arthobby.co.uk» art

Art to a Virtual Spring Clean

Diane Stafford — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 02:36:23 +0000

Surely there’s an art to a virtual Spring clean!

hmm.. well I’m not sure if there is actually an art to it, perhaps it’s just part of the creative compulsion to tidy up as soon as the spring sunshine arrives.

If you’re like me then those first rays of sunshine will have had you tackling the domestic spring clean, but have you started your ‘virtual’ spring clean?

Be warned, it’s not for the faint hearted!

Have you reviewed the actual amount of virtual real estate you own or are listed on?

Probably more than you think!

Do you know how much havoc a virtual spring clean can wreak on your page ranking?

Let’s not even go there shall we!

My virtual spring clean started a few weeks ago and has involved getting to grips with a lot (understatement) of virtual tidying up in many places, not least of which is the virtual spring clean taking place here on the Art Hobby Website.

What your site visitors don’t see!

Well, you probably can’t tell just by looking at this page, but we’ve had a few behind the scenes upgrades. There’s the Art Hobby website theme upgrade to the Genesis Framework, which is quietly working like a dream, so that’s been the least time consuming tidy up so far. (I know, don’t mention the homepage … we’re getting to it)!

The art of being ruthless

Spring cleaning our Members email list has been a rewarding challenge. You probably do this and I do to .. you join a newsletter because something catches your attention, then when your inbox gets far too busy for you to read every email that seeks your attention, you either don’t bother reading most of them and delete them unopened or mark them as junk [ personally, I never do the latter ].

Throw into the equation poorly structured email content, self critical but true, and it’s little wonder that your open rate stats go down and your junk rates go up!

Just stick your ruthless Spring Cleaning head on and invite members to unsubscribe if they don’t want to read your emails.
and, replace your email content with something of more value to your member readers

It may sound radical to invite members to unsubscribe and you may fear the loss of some of your subscribers, yet the results may just surprise you.

Ask yourself, would you rather have a massive number of members, xx% of whom mark your emails as spam (every time you send one) or a smaller number of members who actually read your newsletter.

Early days, but the results for Art Hobby so far are very positive. The stats from the email service provider we use will keep us on our toes though that’s for sure!

Keep on Spring Cleaning

Virtual spring cleaning doesn’t really stop.

The art to a virtual spring clean is really in allocating the time to keep on top of continual improvements. Making or finding enough time to do or to achieve everything you want is a big challenge, it is for me, yet one step forward each day is better than none, so let’s keep on spring cleaning!

Anonymous
Never be afraid to do something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark; professionals built the titanic.

Featured Artist: Art Illustration by Kitty Dinners

Diane Stafford — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:29:25 +0000

Featured Artist and Illustrator

Katy Dynes is our featured artist and illustrator simply because…

… we fell in love with her gorgeous range of illustrations and designs.

We thought you’d like to find out a little more about Katy
and her beautiful art and illustrations.

Her illustrations are filled with colourful quirky characters
which are loved by kids and their parents alike.

We also have the pleasure of owning one of her lovingly handmade, original, soft toys, which are certainly worth watching out for in the future, although they are not yet suitable for babies, you never know, they might be soon! One to watch!

About Katy Dynes

Katy Dynes lives in Bedfordshire, England.

After graduating with an HND in 2D Animation, Katy has been working as a Freelance Illustrator since 2007. Her work covers a huge range of subjects including greetings/handmade cards, book illustration, cartoons, pet portraits, soft toy designing/making and teaching Art workshops to Primary School children.

To view Katy’s art illustration and range of designs you can visit her website, below,
or contact her at:

Kitty Dinners Art Illustration

Art Hobby Craft : Artist Profile

Painting The Welsh Landscape

Diane Stafford — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:15:09 +0000

Artist, Edward McNaught-Davis.

Painting the Welsh Landscape must surely be easier when you live amid the beauty of the Welsh hills!

Nestled in the Welsh Landscape, Artist, Edward McNaught-Davis, is creatively inspired throughout the seasons. Imagine waking to those wonderful views every morning. Edward transfers many of those beautifully captured moments, throughout the year, onto canvas.

Dedicated to honing his art techniques, old and new, expanding and applying his talents to his original paintings, from which he reproduces his very popular fine art prints, you’ll see that the Welsh Landscape certainly does feature in his Farming Paintings Wales series, and other Welsh art works on his website.

Taking His Painting to New Heights!

Edward may be nestled into the Welsh landscape, however, that doesn’t keep him from taking to the skies to gather new perspectives.

Edward says: “This aerial view of Carew Castle in Pembrokeshire, Wales, was achieved by flying over it in a light aircraft. Fortunately, I was not the pilot!”

Lucky thing being able to do a fly-over in the name of art!

A professional fine artist and cartoonist. Most of my art is inspired and includes traditional and contemporary compositions highlighting the beauty of landscapes, seascapes, townscapes and everything else in between. My cartoons have been used to illustrate publications, training aids, greeting cards and simply to hang on the wall.

See More Art by : Edward McNaught Davis

Welcome to Art Hobby Website

Di Stafford — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 18:52:54 +0000

Welcome to Art Hobby Website.

We are updating our art hobby website as not very much has changed for quite some time, leaving the old version of the website design looking rather jaded and it was not very useful for you, the user.

The new logo design is simple, yet fits neatly alongside our arts and crafts creative network website.

We will be re-adding our free ebooks and reports here on art hobby in due course. So please do revisit for updates.

Thanks