Request for help with website

Julianna

I'm not computer savvy.  I am trying to get a decent looking website together for some upcoming shows and contest entries.  I'm trying to use a template.  I can switch to many different template designs but this one seems easiest to manage?

If anyone is so inclined, I would really, really, really appreciate input, suggestions, proofreading and any other thing I may be missing - I value each of you and your opinions so if you don't mind and have the time, can you tell me if there are some obvious, glaring errors or complications that I need to consider.

My verboseness probably needs some editing as well.

Thank you in advance     www.juliannaohara.com       https://juliannaohara.com/

PaulB

• Typo: "COMPETIION".
• Mix of "- September" and "= September".
• Under AFFILIATIONS, Monterey is indented a bit too far.
• Opinion: of the two photos, the one with the painting makes the other one needless.
• If you want the "Email Newsletter" menu option to go away (I did), you may have to ask FASO support to do it, unless you plan on sending out newsletters.
• Opinion: the tagline "Paint what you love" might be better as "Painting what I love".
• Opinion: I would remove your email address from the front page, and instead rely on the contact page doing the work.
• Opinion: Either add prices, or somewhere say "Contact the Artist for prices".

I never realized how much better your analogous study is than Henri le Sidaner's.

Julianna

HOLY COW!!!!!!!    thank you @PaulB   ………..   i'm working on it now...……..   I can't believe I misspelled "competition" THREE times!!!!!!!!!!!!   geez

Monterey still looks out of line - one backspace and it is out of line the other way now....  

by the two photos, do you mean the profile photos?   Just keep the one with the painting?  Does it look stupid because it isn't framed?  The painting was still wet at a wine function I was asked to display art

Julianna

I added prices but they aren't showing up - I need to find what I did wrong...….   can you see "contact artist"?   I see it    https://juliannaohara.com/collections/120578

Julianna

Paul, can I see your website and how you did it?    Gosh, you've helped a ton....   I feel like a moron when it comes to stuff like this.  thank you. truly

Boudicca

Looking good Julianna. 
Your voice comes across very well on your blog post- it’s you!
Couple of things
Pricing- I always bypass artist websites that do not show their pricing. 
The slideshow gallery- I would suggest alternating the warmer paintings with the cooler paintings- give the eyes a rest.
About the artist- I would leave out the childhood stuff ( an expanded version of this part would actually make for a great blogpost) and focus on your current work and accomplishments. One photo of yourself ( I really like the one of you with your painting) maybe a few close up detail shots of the juicy brushwork in your paintings in a banner across the bottom ( if the template allows for that)

Maybe some shots of the multi room ever expanding studio? (Ha ha- nobody needs to see that)

Julianna

P.S. I wish I was a tiny fraction as good as Mr. Le Sidaner - some of his paintings make me cry they are so beautiful.  Damn, that man was an excellent draftsman - I have a watercolor of his and I am fascinated at his perfect perspective in a complicated scene.  Thank you for making my day though.

Julianna

@Boudicca oh my goodness - I am belly laughing again - you are hilarious.

Excellent suggestions about switching up the temperatures to keep interest and some up .   

too verbose with the boring life story...…….  it's hard!

I did put prices...………   I don't understand why they aren't showing...  it took me forever to add prices and diminsions and substrate and yadda yadda yadda...………..  let me try to figure out what I did wrong there.

Gosh y'all are helping a ton...………   truly, truly, truly appreciate it

PaulB

Julianna said:

... by the two photos, do you mean the profile photos?   Just keep the one with the painting?  Does it look stupid because it isn't framed?  The painting was still wet at a wine function I was asked to display art

I just think keep the one with the painting and you in it, because you don't need two.  The other one doesn't add anything.  That sounds ruder than I wanted it to.

Julianna said:

Paul, can I see your website and how you did it?

I PM'ed you the URL.  Not ready to make it public yet, it's not even half complete.

Julianna said:

Excellent suggestions about switching up the temperatures to keep interest and some up .   

First you have to paint something that isn't red hot.

Julianna

well, I have about 100 "failed" paintings lying around and all over the place       Mike's cherub is a nice neutral.  I said "Private Collection"   LOL!!!!!!!!!!!   fancy huh    oh my...…….   ok.... still trying to edit.....   I like your template - I just don't have so many categories - I need "Garish" 

Boudicca

Julianna said:

well, I have about 100 "failed" paintings lying around and all over the place       Mike's cherub is a nice neutral.  I said "Private Collection"   LOL!!!!!!!!!!!   fancy huh    oh my...…….   ok.... still trying to edit.....   I like your template - I just don't have so many categories - I need "Garish" 

We should do a painting swap- then you can say your paintings are held in private collections internationally.

