Scaling down: My thoughts on ACEO paintings

 I’ve recently been working on some original ACEO paintings, or artist trading cards as they're also known. Basically they’re teeny tiny paintings the size of a playing card. I’d bought one last year from one of my friends, who’s also an animal artist, and thought I’d find it difficult to work on such a small surface. After all, my earlier work had been close to 150cm on the longer side, and I'd found it difficult enough to work with HALF of that a couple of years ago! In 2014 I gradually learned to work back at the standard A4 size, and I still use that now to some extent since it’s easily frameable, scannable, and the most popular size among buyers. I do enjoy sizing up now and again, but no more than A3 – I’ve had more than enough of MASSIVE paintings that I lumber myself with, thank you very much!
But getting back to the ACEOs, I’d been wondering whether they’d be worth a go recently, as I kept seeing them posted by my arty friends on Facebook and Etsy. After a little bit of casual research (read: pouring over the response other artists had been getting from their followers), I found there’s quite a nice market for tiny originals, since they’re usually very affordable compared to full-sized paintings, and it’s a nice way for fans of artists to collect something unique and special. They’re also enormously cute - perfect for dog illustrations! ;)

Skye Terrier Puppy ACEO

I’ve done four dinky little doggy watercolour ACEOs in the past week to see how I’d fare, and I’ve discovered two things: They’re properly addictive to paint, and people really do seem to enjoy them! One’s already found it’s new home, and the other one I’ve popped in my Etsy shop has had A LOT of interest, much more than my A5 gouache originals or even A4. It also gives me a fab opportunity to try simplifying my paintings in a natural way - there's only so much you can fit on an ACEO after all!

Little Sealy has found his new home already!

So onto the practical side of working with 2.5 by 3.5 inches of painting surface. It’s initially quite off-putting to downscale SO much, I admit. For me it’s easier to work with a rough sketch in a larger sketchbook and then move onto the actual card, much like I would when scaling up onto larger surfaces. Painting on a little surface like this requires quite a lot of self-control and patience (if you're anything like me, shaky hands occur surprisingly often when concentrating on teeny tiny details!), plus a very small paintbrush. I use a set I picked up for a few quid that’s intended for use as nail art brushes, and they work like a charm. The great thing about a little painting is that it’s very quick to go from start to finish, so if you had a lot of ideas ready you could easily do a few in a day.

Smile! Yorkie ACEO

I do think they’re heaps of fun, so it’s nice to have an option for those days when I just can’t face starting a big painting but want to work on something new. And to all my artist friends, I really recommend giving ACEOs a go too. :)

Comfy Freija ACEO

Little moments of mindfulness with my dog

 Although I spend a lot of time talking about all the benefits of all our various dog sport hobbies and trick training, there’s one thing I never talk about enough: quality time with my dog.
It’s easy to sort of forget about spending a bit of time each day focused solely on your dog, but during the past couple of years I’ve really begun to appreciate these little moments of dog-related mindfulness on a whole new level. Now I know we've all got mindfulness blogs, magazines and telly programs coming out our ears at this point, but I'm using it in a slightly more day-to-day sense. See, work and school and just everything these days can sometimes get a bit overwhelming for the best of us. With dogs, however, there's a sense of enjoying the moment as it is.
We all know our time with our beloved dogs is limited, which is why it’s absolutely essential to make the most of it – not just through training but by also developing that bond between you and your pet. This is especially important if you work or study all day, not only for your dog but also for you – we all need a moment to just sit down and concentrate on something completely removed from all the stress and challenges we face during the day. The fantastic thing about dogs is they come with a built-in mindfulness exercise for us people – walkies! Nothing clears a worked up brain better than a bit of a romp in the fresh air, and our dogs make sure this is part of the daily routine, how good is that! During the time spent together out and about, everything you've been working on or worrying about that day seems a little less pressing. Perhaps it's just the way I am, but knowing that every day, no matter what, I'll have this moment of spending some time together with my pooch is really very comforting. What got me thinking about this is that I’ve been asked a few times lately why I’m bringing my dog with me to university, and won’t it be hassle and a strain on my social life. My answer is this: If you’ve never owned a dog, you can’t know the amount of joy it brings. My dog is so much more than just a pet, she’s my best friend, she’s the reason I’ve gone out and taken up new hobbies and met new people, she’s my little personal trainer… And more than anything she puts a smile on my face each and every day. I'm responsible for her well-being, but she's just as responsible for keeping me down-to-earth and happy every day, no matter what. So to those who think I’ll be losing out in keeping her with me, really it’s the complete opposite. :)

Here’s a list of the little things about my dog that make me laugh, smile, and wonder each day: 

• She shares my morning muesli with me. She doesn’t beg, but once I'm done she'll mosey over and wait to lick the bowl clean.
• Loves veggies, especially jalapeno peppers. When I was in art school, I would occasionally leave my dinner by the sofa while getting a drink or looking for my phone, and when I returned lo and behold – the veggies had gone. It was always the greens too, never the meaty bits! These days I set some aside specially for her.
• Protests when I stay up late reading by flopping on my face and licking both me and the book in turn, till I put it away. 
• Follows me to the bathroom every morning to roll around on the carpet while I brush my teeth.
• Stares intently at the cupboard I keep her frisbee and tennis ball in, till I eventually oblige to a game. This can go on for hours if I'm working!
• Pokes the other dog with her nose for attention, then promptly runs off and ignores her. 
• Really loves round buns, she thinks they’re her toy balls. 
• Lies flat on her back under my arm while I work during the day, no matter how uncomfortable it may seem, and occasionally peers up at me as if to say “let’s stay like this all day!” 
• Is terrified of flags for no apparent reason, so whenever we pass the one that’s on our daily walk, I get her to do tricks till we’re at a safe distance again.
• Trots off for a drink of her own accord between agility laps, like a proper athlete!
• Watches Heartbeat and Doc Martin with me and mum, and knows to only get up and say hello once the end credits roll.

