© copyright

©

I am retrieving, collating and watermarking all my online images with the copyright symbol. I guess I should have done that before, but it has been talked about a bit in the MA forum, and now is the time. As all such fiddly things, it takes about 14 times longer than you'd think, but hopefully I am setting up a good system.

It means reloading all the images on my website:

www.eleanormacfarlane.com


and also having a look at all the numerous artists profile sites I am listed on. I have just counted - I think I have a profile on over 30 artist sites:


saatchionline eleanormacfarlane


londonsartistquarter eleanormacfarlane


wooloo eleanormacfarlane


etc, etc, etc.

I aim to look in to these profiles and update and check them about every other month. Sometimes they change their formatting and images get lost. I started joining these about two years ago when I set up my website and got my cards printed, etc. It took a long time to set up the look, the images and information I would put in them, but now it's straightforward, although each site has its own format. I aimed to have a consistency, like a brand, that would be recognisable from site to site, and would be linked to my own website.

Although I don't fully use all the possibilities of these sites (some are a bit confusing and not transparent), they are interesting for a number of reasons - browsing other artists and their practice, and sometimes seeing people I know or studied with. There some things to dismiss in these sites, but sometimes we glean best practice from seeing how not to do a thing, as well as good examples.

I sometimes look through what other artists have done, perhaps in moving image or in spirit similar to me, to see if there is something there I could also do. The conclusion I reach is that everyone has their own pathway in art and creativity, including the work and career paths taken, but there is some common practice in what information is made public, how CVs are collated, etc.

Artist sites often have good listings options, both to post upcoming exhibitions, and for opportunities, so they are worth trawling through once in a while. In my own website, I have a stats facility which shows me how many people have looked in, and where they have come from, so that I can see if they have clicked from one of these profiles. a surprising number come through from:


wobblybridge eleanor-macfarlane

and

wotartist eleanormacfarlane
 

If I come across a good site, I tend to join it, in the philosophy of hope and chance, that I may make a connection with someone who may want to show or collect my work. You never know.

14th March 2011