I simply could not be more humbled, honored and grateful for the kind and thoughtful letters of recommendation that artists and clients have written to recommend me for the Small Business Administration’s Small Business Champion of the Year Award. With six letters, I believe I’m ready to complete the forms and send everything in to the SBA’s Portland office. BUT, I don’t want to get ahead of anyone who might want to add their voice, so if you were planning on writing a letter for me and just haven’t had time yet (or if this is the first you’ve heard of it and you want to jump in, too), please let me know and I’ll be more than happy to wait for you.
Hannah West Design nominated for SBA Small Business Champion of the Year! Help us win!
Wow! Hannah West Design, parent company of the Southern Oregon Artists Resource, was nominated for the SBA Small Business Champion and Home-Based Business of the Year and they have accepted our nomination! YOU can help us win this prestigious honor! Just write a letter telling the SBA how SOAR has helped your business or has otherwise positively impacted the community and email it to soar@soartists.com, and we’ll include it in the info package we send them. They tell us that the sooner they receive everything, the better able they will be to review it by decision time, so if you could take a little time at your earliest convenience to write something nice for us, we’d be very grateful! To help you with the details of your letter, here are the elements that Champions will be judged on (for my beloved artists and art-related businesses/organizations, just translate “small business” into “artists and art-related businesses” to understand what they’re looking for and tell them something about your experience with me as a web designer/workshop instructor/champion of your art business through SOAR):
· Volunteer efforts beyond business/professional responsibilities to advance small business interests within the community, state and/or nation
· Demonstrated efforts to improve conditions in the small business community as a whole, not solely for individual personal advancement; Volunteer efforts to provide professional services to the small business community in a legal, legislative, managerial or financial capacity
· Demonstrated accomplishments in advising small business groups of opportunities within the overall business community
· Other accomplishments demonstrating the nominee’s merit as an effective advocate for small business interests.
I would like to thank my connections at LinkedIn for the thoughtful and positive endorsements they have written for me! Thanks to my wonderful clients for their confidence in me and my work, and those I have worked with in the past in many types of creative endeavors – you are all such good friends!! I appreciate you so much and thank you for your very kind words!!
New Website for Artist Elaine Frenett!
I love working for artists! Like anyone else, I get tired working at my computer for so many hours each day, but the beauty of their work makes it a pleasure from which I never tire. Elaine’s watercolors are a prime example ~ I felt so refreshed after completing her new website! Please visit it, not just to examine my work in putting together this WordPress site using Elegant Themes’ “Envisioned” theme., but to enjoy the galleries of her incredible watercolors. Maybe you’ll like them as much as I do and will contact her to make a purchase.Elaine also teaches visual art journaling ~ if you’re into journaling, you should visit her blog to see how her watercolor illustrations make her memories come to life in the pages!
Here’s a look at the top part of Elaine’s Home Page. You can see the entire page in my Portfolio, but I really do encourage you to visit her site and see it live.
Site Update for Janet London’s London Hummingbird Arts
New Print Gallery slide for “Alpine Meadow”
An update completed on October 17, 2012 for London Hummingbird Arts included the addition of a soon-to-be-available pressed flower art print, “Alpine Meadow” to Janet’s Print Gallery and a new pressed flower product to her Pressed Flower Art Store – pendants showcasing a tiny pressed flower landscape in three designs!
Soooo pretty…sooo much fun to work with these images! I sent one of these to my daughter in southern California. Hers was two-sided, with a sunrise on one side and a sunset on the other. She hangs it from the rear-view mirror of her car.
Mountain Lake scene
Bright Sailboat scene
Tropical Shore scene
Site Update for Jannie Ledard Glass Art
Serene Mandala, Stained Glass Art by Jannie Ledard, Talent, Oregon
Just completed an update for jannieledardglassart.com, including several new stained glass mandalas! Check her Stained Glass page to see her newly added objets d’art, and when you find yourself in Jacksonville, Oregon, stop by the Art Presence Art Center to see them in person!
Oktoberfest Flag Design for the City of Jacksonville
My friend Mary Kell, owner of the GoodBean Cafe in Jacksonville, Oregon, where I curate their monthly art exhibits, asked me to design a classic Oktoberfest Flag for the city to fly during this popular Autumn event. She wanted something similar to the Britt Flag that flies throughout the town during the Britt Music Festival and since this was for the town in general, different from the design used by the Frauhaus Brauhaus, a popular German restaurant in town. I found three traditional Bavarian/Oktoberfest designs online, modified them to comply with Jackonsville’s 4-color sign code restriction and added the headline in a classic German Black font to create a handsome, eye-catching flag for everyone to enjoy next year. ©2012 Hannah West Design
Oktoberfest Flag Design, Side 1, ©2012 Hannah West Design
Oktoberfest Flag Design, Side 2, ©2012 Hannah West Design
eBook for The Grand View Artist Stefan Baumann completed…
Just uploaded the eBook I finished last week to Scribd.com. No, I didn’t write it! Just helped with the final assembly. It was written by artist and host of the PBS series “The Grand View: America’s National Parks through the Eyes of an Artist” Stefan Baumann in the form of 4 years of posts at his blog, Daily Painting. A year of editing of these posts and emails sent to his substantial following by student and volunteer blog editor Kris Baxter resulted in this revised eBook. You’ll be able to download a better copy to print straight from his own website, thegrandview.org, soon, but for now, read it (and see some magnificent art) at Scribd.com: http://www.scribd.com/doc/98239726/Daily-Painting-and-Observations-on-Art-Nature-and-Life-by-Stefan-Baumann
We were fortunate to receive a lovely compliment from the local printers Kris took the finished eBook to in Mt. Shasta – they asked if they could use a copy of the cover as an example for other customers to see what they can do! It does look beautiful, and includes many images of Stefan’s fine nature paintings, including plein air landscapes and wildlife, as well as wonderful instruction on oil painting. I highly recommend that anyone interested in art read or download it.
This is a new kind of project for me, and it was really fun to do. If you have a project similar to this in mind, please contact me to discuss how I may be able to help you realize your vision.
New website for the Art Presence Art Center in Jacksonville, Oregon!
Because I work for so many artists, and just because art is my thing and I believe in its power to transform lives and possibly even save the world, I work with Art Presence, the artist group in my own town to promote the arts and local artists. Being on the Board of such a lively and forward-thinking group of people is refreshing and provides me with a break from my computer to have face-to-face interactions with artists I know, network with new artists and Jacksonville’s business people and city representatives.
I had previously started them off with a very simple site hosted at my own art blog, Art Matters!, but the group was small (and un-tech-savvy) enough that it didn’t really take hold at that time. In March we scored a wonderful location, so the group now has a place to meet, a gallery, and a home. To celebrate this incredible milestone, we got the group its own domain name, art-presence.org, and revamped the site. Now that we have around 100 members, a Facebook page (thanks to artist member Cammy Davis!) and a physical location, the site gets a lot more action from both the artists and the public.
Here’s a look at the top part of this WordPress site’s home page, which uses the Chameleon theme from Elegant Themes. Click the image to see more, learn about our members and subscribe to our blog!
