What happened to all good themes on WordPress.org?
I’ve been sitting at computer for too long. As I told before, I don’t have a better theme on my website right now for a very silly reason: I just can’t find a suitable one, it seems almost impossible. All of them look great as demos. Once I start to adapt them to what I need, I end up seeing that one page themes don’t work; themes overloaded with all kinds of fancy stuff don’t work. Also, completely plain and flat themes don’t work, and so on. I tried 8 themes, lost money on one, and here I am: with the same Twenty seventeen.
No change is better than bad change
I decided to leave it as is because while I was doing my theme adjustments, I worked as a slave for two weeks, 14 hours a day. That was affecting my life and everything else I had to do. It’s summer after all, and one is not supposed to spend it at computer. I am going to Latvia soon, but prospects of traveling without cash are not very attractive. I will just have to make some.
Purple variety, delicious apples’ painting
Local sales
Once again, I will try to do something also locally which is very unlikely to be a successful thing because this neighborhood is quite dead in summer. I will try to sell something also over the internet from this same site.
Taking pictures of art
My biggest problem has been inability to capture the painting images. This problem has persisted for many years. I don’t think it’s only mine problem. Camera looks at painting differently, and the color balance depends on colors in painting. Blue, grey and blue green colors look better on pictures. Red, orange and yellow colors are problematic. I have paintings which have a lot of red, and I cannot show them online because there’s shine on it, It is usually impossible to bring back the color balance with editing.
Summer watercolor paintings
Taking pictures of art in context and with background
I have noticed that watercolor artists take pictures of their paintings using contextual background. I started to take such pictures of my art intuitively, some 8 years ago or so. I noticed very soon that everything with background looked fine. I mean, paintings regained their natural colors.
Size is not visible on internet display
That also gives some idea about the size because it is quite annoying to see how my very large art is displayed smaller than my small art on some sites. Just placing something next to painting or having surroundings show behind painting or when art is on the wall results in a photo which has well balanced colors.
Taking pictures of art and displaying online
This particular theme does not allow also displaying everything as I would love to. The featured image becomes too large. I tried to add my own css when doing theme adjustments. I made the blog posts page larger size, but decreasing the widget area resulted in losing the number of followers. I will have to live with this display for a while because too much editing the style caused all content text disappearing completely. I have real fun here!
Nothing compares to real painting
Most art looks better in reality. It can be so annoying at times that after taking about 30 pictures of a painting not even one is good enough to post.
Flowers and fruit: summer compositions
I appreciate your interest
Anyway, have a look at my art and I will also post more exercises for those, who love painting with watercolor and are learning and experimenting with sketching and watercolor. Maybe I should make a specific Facebook page for that? We’ll see how it goes. I believe pictures of paintings look better in context and with background. Some are above and below.
Good luck!
Some of my paintings for sale: Shop art
Art prints and art products on FAA
Your artwork is beautiful, but I can imagine how difficult it is to try and capture the realism of it ‘online’. I realize that your options are limited re costs of shipping etc. or shows. Is there for example any possibilities of something like a display of your art at a show… perhaps smaller scale of the CNE. Somewhere similar to the Cobourg Waterfront festival or Country fairs. My sister (who happens to be visiting) lives in Cobourg and she said that there were many displays. Unfortunately it was in July… but are there any fall fairs or festivals that you can participate within the towns/cities around Whitby.
You’ve perhaps already looked into this type of thing…but for people to see your actual paintings and purchase without shipping etc. would be good….
Just some thoughts Inese…. Diane
Thanks, Diane! Certainly, it is much better when somebody can see the actual painting, not only a resized image of it. We have some shows here and there. My experience is that anything which is more like a fair with foods and simple entertainments isn’t that great for art. One mostly can sell small and very inexpensive pieces. I don’t have much of very small art. I need reading glasses, but when I am drawing, I don’t use glasses because it feels to me that proportions can be somewhat distorted. That’s why my paintings are usually medium or quite large. That is not visible on the internet, definitely not.
My ability to participate in shows that are more distant than a walking distance is quite limited. First of all any show is spending quite a lot of money, and due to all my conditions I cannot drive, so, I would always need to hire somebody to drive me, help setting up and taking down the show.
Besides, the last 4 years, I practically haven’t been anywhere, the previous year was the worst because I could not walk even with support devices for quite long, returning to normal walking is difficult and painful. So, yes, I am very limited with options at the moment still.
It is dreadful how the trip is approaching so fast, and, no, I did not manage to collect some money to take with me yet. Whatever, I am quite tired of hoping to have some kind of income, it’s just very unlikely when health is not that great.
