Danielle Calabro

I read something tonight that kind of got under my skin. I would like to know what others think about this comment... "If your not making money from your art, it's a hobby not a career." Here is my thought......does a career not start somewhere? As I said before I have that regular 9-5 job, not a career. I did not wake up one day and say "I want to work in customer service for the rest of my life." There are things I need to learn before I can truly make a living from my art, more then learning techniques. I take that comment as an insult to anyone who is working through this process. Why is it that people who have no idea seem to think they have all the right advice and right answers? I still need to learn the marketing aspects of being an artist and that is out of my comfort zone, again something I have to work through. So for someone to say my art is just a hobby  because I have only sold one painting really pisses me off. I work hard at my job so ...

I get a newsletter emailed to me from " Skinny Artist ", the specific  blog was about "How to get more traffic to your website". They had mentioned a website called  stumbleupon.com , being the curious woman that I am I checked it out, signed up for it and now  I am hooked. What is it? Stumbleupon.com is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users.  You are able to personalize it to your taste and interest.  You chose some of your interests and it will bring up sites that contain those interest. It is great if you want to browse the internet but don't know what you are looking for. What I found Of course one of my interest was art and it brought up this pretty cool interactive art site called  weavesilk.com . It is interactive generative art that allows you to use your mouse to create whirls and transform beautiful designs right on your computer screen, it was created by Yuri Vishnevsky, a computer science and linguistics ...

Nothing is worse then having a job that just doesn't make you happy and knowing it is going to take a lot more time to do what you love.  I have been in customer service type jobs since I started to work when I turned 16. What makes it worse is that I have a goal (to make a living from my art) and I am  pursing it but I am not a patient person,  all you have to do is ask my kids :). I know this is going to take time, probably years and I can honestly see why some artist fail. It gets so depressing when you create something and it just collects dust, while your wallet is empty from buying the art supplies (which is not cheap for better materials). What I know is, I need to market myself, create more and step out of my comfort zone. I am a shy person, I am always afraid of what someone will say. I remember that great saying "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one" and that is the problem. REJECTION, another scary word for me. Finding time to paint or draw seems almo...

I consider myself a traditional artist, pencil, paper, paintbrush, cavas, markers, pastels you name it, I want to use it all. I have done some graphics design on the side and I always had a tough time drawing on photoshop, I always had to hand draw what I wanted and scan it in to illustrator and have it trace it. I could never get that stupid pen tool to work for me. I even tried getting a mid grade drawing tablet, still I just couldn't get it to work for me. Technology has and still is changing the way art is created and I love me some technology. I wanted something I could use when I was having painters block, maybe even do a rough Draft before putting it on canvas, something that I can take with me when I have idea that I need to draw before I forget it. I did a lot of research, I wanted to find something that wouldn't break me or my husband.There are a lot of awesome drawing tablets out there, and trust me when I say if I had and extra $2500.00 I would have got one of ...

I know I haven't posted many paintings lately, with the holidays and new gadgets I have gotten a  little side tracked. Well it is back in the studio again this week. I have a great idea running around in my head and will hopefully have something by the end of this week to show you.  Please stay tuned. THANK YOU :)

I am finally starting to get the blending down a little better. This was done in Sketchbook Pro. This is one of my favorite apps, I also like art rage too.  Like I said before they both have different things to offer, to bad you can't combine both in one.

I am still trying to get the hang of the tools, love how many different apps there are for  drawing on a tablet. Each one has its own thing to offer. I will be working on these on  my down time from painting, more to come soon though.