Blog

Behind the Painting: New Year Gift

We were in the early days of the warm Brazilian summer when a collector sent me an e-mail with a photo she had just taken from her bedroom window. Deep in midst of her PhD thesis, the late evening sun had caught her gaze and distracted her long enough to see the distant cityscape slowly turn into dark hues of yellows, oranges, reds, and greys before giving way to the darker blues of the night sky above. It was a reminder to her that her thesis was going take away another summer, her second in two years with last year’s

March 9, 2014

How to Run a Successful Kickstarter Campaign

So I recently finished a successful Kickstarter campaing (see here). It was a small project to help raise money to buy frames for an exhibit, and it was my first ever fundraising campaign. Below are some lessons that I learned about how to run a successful Kickstarter campaign, and I hope that they help you in your Kickstarter, or other crowdfunding, campaign. Best of luck to you, and I hope that you more than exceed my success rate.Please note that these tips are only based on my experience, and that others may have better advice. I always feel that I

February 16, 2014

Pieces of 2013: an exhibit of my 2013 paintings

We hung the exhibit and it will begin on February 3, 2014. This is the exhibit that’s linked to my Kickstarter Project: Operation Frame. Café Camões is open Mon-Fri until 7pm. It has the best apple pie in Curitiba. Here is the Facebook invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/637498719646236/ What to Look for in a Cafe Exhibiting in cafes is always a bit tricky, because people are there for the food and not for the art. However, they generate a lot of traffic with all different types of clients. Yes, some places are more exclusive depending on the neighborhood, but some locations work for

February 2, 2014

Operation Frame on Kickstarter a Success…Thanks!

So recently my Kickstarter project, Operation Frame, finished. It was my first Kickstarter campaign, or any fundraising campaign for that matter, and it was a success. I was trying to raise $500 to help pay for frames for my exhibit in February, 2014. My purpose for raising the money was really because I didn’t have enough money to frame the small paintings (all about 20 x 40 cm or slightly smaller) that I’d be exhibiting. If I didn’t raise the money then I wouldn’t have been able to exhibit the paintings with a professional look.As it turns out, I was

January 23, 2014

Mimicking is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

So I was recently mimicked for what I believe is the first time in my artistic career. At the very least I discovered someone mimicking me publicly for the first time, and I think this is a good thing. First of all, he gave me full credit (again, publicly) without me asking, so I’m grateful for that, too. Secondly, I’m honored by this.I first discovered Joseph Hawkin’s piece in a contest on the website Fine Art America. I enter contests there just to gain extra exposure, and I often go on to the contests that I participate in to vote

January 8, 2014

Nova Documentary on New Artists

I saw a recent documentary by Nova on some of today’s young artists (New Art and the Young Artists behind it). The artists made some interesting comments about what it takes to be an artist in today’s world. Tofer Chin said he thinks its about 50-50 quality of art to marketing. I agree with him, and it’s not easy to be a marketer when you just want to focus on the art. I guess this is the world we live in, though. I’ve often thought about making murals. I’ve never really seen my work as mural-material, but that’s mostly because

January 3, 2014

Greg Mason Burns