Despite protestations from the art world, it has always been possible to equate value with works of art but amongst corporate investors there is no doubt that art has become a more stable long term investment than some stocks and shares. This has lead to many Western art consultants and art historians being frequently asked to suggest appropriate investments for their corporate clients, particularly far eastern clients who have a growing appreciation for Japanese and Chinese collectibles. This it is very common to visit a corporate headquarters in Japan and see some very expensive and exclusive art work displayed in glass cases in the foyer of the building, these not only being decorative, but also being part of the investments of that company. Mind you, some corporate art purchases, are so valuable that they lives permanently in water and fireproof safes!! It is a mark of the times that this kind of conspicuous art ownership is migrating to the west, with many city of London offices being decorated with corporate owned artwork worth many hundreds of thousands of pounds. Top executives get to enjoy these investments as office wall art and say it helps them to take pleasure in their time at work. The corporate artwork boom is also extending to, and benefitting vibrant, young artists who catch the eagle eye of corporate art consultants. Their work, often picked up for very little money at art college exhibitions, is seen as a potential investment for the future. This kind of purchase makes the corporate art market a hugely attractive target for up and coming artists; especially as some large corporate purchasers are said to be holding a huge body of art work from virtual unknowns against the day they become famous in the art world. A recent news story told how a young and virtually unknown artist held a very successful show in a London gallery and, having sold all her work, was swamped with corporate commissions that guaranteed her income for the next six years. What wasn’t mentioned was whether she accepted them. Corporate art buyers are now seen as an important part of the financial machine that keeps the art world running. Corporate art consultants are making a huge killing since the Icelandic banking disaster that made offshore investment banks less attractive. Purchases of office art are soaring and everyone seems happy to be a winner. One delighted student artist was heard to say “I never thought I’d leave art college with money in the bank” and corporate art consultants say this is just the tip of the iceberg. As banks are perceived as less reliable, more corporate investors will put their trust, and their money, into works of art.

Before I tell you a story about how just one piece of artwork created over 15 years ago continually and regularly brings me $3,000 every year I would like to ask you a question.

Have you ever wondered how you could be capitalizing on your art talents in way that could generate some extra income for you and your family?

I certainly have as a veteran artist of some 25 years, creating and selling art across the globe, have at times wondered if there were any ways to actually sell my art that would keep on bringing me income long after I have finished my artwork.

The times when my income has dropped for whatever reason, recessions, global financial crisis or just general market dips, have been testing times and have forced me to “think outside the square”. After careful research along with some trial and error, I have come up with 3 sure fire ways to make money from your art, that are bound to help you if you put them into practice.

#3 Smart Ways To Make Money From Your Art

1. Sell your art online and have royalties come in for years to come

2. Sell your art to students willing to learn “how to…”

3. Other people sell your art

So how is it done?

#1 Sell your art online – collect royalties for years.

This is my preferred Smart Way No#1 as it has a payoff that just keeps coming, for me personally 4 times a year I receive a royalty check for work done over 10 years ago. This is a very smart way to make lots of money from your artwork, but you have to know what you are doing before you can guarantee success with this method.

Who Will Pay For My Artwork? What are the Markets? First and foremost you need to work out which markets are going to be interested in your artwork. Do you like to paint landscapes? Or animals? Or cartoon characters? Or Cars & Bikes? Or Nudes? Or abstract? Or caricatures?

Each of these have different markets that can be exploited for royalties for years to come. Some of the distributors of such art are: jigsaw puzzle companies, computer and cell phone wallpaper companies and home-wares companies, are 3 goldmine areas to explore. Each of these different markets rely on fresh and inventive artists like yourself to come up with more “PRODUCTS” for them. That is right, you are the product creator, they are the marketers. That is how it works.

Let me give you an example:

Several years ago I was approached by a jigsaw company in Australia “Blue Opal Jigsaws” and asked if a piece of artwork I had already made for a former client who allowed me to retain copyright of the original and profited from, could be reused for a new jigsaw they had planned.

After careful negotiations I was offered $1,500 for some slight modifications to the artwork and a 7% royalty, payable quarterly for the life of the product.

I currently receive approximately $3,000 annually from this one puzzle that keeps on selling over and over. I will give you a hint – it is in the souvenir/tourist category (this market never gets tired of buying your product, because they are a new breed every year, as most people take that big overseas holiday perhaps just once in their lifetime and so they want something classic to remember their trip by) which is the perfect market for a repeat sale of your product. You don’t want to choose something that is contemporary if it is longevity is your aim, as it will eventually lose steam and fade out of existence.

