Setting up my new art website for alcohol ink art 

Welcome to my first Blog post .

This is an exciting time for me just as I am headed back from London where I dropped off some 15 frames to be hung in the Flux Exhibition 2022 exhibition at the prestigious Design district ,Greenwich Peninsula, London! More on that later perhaps in next blog!

I want to devote todays first blog to the development of my art website www.artbyminu.co.uk

This is something I have been working on with my friend Jen Mehta from @CalibrantDigital  for the past few months . As busy moms , with other day time jobs ,time for the website development was concentrated to small batches of quality time (over coffee! ) across last few months . To be honest I was dreading the actual inputting of images and data but in the end this was all done in a quick precise manner in the run up to the Flux exhibition and was  almost painless and dare I say it, even enjoyable in parts!

After all it gave me the opportunity to look back and reflect on my work, choose the best artworks and best images and in doing so I revisited many happy moments in creating the artworks in the first place .

It also showed me my art journey, subjects that I am inspired by and techniques and skills that I have  developed/am in the process of developing

So why do I need a website ?

So why do artists need a website in todays environment when Social media such as Facebook and Instagram provide free and  globally accessible platforms?

This question bothered me for a long time before I actually decided to put time, money and commitment into setting up my website. Those are obviously the cons but the pros are I hope ahead of me!

Those of you who know me on social media already know that I have been putting my artworks out every Sunday on Facebook and once or twice per week on Instagram . However the algorithms of these media keep changing and it has become very unreliable to connect with  my art lovers . Also these media demand constant posting and likes to keep your posts up and where then is the time left to create something !!??

Also interested art buyers may find it very difficult to navigate thru the grids and profile pics to collect information on your available artworks. I think a small and well organised website is probably best to access and hope that is exactly what I have created with Jens help ! Do let me know if you agree .

The how-to 

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Having decided to build a website it was then time to find  the right platform and get the right technical support . There  were things to consider for eg whether to equip it for e commerce too? A number of you tube tutorials and guidance groups later I decided the best way forward is to have a website as a showcase rather than e commerce as I would like to have a personal connection with my art collectors and keep it real and organic! My interest in art runs parallel to my academic background and this helps keep things in balance.

However if you are an artist working full time and want to keep your time free for other business aspects, an e commerce website would make total sense for you!

The choice to use WordPress  as a host and buying the domain name etc were all technical aspects that Jen helped me with in a quick and easy way !

Traditionally I would have got stuck into everything myself  but outsourcing things you are not brill at or might be time consuming for you is the new way of being ! That is my new mantra !!

The whats and wheres

And then it was time for the nitty gritty!

Deciding the layout itself was interesting .

Do I categorise on the basis of the painting media as I seem to have some great works ( even if I say so myself !) in acrylics ,oils , good old watercolours , and of course alcohol inks

Do I  choose only artworks in  alcohol inks as my new fronteer as I seem to be both captivated by it and rapidly developing my techniques in it?

Do I put prices in and let art lovers decide on basis of  financial considerations?

After a lot of reflection it seemed logical to divide my artworks on the basis of content – Abstracts , Landscapes and florals, portraits and figuratives and my precious homewares! I reasoned that art lovers visiting my site would probably want to navigate through most of it but may have a predilection for some types of content like abstracts. If you would like a quick look at some of my original abstracts with alcohol inks pls click here  https://artbyminu.co.uk/abstracts/

I also decided to put up paintings with different media rather than just alcohol inks as they all equally represent my work and skills!

Next came the actual selection of paintings , collecting all the details re their sizes etc and adding  in situ images to give the viewer a sense of how they would look in a room. Of course the latter involved enlarging some images to present the idea more effectively .

The paintings I have currently uploaded are by no means an exhaustive list but my intention is to keep uploading every now and again . But how do I let people know that ?

Also apart from  the paintings on the website ,art life can be so interesting with a variety of events  and developmental activities . Would people be interested in these aspects ?

These latter considerations gave rise to the idea of starting a newsletter to update my art lovers with news of my upcoming works , exhibitions , art shows , offers etc .

SO there you have it –  my appraisal and experience of setting up my website and how it stands along with a raft of other public facing platforms below .

If you would like to remain connected with me and my art journey be sure to sign up  for my newsletter in the footer link below

or through my website  www.artbyminu.co.uk

www.instagram.com/artminu

Facebook -paintings by Minu Art.

Hope you enjoyed my blog and found it of some interest !

Until next time…….

Minu