Last day of trading ...

"What Snake Saw in the Smoke" : Digital Painting : Copyright © 2013 by Martin Herbert
On sale at etsy.com!

So... end of an era!  Today is my last day of trading under the name "Spirit Visions". For reasons previously noted (here), I'm abandoning all the branding and concentrating on making fine-art under my own name. From now on I'm leaving the selling and making money to the people who are best qualified to do it - i.e. the dealers and gallerists. There is something considerably liberating in freeing myself from the self-induced pressure to be marketing manager, advertiser and salesman as well artist. Hopefully that means a lot more time and energy to make a lot more art! To that end there will soon be a new website at martinherbert.com, and to keep in touch you can follow this blog (see "Follow by email..." at top right) and subscribe to the newsletter (click here).

(Of course there remains the small matter of finding one or more dealers who are actually prepared to represent me, but, hey ... details. Actually, of course, I wouldn't be making this move if I didn't have some encouragement in that direction!).

Anyway... today is the last day and I should, for the last time, point out that all fine-art prints, posters and greetings cards in my shop at etsy.com are on sale for the last time today at HALF PRICE.  Enter the discount coupon code CLOSING50 during checkout for 50% off your whole order. Click here to go to the shop.

There ... that's the last time I will need to make any crass commercial announcements through social media! Time to celebrate!

All the best,
Martin

Last week of online sales - everything half price at etsy.com !

"Encyclopedia Xenopelagica Plate VII" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

So, as per my previous posting, I'm ceasing all on-line operations from 31st August. (Well, it might take me a while to get everything taken down after that, but that's the general principle).

Hence, for the last week, starting today - Sunday 25th August, everything at etsy.com is HALF PRICE (woohoo!).

Enter the discount code CLOSING50 during checkout for 50% off your whole order. This is in addition to any individual item price reductions I might already have made.

Additional bargains on other sites as already posted - see here for details.

Bargains!!! Go get 'em!!! (etc.)

CLOSING DOWN SALE! ... The Big Momentous Decision

Coupon code for etsy.com

OK, so... Big Momentous Decision made.

I am getting out of the more 'commercial' and illustrative art business to devote my time to developing more 'serious' work, so as of 31st August 2013 I will no longer be selling artwork (originals or prints) online. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Print-on-demand sites like Saatchi.com and 'crafty' sites like etsy.com don't make enough sales to justify the time and effort I spend in maintaining them and fulfilling orders.
• I have reached a point where I really need to concentrate on developing my artwork to a highly professional standard and so I really need all that time and effort for painting!
• The image presented by these sites conflicts badly with the needs of professional dealers and gallerists who need artists to present a coherent and professional image to potential clients.
• The style, content and technique of my artwork has evolved to a stage where I no longer feel a connection with many of the projects I've undertaken in the past. Having started to find a 'voice', there is a lot of stuff out there which I no longer relate to ... basically I need to leave the artistic past behind and continue developing the directions in which I've been moving for the last couple of years.

I'll shortly be launching an all-new website at www.martinherbert.com, and I will also be maintaining this blog, which will get a major makeover in the near future.

This is basically a Big Scary Thing, and I am launching off into a foray into the serious fine-art world with no guarantee whatever that it will pay off, and resigning myself to the fact that I am likely to make more or less nothing for the next 1 - 2 years. The good news, however, is that until the end of the month I have reduced the price of everything currently for sale online in a grand closing-down sale so...

At etsy.com, enter the discount code CLOSING20 to get 20% off your whole order.

At Fine Art America (or Fine Art Europe), enter discount code VEMDUU to get 20% off your whole order.

At Saatchi Online, prices of originals have already been reduced by at least 20%, with as much as 50% off some items. All prints are on sale at the minimum price allowed by the site, a large saving on some items.

and finally, at RedBubble, I've reduced my markup by 50% on everything, which is as much of a discount as I can afford - don't make much here anyway!).

There will undoubtedly be a lot happening over the next 12 months or so, so keep an eye on the blog, make sure you're subscribed to the newsletter (see below!) etc...

Note: This does mean that our project wowlookwhatigot.com will also not be going forward, but we will fulfil all our obligations to our funding partners - you'll be getting the first prints soon, and they will all be signed and numbered limited editions, so hang onto them - they could be worth real money in the future! (If you never signed up to wowlookwhatigot.com, sorry - it is no longer possible to add new subscribers).

