Contemporary Art Blog

Contemporary Art Blog by Soniei

Posts Tagged “Artist Tips”

How to Hang an Unframed Canvas Painting – The Easy Peasy Way

Posted on March 20th, 2010 by Soniei

If you’re interested in properly hanging your unframed canvas art on your walls, then please go to my other blog post: Tips on How to Hang an Unframed Painting (Stretched Canvas without Wires)

If you don’t live in earthquake city and your art won’t get bumped by kids or drunk people…. then continue reading.

Push pins. That’s right. Push pins are your friends.

The original Japanese paintings that I sell on eBay are so lightweight that hanging the paintings can be as easy as having each canvas hang on two push pins! That’s how I personally hang unframed artwork in my home. Done, fini, easy peasy!

How to be at Peace Around Negative People

Posted on March 7th, 2010 by Soniei

Last December I wrote a blog post called Don’t Lose Your Mind Because of a Bad eBay Buyer.  I used to have a talent for soaking up angry people’s energy and turning it into anxiety.  Of course, I wouldn’t show these feelings to anyone.  I would keep all my feelings pent up inside.

Yeah…I know…such a healthy way of being.

The past couple of months, I’ve really been working on not losing my mind over difficult people’s anger management issues.  When I get negative feedback, I’ll repeat to myself, “Their anger has nothing to do with me”.  This definitely helped me deal with angry people, but I have to admit that it didn’t fix my problem 100%.  I still needed something more.

I’m glad to report that last night I found something that helped me in dealing with difficult people.  I listened to the audio clip on Byron Katie’s blog called I Can’t Stand My Best Friend and it really gave me tips in dealing with angry, negative, difficult people.

If you’re not familiar with Byron Katie’s “The Work”, you can go visit thework.com for more information.  It might help you to understand the audio clip more fully. You can also download the Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet.

I really hope this will help you out too.

Where to Find ‘Step by Step’ Information on Starting a Small Business

Posted on February 24th, 2010 by Soniei

I wanted to become an artist. Great. Now what?

I wanted to start my own small business at home so that I could be my own boss, make the paintings I was inspired to create, be in charge of my own schedule and live a fulfilling life.

Sounds good. But…. now what?

After reading dozens and dozens of business books, I was still waiting for a book that would show me how to start a small registered business STEP BY STEP! I had no experience in starting a business of any kind… until, voila! I found Canadian Small Business Kit for Dummies by Margaret Kerr and JoAnn Kurtz*. No joke! This book made it possible for someone like me to start my own registered business within a few weeks. And, it was super easy!

So, no more excuses. Get the book and start reading.

The only other thing you might need to set up your registered business is software like Simply Accounting First Step 2010 (by Sage). If you don’t know anything about accounting, I was in your shoes. I’m still partly in your shoes, to be honest. I don’t know much about accounting, but Simply Accounting made it easy enough for me to do what I needed to do for my one-person business. I even got audited from 2006-2008 and I had no mistakes!

*They have an American version called Small Business Kit For Dummies.


If you’re interested in starting an eBay business, check out my other blog posts: