If you sell art, or have any desire to do so, you need a website. A website is a must these days if you are an artist - and it is simply expected that you have one. Your website acts as your digital portfolio, accessible from all of our mobile devices. This freedom is very different from a decade ago when we were still carrying around those bulky portfolio books with printed pictures of our work. Thankfully those days are gone!

Your domain name is your website's address on the world wide web. Okay, you have decided you need a website. There are two basic steps you need to take before setting up a website:

1. Research, select and purchase a domain name.
2. Select a website provider.

This post is a continuation of last month's post entitled, "Your Email List: The Artist's Golden Ticket to Art Sales." In it I wrote how important your email list is to building your business and selling your art. Consistent communication with the folks on your list will, over time provide you with greater art sales.

This post outlines 3 free ways that you can easily grow your email list and begin to increase your art sales.

our mom gave you the best advice when she told you to just be yourself. Being yourself and finding the "You" is so important because you are the only "You" there is - the only person in the entire world with the unique gifts, talents, personality, life experience, world view that you have. The world needs to see and hear from the "You" that is so unique.

I receive so much poor customer service these days that it really stands out when I receive great customer service. I put together a list of 5 ways for artists to provide great customer service for their clients.

You have to think like a retailer when selling your art. Is it difficult to find Amazon, or Walmart, or Target? Of course not. These retailers are easy to find, and easy to buy from - so why shouldn't you, as an artist, be easy to find and easy to buy from? Artists are art retailers because we trade art for money, the same as any other retail outlet.

Your email list is your biggest asset if you are a small business owner, or simply an artist that wants to sell more paintings. Your list could literally be your Golden Ticket to more art sales.

Selling art, like any other product, is a numbers game. The more people that see your art, the greater your chances of a sale. So it makes sense that the larger your email list, the larger the audience for your work, and the greater chance for you to make a sale. Simple, right?

"Morning 3" is an acrylic painting completed on a 36" high x 72" long 1-1/2" deep gallery wrapped canvas. This piece is reminiscent of a landscape painting. I imagine it as the morning sun breaking free from the early morning darkness. High contrasts of dark and light values create an implied spatial distance.

A question from a viewer asks, "How do you finish the edges of your canvases?" There are two options for finishing canvas edges:

1. Continue the image from the front around the edges.
2. Paint the edges another color.

This painting is done on a 30x30x1.5 gallery wrapped canvas. I had in mind before beginning a landscape type format with a ribbon of light coming through. I actually used a Wolf Kahn painting as an example for the concept and color combination.