Etsy eSMArts Team Paying it Forward....

ALL PROCEEDS GO TO WORTHY CAUSES!

eSMArts (etsy Social Marketing Artisans) is a global collaborative of mixed media artisans whose mandate is to foster friendship, creativity, connection, inspiration, discussion and plenty of cross promotion via implementing social marketing principles in order to drive traffic to our Etsy storefronts and other sales sites.

Our team believes in Paying It Forward and our intent is to utilize this shop to do just that and support those in need. Recently, one of our flock, a fellow Etsian, suffered a loss that makes it impossible to sell her products. All proceeds from the sales of these items go to replace her stolen computer. The items in our shop are donated by the caring and wonderful members of eSMARts towards that end.

In the future, we will select other groups or people with a serious need for financial support and it will be announced here who we are supporting. Come and help us help someone who really needs us right now.

The team shop is run by ABeadedAffair... Lois is a wonderful caring jewelry artist that is always looking to lend a hand. She is a successful business woman who runs a title insurance company and a growing jewelery business and yet finds time to champion worthy causes like this. Please visit A Beaded Affair to see more of Lois' designs and supplies.

Here are other samples of items you can purchase and help out a worthy cause:

A pair of Canada Geese guard their nesting spot. Artist: Van Stewart Bevil

This is a 7.5 inch Biaggi/Troll bracelet with sterling silver stoppers. The beads are cored with Sterling Silver and made from Cyan Blue and Cyan Green glass mixed together for the subtle effects seen. Each bead measures 20 mm wide x 12 mm high. Artist: wilmas-whimseys

Warm brown etched glass rectangles with copper trim are matched with copper beads and goldstone to form this lovely fall necklace and pierced earring set. Copper beads in a decorative disc form are paired with golstone, and other copper beads are matched with brown etched glass beads that match the larger rectangular ones. Artist: S & T Creations

Please stop by and see the many other offerings the eSMArts team has put together to help one of their own.

Focus on an Esmarts team member : CoastalArtist

Etsy and eSMArts are both interesting places…”Why?” you might ask…my answer: “Because of the extraordinary people there.” I’d like to introduce to you one:
CoastalArtist.

Coastal (Van) joined Etsy July of this year and eSMArts in August. In the short time I’ve gotten to know him, I am taken with both his art and his insight. Looking at his art in both pencil and oils you see what he sees; you feel what he paints or draws. That is not easy to communicate, but Van makes it look easy. To use his words:
"With each painting an artist becomes a 'self-taught' artist, learning something different with each painting rather it be the application of colors and hues or the different composition styles a particular scene or animal offers. Each painting is an adventure into the world not only of art but the spirit of the subject, be it a wolf in Montana or a Green Heron on the shores of Week's Bay."

I have enjoyed our Thursday evening team chats on Etsy and it has given us all the opportunity to get acquainted with Van and I enjoy his humor….
“There was no doubt in my heart or spirit that I would be an artist someday ..... I'm still working towards that goal sixty-three years later. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, my father wanted me to be an engineer, my brother just wanted me to be gone. My grandfather wanted me to be a preacher, my grandmother, a full blood Cherokee, wanted me to follow my spirit.”

Van speaks here (with humor, of course!) about his introduction to the arts:
“My mother had said more than once that "I was born with a paint brush in one hand and a pencil in the other". (Not sure she ever forgave me for that LOL) I began drawing as soon as I could stand and reach the wall with my crayons, those that I didn't eat first. After learning what NO meant and what a 'SWITCH' was (that was way back when you could spank a disobedient child) I began using paper. To this day paper and pencil are my favorite mediums. Pencil sketches can capture the moment or scene with just a few strokes or a thousand neatly laid out lines. Along the way I discovered oil paints and canvas.”

eSMArts is a diverse team with members spanning the globe and from all walks of life… here is a bit more about Van:
To this day..... I walk after my spirit. Even after 60 years of painting and drawing the world around me, I start each new painting with all the excitement and expectation as if it were my first. An avid outdoorsman, I live with my wife Joyce (behind every man stands an even greater woman) on the sun-filled Gulfcoast of Alabama. Together we explore the bays , bayous, and shoreline for a never-ending supply of new sources for paintings.















Van invites you to visit CoastalArtist on Etsy as do I!!
CoastalArtist on Etsy
“I share with you my art but I also share with you my spirit. Don't just look at the art.... spend the time with it and feel it. Let it touch you, let our spirits touch.”

Other "artsy" endeavors...and Marketing tips

As I was rewriting my profile for my Etsy store, I gave some thought to sharing more about myself with my online family and visitors alike. Before my jewelry there was art... before my 30's or 20's...there was art. All my life I have drawn, painted, crocheted, made quilts, tatted, knitted and have tried various other mediums. Of all these, jewelry making is by far my favorite. I love the feeling of taking a mass of beads, gems and wire and making something that someone will proudly wear! There is nothing like hearing the "ooohh and ahhhs" of a satisfied customer.

Here are some other artsy creations....My room divider \ Photo display ~I painted the rose trellis freehand.

My Wedding album... I designed the album and painted each flower on paper individually then cut them out and arranged them on the photo page. Labor intensive...but I love it!

And glass painting... these goblets found a home with my Mom.

Marketing tip:

Never compete on price alone. If you do, there'll be no reason for customers to return if a competitor has a better deal. You need to offer added value, whether it's a strong guarantee or better customer service, or discounts to repeat customers... to draw customers permanently into the fold.

My new favorite artist meet Paulette Insall!

You have to visit her site.... she has an awsome talent! In her own words:

"My art is about the search for connection...to self, to like minded spirits, to family, and to God. The reason that most of my work depicts a sole woman is because these are the stories of my own personal search and the emotions they invoke within my soul. My hope is that the visual stories I create with my art, touch people from all walks of life and let them know that they are not alone...and find comfort in that knowing."

Here is where to see more of Paullette's originals:

Etsy store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5149776

Watch Paulette paint:

http://www.youtube.com/pinsall

Her website

http://www.pauletteinsall.com/

I hope you enjoy getting to know Paulette as much I have!

Blessings,

D