Here’s an another example:

Visit all the pop culture websites and make a list of the coolest people (celebrities of course!) and create cool caricatures of them (just Google celebrity and follow the leads). They need only be head and shoulders, (face really – you will see why in a minute). Each different subculture idolizes a different mob of heroes, so get your mind into their space, in fact MySpace is a great place to start. Learn your market, think like your market and create what you would want if you were them instead of you. It takes a little time but well worth it when you read this next sentence.

Each year the mobile phone ring-tone industry sells $7,000,000,000 dollars worth of ring-tones to young people around the world. This market has tons of disposable income (mummy and daddy are paying for the house, food, transport and general upkeep) so they love to spend their time (also tons to spare) with friends online and on their cell phones. Guess what they love to spend their spare cash on – “Wallpapers”. For those of you youthfully challenged readers are probably wondering what’s a Wallpaper and why would they buy it?

A wallpaper for a cell phone or mobile phone is the display image on the full color screen on the phone itself. The picture is small so a celebrity head that fills the screen is going sell better than a whole body, so less work to do (this is easy if you know the secrets to a quick and cool caricature).

Wallpaper sales are the next most popular download (read purchase$) next to cell phone ring-tones, so you can see it is a huge market. Yes I hear you say but how do you sell to this young lot, isn’t the market saturated with products like this? Well yes there is competition like any field but you only need a small piece of a very big pie to feed the family as they say.

You could setup your own website, (more info on doing this correctly below) and draw in traffic by giving away 5 free wallpapers to members who register for your weekly newsletter (the one you send with your latest “pay for” caricatures, that is the who is hot and in the news this week, follow scandal websites for tons of ideas here!!!) and watch the income increase as your newsletter subscriptions increase. If only 4% of subscribers bought your latest celebrity caricature of the week for .99c and you had a subscriber list of 50,000 you would be $1,000 a week better off.

Work once and get paid many, many times now that is smart.

#2 Sell Your Art Online – Everyone Wants To Learn How To.

Now the obvious suggestion here is to launch a website and setup a shopping cart and off you go to success, but if it were that easy then everyone would be doing it right? Exactly, so that is NOT what you are goint to do. You are going to set yourself apart from the herd and have people lining up for your art and keep on paying you forever, or as long as your art teaching is popular.

So how is this going to be done?

Everybody loves to watch don’t they? Yes, they love to watch others and see if they can pick up some tips on how they are doing their magic, whether it is oil painting a landscape in “plein air”, sketching caricatures at a theme park, or creating fantasy art with 3D computer program’s. Whatever your leaning towards, if you have mastered your craft then you can get people interested in learning your methods by this very simple technique, that doesn’t cost you a cent.

A) Set up a Youtube account

B) Record yourself creating your art

C) Publish to Youtube some introductory video lessons

Once you have published your artwork on Youtube and all the other major video sharing sites, watch the traffic of visitors come in to your website to learn more. That is how it works for me, as some of my videos have had 50,000 viewings in less than a year. That is a lot of targeted traffic for your site and the “Full length videos on DVD delivered to your door – for $39.95″ or the “ebook instant download version for $29.95″. I personally have “How To…Products” that have been selling on an almost daily basis for months now and the best thing is the market is steady despite the economy being anything but.

#3 Get Other People To Sell Your Art

This one is also a favorite smart way to make money by selling your art online. Creating art as in example #1 and then selling the art in #2, sets you up perfectly for doing this – getting AFFILIATES to sell your artwork for you.

You see there are whole armies of folks selling things online to their audiences who login on regularly to the websites that they control. Most of their time is spent on creating content for blogs, answering forum posts and keeping the site up to date, so they have precious little time to do what you and I do – make art!

So those with the website visitors, (some popular sites have hundreds of thousands of unique visitors everyday) are in the perfect position to sell your wares, your artwork by commission, your art ‘how to…’ products. I personally have a long list of affiliates who are out there promoting my e books who only get paid IF they make a sale. Now that is my kind of workforce, no base salary, no holiday or sick leave to account for, only commission on sale. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Using the contemporary example above for cell phone wallpapers, you can approach hundreds of website owners with your – “this weeks best sellers celebrity caricature wallpaper” and have them sell for you on a royalty basis as well.

