Friday, October 9, 2009

Art Show Fundraiser Women for Women International Congo

We invite you to join us in celebrating LOVE through ART and being one more voice that says NO to the violence against women and YES to a future world where women and children are honored and respected.

Our goal is to raise funds to help educate and train women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We hope to raise much more than money through this artistic collaboration, we hope to raise their spirits. We have a wide spectrum of artists with different styles and from different backgrounds but they all have one thing in common...a belief that through their art they can reach out and touch the lives of those thousands of miles away. They believe in the resilience and strength of their sisters in the Congo.

Featuring: Poetry, Musical and Dance performances, including Hip Hop, Harp, acoustic guitar, Aztec Dances, Contemporary Dance and Tahitian Drumming. Paintings, photography, video and visual arts by local artistsMartial Arts and Eskrima Demonstrations100% of the ticket sales will be donated to Women for Women International for the benefit of the Women of the Congo.

Visual Arts Displays start at 1PMPerforming Arts starts at 2PMCheck out our website for the performing arts line up.

Admission: $10.00 per adult$5.00 per person under 16 years of age

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%253A%252F%252Fweb.me.com%252Fauroraferrer%252FArts_Open_House_Congo_Fundraiser%252FWelcome.html&h=eea6ebe93c7fd925873410c432ead7d7

Monday, May 4, 2009

Update on new art listings...part one

Well, it's been tons of work & I'm about half way there. I don't see much of an improvement in hits to my website, or sales on eBay, yet. My auction pages do load fast & look very clean, so that's good.

But I'm not convinced it will make a big difference yet. Maybe after search engines index a few times they will pick up more images. A Google or Yahoo search of images, using the keywords - modern original abstract art- is starting to look pretty good. Especially on Yahoo, where my Flicker images dominate. But, I want images from my website & from my auction listings to show up more.

So, time will tell. It's kind of hard to judge right now because sales seem down everywhere. You would think that my stuff would sell rather steady with the average cost under 30 bucks each. But such is the nature of selling original art. It's not a product most people actively search out.

I have a bunch of new stuff listed. I'll post pics in my next blog.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Changes to my listings on ebay. M..u..s..t ...a.d..a..p...t

I have revised all of my images and listings and am slowly filling up my store. It has been, and continues to be a ton of work re-naming & optimizing my pics, loading them on daviniart.com, and then creating brand new auctions with a new, simpler template.

If anyone had trouble with slow loading pages that should be resolved. I dumped Auctiva so the scrolling gallery is gone, and the images have been optimized for fastest loading.
I also realized that while I was searching for something to purchase I would skip the sellers who didn't offer free shipping. Well then, what was I thinking charging for shipping? So, now shipping is free again & will stay that way.

As some of you know this is not my main source of income. I enjoy it (possibly addicted to it?) and love creating stuff. I'm not here to make a ton of money [although that would be nice] so I am not really going to pad the price to cover listing costs. I'm eating approx 7 to 15 bucks on each shipment. If I feel the painting deserves it, I will try to cover those costs in the sales price, but for the most part I'll keep the prices low & still ship for free.

Thanks, Danny

So, check out the new listings & art now at

http://stores.ebay.com/Modern-Original-Abstract-art-Gems





Saturday, April 11, 2009

2 new videos featuring my 2009 art gems

I have finally gotten around to making videos of this years series of art gems. I am ahead of schedual because I am already up to number 60 & 10 or more drying. With the goal of 100 a year, I either need to slow down or adjust my goal.:>






More videos coming soon! Thanks

Saturday, March 28, 2009

SEO, keywords, facebook, twitter, blogs, tags, titles AND selling art.

We all know the importance of all this stuff to get placement & good rankings from the almighty search engines. I have to say it is driving me crazy. I have known something for a while but have never felt the need to change it until now.

IMAGES ON MOST HOSTING SITES GET RENAMED.

Yes, my image titled davini-art-original-abstract-gem-0955 for example is named farm4.static.flickr.com/3560/3383931182_eb15 on flickr.

or it is named...

img.auctiva.com/imgdata/3/4/3/5/8/0/webimg/245527683_o.jpg on Auctiva

gone is the davini, art, original, abstract from the title of my image. Sure, the tags & titles & descriptions you give your images helps search engines to find them, but the image title itself is pretty important.

Why do you think Flickr, Auctiva & other hosting sites change them? BECAUSE IT DRAWS PEOPLE TO THEIR SITE!!!

Enough I say!!!

It's going to take hours and hours of tedious work, but I'm going to host everything on my website. It's not the easiest way & the image uploader stinks, but at least my images will have the info that will hopefully draw people to my auctions, website, and various other places.