A like is not just a like when it comes to Facebook

 This morning I woke up to find my Facebook page had hit a lovely new milestone: 300 “likes” within a year of opening the page! I’m thrilled to bits, most of all because I know a lot of these people genuinely like my page – they’re not paid likes and the only like-for-likes are from other artists who’s work I enjoy anyway. The thing about statistics like these is that one can quickly become a wee bit obsessive about checking them day in day out, and I know a lot of page-owners can, in a moment of desperation, try to boost their follower-count by dishing out money to companies who claim to earn you thousands of likes quickly. Tempting though the idea of your work being seen by all those people can be, it doesn’t quite work like that - please please please don't waste your money on these schemes!
As many bloggers have pointed out before me, these paid likers aren’t actually real people but accounts made for the sole purpose of liking millions of pages, and therefore wont help your business in any way at all – the only thing they’ll do is raise that little number at the top of your screen. The way Facebook works is this: if your posts are getting lots of clicks, likes, shares, and comments from a good percentage of your likers, then it’ll deem them important and will show them to your followers and through them their friends. To encourage that kind of engagement, the likers obviously have to be interested in what you’re posting. See what I’m getting at here? The real fans are FAR more valuable in the long run, even if you’ve only got a handful, because if you’ve got 50 likes and say 30 people actively comment, like and share your posts, Facebook will think you’re more relevant than a page with 1000 and only a few active likers! :)

This can of course be a bit frustrating for page owners, I know I sometimes get seriously annoyed my new art posts aren’t being shown to all my followers, but there is a way to organically boost your post’s relevance: share them yourself! Not just on your personal page, but in groups devoted to whatever it is you’re posting. When I share a dog illustration from my page to all the various animal art groups I’m in, that post will get up to five times the amount of engagement it would get without sharing – and may, with a little luck, draw new real fans to my page! The groups are a natural way to show your posts to the people who are really interested, so use them as much as you can to get your work seen. The same principle works with groups as well as pages too, join the ones with say 1000 members or less, and your post will probably be seen by more people since they'll be more likely to be active members in the group. Also there are lots of massive generic art groups on Facebook, with hundreds of thousands of members, and you can bet your work will get buried under a million posts from all those other artists within minutes, which leads to nobody really taking any time to look at any of the posts on the page - there's simply too much!

To sum up:

• Your like count is just a number.
• The valuable likes are the genuine ones that engage with your posts, and really love your work!
• Facebook works in mysterious ways, so just focus on posting really good content and sharing it organically - it's the best you can do!
• Groups can be a real helping hand in getting your work seen by the right people, use them wisely!

Baby steps towards Canicross

Last summer when I started thinking about going to university, I decided if I was going to live on my own I'd have to get fit - for Freija's sake just as much as my own! I need to be able to work long days and still have energy to spend time playing and going for walks, and that means having a bit of a lifestyle revamp. My first goal was to get out and do something sporty, but finding something I was motivated to do took a bit of searching. Canicross, which is essentially cross-country running with your dog, popped up a few times in the dog groups I'm part of on Facebook, so I did a little research and decided that's what I'd start working towards. I say towards, as what I do can’t exactly be described as cross-country running. Combining a complete lack of stamina and horrid asthma does not a cross-country runner make! However I have found a way to run that works for me and the dog.

I first read about combining bursts of sprints and walking on Pinterest. Essentially it said work your way up from four minutes of walking and half a minute of running to equal amounts of each till you can run non-stop, which sounded easy-peasy, so I thought I’d give it a go. As it turns out, running like this wasn’t as taxing on the old wheezy-lungs as I'd dreaded, and a good 5km each day was surprisingly manageable for the first couple of weeks I ran in July.
After one or two of goes with me holding Freija’s lead, I opted for getting a proper canicross belt (well, it’s actually a skiing belt because this is Finland after all) – running while holding it in my hands was not only awkward but also led to accidentally yanking Freija along every now and again, NOT GOOD! The belt is far more convenient and the lead has an elasticated handle that gives girly girl a bit more leeway to shift gears from walking to running. It also makes us look like we know what we’re doing! ;)
This hobby was put on hold when we started agility and it started getting colder out, but now this year despite it still being winter I’ve taken running up again alongside our other dog sports. Thankfully I’ve managed to slightly boost my fitness through those hobbies during the past eight months or so – running for short periods of time is essential for agility after all, and of course is part of many of the other sports we try out!
That gave me confidence to try walking and running for the same amount of time. In January I started off with a minute of walking with half a minute of running, and now can sort of manage a minute of each (although being a bit of a moron I do sometimes get a bit over-ambitious at the beginning with the running and have to go down to half a minute again towards the end of the route). The great thing about sprints is that I don’t feel like I’m dying after the first kilometre or so, and can manage what would amount to a reasonable run which I wouldn’t actually be able to do in one go normally.
Freija enjoys this method too because she gets to sniff and do her business during the walking bits, and loves a bit of a race when we run. Plus we get to go on longer routes than on normal walks, since we get further in shorter spaces of time. I do look forward to proper long walks in the summer mind you, and especially exploring new places when we get to Bath… I wonder if by then we can manage real Canicross runs? :)

Trendy subjects - are they really your thing?

Today’s subject is… subjects. No really! I was browsing the Etsy forums recently, and came across an interesting thread which I hadn’t really thought about for quite some time: Should artists follow trendy subjects in order to sell their work?

At the moment trendy subjects in the animal art field are owls, foxes and deer. They’re HUGE, and are overflowing onto clothes, stationary, home décor… you name it, those critters are on it. I even saw foxy Christmas decorations last year. Now combine that lot with a muted palette and geometric shapes and you’re bang on trend! But don’t think I’m saying that’s inherently a bad thing, because I most certainly am not! If you’re into owls go right ahead and paint them, and have fun! Experiment if you want to, you might come up with something seriously cool!
However, if you’re thinking your own work isn’t being seen because it’s up against the popular stuff, that simply isn’t true – it’s a different, far larger market. Although fox art might be selling really well in general at the moment, it’s spread out over hundreds of different artists who might sell one card or print every now and again – unless you’ve got a devoted following already you’ll probably sell no more trendy art than what you’d normally sell (in fact, the trendy stuff will probably be more difficult to sell compared to your other work!). Breaking into a massively saturated market isn't easy if you're not really persistent with bringing your own take on it to the table - you've got to put all your effort into showing that you are the artist worth supporting, and that means you've got to be excited by your work!

