Artist Trading Cards versus Pastel Paintings

Having returned from a short holiday, I realised how long it has been since my last post on here. But the plain truth is that I have not been doing much "crafting" recently. Lots of things happening at home and my crafting activities have been interupted. One reason is that I have not been able to use my "studio area" and I have had to get out boxes of stuff and put them away after me - not conducive to artistic endeavour. In fact, I have satisfied a need to be creative by getting out my pastels and painting, see some of the results on my other blog, Painting With John. Only one box! so much easier to set things up and put them away after me. By the way have I ever showed you my pastel box?

Just an old cheap plastic, multi-compartmented storage box. Full of chalks and pastels, I have collected over the years. I have done the colour charts that you can see so that I have some idea of what I have within each hue / colour range. I use this box for general purpose pastels and have a swoosh wooden box with a few more expensive chalks that need to be kept in foam to avoid powdering / breakage / etc.

But the real reason that I started this post was to put on a few ATC's that I have did before my hols, I seem to be getting into a rut with these at times but looking back I do use a number of techniques and of course the painting also puts some variation into my weekly art output. On the other hand simple collaged cards are something I enjoy and since I started art as a relaxation from the daily grind, it still works for me. I keep buying new toys and materials but usually end up with the original and for me the best. I did write an article on Understanding Simplicity In Art a little while back. It works for me! Anyway here finally are the ATC's:-

All were done for various challenges on PDA, the themes from the top were tickets, chocolates, feathers (title: Anton tickled her fancy), fish, mirror and school. Larger versions can be seen on my Flickr photostream. 
The top three cards have been used to design greeting cards, available on Zazzle. I am still adding to my Zazzle stores with my art and photography, which is the subject of another blog. In fact I am also blogging about new products on Zazzle. Just one more reason why the posts here are not as regular as I would like.

More on making money on-line

While I am on the subject ( see my last couple of posts), I though I would also mention this new venture. Not something which will make anyone rich overnight, but then few things on the internet are. I have joined RedGage the idea of which is to promote your web content and earn money from the number of views of it ( via RedGage). For instance I have been linking photos and art on Flickr, links to my Squidoo lenses, links to my Zazzle stores and generally posting new photos on Redgage itself.

After only a few days I started to see views to my content which is earning money. So far with only 20 items uploaded (now increased to 40) I have seen an accrual of $0.22. As I said not a get rich quick scheme but if I keep uploading at 5 items per day over the next 12 months, I can see this increasing considerably. Much more than I am earning from Adsense on my several blogs. Difficult to calculate what it might be but even at no increase over 52 weeks this could be 52 x 0.22 = $11.44.

I aim to upload 5-10 items per day. There is an importing tool but older users have told me that it has never worked. Some aspects of the site appear to be in beta form, for instance the login page does not look very professional. So it is possible that more work is needed byt eh owners of the site.

A little crystal ball gazing and a few guesses would be needed to make any real estimates  of longer term income since there are obviously so many variables but I have seen total income figures for a few friends on RedGage as follows:

No. of uploads......time since registering......Total income ($)
        84                             6 months                 34
       114                            2 yrs                       43
       424                            2 yrs                       50
       404                            2yrs                       600
       689                            2yrs                      2328
       600                            2 yrs                     3346
      1835                           2 yrs                       208

very clear that it is not a direct relationship between uploads and income although I have no knowledge of wether the people concerned were uploading from day 1. It is also probable that SEO coumts for a lot as with all things on the internet. BUT it is clear that money can be made from using RedGage to monetise your web content.

I will certainly be giving it a try, and SEO is obviously an area where I need to concentrate a little effort.