To me, the fastest way to search for art on the major search engines is to search "images". But I have never had an image in an auction show up.

I am not very educated on all this stuff, so I'm not sure how much this will help. I'll post the results when I start to link the images from my site. If I am thinking correctly, a search of images should pick up those in my auctions, therefore increasing hits.

Now all I need is for people to actually search for "original abstract art". Maybe after the spiders gobble up my new image info things will pick up...(but who knows when I will even have time to start this task?)

Great, something else to obsess over.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

"Fusion Fix" 16x20 inch original abstract painting. WILD!!







I will ocasionally do larger pieces using the same materials and techniques as my art gems. I really like this one.
Listed on ebay. I featured this one. OUCH!

Saturday, March 14, 2009

The connection / connected age is here. How facebook, twitter & a few other sites will rule the web. Part 1

Forget about the information age, we are entering one of the most transformational periods in the history of the world Wide Web. The connected, or connection age.

Sure, there have always been connections, ever since the first email was sent. But the boon in social networking, or social connecting, is taking on a whole new look.

Let's take two of the latest crazes. Facebook & Twitter.

Facebook has been around for a while but I think it's popularity is gaining & will soon to rule the world. Here is just a small sample why:

1. It's connected! I mean seriously connected. When I list on ebay it shows up on my facebook wall with a link right to the auction.

2. When I post a blog. same thing

3. When I upload to flickr it also automatically shows up on my facebook wall with links to the pics.

4. When I update my youtube channel, favorite a video, there it is, right on my facebook page.

5. And you can set up the latest rage, twitter, to also feed stories to facebook.

There are a bunch of other sites that you can import stories from like yelp, googlereader, pandora and more! And a ton of apps you can also link to your facebook.

I have the Los Angeles Angels Network app on my page. I can see scores, stories & schedules right there on my page. Amazing. There are tons of apps and they are are integrated. Myspace has nothing like this and seems to be shrinking in popularity as Facebook is becoming the thinking mans networking tool.

AND, on top of all that, the facebook wall is a storyline that can be read by friends, and friends friends. Information & connection instantly.

I love it & am only scratching the surface as I am pretty much a noob to facebook & twitter. But I know where I will be focusing my marketing strategies...On the sites that are at the forefront of this exploding age of connection.

Musings on the ups & downs of selling Original art on the internet. Part 1

I want to seperate selling art online with selling other items. Art is a unique animal in that nobody needs it like they need a new cell phone cover. Not many people crave it like they do a new iPod, and you can't really eat it.

So the trick is finding people who appreciate original works of art & don't mind spending their hard earned dollars on it. Not easy. How do you target art buyers? Not many people go around shouting "I like art" or "I'm into original paintings". It's kind of a hidden society unless you frequent sites and discussion boards dedicated to it.

So, you need to use all the tools at your disposal and use them often. Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, Websites, youTube, flickr, picassa, and on and on and on. It can be quite daunting to try to cover all the bases all the time. But the only way to hit a few art buyers is to aim the shotgun all over the place and keep pulling the trigger. You might get lucky.

[Side note:For the most part artists will buy from each other, so don't hestate to shoot a few arrows (no shotguns) in their dirrection from time to time.]

I had a great sale from someone who first saw my work on Flickr. That was very nice. She also owns a website dedicated to promoting eco friendly artists & I will be the Artist of the Month this April or May.

No matter what, it is an up & down, draining experience, selling original art. Not only because of what you put into each piece, but because sales can come and go as fast and as often Major leage teams trade your favorite ball players.

Three weeks ago I did great. Over 1200 in sales. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

Had I arrived?
Is all the marketing paying off?
Will it continue??

No, yes, and NO. Since then I have had a whopping 34.00 in sales. Yes, from 1200 to 34. Big drop. But I don't think I would have had the sales without all the hours sitting in front of my laptop.

I'll be the first to admit that when this happens I lose all hope, no longer feel like scanning new paintings & optimizing the images for listings. I no longer have the fire to promote by blogging, twittering, and so on. Art is a fickle lover and you need to always look forward. The only time to look back is to remind yourself that sales DO happen, even if at the moment you are falling all over the paintings piling up in your studio.

:>

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

New art & a quick lesson on listings in blogs.

I have some new paintings listed on ebay. Funny, I have always put a link to the auction but realized last night that might not be such a good idea.

Why?...

Well, in looking over my older posts, and clicking on the links, it shows the item went unsold. Not sure what others see, could be nothing (I should probably try it while not logged in to ebay to see. No, too busy).

Anyway, Why send a possible dead link, or links to unsold items (worse in my opinion), out in the world wide web forever? I know that it sometimes takes SEVERAL trys to sell a painting. I'm not going to remember to re-blog when I re-list, I'll be on to new things. So, if all my links go to un-sold paintings, what kind of message does that send?