See, there’s a reason people are drawn to your work in particular - when you’re really passionate about what you’re making, it shows. You’ve spent time perfecting your own style, and figured out interesting ways to tackle your subjects, and that's what people want to see and buy. Artists like Louise Rawlings and Kate Brazier are perfect examples of this – not only is the style instantly recognisable, but the repeated subjects are things the artist is clearly inspired by and has spent heaps of time working with. Whatever it is you love painting, be it dogs or flowers or houses, you’re showing the world how you feel about your subject and your customers are going to be the people who feel the same way. You wont get that same feeling with a subject you’ve got absolutely no interest in.
Now I’m not saying always stick to your comfort zone and don’t try anything new either! Just remember that your work really comes to life when you love what you’re doing, when you’re inspired. So if you’re not really feeling what’s popular right now, you honestly don’t have to force yourself into that mould.

One very muddled up competition, and why we really do agility.

We had our very first unofficial agility competition today, so I thought I’d write a bit about what it was like and my thoughts afterwards.

The competition was held at our lovely doggy school. We were the second to sign up for the beginner’s class, and first for the intermediate – I decided to pay for second goes on both up front, partly because I wanted Freija to have a good run around, and also because I wasn’t feeling too confident on how we’d perform in front of an excitable and possibly stressed out crowd of dogs and owners.
When I was doing the dry run of both the courses, I did try to think up good solutions for the trickier turns (of which there were more than plenty). These were promptly thrown out the window on our actual runs, because a. I wasn’t as focused as I could’ve been and ended up doing what felt easiest at the time, and b. some of my grand ideas were impossible to incorporate at speed.
Our first run on the beginner’s course was a complete mess. Freija decided that it was much more fun to make up her own course, and I think we were disqualified within the first few jumps and tunnels. On our second go I did concentrate more on what I was doing, but after a couple of refusals and one jump which Freija decided to go around and jump twice, we were disqualified again. She was extremely quick on both runs however, coming in at a good ten seconds under the time to beat.
The intermediate was no great success either. Our first run included several refusals and another muddled up jump amounting to a third disqualification and a seriously slow time. The second went okay-ish speed-wise up until the second to last jump, which she passed, jumped over the wrong way, and jumped back over again. So all in all four disqualifications for four runs.

Now of course I’m disappointed we weren’t magnificent and couldn’t show off just how agile and clever we can be at our best, who wouldn’t be, but in the end we did have fun, we had a bit of a run around and Freija charmed the crowd with her ridiculous looks if not her agility skills. The thing is that it doesn’t really matter how I feel about our results, because it’s not about me. It’s about spending a day out having a laugh with my dog, who doesn’t care about titles or prizes, she just wants to do tricks and be together. It’s not always easy to remember when your out there on the track, but that bond with your pooch should be the reason you’re doing agility in the first place. 

Perhaps competing isn’t really our thing in the long run, not because we didn’t do well at it, but because we get all the fun and excitement of working together we need at practice. Compared to the hours of standing around waiting your turn for just a minute or less of running, an hour or two of dedicated training each week where we’re running, jumping and climbing throughout (with breaks of course!) is a far better way for us to strengthen our teamwork and trust as dog and handler.
In any case, Freija and I will continue training here through the spring and early summer, and hopefully find a nice place in Bath to carry on as well – she’s going to need something to relieve the stress from the big move, and I need to at least attempt to keep fit! ;)

Ignore the competition silly artist, you're doing your best!

I've been talking to a few artist friends recently, all of whom have been down in the dumps about the usual suspects; making it in the creative industry, being seen in a sea of so-called "better" artists, and generally just not feeling good enough to make it in the competitive art market.

Now, I shan't pretend I don't feel like that every now and again, we all do! What I try to tell my artsy friends whenever these  things come up is this: Somebody out there is looking for exactly what you have to offer. Whether it's a company or a commissioner, or even somebody looking for the perfect birthday card, there will be someone. Until they find you, you can only do YOUR very best. 

I'm very much for focusing on the nice things and ignoring the rubbish ones, not because I don't think we can learn and grown from a setback or two (fun fact: we can and do, oh so much!), but because if I were to spend any amount of time moping about thinking my work is a big pile of poo, I wouldn't ever have time to sort it out! 
As a little metaphor, consider a person who spends all their time watching the news. Day after day they see terrible things happening all over the world, and feel helpless and stuck and really, really dreadful. Then they flick over to the local news, and there's a heartwarming story about a little old granddad who tidies the park or a guide-dog who saved it's owner from being run over. Now, this person could either spend all their time stuck worrying about all the bad things happening in the world that they can't control, or they can draw some positivity from the good things that are a little closer to home, and get up and enjoy life. 
See what I mean? It's good to be aware that there's heaps of competition and to acknowledge that it's not easy to get seen among the millions of other artists, but you don't need to compete with the rest of the world. You just need to make the most of your own thing and you'll be all the happier for it, which in turn will inspire your admirers and potential buyers, and that's really why we make art in the first place, isn't it?

So here's a little list of things I do when I've had a big old slap in the face from the nasty side of the art world:

• Look up pictures of cute dogs and doodle all my favourites. Not only does this put me in a good mood (because dogs, obviously), but it also may lead to a good idea for a new piece of art!
• Revamp my entire Etsy shop. There's always SOMETHING that needs to be updated, improved or binned, and what better time to do this particular chore than when you're feeling a bit fed up with the actual making art aspect of the shop?
• Snap photos of things (usually Freija). It's a good way to use up a bit of that creative energy without having to commit to a "proper project" when you're just not feeling up to one.
• Google other artists similar to your own niche. I know this sounds counter-productive when you're feeling like your art isn't worthy of being seen by human eyes, but actually it does help to see that although your work might be similar, it's not the same - on my part that means looking up other dog illustrators, many of whom have become firm favourites. I love their work, but I can also see that mine is good in a different way!
• If I'm in a really properly foul mood, I get away from the computer and go and do something completely different like starting a crochet project or reading a bit of the latest The Simple Things (note: this is in no way endorsed by them, it's genuinely just my favourite magazine). Doing something so utterly removed from my usual work helps to move on, and it's usually really inspiring too!

