Coronavirus Art Project: What I’ve been doing during the Covid-19 lockdown

Coronavirus Art Project #1 – Digital Artwork

On March 13th I locked the door to my BaCA studio thinking I’d be back in a few weeks. If only!! I had a canvas in progress and planned to finish it from home. When that one was finished, I started another with stretchers and canvas that I had since art supply stores were still closed.

I use custom printed fabrics in my work and that was the next hurdle.  I wasn’t able to get the fabric needed, so I decided to try creating the artwork on the computer. Digital art was something I’ve been wanting to try but never took the time to do it. I now had time.

I started with a photo I had from my very first figurative piece. It was a blue body created with custom blue textured fabric I printed on my inkjet printer. That was before I decided to incorporate words on the fabric, so now was the chance to recreate it with words.

I learned how to create custom patterns in Adobe Illustrator®, and I used 6 different shades of grey just as I do when I collage with fabric. I had to draw each triangle and rotate the pattern in the shape to mimic the original artwork. I then created the background in Adobe Photoshop® and imported it into my Illustrator document.

I’m very pleased with the results and this allows me to introduce a new line of prints.

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Coronavirus Art Project #2 – A shopping cart

During our second week of lockdown I sold a painting and Three prints. All online. So I decided it was time to get more serious with my online presence. I rebuilt my shopping cart and added all my Greymatter originals to the site.

I’m sure you will agree the internet has been a huge help during this time, keeping us connected (thank you Zoom), keeping us fed (thank you Instacart), and allowing a portion of our economy to thrive. Online stores were doing very well. Maybe the art world will finally think it’s acceptable to sell online. Most galleries don’t have an online store. Big mistake. Most artists don’t even have prices on their sites because they fear any galleries they sell in will get upset. It took the Coronavirus for me to realize it’s time!!

What do you think? Is it time for artists to take control of their art sales? Please Comment below.

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