So what I am now going to do is just link to my store. If I close my store I'll just add a link to my items. Simple enough. Then no matter how old the post is the link will take people somewhere.



NEW STUFF.

modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gems
















http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Modern-Original-Abstract-art-Gems

Sunday, March 8, 2009

am i connected to facebook? test one.

Testing wun tu free.

I need to blog more.

I need to blog more. But I did create a twitter account & got things linked to facebook. From twitter to blogs to facebook to youtube and back, it looks like sharing info is taking on a whole new look. Gone are the days of just relying on your website and SEO.

I think I'm going to like staying connected like this. I only wish I would have started sooner. I know I am waaay behind in using these great tools and can't wait to realize their full potential.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Some of my favorite new paintings.













I don't like everything I create. Some I just like & figure someone else will love it. Happens all the time.

Then there are the ones I think turned out amazing. You wouldn't believe how many I still have un-sold. haha. I guess just because I think it's great doesn't mean it will sell. As a matter of fact I tend to ask more for them. That could be a reason why they havn't sold yet:>

But, I am more than willing to wait for the right buyer. I had one I almost listed for 25 bucks. Even though I thought it was one of my best ever it just would not sell. So I figure I'll lower the price and be done with it.

Well, I changed my mind and stuck it in my store for 85 bucks. Not a bad price for a 4x12 inch painting. The VERY SAME day I got an offer of 70 dollars for it. I accepted it. I'm glad I waited because the right buyer for the piece came along.


Enough blabbing. These are a few of my new favorites.












new original abstract paintings listed on ebay











Well, I begin another year of selling art on-line. So far ebay has brought me the most customers. I guess my website will have to wait until I have more time. I need to learn all about placement and optimization or hire someone to do it. I don't get enough hits there to try and sell my art from it.

So, it's ebay again, in spite of all of the horrible changes for sellers.


I have a bunch of new paintings. Find them here at my ebay store

Thursday, February 12, 2009

modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gem #0932



Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements. The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs new styles of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, inks, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.From smooth & flowing to bold & organic these abstracts look great alone or grouped with others.


modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gem #0929



Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements. The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs new styles of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, inks, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.From smooth & flowing to bold & organic these abstracts look great alone or grouped with others.
See all of my available paintings here
http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Modern-Original-Abstract-art-Gems_Art-Gems_W0QQ_fsubZ17593949QQ_sidZ145335982QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em322

modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gem #0931


Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements.
The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs new styles of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, inks, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.From smooth & flowing to bold & organic these abstracts look great alone or grouped with others.


Sunday, February 1, 2009

original abstract modern paintings Davini Art Gems



























Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements.
The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs a new style of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.

modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gem #0925









ALIVE WITH EXTREME COLOR & MOVEMENT
Affordable small works of art.
Perfect for the cubicle, over shelves, or grouped together to make one large arrangement.
JOIN THE CRAZE!

#0925
4x12 inch mixed media painting on stretched canvas








Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements.
The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs new styles of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, inks, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.From smooth & flowing to bold & organic these abstracts look great alone or grouped with others.




Modern Original AbsTraCt painting DAVINI Art Gem #0921



ALIVE WITH EXTREME COLOR & MOVEMENT
Affordable small works of art.
Perfect for the cubicle, over shelves, or grouped together to make one large arrangement.
JOIN THE CRAZE!

#0921
4x12 inch mixed media painting on stretched canvas




Striving for Raw & Organic natural designs, my "Art Gem" series has given me some of my most satisfying results. Each one is unique, with patterns that reflect beautiful natural flowing elements.
The best way to describe my paintings is to compare them to gemstones. I get much of my inspiration from jasper, moss agate and boulder (matrix) opals. You will see rivers of color suspended in a transparent flow.The technique I use to make these result in paintings that are everything from eclectic, wild & full of movement to calm surreal dreams. Some have described them as topo maps from a distant colorful planet, and like the outer reaches of another galaxy.This series employs a new style of pour techniques. I have developed a few tricks & I custom mix my paints, pigments & varnishes, pouring layer upon layer, to create one of a kind works with color & blends unlike anything else.From smooth & flowing to bold & organic these abstracts look great alone or grouped with others.


DETAIL PIC

http://stores.ebay.com/Modern-Original-Abstract-art-Gems_Art-Gems_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ17593949QQftidZ2QQtZkm

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=370151371484

modern original abstract painting DAVINI Art Gem #0902


#0902
4x12 inch mixed media painting on stretched canvas This painting turned out with the rare and hard to acheive "webbing" in the paint. One in about every 20 do this, and some not as appealing!