Some people also refer to this as your artist’s voice, much like every singer has a distinct tone that cannot be duplicated, or a signature style that’s immediately recognizable (think Georgia O’Keefe or Frida Kahlo).

It is what sets you apart from the pack of ordinary work, where a dozen pair portraits from a dozen different artists could be lined up next to each other and all look as if they came from the same artist.

When your work is speaking from the level of your soul, no one can ever successfully copy you. Your artistic fingerprint is just that: yours. By definition it cannot be anyone else’s.

Only a lot of artists feel confused by the difference between loving what they have just made, and knowing the work carries a distinct sense of who they are as an artist.

An artistic fingerprint can be simple or complex, but it is never about self-duplication.

It’s something you do…

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Welcome to the phantasmagorical world of Geoffrey Gorman_American Style Mag

Geoffrey Gorman, artist and partner in our Art Career Mentor Program, made a very provocative statement during one of our sessions. He said that “curiosity is the most important trait an artist can have.”

Arguably, he was referring to the making of art where an artist lubricates all parts of the process by staying open and curious about materials, about subject matter, and the message.

But I think there’s another dimension where curiosity will separate out the short pants from the long pants (now why isn’t there…

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The comments you left on my last post about confidence made me realize this is a subject begging for more.

So let’s shake it out.

Let’s take each of the five points I made, last week, and expand in as many directions as we can in a 5-part series. (Well, if you count last week that would be 6 parts ;-) but who’s counting?)

And, I’m going to need your help for this. I’ll be able to nail down a few ideas, but it’s you, out there in the studio day after day, who can tell me what I can’t even imagine.

Here’s what I’m looking for, from you…

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I’m inside the smARTist Telesummit Community Forum tonight reading more of the exciting, informative posts from this year’s conference participants. Each year, this Forum brings me thought provoking resources, and 2012 has been no different.

Artists were counseling each other with idea brainstorming, reflecting on artist statements, talking about the value of art, discussing marketing ideas, print sale options for artists, vanity galleries, and so much more it would take hours to catalog.

But there was one thing in particular that caught my fancy…

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The next Blue Stocking Art Salon chat is coming up tomorrow and I thought I’d share another section from our first one in Nov.

It’s so rare that we take time to consider the more esoteric side of making art. But without that, how dry

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It’s been almost two weeks since our first Blue Stocking Art Salon began and the emails continue to come in from artists who were with us live, and artists who listened to the recording.

In that first conversation, I commented on how refreshing it was to talk about something besides marketing and business.

And it seems that the artists on the call thought so too. Here are a couple of quick excerpts that Lori (my Art Salon compatriot!) pulled out…

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"Saint Dancing" by Lori Wolfson

When artist Lori Wolfson and I began talking, oh some six or more years ago, we found ourselves quickly traipsing through a tangled underbrush of ideas that sent adrenalin spinning in our veins.

We might start, as women often do, with an update on our romantic relationships, or the latest challenge in our personal lives.

But we never actually landed in that domestic territory. Instead, something one of us would say would immediately cause us both to…

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I have a lot of material in my smARTist library, but until this  year, Art Fairs were not high on my list.

All that changed when I met Richard Rothbard - artist, gallery owner, and art fair producer – at a CODA conference in Savannah, GA, where I was speaking this last spring.

Besides hosting CODA Conference attendees at his Savannah Gallery, Richard treated me to a very non-Southern meal of fantastic sushi and brought me on board for his Contemporary Art Fair NYC, a sister show to his American Craft Fair NYC.

I was fascinated by Richard’s enthusiasm for bringing artists to NYC at a price they could afford - since most high-end venue Art Fairs are truly exorbitant. But more than that, it occurred to me that Richard was carrying around a wealth of information on Art Fairs.

I realized, in short order, that no one had thought to…

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Four time, returning smARTist Alumni, Amadea Bailey, tells us exactly why she keeps coming back!

Is your art career sitting on the fence because you are?

Register for the smARTist Telesummit 2010. (It starts in 2 days!)

Your art career will thank you—and that’s a promise!

One of the burning questions, for a large number of artists, is, Are galleries worth their 50% cut?

One way to look at this is a simple check list of what the gallery is going to do for you, in an ideal relationship:

• Pay for the space to show your work, and all the attending overhead costs:

              –Rent for a good location 

              –Heat/light/insurance/decor/administrative costs/staff

              –Advertising

              –Exhibition costs: display, brochures, ads, opening night expenses, etc.

• Create lasting relationships with buyers and collectors for your work

And yes, you could…

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"Mark Twain" by Jim Brothers

I placed Jim Brothers‘ monument of Mark Twain in Hartford, CT after an earlier deal fell through with a scheming Missouri businessman who tried to “commission” the piece from Jim, meaning the guy wanted it for next-to-nothin’. The City of Hartford bought it in 1994-although for far less than what Jim gets now.

Why did I take the lesser price?

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Okay, so this art is really not in question at all. And the materials aren’t exactly “quirky.” And yet… something about the whole way these images landed in my inbox gave these the same aura of quirkiness as our Marzipan babies of last week.

After these driftwood and oak horses turned up in an email, without an artist’s name, I was compelled enough to go searching on Google.  ”Driftwood horses” did not lead me to the artist’s website, but to another website,  where I did find her name and her website: Heather Jansch.

What I found most interesting, on this viewing adventure, was that the presentation of her images was so much better on the website that was not her own.

And herein lies a caution tale for artists:

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