5 Tips for selection of paintings online

Online art galleries have a wide range of artworks available for sale and the buyer is confused as to which painting to purchase. If the decision of displaying an artwork is done then there are a few important points one must consider before going in for the purchase of paintings online.

Reiki symbol calligraphy painting in progress The Red Pilgrim healing artist India

1) Budget - most important. As paintings are available in different price ranges it is very necessary to fix an budget price you can comfortably spend on buying art works.
2) How many paintings do you require? do you wish to display on your living room wall an exclusive artwork or you are interested in displaying art in every room of your home. Even corporates need to select paintings  for their offices so they can select artworks or prints according to their budget and number of paintings required.
3) Size of paintings - this is the most important point which is very often overseen by the buyers of artworks and they land up with a huge painting or a very small one. It is most important to see the details of the paintings given on the website before purchasing the artwork.
4) Colour scheme in the painting - Think about the colours used in the paintings and then remember the wall on which it has to be displayed. If they are in harmony or contrast well and good but if there is too much clash with the home interior decor then you will end up feeling restless and your artwork however expensive a painting it may be becomes a misfit on your wall.
5) Reliability of the art gallery - again a very important point to consider before buying paintings online. It is advisable to purchase paintings from a reputed and well known art gallery. Here you buy original artworks and also get authentication certificates signed and dated by the artist.
Other sources may sell artworks at a cheaper rate but you may also be at a risk of purchasing an fake artwork.

Hope this helps!

Happy Painting!

The Red Pilgrim

Internet and Online Paintings

Since the era of the internet has arrived art is also not left behind. There are many art sites that display artworks online and even sell artworks. Let us explore the vast universe of the internet and art.
Many artists are now aware of the internet and are willing to display their works online. This has become very easy as the images in JPEG form are uploaded and the viewer gets to see the artworks without physically going to the art gallery or the art store. There are many well known art galleries that are now going online. The reason for this is they get global exposure. This is very essential for any market that they get a wide range of viewers and sellers. The internet is the easiest way to get global business and global exposure.

The Red Pilgrim! Professional Reiki healing artist

The buyer gets a wide variety of paintings to choose from and since they are already sorted out according to the theme and price range it becomes very easy to select an artwork according to our budget.

acid free paper for packing paintings to ship abroad

bubble wrap acid free paper water proofing package for shipping art

packing artworks for shipping to US art buyer

Reiki Cho Ku rei power of one blessings artwork

The only consideration coming up here is the transport and shipping cost required to send the home delivery to the customer. Sometimes the art galleries also add commissions for maintaining their websites. To avoid this many artists have their own websites and once the public gets to know these sites the sales of paintings becomes very easy. Each artist have their own clientele that like their works and style of paintings and the internet helps them to be updated with the latest works of that artist.

Check reputed art sites and established artists websites to buy paintings because there are thousands of fake art galleries' and sites sprung up now. Buy art from secure sites only.

You also need to be careful to maintain the copyright of your artworks. Have a logo or watermark on every image so that it is not freely available as art prints. I have had many artists copy my paintings but we can't help this, its their own karma. I have started watermarking my art images. 

water marking painting images for copyright issues and prevent internet art theft fraud

Stroke of luck artwork displayed in urban decor

On my website I have a one price quoted and there are no extra charges whatso ever. Shipping, and Gst are not added on purchase, there is a single quoted price for every painting on sale and you pay only that amount on purchasing my art. I am not selling art from any other website or art gallery and and my artworks are available for sale only through my website razarts.com

All the Best from Rizwana!

Professional Reiki healing artists since year 2000. India.

Preparing Before you Paint

It is very difficult for artists to do painting when they have pets around. Though, I did miss my alexandrine parakeet, when she was trapped by some one and was set free by a neighbor. This made me think that pets are an important part of our lives and they give us love, and loads of love! But sometimes I do have her footprints on my works! And she goes about the home with the same feet dipped in paint! How can we take care of our works and still be around pets.

mitthin sitting on my head the Queen!

Birdie pet budgie love bird sitting on my painting

art materials my precious paints

acrylic art paints

special place for making healing art

my favorite quilt that brings out creative energy

assembling art for inventory listing

sitting on floor and making joyful art

in the terrace garden art on the easel

my precious artists table that is really ancient wood

With many accidents during painting, our servant has the habit of cleaning under all storage when not required, and I have had to correct many artworks. Good I love to do oil paintings and with this medium you are able to correct any mistakes or even change some works. After so many episodes of emotional outbursts  I have decided to prepare myself before beginning to paint. Here I mention a few tips for preparing before you paint.