Learn how to cook for university, properly! Plus a recipe for a quick pasta bake to get you started

Practically all the lists I’ve found online about how to prepare for university include the line “learn to cook”. This is probably aimed at the younger students who have literally never even turned on the oven, but there is one thing that might not occur to mature students that draws from it… Learn to cook food you like instead of ready meals or things out of the packet! There’s nothing wrong with the occasional tin of mushy peas and Smash, but you can’t live on that (something I found out when living alone at vocational art school!), plus it's cheaper to cook using simple ingredients yourself! Student food doesn't have to be nasty after all. :)

What I’m doing with my mum before the big move is compiling a recipe book full of my family’s home recipes and things I’ve tried and liked myself. That way it’s full of foods that aren’t too complicated to prepare and which I know I'll enjoy (plus if I get stuck I just need to ring up mum for help!). We started writing up recipes in February after making a long list of all the different meals, getting through a handful every few nights. There’s still lots to do, and thankfully plenty of time to try new recipes for the book too!

To make this a bit more fun, start by designing a lovely cover for your recipe book (or print out the one I designed for free). Then write up a few things you like (if you don’t know how to make them yourself but your parents do, get them to help!), and things you’d like to try. I like to categorise mine into sections: Lunch, Dinner, and Dessert work well. Now all you need to do is get writing! Spread it out so you don’t have to spend hours writing the whole lot down at once, and give yourself a chance to try out new recipes to add too. Don’t be afraid to include large batches, because leftovers are great to freeze and through the week without worrying about cooking every single day. Another fab idea is getting your hands on a slow cooker - just chuck your ingredients in and let it cook through the day, with a hot meal waiting when you get home (there are heaps of great recipes on pinterest to try out, but my favourite is to just chuck in a bunch of different kinds of beans, a bit of tomato puree, a stock cube, soy sauce and chicken - it's hearty and nice with potatoes, rice or pasta!).



To get you started, here’s a quick dinner recipe from my collection:

Pasta & broccoli bake  (Cooking time about 20mins, makes four portions)

Ingredients:

-400g pasta
-1 red onion
-1 whole fresh broccoli
-veggie stock
-a drop of mustard
-200g crème fraiche
-100g cheddar
-Fresh herbs of your choice (I go for whatever I’ve got in the house, so usually basil or rosemary)
-A couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs

Method:
Boil the pasta, chopped onion, and stalks from the broccoli in lots of water with salt for 7 or 8 minutes. Add the broccoli florets and let boil for a few more minutes. Pour about 400ml of the cooking water into a bowl, and drain the pasta and veggies. Return the water to the saucepan and mix in the stock and crème frache, adding most of the herbs and a drop of mustard to taste. Bring to a boil, and pop in all the pasta and veggies. Stir in half of the cheese until melted. Pour the lot into a baking dish, and sprinkle the top with the rest of the cheese, herbs and breadcrumbs.

Heat the grill for a few minutes (most ovens have this option, if not then bake at around 175-200°). Grill the bake for 3 minutes (watch it doesn’t burn!), and lets stand for a few minutes before serving.

Online networking for the artsy type

If there’s one thing that unites all artists, it’s this; we all hate blatant self promotion. You feel awkward and pushy and dreadful, and lots of artists decide not to promote at all. They sit in their own little corner of the internet, perhaps an art blog or personal webpage, and post their pictures happily, with just one or two people ever seeing any of it.
I did that too not too long ago.
However, there are ways around that sleazy sensation you get if you go around saying “look at my art and buy stuff”. Firstly, don’t say that, silly! The best marketing you can get is through peers and people who really love your work saying so publicly. “But I don’t know anybody who likes my stuff!” you might say. Of course you don’t if you’ve never told anybody that you do all that wonderful artwork, so get networking! There are lots of ways to do this…

Twitter:

• As I briefly mentioned in a previous post, I participate in a pet business networking hour hosted by @woofwoofwednesday. It works like this; at 8 o’clock (UK time) you start tweeting about your lovely work (include photos and links!) using the hashtag #woofwoofwednesday in each of your tweets. Then search for that tag and see what everybody else is posting, and retweet the things you like the look of! You can find heaps of talented, friendly people to follow this way as well, and they in turn will probably follow you. The community for this particular networking hour is very welcoming, and always up for a bit of a chat between tweets – I follow most of the people I meet on twitter and facebook if they’re on both sites.
• Notable networking hours (in UK time) that I’ve come across are: 
• #crafthour from 7-8pm on Sundays 
• #womaninbizhour from 7-8pm on Sundays 
• #geekhour from 7-9pm on Mondays 
• #creativebizhour from 8-9pm on Mondays 
• #woofwoofwednesday from 8-9pm on Wednesdays
• #twittersisters from 8.30-9.30pm on Thursdays 

• There are also lots of regional networking hours for local businesses, such as #somersethour , #yorkshirehour , #sussexhour … You get the drift!

Pinterest:

• It can be a bit difficult to figure out how Pinterest works, but once you get pinning you’ll find it hard to stop! Amidst all the recipes, fitness tips, fashion photos and cute puppies you’ll also find a LOT of Etsy shops. Shoppers pin things they like, which can sometimes spread like wildfire if a popular user picks up on it! But to make sure your artwork gets on there in the first place, you should also get pinning yourself. Remember to always link back to the items your pinning so people can find them easily (wouldn’t it be terrible to loose buyers because you’d forgotten to show them where to find the lovely painting, print or card you’ve pinned?), and as with all other social media include your page link on your profile. I pin items from my Etsy shop on a dedicated board, but I’ve also seen some fantastic boards which mix and match stuff from the seller with things that would go well with it in terms of home décor. I try to pin a few of my items each day, to spread them out and avoid flooding my followers feed with my pins in one lump.

