My First Blog Anniversary!!

The other day I decided to look up when I wrote my first blog post.  I thought it was in the fall and was shocked to find out that it was July 15!  I can't believe that one year has passed since I sat down and finally made that first post.

I'm amazed that one year has gone by and equally amazed at all the great things that have happened due to the blog.  I still can't believe that people around the world are looking at my paintings every day.  That is something I could not have imagined years ago when I began painting.

I've also met many of the great bloggers that I have admired for years.  Holly from decor8, Leslie of A Creative Mint, Shauna of Nubbytwiglet, Kat from Rock and Roll Bride, Gala of GalaDarling and Molly Crabapple.

If not for the generosity of these ladies sharing their blogging and business wisdom, this blog would not exist.  Thank you to all of them and thank you to each and every one of my dear readers.  I'm very excited to start my second year of this adventure and hope you will all come along for the ride!

Xo,
Frances

Some Links for a Sunday Night

Hi Everyone.  Hope everybody had a great weekend.  Here in New York we are enjoying our first day without rain in some time.  Unfortunately, it was also 90 degrees.  Too hot to attend the paint out I had scheduled for today, so what have I been doing?  Catching up on blogs and articles.  I found some very interesting posts and thought I would share a few with you.  I was out of town for a few days so I don't have any new painting photos to show you, but painting will commence again this week so keep an eye out for some new completed panels.

Do you love the California Impressionists?  I sure do.  Bonhams is having a sale and Underpaintings has the scoop.  Scroll down to the end of the post for a big surprise.  I know it shocked the hell out of me!

Tired of searching Ebay and used bookstores for the Andrew Loomis books?  Now you don't have to.  Titan Books has released new editions of them all. Click on over to Art and Influence to read all about it.   I paid $90 on Ebay to purchase an original copy of Figure Drawing For All It's Worth, so I'm happy to be able to buy the others at a reasonable price.

Does the thought of writing an artist statement drive you mad? All I can think about is Elaine Benes and the Himalayan walking shoes whenever I try to write one, but after years of searching for a decent tutorial on this, I finally found one today.  Alan at artbusiness.com has a great post about it and I actually wrote one out in about an hour today using his recommendations.

Alan also has a very thought provoking post about artists and business and why we need to get serious about taking responsibility for our own careers, rather than depending on a gallery to do everything for us.

In closing, I must give a shout out to one of my Blogcademy headmistresses, the amazing Gala Darling.  
I have been inside working on art related things all day and feeling kind of bad about it.  No rain on a weekend had me feeling like I should be "doing something".  Then I happened upon the post she put up today.  Thank you, Gala!!

Gala and I at the First Blogcademy class

Have a great night everybody.  I'll see you back here tomorrow.

The Blogcademy New York City Reunion

It's been a crazy week over here, so I was thrilled to take a break to attend a lunch for the reunion of the first Blogcademy class, which took place right here in NYC.

I was so happy to see the fantastic Blogcademy headmistresses as well as some of the former students from the original class.  If you are unfamiliar with The Blogcademy, please check out their site.  Shauna, Kat and Gala run two day blogging workshops all over the globe.  If you want to start a blog,  improve the blog you have, or learn about the business side of blogging, this class can't be beat.

We had a huge table at the Smith Restaurant.  I'd never been there before, but I'll definitely be back.  Great food, service and atmosphere.

The top photo is me with Gala, the one below with Shauna.  I didn't get a picture with Kat, but I will next time.

Here is the schedule of classes.  If you have the opportunity to learn from these amazing women take it.   I'm so glad I did!

The Blogcademy

The weekend before last I had the amazing chance to attend The Blogcademy, put on by blogging goddesses Gala Darling, Nubbytwiglet and Kat of Rock and Roll Bride.  I've been following Gala and Nubby since their livejournal days, so it was great to meet them in person and hear first hand how they grew their blogs and their businesses.

Me with the fabulous Gala Darling

This class was amazing.  There was so much material covered starting with how to grow your blog and turn it into a business, branding your business, how to get a book deal and so much more.

Nubby, Kat and Gala

Kat and Nubby watching Gala's presentation

The other great part of the weekend was meeting so many inspiring women from all over the world.  Bloggers came from England, Belgium, New Zealand, Australia as well as different parts of the United States.  And speaking of amazing women attending The Blogcademy:

Me with Veronica Varlow (doing I'm not worthy motions right now!)

The amazing Veronica Varlow was a fellow student!  Yes, the Danger Dame herself was there and not only is she tall and gorgeous, she is also incredibly sweet and friendly.  My secret art fantasy has always been that I win the Mega Millions, have a huge studio of my own and paint all the Dr. Sketchys models.  I guess it's not a secret anymore, but a big part of the weekend was putting your goals down on paper and out into the world.

I have to give Gala, Kat and Nubby a huge thank you for all the work they did to give us this presentation.  Thank you for an amazing and inspiring weekend!


Frances

*Due to hurricane Sandy, Gala is without power and Veronica is in the flood zone.  Please send some good vibes out to them and everybody else affected by the storm.