies in Pink painting which sold within 1 day of completing it (!), I thought that might be a good subject to base my project on.

So after some deliberations and a few snatched (but precious) painting sessions here are the first two paintings in the series: Ornamental Poppies in Pink and Ornamental Poppies in Teal.

I hope they’ll be successful – the early signs are good though with one order for the Teal coloured painting already…! The next in the series I think will probably be in brown, beige and cream, or perhaps I’ll add some copper and gold. I also like the thought of warm orange, yellow and vermillion. Or I could do navy, light blue and silver….oooh the possibilities to get creative! Let me know if you have any other suggestions!

(Both Ornamental Poppies in Pink and Ornamental Poppies in Teal are available for sale through the Rogue Gene Gallery website)

Effective Presentations

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Artists are sometimes asked to do presentations about their artwork or short seminars on how they work to other groups of artists. You may even have been asked to do a demonstration evening at an art group. This can be quite daunting as not many people really enjoy standing up and giving presentations. With this in mind I thought I would pass on some hints and tips about public speaking that you may find helpful.

Preparation

- First of all preparation is the absolute key to an effective presentation. Consider your audience (who is this talk to?). Your subject matter and style may vary if you are talking to a group of fellow artists as opposed to a general group with no artistic involvement. Therefore don’t use jargon if you can help it. Keep the subject matter easy to understand for everyone.

- How many people are you presenting to? Do you need to use slides or other demonstration material? If so, will it be large enough for everyone to see – even at the back of the room?

- How long have you got? If you do use slides count on using no more than 1 per minute. Keep the text large and use a maximum of 5 bullet points per slide. The information on each slide should support your presentation. Whatever you do don’t read the slides word for word. If you must use powerpoint use it as an aide to support your presentation, don’t have reams of text on it. People will be busy reading each slide and not listening to what you are saying.

- Plan what you are going to present. Do you know enough about the subject to confidently answer questions at the end? If not do you have enough time to research the subject? The better you know a subject the easier it is to present on. That way if you lose your place as you are delivering your presentation you will know enough to talk generally until you can bring the subject back to your original plan. Continue reading →

Which Exhibition or Craft Fair should I attend?

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Over the last few years I have attended many different exhibitions up and down the UK and have learnt through experience how important it is to do a bit of advance research when looking for a new venue. There is nothing worse than wasting your time and money on a venue that isn’t right for you or your artwork.

With just a little bit of research you will quickly find there are literally hundreds of exhibitions to choose from, held throughout the year in many different locations, and sometimes the choice can seem a little overwhelming. If you are just setting out to exhibit for the first time, or wanting to try a new venue then this article is for you. It is designed to be used as a guide to help you wade through the myriad choices and give you some ideas of the questions to ask to be better informed when checking out potential new venues.

Perhaps one of the most important questions you need to ask yourself first is why you want to attend the exhibition. If it is purely to achieve sales then your approach may be slightly different to if you are just using it to get your work out in front of the public and gain some publicity. Whichever is your main motivation, you may also find that exhibitions can be very useful for testing the water and gaining feedback from the public on what they like or don’t like about your artwork and so they can be used as a development opportunity as well.   Continue reading →

Preparing for an Exhibition

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Preparing for an exhibition can be a daunting task for both new and more experienced artists alike. It all starts when you hear you have been selected for the exhibition and that initial feeling of elation and excitement is quickly followed by a realisation that the planning must begin…

First of all is the dilemma over which paintings you are actually going to take. Whittling down your entire collection to a smaller select group can sometimes be quite a challenging task and for many this is usually based on the size of the space you have available. This is just the first step though as once you have your selection you are then faced with the next problem over what prices to put on them. These decisions can be influenced by a number of factors; the time of year, your potential customers/audience, the personal and physical value of your work, the competition (other artists!) and so on and so on. The variety of factors can be dizzying! You also need to consider the prices you already have on the paintings if they are displayed elsewhere – for instance you shouldn’t undercut or over inflate your own prices too badly or you’ll look inconsistent. And don’t think people won’t check your website/online gallery after the event, as they do (!), and you will quickly lose credibility if your prices are all over the place. I will discuss selecting paintings and pricing for exhibitions in a future blog so let me know if you have any tips you would like to share.

With all these artistic decisions dominating your mind at this stage it is very easy to forget all the other important peripheral planning that also needs to take place.
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Cookham Regatta – Amanda Hunt Art Exhibition

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It was a very successful day for me at the Cookham Regatta on Saturday 3rd September with sales of 4 large paintings (including one that the varnish had only finished drying on the day before!) , 2 of my painted blocks and many handmade cards. The Regatta was a great family day out with fun and serious boat races in dragon boats and catamaran canoes powered by teams of 14 people. There were also lots of children’s activities with a climbing wall, trampolines and fairground rides. The event was organised by the Rotary groups of Thames Marlow and Cookham Bridge and raised money for People2Places. There was also a Silent Auction to which I donated a painting with all proceeds going to the charity.

Turnout was fantastic with families enjoying picnics in the sunshine beside the river and lots of people stopping by for a chat and to ask me about my artwork.  It was the first time I have had a stall at this regatta and will definitely be going back next year.

Inspiration

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I’m often asked what gives me inspiration for my paintings. The truth is I get inspiration from everything! But this is not a cop out answer. Since becoming an artist I see the world differently and everything from bright colours to the movement of leaves in the wind, sunshine dappled paths under trees and peaceful riverside scenes all inspire me to want to paint and capture the essence of what I am seeing.

I think my main challenge is distilling what has captured my imagination into a 2D painting.

I taught myself to paint 10 years ago using watercolours. This is a challenging medium as you work in negative, preserving areas of light and concentrating on giving objects life by filling in the shadows around them. The main aim is to work an area as little as possible so as to retain the luminance of the paint and paper beneath. Some basic rules are to only mix three colours together and to use loose brush strokes to suggest detail, defocusing your eyes to see the subject you are painting as a basic shape. Learning not to rely on over painting with light colours to create a scene, and planning out a painting carefully from the start was a very useful grounding.
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