her favourite place while I write Google blogs and update my art website

Prepare the place for painting before beginning to paint. By this I mean clear the place, make place for you to paint. Keep all things aside and make clear some free space since you require the place to put your paints, brushes, colour palette, oils, cleaning medium and rags, tons of rags. Why I mention because paints, especially water colours when spilled accidentally rags when kept handy would make it easier to prevent further damage to the floor as well as your artworks. And we all know even little kids love to play in pool of colour and splash the paint everywhere.
You can keep your kids at some baby sitter's or do your painting when they are at school. This way you will get some uninterrupted time and also avoid coloring accidents. I still have an painting which has the footprints of slippers on it, since the paint was wet, but this is merging with the painting. You can even request your family members or friends to take care of your children or pets for some time during painting.
Think of all the materials you are going to need before hand, like paints, brushes, instruments, erasers, mixing medium, palette , cleaning medium and arrange them carefully in an organized way. You don't want to waste time searching for a crimson lake and keep getting a vermillion tube.
If you are using reference photos keep them pinned properly as the wind may blow them and you may end up with half work and no idea for progress. Better if you make a sketch of some concept that you are going to paint and then begin the actual painting on canvas or paper.
Stretch the canvas and keep it ready as this also takes time. If you have a roll you need to measure the size of your working frame and cut the canvas. Then using a gun you have to staple the canvas on the working frame. This all will take some time so keep your canvas stretched and ready for painting.
In case you are doing water colour painting you need to prepare the hand made paper before and keep it wet for some time to be more absorbent and ready for use. If you are doing a pencil sketch then for this you need to sharpen the pencils and crayons as well as chalk sticks before starting the sketch or portrait.
I have spent much time sorting things in my tub of paints and having broken tips of pencils when I have a great idea. After many years and frustrating experiences now I have learned to prepare before I begin Painting. Now first I sharpen my pencils, then I keep rags ready, then comes the colour palette which is cleaned and kept ready for new paints to be loaded. Materials for paintings are then organized and arranged near my place of painting. I am comfortable doing painting in sitting position, and you can be standing or sitting on a chair, any position you are comfortable with while painting and prepare the place accordingly.
Pet kept aside, my alexandrine parakeet,  after her feeds when she goes for round then I am free and she understands when I am busy and feeds on the window sill and flies away to play. Though she does have a glint of interest in her eyes and attraction to the colorful tubes and painting and many times looks with interest at my artworks and me in progress. Be prepared with the pets and keep them occupied, this is what I have learned from personal experience. Keep them busy with some engrossing activity, and they will take care of themselves. Same with small children. Kids also enjoy painting and making a good artwork need not be a serious affair and
I have seen the most beautiful artworks that have come up have been made when I was comfortable and happy and not when I had planned and done seriously. So prepare, arrange and start to paint!

All the Best from Rizwana!

Professional reiki healing artists since year 2000.

Razarts.com

What to do with a Painting Gone Wrong! Abstract painting tips and practical workable solutions

Many times in our artist's career we get this experience. Ask any artist about their painting gone  wrong and everyone will have some unpleasant memories about this. There is a tendency to hide the unpleasant and only show our good works. I have heard artists’ tear apart, cut, rip off and throw art works in frustration.

I ripped off the large canvas!

tore old paintings

tearing old artworks

 This is a most common sight with any artist because all that you make may not always be a master piece!

Goodluck Fan  in progress Razarts

In progress Feng Shui fan of Happiness razarts

Dragon Flower Tibetan Ashtamangala painting by Rizwana A.Mundewadi

Focussed old, painting repainted Rizwana M

Focussed Reiki symbol painting on canvas year 2016

What to do when you have a muddy painting, all colours have mixed and over lapped, and it is an ugly looking canvas.First of all I have learnt that it takes understanding and patience to let go of the work. Leave the painting for some time and stop working and reworking on it. Some times I go on and on but end with wasting more paint and nothing emerging from the art. I have this painting which I have termed  "In Search of Prosperity" at a glance it looks very muddied but it does show images, symbols, colours and the viewer will get an understanding of the process gone through to achieve this painting. Here I was very upset and even my husband was irritated as he is of the belief that I must not repaint any work and just let it be what I paint once, but being an abstract artist it is very important for me to let the painting take its own course and let it go till I feel the painting is finished.

collage art in progress

Now comes the most important question of what to do, so please do not throw away any paper, canvas or other material you have painted on.

tore old paper paintings

 It can always be repainted when the painting dries. If the painting spoiled is of water colour you can use some water lightly to remove some paint from the paper. Oil paintings are the easiest to hide or cover as you can repaint the canvas after the original painting dries. If you have a small piece of painting that looks good , select the area and repaint the other parts of the painting with other colours. You can either use dark colours and highlight some aspects in the painting or use a lighter shade to merge the painting background and keep the original part of the old painting.

Turn it upside down or side ways! yes, you will be amazed!

change the title and subject of the painting.
Keeping the spoiled artwork aside for some days or months will give you a fresh perspective and you also will develop new ideas to approach the canvas. You may as an artist proceed with doing another painting or artwork keeping aside this piece for later. It is very true that every artist gets ideas and sometimes it may not always come up as thought on the canvas. You may end up with a muddied artwork if you continue painting over this and there is even fear of your paper tearing or canvas going limp with too much paint over it!

Dragon Collage artwork The Red Pilgrim

So have patience with all your paintings and do keep in mind that not all paintings are master pieces and you may have certain average looking paintings, some good paintings and some very good attractive artworks. This is a journey of every artist as they progress in their career and spoiled paintings are a part of every artists journey. We have to keep obsessively painting and once in a way a master piece just springs up!
Have patience and keep the spoiled paintings aside for few months or even years. Take a look after few months and the same artwork when observed with a fresh perspective may look good, even it may be a masterpiece in itself, just your viewpoint at that time may be different earlier and as you widen your horizon you may learn to appreciate art and who knows, a spoiled painting may even become the most expensive artwork of your career!

Painting since ear 2000 I have obsessively pain ted thousands of artwork son canvas and papers and have tried every means to save most, recycle, repaint, reuse and also torn and burnt so many! the journey continues...as I paint new artworks. 
All the Best from Rizwana!
Healing Paintings Razarts