Tumblr:

• It can be easy to get sucked into the hamster-wheel of reblogging other people’s posts on tumblr, which can play in your favour. Start a blog showcasing your work, and again make sure to get the most out of your tags by using ones people are likely to be scrolling through (#artists on tumblr is particularly popular), and also more specialised ones for those looking for something specific (if you post dog art like me make sure to use tags for the breeds!). It takes time to build up a tumblr following as there’s so much content posted every second, but using appropriate tags will be a big step forward. It’s also easy for a post to go viral, gaining you heaps of views and followers completely by surprise! I’ve had this happen twice, and am still in shock.

Facebook:

• First things first, set up a dedicated page for your artwork. Facebook doesn’t allow personal accounts to be used for this purpose, and it’s much easier to reach potential buyers if you LOOK like a professional with your page. Once you’ve done the mandatory chore of inviting everybody on your friends list to like it (inevitably a good chunk of them wont, but hey ho life goes on), you’ve got to find other ways of spreading your work about. The most efficient way to do this is by joining art groups. A quick search will find you heaps for art in general, but these aren’t necessarily the best way to connect with other artists. Look for groups of around 1000 members or less dedicated to a medium or subject you work with, these are usually nice little communities bursting with supportive members and a good atmosphere (with some luck there wont even be spammers!). I’m in several dog and animal art groups which are great for this purpose, including:
• Animal Artists Unlimited (I’m an admin for this one!) 
• Dog Art 
• Pet Portraits 
• Canine Art and Artists 
• Networking for Pet portrait artists! 
• Canine portraits

•  Lots of these groups also host various kinds of challenges (ours most certainly does), which all members are invited to participate in. These are fun ways to practice new topics and mediums, and also help boost your visibility within the group. A good way to post to groups is by sharing your work straight from your own facebook page, giving it a straight link back without faffing about with urls. Remember to spend some time perusing other artists work too, often it’s incredibly inspiring and you might make a new friend or two! :) 

Three simple but sweet tricks

On the back of my last post, I thought I’d write up a selection of our trick repertoire for you to have a go at (and indeed for future reference for myself, haha!). :)

I may not be a world class trainer, but I have been able to steadily teach my dog a range of really cute tricks on command. Not only that, but I’ve also managed to convince our nearly 12 year old stubborn old granny dog to do some of them too, so I reckon these will work for any dog that’s motivated by food, praise and/or toys!

Make sure to give your dog plenty of time to learn each trick, it wont happen the first time you practice, but usually after a few days it’ll start to get the hang of it! Keep trick training sessions short, at around five to ten minutes, and finish off with a trick or two that they already know (it can be as simple as sit or down, just something to give them a feeling of success even if the trick you’re learning wasn’t going too well!) and lots of praise. I make sure to do two or three short sessions each day, both at home and during walkies.

What you’ll need:

• Nice smelly treats (not the dry kind!)

or 

• A favourite toy (we use a ball with a rope, it’s quick to give as a treat and more importantly easy to reclaim afterwards!)

High Five

• This one’s easy to teach because it works off your dog’s first instinct when faced with a hidden treat (try to get your dog motivated with the treats for this one, because holding a toy hidden in your hand can be pretty difficult!). Place a treat in the palm of your hand and show it to your dog, then close your hand and place close to your dog’s front paws. Let it sniff and try out what it takes to get that treat from you, until it places a paw on your hand. Reward with the treat and praise immediately! Repeat a few times, adding the command “high five!”, till you’re confident your dog connects touching your hand with the reward. Then with your thumb hold the treat to your palm, keeping your hand open this time in front of your dog. Say “high five!”, and reward and treat as soon as the dog does it, and you’re done! 
• This trick can be modified to a waving action by gradually moving your hand further away from the dog, so that it misses the contact but still does the action to touch your hand like a high five. Just make sure to give it a different command, and practice thoroughly. :)

Twirl left and right 

• This is super easy to train, but quite impressive to show to friends and family (“how can a dog know the difference between left and right?!”). Simply guide your dog with a treat to turn in the direction you want, making a small circle gesture to keep it a neat twirl instead of a run round a racetrack! Reward as soon as it’s done the twirl. Make sure to do this the same way round at first, and once your dog understands the motion combine with the command for whichever way it’s twirling. Once it’s got to grips with twirling in one direction (give it a few days at least to learn the trick properly), you can start practicing with the opposite direction. Really easy, right! ;)

Sit pretty 

• We’re still working on this one with Freija, but our older dog has got it down to a T! Getting the position right takes patience (depending on your dog’s muscles this may be tricky, so give it time to strengthen the lower back and legs properly, and make sure it’s distributing it’s weight evenly!), but with a bit of patience this trick is totally doable. :) I taught it by combining the commands “sit” and “paws” (placing both front paws on my arm). First get your dog to sit (if your dog doesn’t know how to yet, I’d suggest learning “sit”, “down” and “stand up” commands before attempting sit pretty!), then holding your arm lengthways in front of the dog, with a treat in the other hand BEHIND that arm, get those paws up on your arm and reward immediately (This is quite quick to train, but it’s easiest to teach it separately before moving on to “sit pretty”!). Once you’ve perfected the “paws” action, start moving the hand with the treat up above the dog’s head – not too high or you’ll end up with a dog standing on their back paws! Just above the nose, slowly get your dog to sit up straight. At this stage their paws will still be holding on to your arm for support, but once you’ve built up those lower back muscles they’ll begin to remove the paws and sit up on their own. Treat and praise as soon as they’re sitting up, and once they’re letting go of your arm combine with the command “sit pretty” (I use “nätti” which is just “pretty” in Finnish, it’s quicker to say). Repeat often and you’ll soon have your dog doing the cutest trick in the book all on their own! :) 

A big confidence boost for a little dog

When I first started thinking about moving countries for uni with my dog last summer, I was more than a little concerned about one major issue. Anxiety. At the time, I didn’t see how I could possibly make a long trip, so many panicky situations, and new people any less stressful for my pooch. She’d always had anxiety problems. Looking back now, I was pretty useless. My girl had SO much potential, but I hadn’t even given it much thought in the past, thinking she was a lost cause - how wrong was I?