PaulB

I used "Private Collection" to describe the paintings I gave away, or don't want to.

There is great help documentation there (http://support.boldbrush.com/faso).  You might want to think about turning on the features that overlays a copyright on each image.

Julianna

oh my...………   @PaulB that link gave me great anxiety...………. i'm already in way over my head....  

@Boudicca ~~~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    genius idea!!!!      I am in the process of working on @Richard_P 's - I wouldn't know what to paint for you...……….   animal control came and picked up the dead cat in my yard - Sophia Loren Scarlett O'Hara insisted upon it.  I wish we could keep the swap going - it has been great fun! 

anthonyleon

Images are loading too slowly, and sometimes won't load until I have refreshed the page.  This could be related to your blog software or service; I'm not sure.  But you may try reducing images to the lowest possible size which also looks good, and see if that helps.  Also, they don't show up when I try to scroll through them. 

The suggestions below are minor. Nothing was glaring.  But I was bored, so I went at it.  Perhaps something I've written may be helpful.

1.

Very good:  Although she has experimented and studied various other mediums such as acrylic, watercolor, gouache and multi-media art, oil painting has and always will be her passion.

Consider:  various other

Perhaps this would work?:  Although she has worked in other mediums--such as acrylic, watercolor, gouache and "mixed"--she is most passionate about oil painting.

2.

Very good:  She has received numerous awards and considers herself to be an Intimist artist and recently has enjoyed the exploration of interior analogous scenes. 

Connect the word Inimist with its definition.

Therefore, please consider:  She is the recipient of numerous awards, and sees herself as an Intimist artist, who enjoys the exploration of interior analogous scenes.

OR , who enjoys exploring interior analogous scenes.

3.

Very Good:  Julianna was born in Florida and moved to South Carolina as a young teenager and after graduating college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting

Consider:  Julianna was born in Florida, moved to South Carolina as a young teenager and, after graduating college, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting.

OR, when she was a teenager...

OR, pursue an acting career...

4.

Very Good:  she studied art at UCLA, USC and Santa Monica College and also studied for a number of years at Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica, California.

Consider:  She studied art at UCLA, USC and Santa Monica College--and for a number of years at the prestigious Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica, California.

OR (more simply):  She studied art at UCLA, USC, Santa Monica College and, for a number of years, at the prestigious Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica, California.

OR (even more simply)  She studied art at UCLA, USC, Santa Monica College, and Brentwood Art Center in Santa Monica, California.

5.

She now resides near Monterey, California and is affiliated with various art organizations - she paints almost every day and works almost exclusively from life - she only paints what she loves - she has to be moved in some way to put paint to canvas and luckily, many things move her.


Consider:  She now resides near Monterey, California, and she is affiliated with various art organizations - she paints almost daily and works almost exclusively from life - she only paints what she loves - she has to be moved in some way to put paint to canvas and luckily, many things move her.

6.

Very good:  A still life set up is likely to take up to three weeks to design

But consider:  She is willing to spend as much as three weeks designing a still life set up.

By the way, nice paintings;  I like all that red.

Boudicca

Richard’s in Pommyland, that counts as international, or even to sound more cultured, Europe.

Julianna

oh wow @anthonyleon - thank you so much for taking the time to help!  your wording sounds so much better.    oh my goodness gracious - I am so verbose!   Thank you for helping me edit and use better grammar.  Should I just take out all of it before "currently lives in Monterey">>>   that would make it even more succinct ?   new edits:   https://juliannaohara.com/

Julianna

@Boudicca would it be pushing it to call you Asia?  Europe and Asia has a nice ring to it 

Boudicca

Australasia

tassieguy

I know zero about designing a web page but it looks good to me, @Julianna. Your paintings look great. It was nice to review them all together. I'd forgotten just how luminous they are. Really beautiful. 

Summer

I have just visited your website and loved it.  I'll certainly visit it again now and then.  Great achievement getting it up and running.  I'm aware you are needing some help getting it to look and function the best possible way, but from my perspective, it looks great, and those other refinements will make it even better with time. 

Kaustav

Sent you a message...let's see if the mailbox is working.