The limits to these lucrative areas are boundless and with your crazy artistic imagination you are going to do well to follow these 3 smart ways to profit from your art online.

You are an admirer of fine arts. Do you collect handicraft, paintings or sculptures or any other artworks just to get an undefined satisfaction or as an investment too? Well, art as an investment has become popular in the recent past. However, there are supporters as well as opponents of the trend who give arguments for and against investing in art.

What’s good in Art Investment

Uncertain stock market returns, interest rates at their lowest in decades, and shaky property market has lead people to find alternative investment options- investing in art is one of them. The rise in demand and consequently in prices, is definitely a good news for people who collect art. Although there’s no certainty that prices will continue to rise, at least art will give pleasure and an emotional dividend by giving the chance to call oneself a collector. From 1875 to 2000, art has outplayed fixed income, but has been defeated by equities. However, in the past 2 years or so, in the wake of stock market losses, art has surpassed equities. Reports say that global art market avoids crash, even in times of economic downturn.

Why Art Investment is Bad

Art market is illiquid. Buying and selling art works is not so easy as the trade shares. Art market is also non-transparent and unregulated. The history of ownership and condition of a piece has to be checked before investing money. Art goes in and out of fashion and the prices may move up and down very quickly. If selling art, one has to pay many taxes. Critics argue that art can’t be considered as financial asset as it disregards traditional benchmarks of financial analysis. Price determination is at the mercy of erratic public taste that follows no financial logic. Works of art don’t generate any income though they lead to storage and associated costs. In short-term, market volatility is relatively high when compared with other classes of asset.

How to do Wise Art Investment

Art investment is risky only if the investment period is too short. Long-term investment, say for 10 years and more, gives good annual average returns. The only prerequisite is to invest in high quality art. It’s better to deal with reputable galleries or dealers and invest in something you like & won’t mind keeping it for a few years, rather than something you don’t like but just want as an investment. If you are a novice collector, gather knowledge and train your eyes by visiting art fairs, galleries and preferably, student shows. Get lots of information from Internet. If that doesn’t suffice, hire independent art advisers for selecting and managing a collection. Some of them work at private banks. Galleries too offer advisory service as a sideline to their main business. If you sell some art works, consult tax advisors about how to save on it. If a couple buys the work, its good to invest in the name of the person in the lower tax bracket. Generate income from artworks by lending them to galleries. UK-based Fine Art Management Services launched Fine Art Fund, a private equity-backed venture aimed at pension funds and university endowments. It hopes to raise $350 inn, locked in for 10 years, to invest in a portfolio of top-quality art. The fund managers are banking on those investors who have seen some of their biggest holdings go down as the value of a quality arts will never go down to zero. Fine Art Fund also plans to solve the problem of lack of dividend income in this type of investment by renting out its art. This can be taken advantage of by wealthy private investors.

In the field of modern art, art deco plays a large and impressively lavish role. The strong colors and sweeping curves lend art deco the trademark boldness that expressed much of the progress and modern advances of the twentieth century. Art auctions around the world still move many art deco pieces of various kinds. If you?re interested in collecting art deco, there are many art auctions both online and off that deal primarily in art deco.

In the twentieth century the decorative arts converged in what is known as the art deco movement, which grew to influence architecture, fashion, the visual arts as well as design. The term ?art deco? was derived from a World?s Fair held in Paris, France, called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in the year 1925.

Though the movement and term comes from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the term was not widely used until the late 1960s. Especially pre- World War I Europe influenced the art deco movement, though many cultures influenced and were influenced by this art movement. Much of the world was experiencing similar shifts in modern technological advances.

For the most part, the art deco movement was brought about and inspired by the rapid advances of technological and social facets of the early twentieth century. As culture responded to these increasingly changing times, the art deco movement was an outgrowth of these modern phenomena.

Art deco is considered generally to be an eclectic type of decorative modernism that was influenced by a variety of artists and particular art forms. Art deco includes furniture, metalwork, clocks, glasswork and screens as well as paintings and other fine art types of pieces.

The art deco style is known for its lavishness and epicurean flairs that are attributed to the austerity of culture brought about by World War I. Strong patterns and bold colors and shapes were used, as were many particular motifs used universally.