Then in July I went to see a big agility competition. It was SERIOUSLY impressive, and standing on the edge of that ring I was struck by inspiration. My girl lacked confidence, but had heaps of energy that wasn’t being used up. Agility might just work.
We attended our first class in the soon after, and I was gobsmacked. How is my girly girl THAT good? She was a natural from day one. However, that’s not why I’m writing this post (although she’s a real stunner, believe me!).

Fast forward to this winter, when we’d completed our beginner’s course, taken up canicross, trick training, and flyball. The change in her whole demeanor was not only noticeable, but blatantly obvious. Where I was used to a panicky, yappy, fear-aggressive terrier-mix, this was like a completely different dog. Her eyes lit up at the beginning of each class, as if to say “I’ve got this, let’s do some tricks!”. So what if she still barks, because now it’s out of excitement, not fear (and it’s not as constant – much to the delight of my eardrums!). She’s learned to concentrate, focus on her tasks, and most importantly trust that I’m there and she’s safe.

At the moment we’re doing a test course of various different dog sports and hobbies on top of our weekly agility class, plus trick training at home. When it comes to an active dog like mine, a routine of activities all through the week is incredibly important. It may have required a bit of a lifestyle change on my part, but just watching her learn and improve each day keeps me motivated to keep at it. We’ve still got a long way to go, but I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in just over half a year. My girly girl will make a cool, calm and collected dog for the big move yet, you just wait! :)

Here's our daily practice routine:

• Morning walkies: heeling and basic obedience tasks. I keep treats on me at all times so we can work on passing intimidating things like noisy children, groups of people, snow ploughs, and flagpoles (no, seriously). Funnily enough other dogs don't pose so much of a threat to my girl!
• Breakfast: Obedience and trick training. I do a bit of waiting practice, recall, heeling and a selection of tricks (whatever we’re working on at the time and some she already knows to round the session off) before giving her a chew-stick.
• Midday: I usually spend my day either working on new art or promoting, so between paint layers I’ll get girly girl to do a trick or two. Now we’re also practicing Frisbee catching, so a few “rollers” are now part of this too.
• Afternoon: Working on separation anxiety by setting scent tasks (hiding treats around the room for example) for her to work on while I head off for lunch. This really helps to ease her into being left alone. No more howling while I tie up my shoelaces!
• Evening: Two days a week we’ve got agility and a random other dog class, so that’s the evening sorted. I really recommend trying out a class with your dog, because it’s SO much easier to learn the right way to teach your dog with the help of a qualified handler, plus it’s heaps of fun! ;) 

Ps. My training methods rely solely on positive reinforcement - lots of praise, treats and toys all the way. :)

Goodbye starving artist, hello moderately peckish Etsy seller.

During the year after leaving art school, I realised I needed to figure out a way to make money from my art. This was especially important when I began thinking about applying to university in the UK, because oh my sweet lord is that one expensive endeavor! Now I know many other current and indeed former art students, illustrators, graphic designers and various other artsy types are struggling to figure out a way to monetise their work so they can carry on doing what they love. I may not have a solve-all answer, but I can tell you what I've done so far...

I started a Redbubble and indeed a Society6 shop back in 2013, and although I’ve still got the former, I’ve not pursued it actively for a while now. The reason for this is simple; although outsourcing the printing and raking up royalties for the use of the artwork seems like an enticing offer, it doesn’t quite work like that. Redbubble allows you to set your own profit margins on top of their base prices for the products, while Society6 has the same (low!) profits for everything apart from art prints. However setting these margins high (mine were 80%) will not attract buyers, as the prices will be ridiculously high after factoring in the product prices. So I closed the other account, and have emptied the other of all but phone cases. They weren’t worth the bother.

Next I thought I’d open my book for commissions. This works for a lot of artists, particularly in the pet portrait area, which I enjoy. Generally the formula for pricing commissions is simple: time taken + material costs + skill level. Many artists underprice their work by miles, which can potentially lead to more buyers after a bargain, but will ultimately lead to one VERY stressed out artist with barely any profit to show for all their hard work! You’ve got to remember that people WILL pay for quality, and low prices can even reflect poorly on the standard of your work (a price tag can be more convincing that what people see with their own eyes!!). I’m still open to commissions, but they roll in rather erratically, so unless you’ve got a hefty following to begin with, they won’t pay your rent.

I was initially doubtful about Etsy. I had a shop set up several years ago, which never really kicked off, and I’d ended up binning it after a couple of months. There are heaps of horror stories online of sellers dealing with all manner of disaster, from iffy buyers to broken parcels and legal trouble. After a lot of uhming and aahing, I decided to throw caution to the wind and go for it anyway. This time round I went in with heaps of quality postcards of my work, a beautiful professional printer for making art prints, bookmarks, notebooks, and whatever else I could think of on demand, so I was thoroughly prepared. With the support of my friends locally and online, I bagged my first few sales within a couple weeks of opening. I was determined to make my shop work this time round, and within the space of three months I’d managed to sell a massive 70 items online!