I am in a much worse situation than any normal Canadian who is about to retire because I haven’t had any paying job since I relocated from Latvia. That is 13 years with tiny tiny something. I am paying taxes (how ridiculous is that!!!), and buying medical supplies, and that’s all I could afford all these years. I am getting older, too, not the same energy anymore, plus, these meds have really drained me. Still on meds. Seeing the doctor tomorrow. Thanks for taking interest in helping me with good advise!
You have had and still do.. such challenges Inese. I didn’t realize how limiting your mobility is for you. I hope your appointment goes well. Just another thought and that is to really explain to the doctor that the financial burden your illness has caused… I don’t know if you have to pay for some medications but if so…. there are sometimes ways to get help if not from the government…from the manufacturer of the drug … Sometimes they will offer help for compassionate reasons. I don’t mean to be too personal with you or offend you by my comments at all… It’s just that I feel your frustration… Take care … Diane
Thanks Diane! I don’t take any advise as offence, never. Some drugs are covered by OHIP, and there is lots of stuff which simply isn’t. The thing is that manufacturers are actually the ones who have set such insane prices. Most of them are local. Coverage isn’t provided for the newest and sometimes most effective drugs, also no wound care supplies are covered. I simply mean it is scary how I have 3 Masters degrees and only freelance work. Health issues definitely contributed to this because where are you going to work if you cannot even get to the workplace, right? That’s why I have been giving classes, but, quite honestly, that didn’t cover much. Art supplies are very expensive. I cannot even think about putting frames on all works. That type of thing. I will have to restructure. This last episode with health worsening definitely cost a lot of cancelled orders and lots of cancelled medical writing. I just couldn’t. This year is so much better already. I don’t want even to remember the previous year. I feel like I could do something bad to that surgeon. God will straighten that out, he always does. I just have to work more, be more regular with posting, have to advertise more. It’s just so that quite frequently I am feeling not at my best. It is scary, but I will have to manage the situation somehow.
Your artwork is amazing!
Thanks Victoria! I appreciate you stopped by.
It’s so hard to capture a painting’s essence when viewing it online, even IF and when the colors are true. Even with a calibrated monitor and shooting at 5k kelvin, we cannot control other people’s monitors or their perception. There’s just nothing as good as seeing the painting right in front of you! The good thing is, our collectors are almost assured to be happy because the work looks better in person, than online. Your top painting, the one going across the header is incredible Inese!!! Those blooms POP right out at you, I can only imagine what that painting looks like in person!
Thanks Deb! I was thinking about that. The screens people are viewing art on are completely out of our control. I agree that pretty much every single painting looks better in reality. I have to admit: I have not posted very many paintings online: the photos showed that distant version of the real painting that I didn’t want to show something that much worse. That is true: people who see art in reality always say that the real thing is way better than its image.
Well, my chances to sell directly are very limited and my chances to get out of this place are equally limited. That leaves mostly online, and here I go again: and online shows only somewhat distorted images of paintings. I wish I was able to show this art somewhere where art is appreciated. Here you tell somebody the painting is 300 bucks and one lady almost got a heart attack. I asked her: do you know anybody who works for 2 months for 300 bucks? Anybody at all? Plus, I need materials ans some talent and skill. She agreed that nobody would work for that little. That’s the reality for me at the moment. It’s not looking too good, but I hope to improve this situation (hopefully!) once I am back from Latvia where the rest of my family is.
To be honest Inese, your images are beautiful. i agree with you about finding the right theme – I am not clever enough to make it work for me. I don’t know why!
But your work is stunning, and I think the plain white helps to show off the images you have…
Thanks Mary! White for my paintings is better than black because that’s too heavy. Well, I had a theme where I could change background and something slightly yellow-green-grey or similar, but very light works well. I wasted abnormal time because all settings have to be adjusted with every new theme. The look was just bad and even worse than it is with the 2017 core theme. I didn’t send them my question yet, but I adjusted the front page which I want to be post page using some css and it became wider. However, I lost the number of followers since I narrowed the widget area, so on. I was adjusting everything so much that at one point I noticed my posts didn’t have any text anymore. Well, adjusted back and text returned. So, I was disappointed because there are so many themes, but most are business, store, photo gallery, etc. I noticed that my works looked real crowded with portfolio layout, they couldn’t breathe.
Thanks for your wonderful comment!
Your artwork is beautiful. Hope all your problems get solved, so that you can brighten the world with your unique paintings.
Thanks so much! Problems are almost solved, so, I hope I will be doing so much more upon my return back in Canada.
Have a safe journey.
Thank you, thank you! I hope everything will be fine.