For example, the sunburst motif was used in everything from the Radio City Music Hall auditorium, images of ladies? shoes, the spire of the Chrysler Building and several other pieces of art, architecture and design. Other ubiquitous motifs found in art deco were stepped forms, the zigzag, chevron patterns and sweeping curves.

In the West, art deco lost its steam around the Second World War, but continued to be used all the way into the 1960s in colonial countries such as India, where it served as a gateway to Modernism. Then in the 1980s art deco made a comeback in graphic design. Art deco?s association with 1930s film noir led to its use in both fashion and jewelry ads.

Today art deco is revered by many and dismissed as old news and overly gaudy by others. Though it undoubtedly played a major role in art history, as with most art, individual taste frames the individual?s interpretation and like or dislike of art deco styles.

Art deco is one of the most well known art movements. This is mostly due to its wide base of influences and influenced art forms and cultures. Since much of the world was experiencing many of the same advances in technology and mass production, many of the same ideas and symbols were relevant in various parts of the world.

Once an industrial section of cold cement warehouses and rusting rail yards with a flurry of yellow taxicabs passing through, Chel

A friend of mine due to hard times has sold some of his properties and one is a painting that belongs to his family years ago. He was astonished to know the “market value” of the said painting when he had it for appraisal. He doesn’t realize what he had been admiring at their living room as child turns out as to what it can be considered a masterpiece!

Art can be lucrative if you had the eye and if you can research a little.

BUYING ART FOR THE NEWBIES

It is not simply for art for art’s sake. You must really know what you want and if you are planning to display it at your house, condo or building. As art is very broad in terms of styles and kind. Asked yourselves if you want a landscape, an abstract, a still life, a pen and ink etc…

How much is your budget? How much are you willing to pay? Most paintings now a days are competitively priced but usually…if you are buying from a relatively unknown artist it can prove to be affordable and the same time it can also be gamble ( hoping the art or the artist in the future can turn out to be another Jackson Pollack, Picasso or Juan Luna).

Well known artist or established artist works are usually high priced but it can prove to be worth your money in the long run. The market value of the art you bought is usually tied up with just how well respected or career driven the artist was. The tendency is his or her price would surely go up if there is a demand for it especially if that artist becomes a national artist—you hit the goldmine!

When buying art works, it pays to asked around either an art curator, professional art dealer, an art gallery owner or used to your advantage harness the power of the net. But really nothing beats when it is recommended by close friends or relatives.

BUYING ART FOR BEGINNERS

1) You must know the difference between buying oil, watercolor, pastel or acrylic. It is important to know what art materials are involved with the creation of that art work you are buying. Materials used by the artist should be high quality so the colors would be preserve or retain for a long, long time.

2) Decide if you are going to buy directly from the artist itself, to an art dealer or go straight to the art gallery. Consider the framing, delivery and other services involved when negotiating with the price or what is included to your payment.

When buying through an art gallery, you usually get to know the profile of the artist and essentially getting a proof or certificate that what your buying is real not fake (as in original) and also verify if it has several reproductions already such as the print version.

If you are buying directly from the artist, you have the option to ask for an authentication paper complete with the artist’s signature.

3) Regardless if what you bought is from a relatively unknown artist or considered a masterpiece, you should also know how to preserve or maintain it. As time goes by it will be moisture and humidity to be the art pieces main enemy! Colors can fade. A retouch might be needed. Furthermore, don’t expose the painting to the sunlight as the harmful ultra violent rays can affect the colors of the paintings.

4) Your art should reflect your aesthetic taste. Choose art that can help you relax like a landscape or underwater. An art that can make you think like abstracts, an art that reflects your dreams and fantasies like surreal paintings. It brings out your personality and something that brings a certain kind of fulfillment—one that you can be truly proud of hanging at your walls.

5) You must remember value or price of your art work will not go up over night. Hence, treat it like a mutual fund or a time deposit.

6) Always buy from reliable sources. The traditional way is still the best there is.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN RE-SELLING YOUR ART

1) Finding a prospective buyer is not easy. Unless, you have a cultured/art loving network. You can off course go through the expert hands of an professional art dealer or art gallery owner but they also get a great deal of share of your selling price.

2) Keep all the receipts, relevant documents like a copy of artist resume or any proofs of ownership. Especially if is a high end piece of art work.