All the best to everyone, and I'll be back with more news soon!

Martin

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Like some art ... get it cheap!!

Go to the shop ... get stuff!  Now!  (Is this working yet?)

OK ... new policy ... from today, whenever anyone adds one of my pieces to a treasury on etsy.com, I'm going to reduce that item in my shop by 10% for a week - keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter for announcements!  (Click on those links right there to follow me on FB or Twitter if you're not already doing so!).

So - if you have an etsy.com account and you'd like 10% discount on any of my work, you know what to do ... go create a treasury that includes one of my pieces and tell me about it.  It shall be announced to the world AND that piece will be discounted for a week!

Go treasure, now!

Still finding art ....

I'm still finding odd bits of art around the studio to sell off ...

The latest is a small pile of little giclée prints from the 'unlikely realms' series of digital abstract paintings.

"Oh, That Old Thing? I've Had it for Years!" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

These are normally only done as large (60cm) prints through the unlikely realms website, but some time in the dim and distant past, I made some small versions to use in catalogues for galleries ... there's still one floating around in Dubai somewhere as far as I recall - not that it generated any sales!

"Juxtaposition (2)" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

So - there are a couple of copies of some of the prints, all signed and dated, up for sale in the etsy.com shop.  These are shipping directly from me in the UK so no problem getting gifts in time for Christmas :-)  Please go take a browse ....

"Introspect" : Digital painting
Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert

Last Month in the Arts: Part 2

So - the second exhibition opening in June was a 'retrospective' (sounds grand, huh?) at Pam Jefferies' 'PH Salon & Gallery' (formerly Pamperhouse Salon) in Newtown, Powys, about 15 miles away.  (Yes, 15 miles (24km) away is our nearest town - that's how far from civilization we are...).

"Aurora, Goddess of the Dawn" : Digital Painting 29 x 11in : Copyright © 2005 by Martin Herbert
Print available from PH Salon & Gallery, Newtown

PH Salon and Gallery is our friend Pam's hairdressing business in Newtown, and she had the great idea of turning it into an art gallery, mainly for her clients - she has a lot of people visiting every month, and she gets to have some great art on the walls to give the ladies something to talk about while they're waiting for their highlights to cook, while artists get to display their work to a discerning clientelle of potential art buyers.  It seems to work quite well. We held a private view on 24th June which was reasonably well attended and there were a few sales on the night.

Me, with Pam Jefferies (right) and Val Howard, mayor of Newtown, who officially opened the exhibition.

The show is a retrospective as it features all the framed prints which I had in stock after the gallery in Llanidloes closed when I went off to Spain. When I came back, I realised i had quite a lot of prints and greetings cards left and figured there must be a few hundred pounds worth which I could sell off.  I did an inventory and came up with over £11,000 worth, so I figured I can afford to have a bit of a sale - all this stuff is doing no good lying around in my studio, and I need to get get rid of it to make room for new work.  So - all the work at Pam's (1-2 Park Street, Newtown, Powys, SY16 1EE) is pretty much half price, as is much of the work on the website (www.spiritvisions.com).  I've also reduced the abstract work on the 'unlikely realms' website.  The main website will be redesigned soon as a showcase for new paintings, and more or less replaced by this blog, so now is the time to order prints!

"I'm for the Hare that Runs by Night" : Digital Painting, 36" x 24" : Copyright © 2003 by Martin Herbert
Full sized framed print for sale at the PH Salon & Gallery, Newtown

On the subject of private views, despite the evening at Pam's  being a success, both myself and my wife Vivi-Mari (go look at her art at www.vivimaricarpelan.com) have had opening evenings for exhibitions since setting up home again here  in Wales last year, and the experience has not generally been good. We've ended up spending time and money on wine and food etc. for a lot of people who just don't turn up - I figure there is no money about and people are embarrassed to come along knowing they aren't going to purchase anything. Actually we'd rather have the people there having a good time - at least it makes it look worthwhile!  However, we've pretty much decided not to do it any more - we need to find other ways of selling.  I read a piece by someone recently who was lecturing at Berkeley and was asked "what is the secret of selling your art?". His answer (paraphrased) was "You only have to do two things: do some great art, and get it in front of people".  All suggestions on how to get art in front of people will be gratefully received!

Martin Herbert: Retrospective continues at the PH Salon & Gallery, 1-2 Park Street, Newtown, Powys, SY16 1EE, UK for the next few weeks.