Thursday, March 19, 2020

Hunkered down in the studio

With the exception of picking up a few unsold paintings last week from the Chadds Ford Winter Plein Air, I haven't been out of the house in two weeks. It seems like months! All of my Spring workshops, classes, shows, and other events have been postponed. The Chester County Studio Tour has been postponed until September. The plein air trip to Brittany with Sennelier for June is still as planned, as that is still three months away and it is just too early to predict if we will need to reschedule it. In the meantime, I've been working to spruce up my gardens for the Spring (hard to do, as I can't go out to buy plants!) and working on paintings in my studio. When the weather warms up, I'll move my easel outside to paint.



This is a little sneak preview of a painting that I just started. I just peeled off the masking fluid...

posted by Annie Strack @ 1:55 PM   0 Comments

Monday, March 16, 2020

The Artists' Guide to Business & Marketing

For a couple of decades I wrote instructional articles about art business and marketing for the leading artist magazines, Art Calendar, The Crafts Report, and Professional Artist magazines. I have compiled the best of these articles into a 68 page book called "The Artists Guide to Business and Marketing" which is now available for digital download! For just $9.95 you can download your own copy to read at your leisure and keep for future reference! Click on the link to purchase, and after your transaction is complete you will be redirected to a new page where you can save the link to access the digital book online anytime, or download it, or print it.

68 page ebook by Annie Strack:   "The Artists Guide to Business & Marketing"  

On Sale! Regular Retail Price is  $16.75    Now only  $9.95 for a limited time only!



This book is chock full of important information that artists need to grow and manage their art business. Subjects include: 

  • How to Develop Your Personal Plan for Success                                                
  • Creating a Marketing Plan                                                                    
  • Writing a Resume’,  Artist Statement, Bio, Cover Letter, & more
  • Developing a Pricing Formula
  • Niche Marketing
  • Negotiating Gallery Contracts
  • Entering Competitions
  • Getting your Work into Museums
  • Selling Custom Ordered Commissions
  • Planning and Organizing Workshops
  • Planning for Open Studio Visits
  • How to Ace your Next Interview
  • Easy Tasks to help Grow your Business
And much, much more! Order now and start your career on the path to success! 

posted by Annie Strack @ 2:31 PM   0 Comments

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Postponing events for public safety

Due to concerns over the safety of our students, we have decided to postpone my annual Spring Workshop in Charleston. Helen, the organizer of Workshops in Charleston, is notifying all the students, and she will give them first dibs on our next workshop. We will let you all know as soon as we schedule a new date. 


Stay tuned, stay safe, and wash your hands. 
I know everyone is disappointed, but I will bring something extra to my next Workshop in Charleston to make up for it ;) 

posted by Annie Strack @ 10:32 PM   0 Comments

Friday, March 6, 2020

My one day off between events!

I just finished my winter semester classes and I'm exhausted! It's a lot of work to pack up and haul my materials and supplies back and forth to the art center every week, along with whatever props and reference materials I need for each lesson. Here's a few of the many demos I painted this semester.


 I created a series of lessons on drawing and painting glass, which are always a favorite with students. I get a kick out of seeing other art "teachers," who are trying to copy my lessons, post their copies of my work on social media! Folks, if you want to learn how I paint glass, just take my classes. My techniques are actually quite simple, but copying my finished paintings is not going to teach anyone the actual process -- you need to learn the steps. There's no shame is taking classes from another teacher to learn how to do something, but there IS shame in trying to copy her lesson plans without her approval.


 Each of these glass demos took me less than 5 minutes. I whip through the demos, showing my students the steps for seeing, drawing, and painting. So my lines might be a little off or my brushstokes sometimes go a little wide. But I then have more time to spend one-on-one with each student to help them with their own drawing and painting so that they can get great results.


I don't have any actual "time off," as I am heading out to jury Signature Members for the Baltimore Watercolor Society this weekend, and then next week I have to pack up and travel down to South Carolina to teach a workshop. I always enjoy that annual trip to teach at Workshops in Charleston, organized my good friend Helen Beacham. This year we are doing People in Landscapes -- another one of my popular workshops! I won't get to spend any extra time down there this year, however, as then I have to rush up to Delaware to teach at the Howard Pyle Studio. Spring is always a busy time of year for me, and this year is proving to be the same, but I have to admit that I love what I do  <3 nbsp="" p="">

posted by Annie Strack @ 4:58 PM   0 Comments

All images and content copyright Annie Strack 2024. Although I occasionally receive compensation for some posts, I always give my honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely my own.