Kimberly,

Yes, I would say so.

There are two things I believe to be true with regard to the Forum fee issue. The first is that certain artists, owing to economic hardship, should be exempt.

The other thing is that the rest of us should pay for quality, and this is unmistakably a high quality site. It is also a record of us all. Who knows what historians will make of this a hundred years from now? Some of the heated discussions of late may take on the same legendary proportions as say, Carravaggio

I am sorry Cynthia, I wasn't awear that you would consider this private since the way I understand things; you discuss all with your board. I would certainly consider it private for me, but since it was the underlying decision maker in the question you have posted here, I shared. Sorry if it upsets you. It's business, not personal. I would never post the original text.

I really thought there were artist here who felt like myself and it would be wrong of me to not point this out.

Beth,

The Board for the Forum has nothing to do with decisions about who is accepted on the main site. The Forum Board is only for Forum decisions. As far as a Board that approves or dispproves for the main site, that's a different set of artists.

Business, not personal? I'm not sure I understand that.

Beth and I have had conversations about being accepted as an SOG artist. I wish she didn't place so much importance on it. This is not the Royal Academy. It is an advertising medium, where artists pay for an advertising service. SOG acceptance will not make or break an artist. It will add them to a directory, and give them a nice looking web page. SOG artists don't necessarily get commissions from their association with SOG (I've been told this by some who are SOG artists), just as full color ads in major magazines often result in not a single commission. Each advertising medium is only a single cog in the overall self-promotion machine.

In my opinion, this forum is a major asset to anyone aspiring to be a successful portrait artist. It's far more valuable than being listed with SOG, and it's worth paying for.

Gallery vs. on- line gallery
 

To have a show at the china Art Gallery, artist needs to pay a minimum of 50,000 yuan, about $6,300.

To show one's works on on-line gallery, then profited from workshop and other ways, should the artist just walk away without paying any commission?

Many art magazines bored me. Judging by most criteria, considering its conditions, SOG is more interesting to me than almost all of these magazines.

Cynthia is on the right move, one doesn't have to let everyone command. As the world turns, you turn.

Many artists do, some do not. And, there doesn't seem to be any particular reason to it in some cases.

However, I also encourage the artists to see their web site as an online portfolio that is part of a whole marketing package. The thrust of each individual item contributes to the power of the whole.

This may be "out there" for some, but when I worked for Robert Schoeller, whenever incoming work started to drop off, we would send out mailings of his new work to people in our prospect file. Over the six years I worked with him, not one single commission ever directly resulted from those mailings. But, without fail, incoming work would increase. I kept statistics and graphs on key activities in the business and made business decisions based on those decisions. So, it was there, clearly able to be seen.

Additionally, there are benefits to having a web site beyond getting work directly from it. Most of the following is from the artists themselves:

1. Wm Chambers was ready to start a photo shoot at a new client. The client suddenly wanted to see his work again, but he had not brought a portfolio. Happily, they had Internet access and that solved the problem.

2. Gordon Wetmore was at a party and a guest wanted to see his work, but he had not brought a portfolio. The host had Internet access and the guest was able to view Gordon's portraits right at the party. Gordon got the commission.

3. Many, many artists have reported that having a web site brings them extra credibility with clients and prospects. The comment I get is that clients and prospects say delightedly "oh! you have a web site."

4. An artist's web site can be used as a PR and marketing tool. Putting up new portraits on a web site and letting the client be involved means that most likely they will tell family and friends and that's just that many more people who know about your work - you never know, one of those might commission a portrait later.

There are many benefits that have happened from magazine articles (Gwenneth Barth in International Artist, the artists included in New Yorker Family Guide) to workshops. Often a web site is simply a great tool to use in closing an existing prospect. But, I have found that the artists who are excited about their site and really use it (refer people to it, put it on business cards, send out announcements of their web site, etc.) are the ones who seem to have the most success. Those who sit back and forget about it, not as much.

Most of these are general benefits of a web site. However, re being Stroke of Genius, because of it's very high visibility, artists do get more traffic than if they are on a site by themselves. More traffic always means more possibilties. The name of the game on the Internet is traffic and more traffic. As well as family commissions, artists here have been contacted by the White House, the US Senate and the US Supreme Court and many corporations and other entities. I think it's pretty wonderful that these government places know about Stroke of Genius as a place for portrait painters. I've also been contacted by Tiffany & Co.

No, I would never say being on SOG would make or break an artist, but I believe there is a certain prestige in being associated with it that is recognized, otherwise we wouldn't be getting contacted by the likes of the White House.

Cynthia,

I didn't mean to offend. I just wanted to make the point that SOG is not a ticket to success, any more than rejection by SOG is a ticket to failure.

Jeff,

I understood that. I just wanted to give a more complete picture.

I think the need for having a website is a given these days, and I believe that Cynthia makes the most beautiful ones anywhere on the web. I tell other designers to check out her sites to see the benchmark of the most professional and elegant-looking web design out there.

I could have created my own site but Cynthia does it better and also maintains it without my needing to get involved in those headaches -- which gives me more time to paint.