Kaustav

Hmm I'm gettin' this. You better check the mailing system.

anwesha

@Julianna your website looks very beautiful and vibrant.... 3 thingsyou could think about working on if you wish:
1) the color of the text block on the left, if you could try some color that is close to the most common color used in your paintings, like a beautiful pinkish red
2) changing color of the background to a light shade of grey(It is just my personal preference). I feel it makes everything softer to the eye and also helps lift colors of dark paintings
3) Make an instagram account just for your art and have it on the website page along with the Facebook sign. The sooner you start the IG account the better, it takes so much time to get followers (who aren't related/friends    )

I will let you know if I can come up with anything else.

Julianna

Oh my goodness gracious - this is way over my head.  I am still editing (what is it 13 hours later???)….   not to mention, I started the website the first week of January.  I wish things like this came easy to me.

I sent the link to my physicist / (he also has a Masters in Computer Science) husband and he was ho -hum about it...……..   he said it is kind of slow -  the recent awards are redundant and why didn't I mention the Museum Of Modern Art exhibit in Jan/Feb of 2018...………   OMG - how could I forget that???  seriously.  MoMA   He said my paintings are so much better in person and that the larger photos on the website don't do any of my paintings justice - the smaller ones in the "album" look much better to him.


@kaustav - that is disturbing that it looks even more juvenile with your error message - thank you for testing that.

@anwesha   thank you so much.  I don't know how to change any colors - I am just switching templates.  I have Instagram but it won't let me upload from my computer - how stupid is that!  I don't have my photos on my phone - they are all on my laptop.  I spent about 1000 hours watching youtube instructional videos on how to upload to Instagram from your computer and none of it worked - Instagram is my enemy right now - how is it "Insta" anything when you can't even click a photo on your laptop and upload it?????    So absolutely ridiculous to me.

P.S.  I am not a cell phone person.  I have mine for emergencies - I use my computer for everything - I hate Instagram now.

Thank you all for your patience and help - it is looking so much better but I have a ways to go....

I am going to switch templates to see if that helps anything.  I have to say, FASO is easy when it comes to clicking a button and the design instantly changes - I also love that I have free entries into their monthly art competitions.  

Thank you, truly, for all your help.  I have made great progress today in spite of the uphill battle yet ahead.

Kaustav

Post smaller photos...bigger paintings look odd on PC; whole photos need to be seen. They are meant to be seen from distance.

@Julianna Instagram is very important. It's almost a direct communication mode. Simple to use, connected to FB. I feel that you should add an Instagram account. you can post through PC as well. There are ways to do that!

Julianna

I've had Instagram for a few years - not that I ever used it  I think I signed up to see something a relative was posting.  It's weird, because apparently, there is a rugby player with my name so I am getting tagged but I'm not the rugby player - I'm surprised my domain name was available.   From the hours of research, to post a photo on Instagram, I have to change my settings on my laptop to google chrome and then go into more complicated settings to change it to web design tools that look like a cell phone and then I can upload a picture...…….   that's ridiculous to me.  Instagram is Horrorgram to me - seriously.  I'm aggravated - so excuse my petulance 

Boudicca

Julianna!!! Trust me, get a smartphone, your life will get 10x easier. I was probably the last person on earth to get a mobile phone, turned my nose up at them (this was when they were still bricks that you spoke into) I do practically everything on it  and my iPad now. Haven’t used a desktop for several years, and my laptop very rarely. Each integrate with each other seamlessly.

Your petulance is excused, dealing with clunky tech is enough to snap a person’s brain.

Julianna

@Boudicca   so, I have my fancy dslr whatever camera that shoots RAW and I am learning Lightroom and saving edited photos to something called "cloud" - how in the world would I get all of that to a phone - and only to post to something so stupid like Instagram?  if it is "insta" why can't I click my cloud saved masterpieces and upload easily from my laptop?  My phone has nothing on it.  I don't get it.  Why aren't more people outraged?  I find it completely ridiculous.  How difficult could it be to add a feature to upload from a computer?  

Julianna

@Boudicca so you are looking at DMP on your cell phone?  really?  I cannot imagine

Boudicca

Sometimes on my phone but usually in my iPad. I have a DSLR which I rarely use. I photograph with my phone which I have apps on that I edit the photos with or the photos sync with my iPad ( through the happy little cloudy thing) and I might edit on that with the apps( Snapseed, pixelmator, whatever I feel like at the time)that sync with my phone. I print to my Epson printer from my phone or my iPad for painting from and upload to here or instagram with my phone or my iPad from wherever I happen to be. 
Come to Australia for a holiday and I’ll teach you all about it  I have an iPhone 6 so I can’t shoot in RAW which is a bummer, so I do plan to brush up on my dslr but to be honest I would rather have an iPhone X and do it all on that and my iPad. It’s so much easier. You would love some of the editing features which utilise the touch screen- like just wipe with your finger to remove unwanted elements from a photo- magical.