Later on with enough experience you can build a collection that you can benefit from it in the long run. Always remember…time is your friend; don’t assume you can profit from your art work right away. The good news is…art doesn’t really decline instead its price usually goes up!

In the meantime, enjoy that priceless beauty of the art work you had purchased.

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This is a story that shows the triumphant quality of the human spirit. It also demonstrates how beauty can come from adversity.

Born in England in 1974, Stephen Wiltshire was diagnosed as autistic at age 3. When he was 5, he was sent to a special-needs school, where his teachers observed his interest in drawing, although he did not speak.

When Stephen was 9, his teachers encouraged him to speak for the first time by taking away his art supplies. His first word: paper. His teachers kept encouraging his drawing, entering his work in competitions.

In 1987, Stephen was featured in a documentary about autistic savants. As a result, Stephen got an agent and published several books of his drawings. But this was only a hint of his genius.

In 2005, he flew over the city of Tokyo and proceeded to draw it in excruciating detail entirely from memory. Months later, he flew over Rome and did the same thing. And in December, following a 20-minute helicopter ride, Stephen spent a week drawing an aerial view of Hong Kong, which he proudly presented to its leaders.

In January 2006, Queen Elizabeth II named Stephen a Member of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to the art world. It brought tears to my mums eyes and to mine, because we have all worked so hard for Stephen, said his older sister, Annette.

Later that year, with the encouragement of Annette and her husband, Stephen opened his own art gallery in London’s upscale Royal Opera Arcade.

What is Autism?

Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills.

Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities.

One should keep in mind however, that autism is a spectrum disorder and it affects each individual differently and at varying degrees – this is why early diagnosis is so crucial.

By learning the signs, a child can begin benefiting from one of the many specialized intervention programs.

Autism knows no racial, ethnic, social boundaries, family income, lifestyle, or educational levels and can affect any family, and any child.

And although the overall incidence of autism is consistent around the globe, it is four times more prevalent in boys than in girls.

NOTE: A 2007 Centers for Disease Control report found that 1 in 150 children in America today have an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

ASA estimates that 1.5 million Americans and their families are now affected. Autism is a national health crisis, costing the U.S. at least $35 billion annually.

The ASA – The Autism Society of America – Is dedicated to improving the lives of all affected by autism.

One of the most interesting fields of photography is news photography. News photography is all about bringing to life complete and honest news events. It is necessary to capture news photographs perfectly in order to catch the reader’s eye.

It takes a news photographer years to develop the skill and talent required to produce quality photographs. It is not without many failures and errors that news photography can be mastered. Many successful news photographers admit that they have achieved what they have only after many failures.

For those who wish to start a career in the field of news photography, there are a few tips you must keep in mind.

1. Be attentive to natural sounds. Natural sounds are as essential as any picture or image. Interesting images can be made more interesting if it is accompanied by a good sound as these complement each other.
2. You need to master the art of white balancing. You should know which angles go on which surface. Getting the lighting right is one of the most essential factors in taking a good shot.
3. You need to know how to hold the perfect shot. Try your best to hold the shot for longer. You will learn the art of creating intervals between each shot.
4. Be extremely attentive in your interviews and ensure that you know the story. Interact with your reporter so that you get an idea on where he wants to go with the story so that you can capture accordingly.
5. While capturing shots, make sure you use your tripod. It is a common misconception that a video camera can be held steadily. There are some photographers who prefer to move around while taking their shots.
6. As far as possible, use your feet to zoom and not your lens. The best way to get a clear idea of the event is getting as close to the subject as possible. If you zoom in with your camera, the quality of the image might be blurred.
7. Use camera light only where it is needed. You can always choose to angle the light on the subject instead of directly lighting it. If you light up the subject too much, your pictures might turn out too bright and hence flat against the background.

It takes a great deal of mastery and skill to make a good news photographer who takes featured news shots. Try being as creative as possible and shoot different angles so that you have a unique view on every situation you encounter. Lastly, practice makes perfect so you should practice as much as you can before you dive head on into the field.

Scrap Metal Scultpure

Polar Bear – Plastic Bags

The Driftwood Elephant

Bottles Made Out of Bottles

Chandelier Made Out of Glasses

Wine Bottle Array

Shadow People

Internet art gallery DiscoveredArtists.com reports that art continues to mimic life and, in fact, in some instances mocks life.

A growing number of paintings and fine art photos posted to the online art gallery are themed around the current economic downturn.