Author: Gradiva_Couzin, Contributing Editor

I had 500 postcards printed up for $100, advertising my services, and sent them to art dealers, galleries, framing shops, interior decorators, interior designers, concierges and anyone else in the phone book who looked promising (also to all my friends and family). I found the address listings of all state licensed interior designers at the library. I only had one response to all of these mailings, which started a very promising communication with an art agent (but unfortunately ended up as a dead end). Nevertheless I think it was and continues to be a very worthwhile endeavor.

I designed and printed business cards (digitally printed at Kinkos on fiery paper, then glued to card stock and cut with an Exacto knife! This allows for very cheap 4-color cards).

I signed up for several art classes at San Francisco City College & UC Berkeley extension to improve my techniques. In addition to Painting and Drawing, I took classes in Graphic Design and HTML, which helped me with producing my business cards, postcards, and website. There is also a tax credit available for this education.

When I completed one painting that was in a public space, I had an unveiling party. I felt shy and inadequate but just kept pretending that I was a "real" artist. The owners of the mural, neighbors of mine who had commissioned the painting, unveiled the mural to the accompaniment of clapping and champagne. It was a fantastic experience! The photo to the right is me posing with The Route 101 Mural painting, Oil and Acrylic on Plaster, 6 feet by 11 feet. This was an interior mural at a local bar in San Francisco. The mural has a trompe l'oiel effect, so that the bar appears to have an additional room with people in it. Three of the five life-size portraits in the mural are of bar regulars.

I invested in a computer, printer, and scanner. In general, I started spending "real" money on art supplies and art classes. I found that my mindset about spending money on art changed once I considered my art a business venture. Since these were "business" costs, I considered them to be investments. (Also, I saved all my receipts for tax purposes). I learned how to make websites and built mine. If you are interested in this but don't know how to build a website, try one of the art sites that offer free on-line portfolio space for artists like http://www.artistnation.com ( Web Site Space ) or http://www.art-agent.com ( Independent Broker of Fine Art ) both being sister sites of http://www.wetcanvas.com . At www.wetcanvas.com you will find a computer and technology forum that contains many valuable tips on how to create a web page for your art work. If you get in trouble, leave a message and someone will supply the answer to your question. Remember also, you will need to have photos of your artwork scanned for use on your web pages or take digital images. I posted my services in a number of advertising venues: a classified ad in the local free weekly paper, hanging signs on bulletin boards, hanging my business cards on bulletin boards, a small advertisement in a chorus program, a classified ad in a "Parenting" newspaper. None of these has delivered any business to me yet, but I'm still doing them because they are inexpensive and keep me "out there". I took any opportunity for art business seriously. Dog paintings? Sure. Erotic Illustrations? OK. Watercolor drawings of somebody's house? I'll give it a try. Some of these worked out and some didn't. The erotic illustration opportunity ultimately brought me many illustration commissions, some greeting card sales, and lots of new contacts.

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