Look at the palms of your hands and recall what you accomplished with them in 2011. At the end of every year I look back at my life to review what I learned, what goals I attained, who I helped, and how I could have made more of a difference. The lines in my palms connect to the lines in yours reminding me we are all in this together, hand in hand on our journey of love, life, art, spirit.

I place my palms together and bow to the compass of your heart. May it guide your creativity, and prosperity in 2012.

Peace

Greg

The Project-Peace on Earth concert will be broadcast live from Manger Square, Bethlehem on Christmas Day, 9:00 AM, PST.

Go here.

Some of the musicians include-

Joanne Shenandoah - Grammy winning Native American singer (featured performer on the new Prayer Cycle "Path to Zero" album)Leah Shenandoah who performed on Jonathan Elias's new Prayer Cycle album called "Path to Zero"Gary Nicholson - Grammy winning Texas Hall of Fame song writerAlex Ebert of the group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (featured performer on the new Prayer Cycle "Path to Zero" album)Hani Naser - world renown Jordanian percussionist and Oud playerFox Lima - composer and vocalist of the famed Enigma MXX Social Song

Happy Holidays to all!

Grow a voice

Art by Roxana Villa

I am huge fan of out of the box solutions for selling art and promoting it. One of my suggestions is to start an Art Block Party. Gather all your neighbors who have some talent to share (artists, musicians, chefs, etc.), go to the city to get a permit to close down your street to traffic, then send out flyers promoting your amazing outdoor event to showcase the talent of the community. Now you have an outdoor gallery!Betsy McDermott Altheimer, associate director for an artist service organization called Springboard for the Arts, located in the Twin Cities had another great idea for selling art. She was inspired by community-supported agriculture (CSA), where consumers receive a monthly lot of produce through purchasing shares in a farm. She thought if it works for farmers it could work for artists. “We should just do a CSA!” she exclaimed in an interview with American Craft Magazine. “Only this time, the ‘a’ would stand for ‘art.’”Altheimer believes that food systems are the perfect metaphor in the reality of today’s art scene. “People have this mythical notion of what a farmer does. In reality, there is a lot of risk. You can’t guarantee every crop will be successful,” says Altheimer. “Likewise, an artist can’t guarantee that everything he does will be great. But he can ask people to invest in the value of what he does.” Each season, nine artists participate. By signing up for a $300 share, a patron receives nine original works, plus admittance to three parties where the artists will be in attendance. Of course where the program seems a little less than ideal is the artist’s commission — for producing 50 pieces, he or she will only receive $1,000. But it’s up to the artist to create small, sensible works with a budgetary restriction in mind. The hope is that the artists will pick up new fans and patrons who will continue to follow and collect their work beyond the CSA share. “Our version of success is when the relationship continues beyond us,” affirms Altheimer.Check out her interview and then start your own CSA. If you have other ideas let me know and I will share them in a post.PeaceGreg

Alfred Paredes

Alfred Paredes took my Artist As Brand class at Laguna College of Art and Design in the Spring of 2010. He is a very talented sculptor who graduated from LCAD but was disappointed with his career at the time. Alfred loves classical and fantastical sculpture and wanted to know how to work both markets. He really applied what was learned in the course and is reaping the benefits. You can see his work here-alfredparedes.comapsculpturestudio.comHe just sent a note that touched me deeply.Greg, I want to thank you for inspiring me to follow my dreams and believe in my work. This year has been the best year I've had (financially and exposure-wise). My work is gaining a reputation for quality and originality and I'm selling more and more. I may still take on work for other people, but it's on my terms and part of my business plan. Plus I get to take the projects I want to work on and say no to projects I don't want to work on. That's a great position to be in from my perspective.Despite having started a family, I'm still creating a lot of work and getting myself out there as much as I can. The website has been a great success in getting my name out there. I've even had some celebrity clients. I'm currently working on a 9 foot tall monument for the city of Arcadia (currently in the design phase). It'll be my small mark on the history of sculpture, as that bronze statue will out live many generations to come.Keep spreading the word and doing what you do. I've been recommending your workshop and speaking highly of it whenever I get the opportunity.I hope you've had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the rest of your holiday season is filled with creativity and love.Cheers!! Your friend,AlfredThis is the kind of empowerment and success I want all artists to experience.  It is why I created Artist As Brand.To your success,Greg

© 2011 Greg Spalenka and Artist As Brand ®

"The Artist As Brand Workbook is an easy read and jam packed with all kinds of resources. It's great to keep looking back to."-Miranda Sharp, Student, Kendall College of Art & Design, Michigan"I received a map and tools—where to go and what to do when I got there. And confidence, that I CAN be an entrepreneur with my own art and not have to rely on other people giving me work."-Gina Terzino, Artist, Los Angeles"You have finally put it all in perspective. I understand how to make my unique voice heard. I see the power and goodness of where my heart is telling me to go. I can finally stop waiting and dive into a new blue sea."-Kari Christensen, Professional Illustrator, New York

***

THE ARTIST AS BRAND WORKSHOP IN A BOOK

You can now own the official PDF (digital) textbook participants use while taking the Artist As Brand Workshop. It is for serious creative individuals, students and professionals who want to manifest prosperity from their art, on their own terms. You will learn about the history behind Artist As Brand as well as it's synergistic principles. It has live links throughout that can be utilized while reading through the material.What's included?

DECLARE YOUR PURPOSE

• Learn your Core Virtue. Knowing your Core Virtue is the first step to establishing a foundation which your career is built upon. This intimate part of yourself is a driving force in your life, it goes deeper than your art. Declaring this core purpose aligns your heart with your art in a profound manner.• Design a Vision Board. Learn how to target the exclusive niche markets that will make up your one of kind art empire.

PLAN YOUR BRAND

• Design your art and project/product line.

We look at artists who are successful in this area, and new approaches to making income from your art. Define what art and projects/products can manifest from your Vision Board.

• Create an innovative marketing blueprint that integrates high tech and high touch medias. These are two very different but synergistic marketing models. You learn how to best utilize these promotional mediums.• The simple yet powerful art of business and commerce. Are you an art hobbyist or an art professional? If you are selling art you are a business, start acting like one.• Connect with artist entrepreneur leaders. Creating community and hooking up with those who are successful will keep you inspired and in the company of great people.• Your Name, Tagline, and art of the Blurb. The name of your business, and how you represent it is a reflection of your professionalism whether it is online or in person. Learn how to introduce and represent yourself to people. Most artists do not have a clue how to speak with others about who they are and what they do.

EMPOWER YOUR PROSPERITY

• Commit to sustainability. You will design a five year marketing strategy that takes a serious look at your finances, living situation, and overall goals personally and professionally. What is possible? Connecting to your BHAG.• Recognize the potential in team building, and the power of a Mastermind. Your peers can be some of your greatest assets from a personal, professional and moral support capacity.Read the book, do the work, take the steps even if they are little ones, and you will reap the rewards. Dive into the Artist As Brand Workbook and begin to see your art career in a new and unique light.

$49.95

"Greg, I wanted to thank you for giving us the tools to really go forward with our art businesses.- Diana Levin, Artist, Los AngelesI gained perspective on my future and myself. There is a world of possibilities for artists."-Tannie Duong, Student, San Francisco Academy of Art"I finished the Artist As Brand Workbook and really liked it. It has everything an artist needs to know to get started."-Mariana Benkovic Zeljko, Artist, Croatia

*All sales of the Artist As Brand® Workbook are final and there are no refunds.

Ideas flow through me like water. They can be drips, streams or rivers but they are always moving through my mind and spirit. If not for meditation I do not know how I would sleep at night! Of course even a great idea is just an idea until you make it real so the challenge becomes the art of the start.Jerry Gretzinger's idea started with the drawing of a small map. Watch this video on how a simple idea continued to grow into new possibilities. He sells mainly on Ebay and has an interesting approach to expanding his collector base-"A word on my pricing of the prints and originals: when posting a panel for the first time I put it out at 120% of the average price paid to date for that type of panel. If it hasn't sold after 30 days I mark it down 20%. I keep doing that every 30 days until it is sold. I want you all to become collectors, and I want The Map to be affordable for everyone. I will let the market set the price."May your ideas extend outward and create new territories in art and life.PeaceGreg

Sign Up deadline is May 6th.

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! and Artist As Brand are aligning to bring creative empowerment and prosperity to artists in Kansas City, May, 2012.

Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! is a natural extension of the eighteen-year success of the award-winning Spectrum: The Best In Contemporary Fantastic Art annual.The Spectrum book has come to symbolize the vibrancy, diversity, and overall excellence of this international art community. Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! is an art fair in which creators will be able to sell originals and prints while promoting their work to patrons, collectors, and potential clients. Whereas the ubiquitous comic con focuses on all facets of popular art culture, Spectrum Fantastic Art Live! focuses on the artist and their sales.

This focus makes it a perfect fit with Artist As Brand! I will be presenting a workshop three days before the event. It is open to all serious artists, students and professionals. Learn the secrets of connecting the power of your essence with your art, to your collectors, and see how these principles can be applied at an event like Spectrum Live.

All participants will receive free access to all three days of Spectrum Fantastic Art Live. The workshop is held at the Historic Aladdin Holiday Inn Hotel, just blocks from the convention center.

Learn more about the workshop on theABOUT page.Read the REGISTER page before signing up.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying on the RESULTS page.

Register Here

Kendall Students

I presented an Artist As Brand workshop at Kendall College of Art and Design this past weekend and wow, these students were on fire! They were already formulating ideas for a multimedia community art event to be held at the school next year. I was impressed with the strong independent art spirits in this group. Go Kendall!The amazing life coach Greg Montana was Skyped into our session pumping up the group. Twenty eight students, alumni and faculty stuck it out for the three ten hour days. You could feel the love! See more pics here.

Artist As Brand was a complete success!!! 3 day illustration boot camp, followed by a lovely dinner with the amazing illustrator that created it!... I have had the best weekend ever!! I mean ever!!.... priceless.-Amanda Schaub

I am going for what I want in life. I'm getting my mind, body, and soul together and failure is a foreign word now.-La'kenya Shauray TerrellI can't thank Greg enough for sharing his wealth of knowledge and more importantly, touching my heart. -Kirbi FaganSweet! I will be back next year.Thank you also to Christine Brown, Nancy Hart, and Jon Mcdonald for introducing me to such an awesome school.PeaceGreg

Interested in worldwide exposure? Here is one way to do it. The Sketchbook Project encourages artists to create singular sketchbooks, which are then exhibited in locations around the world. In the words of the Sketchbook Project team, “It’s like a concert tour, but with sketchbooks.”

Create an event that will spark other people's creativity.  Manifesting a team of like minded individuals can start with as little as two artists. In this instance it involves hundreds. If you can produce a concept that it timeless and timely it can become the spark for something much larger than yourself.

To your empowerment,

Greg

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you will still be among the stars.”

-Les Brown 

October 11th we had a full moon. A full moon symbolically represents the height of power, the peak of clarity, fullness and obtainment of desire. In celebration of these attributes I am offering a special deal. For one month until we reach the new full moon on November 10th all online workshops will be discounted 25%! Contact me to register.

Bronze- $149Silver- $369Gold- $749Click on the ONLINE CLASS button in the menu bar above to learn more about the online workshops.Now is an auspicious time to empower your art spirit and your prosperity as we move through the moon's phases toward 11/11/11. There are symbolic attributes associated with our lunar sibling. Sign up during the phase that most resonates with you!Waning Moon:Symbolic of letting go, surrender, release, quiet time, contemplation, and a time of incubation.New Moon:Symbolic of new beginnings, a fresh start, rebirth.Waxing Moon:Symbolic of growth, manifestation, attainment, gravity (heavy with child – both philosophical and literal).Full Moon:Symbolic of the height of power, the peak of clarity, fullness and obtainment of desire.To your art spirit,Greg

Create a video of your art process and pull people in with your magic. Choose your background music wisely! In this case you might want to turn your volume down.

I have been talking about the magic Five Years ever since it took me as much time to really lock in my illustration career. It can happen sooner, but the five year mark generally holds true. Check out this post on Muddy Colors where Chris Moeller talks about the five year mark. He is talking generally about the industry of illustration but the principle of how long it takes is the same with building your independent art empire outside of industry.

My students create a five year marketing blueprint in the AAB workshop. This way you begin to shape your career long term instead of leaving it up to fate.

Peace

Greg

REGISTRATION CLOSED

I am honored to be presenting a workshop at the historic Westbeth in NYC.Located in West Greenwich Village, Westbeth has provided affordable living and working spaces for artists and their families since 1970. The workshop is open to all artists. I guarantee that any participant that faithfully applies the principles learned in the class will sell more art in the coming year than they did the year before or I will refund their registration fee.

