So much is written about creating a good looking e-newsletter that you might think that is all there is to it. Getting subscribers to open your e-newsletter is just as important. Following are some tips to help you get the maximum return on your e-newsletter investment.

What day of the week is best to send your e-newsletter? Many, but not all, researchers hold that Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are best, but it might depend on your subscriber demographics. Most advise avoiding the first and last day of the month.

What time is best? Researchers also contend that the best time windows are 8-10AM, or 2-3PM local time.  Middle-of-the-night mailings are more frequently caught in spam filters.

What is the average open rate? Non-profit e-newsletters enjoy an open rate of about 40%. Commercial e-newsletters suffer an open rate of about 20%. A reasonably interesting artist’s e-newsletter might have a much higher open rate (even though it is commercial) because people who subscribe are interested in art in general, and yours specifically.  My current open rate is 55%, and my target is over 65%.

How do you track the open rate of your e-newsletter?  It’s easy, especially if your website is with FineArtStudioOnline.com  Make a simple 7-column chart like this:

Issue	Day Sent	Date	EST Time	Number Opened	¸      Total         Subscribers	= % Opened
Aug 09	Sat	8-1	9:18 AM	58	98	59%
Dec 09	Mon	11-30	7:40 PM	39	110	35%

 

This chart reflects only two of the seven e-newsletters I’ve published. With all seven issues listed, the first thing that popped out was that the two lowest % months showed I sent the newsletter in late afternoon in California. The highest open rate was sent at 1:45PM EST (10:45AM in California where most of my readers are.) It also reveals that I need to contact by e-mail the non-openers to tell them about the content of recent e-newsletters, and ask what they would like me to write about.  If, after several months and the follow-up email, a subscriber is not converted to an opener, unsubscribe him yourself.  Also, unsubscribe bounced e-addresses.

Where do you get the info for this chart?  FASO gives you this information when you subscribe to the Gold Plan or higher. Log in to your Control Panel > Marketing Center > Email Marketing > View Details About Sent Newsletters. You are now viewing a summary of all the e-newsletters you ever sent. Fill in all the spaces you can in the tracking chart you drew. At the right side of the Details page click on View Newsletter. Look at the top of the page in the yellow box to find time sent. To determine what day of the week you released the newsletter, consult your calendar.

What do you do with the information? Calculate your open rate with this formula:

   # Opened ¸ #Total Delivered =  % Opened

Notice the highs and lows in your % Open. Look for patterns in day, date and time sent. Use these patterns to adjust the release of your e-newsletter. Keep the chart updated to see if your changes improve your open rate.

For additional information Google "improve open rate".  Good luck!  And let me know what you think of this posting.

Ammendment:  The March “Palette Keeper” went out Sunday morning, February 28 at 6:30AM PST (most of my readers are in the West.) Releasing on a Sunday morning resulted in an open rate of 56%--on par with other top days.

It is also important to me that lots of subscribers reopen the e-newsletter, indicating they are seriously reading it. 

I wish to thank David James Heiss, Staff Writer for the Banning-Beaumont Record Gazette, for his interesting and beautifully written article. He somehow managed to make me sound good. His well-researched article will certainly have an impact on the excitement level at tonight’s "Miniature Art Show" reception at Jack’s Fine Art. 

I was unprepared when Mr. Heiss called to interview me about my paintings. Because of that, I spent much of my time telling him what my work isn’t (it isn't Impressionism.) He persevered and got a little information from me about what my work is about and what motivates me as a painter. After the call was over I realized I had not maximized that opportunity. So I went to my desk and set to work, writing about and defining to myself where I am currently as an artist. Refreshing myself on these talking points will also help me engage with people at upcoming gallery receptions.

Newspapers rarely give you advance notice of their call, and staff writers have varying levels of interest in writing about art. It helps both participants in the interview if you

• Include relevant key words. I mentioned recently joining the Association of Miniature Artists. Mr. Heiss, intrigued, went to their website, found a goldmine and fleshed out his article with a history of miniature art.
• Define briefly how you paint. This is what I should have said:  ” I’m a Tonalist: The mood of the painting is more important to me than is the place. I work in the studio and painting from memory allows me to emphasize certain qualities of our local landscape. I apply oil paint in layers creating a tapestry-like surface, balancing tone until it conveys the mood I want.” That is plenty long, and it gives the staff writer points to ask you about if he wants elaboration.
• Talk briefly about associations to which you belong that are relevant to the interview. I did this right! Mr. Heiss interviewed me about a mini show and I told him I belonged to the Association of Miniature Artists. That is relevant. I did not need to mention membership in OPA and California Art Club because that is less relevant and could have become a distraction from the mini show idea.
• Stay on topic.
• Be enthusiastic. Give the staff writer your full attention. You really want to talk to this person who is giving you an opportunity to put your name out there.
• Thank the staff writer for the interview. Invite him to call back if he has further questions. Write a thank you note.
• Keep a copy of the article when it is released.

