5 Websites You Should Check Out This Weekend - Random Great Things

National Geographic Photo Tips - From what lens to pack to group shots of vikings and backlighting rain, the experts at National Geographic have a collection of photo tips & notes from the field to keep you busy learning new photo hacks for hours.

Handmade in PA - A website and blog supporting arts and crafts in the keystone state.

3191 Miles Apart - An interesting visual blog by two women who live on opposite coasts and post photo diptychs of their lives.

Click to read more ...

5 Tips for Establishing Your Presence as an Artist - Creative Community Series

There are a few tride and true basics that can help you establish your presence as an artist who is serious about their work. 

1. Presentation - How do you present yourself to the world when you cannot do it in person? This is where your website, business cards, portfolio, bio, twitter, facebook, and previous patrons enter the picture.  All of these and more make up the presence of yourself and your work when you are not there to represent yourself.  You cannot be everywhere at once, and you never know where someone might hear about you and your work.  Put your best foot forward and make sure you've established these basics so that you have yourself covered.  More to come on presentation in another post.  Don't discount the importance of this---I can't tell you how many times I've heard about artists that do not have business cards to share, or the materials they are handing out are poorly made. 

2. Create New Work - Always create new work, even if it is just for yourself to expand your creativity and your expression of the world. As an artist it is important to constantly evolve to keep your work fresh and to expand your portfolio.  This will freshen your portfolio (presentation), breathe excitement into your passion for your craft (valuing your art), and give you the opportunity to intelligently discuss your current direction as an artist (presentation and networking). Most importantly, the world needs art and creating it is your contribution to improving the world around you. 

Click to read more ...