Category: Artwork

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To Watermark or Not to Watermark Images For Sale

Some say watermarks deter buyers from purchasing Art, others say it doesn’t.

It’s true that there are many comments on line leaning one way or the other. What I tend to do is listen to those with the most experience. Should I listen to folks who sell a couple dozen works a year or the folks who sell thousands of pieces a year. Amazon, eBay, Fine Art America and ImageKind, who sell thousands of units have run A/B tests and have determined that watermarking degrades sales. They are not artists with egos – they are Internet marketers looking to improve the bottom line.

Indian River Inlet Bridge
Charles W. Cullen Bridge at Indian River Inlet – with an example of my usual watermark.

In my case, I choose to NOT watermark the images I upload for sale at Imagekind or Fine Art America and other POD (Print On Demand) art companies. If the unscrupulous want to steal an image – they will – and there is nothing you or I can do to stop them. Anyone with rudimentary image editing skills can remove your watermark in a matter of minutes.

On the other hand I DO watermark images that I post to social media and on other websites. Why, you ask? Well, there I want people to see where the image can be found. My watermarks include a URL – in most cases my USPictures.com domain. I can have that domain point to whichever POD I choose (and I can change that at any time).

CLICK: Bill Swartwout Photography

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My Favorite Cat Artist in the Whole World

Dora Hathazi Mendes has a pure talent for depicting cats in watercolor.

Dora is an artist colleague who lives with her husband and family in Portugal. We have collaborated on various art activities over the last two years. We are colleagues in that we both use Fine Art America as our Print On Demand (POD) art production facility. (FAA is the largest fine art POD in the world. )

If you like cats, as most people do, and find them fun to be around, you might just find that Dora’s art a real joy to see. That’s why I decided to share some of my favorites here on my personal website. I hope you like her paintings as much as I do.

Here is an assortment of snapshots of the above work-in-progress. There are many steps involved in creating such a lifelike likeness of the black kitten – especially in the medium of watercolor on fine art paper.

Of course some cats take a more laid back approach to life. Here is Dora’s watercolor of a ginger Maine Coon cat. The Maine Coon is the largest of domesticated cats and, even though they have active hunting skills, are laid back, fluffy and friendly. Below you can see this artwork on a notebook cover, one of the popular items also produced by Fine Art America from original art. BE sure to click the picture to see the actual piece.

Here are links (click below) to Dora Hathazi Mendes and her art at Fine Art America:

Note, please, that this is not a “sales pitch” – but should you decide to purchase something from Fine Art America, Dora will earn her artist fee and FAA will pay me a (very) small ad fee.

Dora has contributed to the success of my new Artistic Face Masks website where her designer face masks have proven to be popular sellers.

You can see my work at Bill Swartwout Photography.

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Do you buy your own art?

Yes, I buy my own fine art photographs.

I have actually heard that question a few times over the years and have even seen it posted on art forums every now and then. There is a story in here somewhere – maybe akin to “the cobbler’s children with no shoes” or the “lawyer dying with no will.”

Fine art photographs by Bill Swartwout Photography

Well, our home is certainly not like that. Here is recent addition to the living room wall at our beach home. Here are two new 36″x24″ canvas prints chosen from my selection of “beachy” scenes. They are on display above the couch and is a centerpiece of the room, opposite the stone fireplace.

The photograph on the left is of windblown surf and dunes near Fenwick Island State Park. The one on the right is a gorgeous sunset over Little Assawoman Bay. These can, of course, be purchased from the place I purchased them – from my online gallery at  BillSwartwoutPhotography.com.

We now have a total of five (5) prints on canvas in that side and two other in a smaller size. We also have four framed prints adorning walls in our dining room.