Visitors' poll

Dear Cynthia,

I think this forum is amazing and I am always amazed by the standard of the participators, as well as their helpfulness and generosity.

A single mother of two smaller children I never seem to get around to finish my paintings. I am since appr 5yrs a regular visitor - albeit not frequent...

Hope to join some day - in the meantime I admire and learn.
from Sweden

I've too have attended but not particpated for many years mainly because there is no need for me to do so. The pleasure is in the viewing, discovering; when one goes to a mueseum, slowly walking, drinking in the colors and the textures then, ah there's that one, that makes me stop. I get that here on this forum.

So I see the need for a process for submission, I'm not however, in agreement with the current format and would probably never submit my own work as this is not my field.

When I applied some time ago I didn't bother to take photos of my latest work, and submitted two pieces that were not representative of my best, although they were better than the puffy cheeked, hard edged, frontal flash, under modeled portraits you see all over the net. Anyway, I didn't think it would matter, because I felt I was a little more advanced than some of the posters I have seen here in the past (although most of the posters are more capable than me). My figurative and portrait work is good enough to have been accepted in several juried shows.

I was a little surprised at the rejection, but apparently the standards have gone up. I enjoy the lively discussions, and feel I have something to contribute. I fell like I know some of the artists here, I have read them so much over the years. Like Sharon, for example.

Sharon: since I haven't been able to answer your posts, I just want to take this opportunity to say I totally agree with you on working from live models.

Now, back to the subject at hand:

I still don't think that the forum should be open to those who lack very basic skills. That would load down the forum. But maybe consider an "apprentice" designation for a limited number of members.

Thanks for listening.

I picked "other." I like to read the posts, but I don't need to participate. Mostly I come in to see what people are working on. There are some beautiful pieces out there.

Lisa Gloria

I have no qualms with the jury process but I find it *extremely* short sighted to not have at least one section of the forum where non-members can post.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I have no qualms with the jury process but I find it *extremely* short sighted to not have at least one section of the forum where non-members can post.

Perhaps the following will help in regards to your statement of being shortsighted.

I think one thing that is perhaps not clear to many is that the Forum is not and never was intended to be an entity unto itself like WetCanvas. From what I know of them, their primary mission is an artist community. Here, the Forum is simply an offshoot of the main Stroke of Genius web site and is intended to reflect the main site - simply a side benefit for professional portrait painters.

So, we are not trying to be everything to everyone. For a long time, the main site existed without a Forum - the Forum was and is not a necessary entity in order for the main site to achieve it's purpose. My business is the main site - not the Forum. Except for the donations that come in and the bit of money I make on orders from the links shown in the Forum, it is not really an income producing entity - yet it does require my time and attention.

Perhaps many visitors think that once installed, the Forum requires little to no maintenance or time from me. However, even apart from the jury process, there are regular administravtive and technical issues to address and maintenance/upgrades to be done.

The other thing you may find of interest is that originally it was only going to be for the artists who are listed on the main site - simply a benefit for the member artists and not open to the general public. However, I decided to change that direction and open it to other portrait artist professionals.

Given all this, what are you looking for that you are not getting? Are you saying have a separate section just for non-members? Or are you saying allow non-members to post in exisiting sections? Would this benefit other readers and in what way?

I had no idea that "guests" could participate in this forum other than to read.

My work was juried and not considered good enough for membership, I think 2004 or 2005..

[Cynthia Daniel]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I had no idea that "guests" could participate in this forum other than to read.

My work was juried and not considered good enough for membership, I think 2004 or 2005..

Generally, guests cannot post. This is a special section open to guests.

[Cynthia Daniel]

Originally Posted by Cynthia Daniel

Generally, guests cannot post. This is a special section open to guests.

Generally guests cannot post. This is a special section opened to guests.

As your work progresses, you're always welcome to reapply.

I checked "other." The process of getting accepted or declined here seems to have some "kinks" in it, or maybe it's just me - I'm not certain.

I tried registering once a long time back, since I enjoyed reading the information here, and found threads that I felt I could contribute to. I have a great deal of experience in art and am a well mannered fellow, so I figured I could manage the decorum. Unfortunately, I never got a reply back of any sort to my attempt at registering, so I just assumed I was declined.

A few days back (I think it's been over a week now) I thought I'd just try again to register, but as of yet still haven't gotten a response - maybe it just takes more time. Those folks must be very busy with more important tasks, etc...

Also, since I never received a reply, I never bothered to try logging in, but just now I discover that I actually could log in and be recognized, unfortunatelty I'm still not allowed to enter replies, even to this thread. I had to log out in order to write up this entry.

I understand you're reasoning for all these obstacles, but it just amounts to a big pile of frustration, which in the end is not worth the effort. Plus, in all honesty, there's this slight taint of elitism on SOG's part at requiring new members to go through all the process, however well intended or necessary it may be. I feel your insistance at scholarship of your members is unnecessary, to be frank. Inexperienced people will be intimiated without that - just look at all the "too shy" responses you're getting here. It's only informal talk and opinions that we're sharing after all. If an inexperienced person speaks up, they can be politely educated. Maybe there's some history to your reasons for these restrictions that I'm not aware of, however.

When a bar has been set, there needs to be an obvious reason for a person to want to climb over it, hoping you understand my metaphor. As nice as this place is, it's not exclusive to it's content. There are other places to go to that aren't so tedious to enter.

Whew. I do appreciate the opportunity to finally speak. Thanks.