Now I know that the profits aren’t even enough to cover one month’s rent in most places, and I’ve a long way to go. However, it’s earned me more than any other venture I’ve attempted, and I’m making steady sales each week. That’s already a win in my book. :)

To finish off this post, here’s a list of things to help make the most out of your Etsy shop:

• Work out the best possible tags for your items. It’s no good using solely professional terms like “archival print”, because buyers won’t necessarily be familiar with those terms. “Cute dog art” is much more likely a term for my customers to be searching with!
• Put effort into your descriptions. Lots of people on the Etsy forums say one of their biggest pet peeves is sellers who list items without explaining WHAT it is people are looking at! Somebody perusing my shop might not know whether the item they’re looking at is a greeting card, and art print, or an original, so I make sure I spell it out for them thoroughly!
• Opinions vary on what works best in regards to shop photography. Some like items on a plain white background, while others enjoy seeing the item in use, or as part of a set scene. However, one major thing is to make sure your photos are light enough for buyers to see the item properly, good quality (no pixelly mess, thank you very much!), and above all do justice to your product. If it doesn’t look it’s absolute true-to-life best, people won’t want to buy it, after all they can’t pick it up and see it for themselves like they would in a brick and mortar shop!
• Write up your about page. I know it’s icky to write about yourself, but think of this more as building a trustworthy image of you and your products that gives the buyers confidence in spending their hard earned cash on what you’re selling.
• NETWORK! Network till your hands fall off. Head over to the Etsy forums and chat with other sellers, join teams related to your products, make use of your pinterest, twitter and facebook accounts to really spread your shop out there. If people can’t stumble upon your shop elsewhere, you’re relying solely on people searching Etsy for your exact product – that’s pretty limiting!
• Most of all create products you really LOVE! Take some time each week to forget about promoting and running your shop to just sit down and do what you do best; make something beautiful. That’s why you started your shop in the first place, so focus on creating some wonderful things that you and your buyers WANT! 

Choosing the right offer

As I mentioned in my previous post (Surviving UCAS), receiving an offer took a good long time. There’s nothing like the “Something has changed on your UCAS application”-email to make your heart skip several beats, and when I got the first one in mid-February, I very nearly had to go and lie down in a darkened room. That was from my second choice, and I was ecstatic! It proved my application wasn’t awful, and gave me hope for my first choice. The offer was conditional, I had to pass an IELTS test. I thought about it for a day or two, and came to the conclusion that my first choice would probably have the same condition if they sent me an offer, I promptly signed up for the test in March. I spent the next couple of weeks reading up on the town and even looking up flats near to the university (you can’t say I don’t research my options thoroughly!).
Then the second email arrived, along with one from the admissions officer of my first choice university. Hands shaking, I opened UCAS track, and caught sight of that glorious sentence: “The university or college has offered you an unconditional place”.

Now, I’d made my mind up earlier, so I clicked the “firm” button and that was that. HOWEVER I had nearly six months to mull over my choice. I’d been to Bath before, I’d read up on the course and past student experiences, gone through the virtual open day, and had compared it to my second choice prior to receiving any offers at all. This is not the case for all applicants, and I wouldn’t want to advocate making an on-the-spot choice like I did unless you had thought it through as long and hard as I had. So here’s some of the reasoning behind my choice:

• The course is Graphic Communication, offering a variety of different things to study during the first year, and with an option to specialise in illustration or a variety of other mediums in the second. The other courses I’d applied for were solely Illustration. 
• The first impression I had of the staff was helpful and genuine. Everyone I emailed seemed capable and understanding, no matter how many questions I had to ask. My second choice wasn't bad, but not in the same league. The third however was condescending and extremely unhelpful, so I binned it as soon as I had the first offer. I am a strong believer in going with one's gut feeling, and in this case that's definitely what I did.
• The facilities are modern, with appealing spaces for both studying and practical work. 
• I wanted to live and study in a highly cultural area. My other two choices were in Bristol and Brighton, both equally arty. 
• A safe place was a must. Bath is ranked as one of the safest cities for students in the UK, whereas Brighton and Bristol are lower down on the list. 
• Although marginally more expensive than Bristol, the price range for the type of flat I'm looking for, in the right area, isn't too bad. Brighton is heaps more expensive.
• As a dog owner the place needed to have good access to nice walks, and having spent a day walking around Bath, I knew there were some nice routes to take. The surrounding area is also beautiful. 
• The local dog community is very friendly and welcoming, as I discovered through their Facebook page. I’ve already joined in preparation for the move! 

Those were my priorities for the choice, but yours may be different. Take all yours into consideration before making a choice, because you'll want to go to the best possible place to study!

Surviving UCAS

So you’ve decided to apply for university in the UK. Fab! Guess what comes next… UCAS.

It’s daunting, I know. Especially if you’re applying from outside the UK. So I thought I’d list the things you’ll need to sort out, to make it a bit less of a challenge. These tips are gathered from my own experience of applying as a mature EU student.

Before applying

• If you don’t have an English version of your qualification certificate from any former education, you’ll have to get an officially recognised translation complete with a stamp and signature. This can be irritating and costly, but ultimately something you’ve just got to get done. Make sure you sort it out in good time prior to applying. Mine cost nearly 200€ for all four pages of the certificate, but it may vary between countries.
• Some universities require you to take an IELTS test, even if you speak English as your first language (mainly to make up for not having GCSEs). Prepare to take the test at the beginning of the year, as it may be the condition of your potential offer. The cost of the test may vary, in Finland there’s only one place you can take it and it costs 230€. NOTE: If you’re English but applying internationally, or speak English as your first language, the university might not require you to take the test, so don’t rush into doing it unless you really have to!

Your personal statement

• Take your time. You don’t need to write up a polished statement in one sitting, so give yourself plenty of time to think about what you want to say – remember you’ve only got 4000 characters to tell them why you’re fantastic! 
• Get somebody else to proofread it! You’re bound to miss one or two silly mistakes, whether you speak English as your first language or not, and the spellchecker on Word can’t tell if what you’re writing makes sense or not. 
• As an international student you’ll need to focus on proving that you have a good grasp on the English language (yes, even if you’re half English like yours truly!), so it might help to mention if you’ve got any links to English speaking countries, and any English language achievements from school or otherwise. 

The reference

• If you left your previous school a while ago, this might be a bit of a pain to source. It took me forever and a day, but after some persistent emailing one of my former tutors (make sure you pick one that liked you at school, it’ll make for a nicer reference!), I got them to write one up for me. 
• UCAS makes referees log onto the site themselves to post your reference, so make sure you explain the process to them thoroughly! This is especially important if your referee isn’t familiar with UCAS in the first place, or doesn’t speak much English. My tutor sent their reference to me before sending it through UCAS because they wanted me to check their spelling and grammar, so do make sure you help them as much as possible.