After I posted my original article about frames I had an interesting visit with an upscale framer. Regrettably, his frames are out of my league. But his advice is not.

We talked about corners. He said to worry less about slight corner separation, and cited examples of fabulous museum frames that have massive corner separations—well, OK, but they are very old, and some have been through a few wars.

He stressed the importance of no shortcuts in the finishing process. It is the finishing that can make a frame look good 100 years from now.

He described how I can improve the mid-priced frames I use, making them look better over-all, and reducing the brightness of the gold paint to increase harmony with my subdued colors. His suggestion was to apply tinted paste wax, let it set until tacky, dust on some ash or household dust (ick), then gently buff the frame. It will take some time to find the specialized wax he recommended, but I’ll blog my opinion on the result at a later date.

Links to some of USA’s best framers—enjoy….

www.holtonframes.com read about how they do corners. You’ll never look at frames the same again!

www.framesbyedwardwright.com great pictures about the many steps in applying finish to frames.

Three main factors determine the cost and quality of frames: Joinery, finishing and material. Don’t be fooled by terms like museum quality, custom, or gold leaf. Anyone can use these terms.

Joinery: The best frames have what are called “closed corners”. That means the frame is constructed first, then the finishing is done. You should not be able to see the mitered joint. The best frames are built like fine furniture, with corners joined by splines, mortise and tenon, or recessed dowels or screws.

Mid-quality frames often have stapled corners, and then they are finished like the better frames. These look great, and are used most frequently. But over decades, or with handling, the corners may separate slightly.

Lower quality joinery techniques include what is called “chop”. The framer purchases prefinished moulding (some of it is truly high quality), cuts it, glues and staples the frame together. The better framers will fill the mitered corners to create the illusion of a closed corner. Chop frames can get very expensive, but they have the advantage of being very stylish and individualized to your décor.

Perhaps the worst joinery has a little plastic plug that straddles the mitered corner. This is not a very stable corner.

Finishing: The best wood finishes are done in many stages, just like fine furniture. Gold finishes also involve several steps. But what you need to be aware of are the different definitions of gold: The best gold finish is genuine gold leaf, up to 24kt.  It may be applied smoothly, or it may be antiqued.  It is expensive and time consuming to apply well. It is gorgeous.

Mid- to lower-mid quality frames usually use what is called “gold paint leaf”, often shortened to just gold leaf. If it doesn’t have karats it is not the real thing. Gold paint leaf is an acceptable finish. It can look fine. Just don’t be deceived about what you are getting.

Lowest quality finishing generally lacks luster and depth.

Materials: Again, fine furniture construction applies. Quality hardwoods last longest. But softwood pine and barn wood have their place for rustic paintings. The artist may know in what country the frame is assembled, but will rarely know where the wood originated or under what conditions it was milled and finished. 

Manufactured wood is turning up, mostly in low quality frames and moulding. And then there is plastic.… It doesn’t bear discussion.

I would say, “You get what you pay for” in frames, but it is just not true. Mid-quality and chop frames can command very high prices. It is up to you to understand the quality possibilities and realities.  Ask your artist about the frames he/she uses, and understand that artists have to choose their line of frames based on what their collectors are willing to pay.  If you want a Cadillac frame you may have to buy it later.

In my next Blog you’ll get links showing you how the best framers actually make and finish frames, and inside scoop from an anonymous framer.

Echoing color around your painting increases color harmony. That can be done in a variety of ways.

Some artists tone their canvases, allowing bits of that tone to show throughout the painting. Edgar Payne did that a lot.

Another method is just to repeat a color appropriately throughout. Color, value and temperature are modified by their surroundings. If you use this method adjust value and temperature to suit the situation. For example, blue-gray in the mountains can be repeated in the middle ground or foreground shadows, but you may need to warm it a bit, or darken it. Keep it in the same color family.

Still not sure? Think of the volume of objects in your painting: Trees are spheres, trunks are columns. Spheres and columns receive reflected light. Depending on the color of general light, your trees might be backlit in a cool slightly lavender tone or a warm orangey tone. Be subtle. This reflected lighting will give form to objects while moving color around your painting.

Set aside assumptions. In painting, a green tree can graduate to soft orange as its background transitions from one color to another. Robert Wood did this to great effect. Not only does this solve value and temperature problems, it also is a way of moving color around your canvas.

Look closely at how great artists handled various elements in their paintings. Studying original paintings is best, but art books and magazines, and online galleries and museums are also good resources. Use a magnifying glass. Enlarge your screen image.

Artists to study:

• Edgar Payne – for complimentary color schemes, neutral colors, composition & focal area.
• Neil Welliver – energetic colors, and use of paint as line and pattern.
• Vincent Van Gogh – same as Welliver
• Stephen Eugene Mirich – for close color harmony and a limited palette www.mirich.net
• Glenn Dean – color harmony and composition www.landscapesofthewest.com

Interesting Blogs:

      Keith writes about the process of thinking about and creating art. www.keithbond.com/blog

References:

• American Art Review Magazine    www.amartrev.com
• Design and Composition, by Nathan Goldstein. An excellent book. It includes color theory.
• Color in Contemporary Painting, by Charles Le Clair. Another great book.