$295

$150 For Westbeth residents!

Westbeth (Community Room) 55 Bethune Street New York City, 10014 212- 691-1500

Read the REGISTER page before signing up.

Learn more about the workshop on the

ABOUT

page. See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying

here.

When you finish this seminar you will be empowered to take any success you have now to another level. See you soon!

Greg Spalenka

Creating a website can be done many ways. I recommend using Wordpress however there are other options that can give you more power and flexibility in designing what you want to see. HTML is one of those ways. It can appear daunting and feel like learning another language, but never fear, here is a great website for HTML beginners with easy tutorials and its free! It's called, Don't Fear the Internet. Check it out to gain at least a rudimentary understanding of how this  internet code works.

I am presenting a three day workshop May 15 (Tues), 16 (Wed.), 17 (Thurs), before the May 18-20 Spectrum Live event in Kansas City, MO. This is a great opportunity for all artists to learn the Artist As Brand principles and then see how it applies at an event like Spectrum Live, where I will have a booth too!Which artists know how to present themselves in a unique and professional manner? Who stands out? What can you do that nobody else is doing? How to present yourself at a shows like Spectrum Live is only a small part of what you will learn in this course. You will be empowered and prepared to manifest your own art empire. Get ready to see your professional art career from a very different perspective.And receive a free 3 day pass to Spectrum Live!Read the REGISTER page before signing up.Learn more about the workshop on theABOUT page.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are sayinghere.

The Facebook Machine

Lori Taylor has a philosophy based on 3 simple principles when it comes to social marketing-

1. Popularity is vanity, sales are sanity.2. If content is King, then context is Queen; you must be relevant and extraordinary to go viral.3. Going viral is not an outcome, it’s a happening.You Don’t Have To Love Facebook, Just Like It

This post is for people looking for real strategy and tactics in the Facebook world. Check it out.To your marketing awesomeness,Greg

The Beerhorst Family

The Beerhorst Family is pure Artist As Brand. In fact Rick Beerhorst says the family is a brand! Take a look at this article on Etsy and the video and see what I mean.

Empowerment People!

Greg

JAMMING FOR 38 YEARS!

Phil Yeh has been making comics for a long time. He has written and illustrated over 80 published books. Phil founded Cartoonists Across America & The World to do something about the literacy crisis on the planet. His group of artists have painted more than 1700 murals in 49 states in the United States as well as more than a dozen countries. A documentary film "Planet Literacy" is in the works and will cover much of the 25 year global tour promoting literacy and the arts.One of his most popular comics is, "The Winged Tiger" series. of  for January 2009. See more of his work HERE.Phil also publishes a FREE magazine that celebrates the art spirit called, "Uncle Jam." Started in Long Beach in 1973 it is filled with interviews of well known artists like Moebius, Daniel Merriam, Kadir Nelson, as well as writers and performing artists. Check out the newest issue HERE.I salute Phil for his passion to produce his own creative properties, but also to his commitment to other artists and the people they inspire. I will interview Phil in the future to find out more about the history of his work and the passion that has driven him to manufacture a free magazine for 38 years.PeaceGreg

I am honored to be presenting a workshop at the historic Westbeth in NYC.Located in West Greenwich Village, Westbeth has provided affordable living and working spaces for artists and their families since 1970. The workshop is open to all artists. I guarantee that any participant that faithfully applies the principles learned in the class  will sell more art in the coming year than they did the year before or I will refund their registration fee.

$295

$150 For Westbeth residents!

REGISTRATION CLOSED

REGISTER BY LEAVING YOUR NAME AND CONTACT INFORMATIONHERE.

Westbeth (Community Room) 55 Bethune Street New York City, 10014 212- 691-1500

Read the REGISTER page before signing up.

Learn more about the workshop on the

ABOUT

page.See what art professors, professionals, and college students are saying

here.

When you finish this seminar you will be empowered to take any success you have now to another level.See you soon!

Greg Spalenka

This Saturday August 6 at 10:00

Free! Artist As Brand LectureSponsored by the Alameda Writer’s GroupGlendale Library222 E. Harvard St.Glendale, CA 91205818.548.2030