Art

Good morning! How is your week going so far, friends? I have been very busy behind the scenes here, pulling together a few projects that are now almost complete – hooray! One is my annual gift guide for the holidays, which I’ve been having a lot of fun curating. Another is (drumroll, please!) my brand-new e-decorating service! I’ve been nervous about putting myself “out there” like this, but also hope it is something some of you will really love. :) I’ve been putting a lot of work into thinking through each step of the process so that it will be fun as well as helpful, and I have a few tricks up my sleeve + a sample project to share once I officially “launch” in the next few weeks. For now though, I would like to show you some of my favorite prints from Volume 25 – inspiring and fresh art that will make you feel good.

Guess what? This is the Etsy shop of lovely Jessica, whose stylish home on the road I wrote about earlier this week. Jessica works out of her home designing + printing creative art prints, many of them featuring inspiring words and quotes, woodland creatures and other motifs from nature. This one she created especially to hang in her motorhome:

So sweet, right? And I would love to hang this one near my workspace where I can see it daily:

There are so many that I love though, it really would be hard to choose!

Wouldn’t that owl print (top left) be adorable in a child’s bedroom? I love hanging affirming messages in children’s spaces. :)

Above you will see a recent packaging presentation Jessica developed to send to her Etsy shop customers. This is what I love about purchasing art from Etsy – it is such a personal experience, and the work is always sent in such a nice little bundle with a few surprise treats, so it feels like a gift arriving in the mail!

Do you have a favorite from the prints above? I’d love to hear! xo Laura

(all images: Volume 25)

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Are you familiar with Jen Wallace? Jen edits the well-loved independent design blog Indie Fixx, and also runs the Feed Your Soul free art project – which is what I would like to discuss today. Jen has been coordinating Feed Your Soul since February ’09, bringing together artists who generously contribute works which are then shared as free downloads on the site. Free. Art. I love it!

I have downloaded several prints in the past (the one shown above by Irena Sophia is one of my favorites), but it had been a while since I checked in with the project…and there are so many new art prints to love! I was immediately drawn in by this print by Jo Cheung, an artist that was new-to-me:

That is one of the things I love about this project; it introduces me to tons of great artists creating fresh, exciting work that I may not have come across otherwise. Which brings me to the other item on my blogging agenda today: the issue of copyright and the decision to share or not share your work freely. This is a big issue and one I am not going to delve into too deeply right now (though I would love to hear your own thoughts on this), except to say that my personal feeling is it is good to be generous with your work. I think it tends to come back to you in a very positive way when you make your work accessible.

Shown above, clockwise from top left: Laura Amiss, Jaclyn Evalds, Hadley Hutton, and Anna Wadham.

I know that for many artists these days, exposure on blogs is a great (free!) way to attract attention and gain new customers. Likewise, I love featuring the work of independent and fledgling artists on this blog, in fact it is one of the things I most enjoy posting about! Sadly, at times I come across work I LOVE that would be a great fit for the blog, but the artist has chosen to refrain from sharing their work, whether by covering it with huge watermarks, or stating on their site that they do not want their images shared in any way. I always respect this choice, and I completely understand the need to protect your creative work – which can be so hard today, with copycats and others whose motives are questionable – but at the same time I have to say I think that guarding your work too closely has its own consequences, namely missed opportunities for exposure and ultimately, missed sales.

The flip side of this, of course, is the responsibility of the rest of us (whether on blogs, Facebook, Flickr, or other sharing sites) to credit images and artistic works properly, and to respect the wishes of those who do NOT want their work shared. What are your thoughts on this issue? If you are an artist, do you find it “worth it” to share your work freely? Have you found rewards to your business from doing so? Or have you had any negative experience – with copycats or others who stole your ideas?

And while we’re talking, why don’t you click over to Feed Your Soul and pick out a free print – there are tons to choose from! :)

(all images courtesy Indie Fixx, see above for individual illustrator credits)

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