I'm pretty excited about something new I'm doing that I discoverd here at Art Scuttlebutt through reading what other artists' are doing: I discovered cafepress.com.  This is a very cool "store" I guess you could call it.  You can set up your own shop and sell everything from coffee mugs to tee-shirts that have images of your own artwork on them.  It is extremely user-friendly and I'm pleased to say my shop is up and running: www.cafepress.com/LindaSmithart - check it out if you have the time.  Since I'm both a fine artist and a photographer, I have divided my store into two sections: one with products that carry my photo images, and one with products that carry images of my fine art paintings.

 In this day of almost economic recession, artists I've talked to are having to find all kinds of ways to market their work to generate income.  CafePress is one way to do this.  My family is actually quite excited about it.  My daughter encouraged me to put a few images on infant wear so she could order some for my grandson.  How cool is that?

 Another awesome website I've discovered is Blurb.com.  I actually came across this one in the April issue of Oprah's magazine, just a little bitty article, but it is opening up a whole new world for me as an artist.  At Blub.com you can write your own books.  The software is very very easy to use and free to download and the quality is first rate.  I've looked through some of the books they have in the public bookstore and it is impressive.  I'm already at work on a book of photography and have a couple more ideas in the works.

 In other areas of art-related things, I'm doing more teaching than ever.  I have private students who come to my home studio and I teach through my community's adult education program and through its parks and rec program.  The gallery I'm associated with also offers classes and I hope to teach there as well.  Of course, I still need to make time to paint.

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