Color is the most challenging aspect of painting. There are no rules, only theories. The use of color may be guided by emotion, intuition or intellect. It may be based on local color or wild imagination, and it may involve personal or public symbolism. Color can be an effective tool for advancing your ideas. Or, it can undermine your entire painting.

Following are some random notes I will use in teaching a private color workshop. You might find them helpful.

No matter how realistic a painter you are, painting is an abstract process:  You are taking your view of a three-dimensional world and applying it to a two-dimensional surface. A certain amount of translation happens.

There are different theories about color. I consider myself a Tonalist (with my close color harmony and mixing on the palette) influenced mostly by traditional and mildly by Impressionist color theory.   Impressionists, the French ones, at least, did most of their mixing on the painting, or they just laid pure colors side by side and let your brain mix them.

Convey your message with color harmony or disharmony. Push beyond simple representation of local color to amplify the quality and character of your subject. This might mean intensifying color, but it could just as well mean reducing intensity, as I do in my quiet landscapes.

Four ways to reduce color intensity:

• Add the hue’s compliment (always reduces the hue’s temperature, but you can control the amount of temperature reduction by your choice of compliment. Suppose you want to reduce the intensity of distant green trees: Alizarin Crimson will be a very cool compliment, while Cad Red Light will be a warmer compliment. Your painting will tell you which is needed.)
• Add white (this tints the color, lightening the value.  White usually cools the hue.)
• Add black (produces a shade of the hue, darker in value)
• Add neutral gray (helps retain the original value. Paynes Gray, a blue-black, is not neutral. Ivory black is a better choice for shading.)

Next Blog: More about color and moving it around your painting!

E-Newsletters and Blogging are new to me. The challenge is how to make them informative and entertaining, and timely.  Double entendre is intended here:  Not only should Blogs and Newsletters be relevant, but you should receive them at the right time.  And here my attention shifts to the E-Newsletter.

The first three editions of The Palette Keeper (my E-Newsletter) got sent out faithfully on the first of the month.  Gradually, the number of subscribers who actually opened it declined.  I read those statistics--do you?  Last month, due to a vacation, the newsletter was sent a couple days early, and readership almost doubled.  Naturally, today I issued the November Palette Keeper a couple days early just to see if readership stays high. Besides, it's about scarey things just right for Halloween.

Are people just too busy on the first day of the month?  Too swamped with all kinds of email?  What are your ideas on sending--or receiving--monthly newsletters?

Update:  Apparently it doesn't matter when the newsletter goes out, or maybe Halloween undid my plan!

I posted nine new paintings on branchflower.net today.  I wanted to get them up before vacation to northern California.  These new paintings are small, 5x7" and 8x10".  Quite a few are poppy paintings, a subject I never thought I'd like.  The poppies, however, give a blast of color to my otherwise quiet paintings, and frankly, that has been fun.

"Enchanted Oaks" 16x24" Artists refer to all kinds of resources when naming their paintings. The Bible is a favorite with many. Literature, popular and classical music titles and terms are commonly used. Some titles are straightforward in identifying a place or model by name.  However, if an artist paints the same model or theme multiple times—well, you can see the problem: Redhead #14 or Oak Trees #42.  Some paintings name themselves long before they are completed. “Windswept” was about half done when the word whispered through my brain like wind sweeping across bent grass.  Wind gusted through the oak leaves as I painted them, and wind shredded the clouds. For me, the painting became as much about wind as it was about oak trees and dry summer grass. When a painting doesn’t name itself I enter the bargaining phase. Questions include, what is this painting about? What mood does it convey? Will the chosen title offend collectors? Is it corny? Is it pompous? (I’ve used some Latin botanical names!) Is the title understandable? Ideally, the title should enhance the viewer’s experience of the painting. It should never get in the way of that experience. The bargaining phase can enhance the painting’s meaning for the artist. One such landscape was begun when my father was dying, and completed during grieving and release. I had a terrible time discovering its name. It took months. Finally, one day as I just looked at the painting, I remembered Dad taking us to Harbison Canyon and shoveling up bags full of fallen oak leaves from a little ravine. He dug those leaves into his garden, which flourished the following Spring. Was the painting about loss? Or was it about transformation and life?  Was it all of those things?  The title that found the painting was “Enchanted Oaks”. The painting was taken to a higher level because I invested time in understanding its deeper mysteries. Not all paintings are so lucky. Galleries and collectors love their paintings named, and sometimes minimal effort goes into it. Do you remember a word game you might have played—the game with three columns of really impressive words, and you chose one word from each column to make a phantasmagoric project title?  I’ve threatened to resort to that. (Reprinted from Yvonne Branchflower's e-newsletter, The Palette Keeper, October 2009.  To subscribe to The Palette Keeper just click on the newsletter link at the top or bottom of this page.  Future topics in the Blog will be different from those in The Palette Keeper.)