Your qualifications

• UCAS may not recognise your former qualifications, but don’t worry! Just go to the “other” box, and list it there. You may have to provide further details later if the university you’ve applied to requests it, so remember to keep that translated qualification certificate at hand (scan it too, so you’ve got it ready to send just in case!). 
• They’ll ask you to list your grades separately – ALL OF THEM! This is important, so take the time to write them all up properly. Some of the module names might be odd after translation, but write them up exactly as they’re listed on the certificate.

Your employment history

• It’s tempting to write down all the jobs you’ve ever done, but that summer job as a berry-picker may not add anything of value to your application. However any English-speaking jobs, as well as those relating to the subject you’re applying for, are well worth listing. For example, although I applied for an art subject, I listed my waitressing job at my granddad’s coach company, since that was in England.
• Although you can’t list voluntary jobs, I’d suggest mentioning any relevant ones in your personal statement. Charity work always makes you look good!

 

Sending portfolios  

For art related courses, you’ll have to prepare a portfolio of your previous work(or several!). There are major differences in the specifics for different universities, and most wont ask you to send one in until the final application deadline in January, even if you’ve applied earlier. I prepared three different portfolios, two of which I had to send through the university’s own student website, and the third was sent in by email as per their request. Make sure you read the instructions carefully!

• Size (one university wouldn’t allow images larger than 500px on the longest side, while the others only required the resolution to be suitable for the media)
• Amount of work (this can vary a lot, some universities only want a handful of 10 or so pieces, while others have no restriction) 
• Description (you may be asked to write a short paragraph about your work, or alternatively not be allowed to include anything apart from the title and your UCAS ID number)
• Variety (Most places want to see sketches and process shots, but if you’re restricted to a small amount of images I’d recommend keeping the amount to one or two pictures. Depending on the course, you might also want to include some photography, crafts, writing, or animation.)

Got it all sorted? Great! Now all you’ve got to do is pay the fee (£23 for multiple courses in 2014), and send it off! Not so hard, eh? Now all you've got to do is wait for an offer... A good time to take up crochet, start an especially long box-set, or start reading Les Mis, because this bit takes a while. To give you some idea of how long it can take; I sent off my application on the first of September, 2014. I received my first offer on the 12th of February, and the second on the 24th. My third choice never got around to replying as I took up my second offer (which was unconditional), but I know lots of people are still waiting for offers.

If you're starting to get anxious, need some support from your peers, or want to see how others are doing with their applications, I heartily recommend The Student Room. They have dedicated forums for all the different universities, as well as a general one all about applications and UCAS.

Ps. You don't need to make your choice as soon as you've received your offers! I had had lots of time to think through my choices, but you might get an offer very quickly after sending off your application! So give it some thought. I'll write a bit about why and how I chose my offer in my next post. :)

Should I go to university?

That’s the first question you should ask yourself. I thought I’d explain why I decided to apply, after adamantly proclaiming I would never go back into education just a year earlier.

I studied fine art and photography (long story, the two got a bit mashed together as it were) for a good three and a half years, earning a Finnish vocational degree at the end of it. There is no equivalent in the UK for it that I know of, but essentially it’s a three to five year course (depending on how long you take to complete it, some people do it in under three years while others really take their time!) which you complete after secondary school from the age of 15 or 16 upwards.

Now, at the end of my arduous studies I did repeatedly say I didn’t want to study again. Never, ever, ever, ever…

What changed?

I spent half a year job hunting. As many before me have said, it is REALLY boring. I did a bit of freelancing, some commission work, and generally spent my time being a reclusive artsy type. Some good did come of this mind you, my artwork improved in leaps and bounds thanks to all the free time I had, I saved up a bit of pocket money doing some computer game illustrations during the summer, and I even gathered up my courage and started up my own Etsy shop. 2014 was a good year in that respect, and I’m proud of what I achieved on my own. However…
As many in the art industry will know, it’s very difficult to progress without connections, or a good community to work with. Now, that’s not to say there isn’t potential here in my Finnish hometown, because there is. I joined a wonderful knitting group for foreigners, full of lovely ladies who continue to inspire me to this day with all their fabulous creations. I’ve attended as many local arts and crafts markets and fairs as were available, and even had a stall at the massive Christmas market last year (in Finland you don’t really get little markets each weekend like you do in the UK, instead there are a few really big events each year). Still, it didn’t feel like I was really getting anywhere. I’d spent half a year living with my granddad in Eastbourne in 2013, and one thing that really leapt out at me was the amazing cultural community in the area (mainly thanks to what I’d call the art capital of the south coast, Brighton!). Why was there nothing like that in Finland?

 I took some time to weigh up my options:

• One was to make my long-time dream of owning my own little shop into reality. After a lot of googling, chatting with the local unemployment office, and researching the practicalities of running a brick and mortar shop, I realised I wasn’t prepared for that. This did lead to having a go at starting up my online shop, and thus far that’s been a pleasant way to occupy myself, even if I’m not exactly raking up the cash! 

• The second was to try and get my work into books or magazines. I sent off email after email, compiled portfolios, and chatted to other artists in the hopes of learning the tricks of the trade. I got approached by a writer or two, who disappeared after hearing I expected payment for my work. Eventually this idea fizzled out, for the time being at least. I needed to make connections, and that just wasn’t happening.

• The third option was university. I thought about it long and hard, and realised it could be the solution to my problems. I wanted to meet other artists, people in the industry, and find a good community. I also wanted to spend more time learning new techniques, really focus on refining my skills, and get into the more commercial path of art and illustration, instead of sticking with my preexisting knowledge in the high brow fine art area. Oh, and going back to England was also a plus. 

So that’s how I came to my decision. Next, I’ll write about the roller-coaster that was applying through UCAS…Fun!