Richard_P

Boudicca said:

Richard’s in Pommyland, that counts as international, or even to sound more cultured, Europe.

As opposed to the 'Land that time forgot'? 

Boudicca

Richard_P said:

Boudicca said:

Richard’s in Pommyland, that counts as international, or even to sound more cultured, Europe.

As opposed to the 'Land that time forgot'? 

More like, The land that doesn’t have to worry about something called Brexit 

Boudicca

Julianna said:

@Boudicca so you are looking at DMP on your cell phone?  really?  I cannot imagine

What are you using? Morse code? An abacus? Chiseling into a stone in cuneiform?

Richard_P

Boudicca said:

Richard_P said:

Boudicca said:

Richard’s in Pommyland, that counts as international, or even to sound more cultured, Europe.

As opposed to the 'Land that time forgot'? 

More like, The land that doesn’t have to worry about something called Brexit 

True, but that's because no one else knows what's going on in Aussieland..

anwesha

@Julianna I think you are lucky to not have the smartphone addiction bug in you yet... But i also feel Insta is a necessary evil as its one of the most modern ways to showcase your work. If your husband has a smartphone and doesn't use Insta, make an account there and post photos, you'll need it just once a week for some minutes when you upload a new photo  

Julianna

@Boudicca I cannot imagine looking at DMP on my cell phone - I only use my laptop - how can you see the paintings posted to comment so accurately?  and you looked at my website link from your cell phone????   oh my.....   I guess things look better tiny.   

@anwesha do you not find it ridiculous that one cannot add a photo to Instagram from their computer?  I don't have any pictures on my phone to upload - they're all on my laptop - lightroom is on my laptop.  My husband has NO phone - not even a flip phone - I have a cheap alcatel phone - it suits my needs but there is no memory or space to even install facebook - much less Instagram.  I use it as a phone only - I know the concept is archaic - a phone as a phone - it does have text capabilities but I am far too verbose for texts so that is rarely used.

I'm in way over my head here you guys (gals) ----   I'm going to try to edit my "website" a little more today but I want to be painting.  It's aggravating when one is special needs with technology - y'all have helped tremendously - there is a big improvement in the look of my website from where it was yesterday this time.   Thank you....

Bobitaly

I don't have very much to add to what the other said. I love to see all your artworks together! Now that you have a website I am sure there will be much more people seeing your lovely paintings:))

PaulB

@Julianna a phone these days is really a small tablet, and pretty much used as such.  Your website looks fine on a phone, and there is zoom to help us really look.

Instagram made a deliberate choice to not let you post from a browser.  You therefore have to use their app.  Using the app gives them an awful lot more data about you and your habits which they exploit for gain.  Business.

anwesha

I absolutely agree @Julianna . It should be doable on the comp too. I believe the company does have their own motive behind this.
By the way I love the red in your website now. It feels like it has the essence of Julianna in it more now

JessicaArt

I didnt have time to read through anything but on looks alone it looks great! If your looking for something with more trendy fonts etc. Check out wix.com !

Boudicca

It looks really good now Julianna.
The About The Artist section reads very well. There is one typo- an extra full stop where the sentence talks about what you are concentrating on.
I know you hate all this computer stuff but you’ve done a fabulous job. 

70% of people use the Internet from a mobile device, most people will be looking at your site from either a smartphone or a tablet. It looks like FASO has optimised their templates to work well for mobile which is very important. 

anthonyleon

Sorry Julianna, I just went to town on the editing.  What fun!  Anyway, the site looks fine overall.  And as others have said, you should be proud of it. And your work is excellent!

Julianna

@anthonyleon you must have some training as an English Professor or something of that nature - thank you for all your help.  I know that it took some time to break it down and offer so many options for improvement - you were awesome!  

anthonyleon

Thank you so much!  That means a lot to me.  Just let me know if I can be of further assistance.

BOB73

Julianna, your bio said you have to me "moved" before you can paint but you didn't mention earthquakes or golf. I'm totally in your corner about smart phones. Mine is so smart it won't let me send my photos to my email so I can post them here. I did not see any problems with slow loading of pictures on your website viewed on my PC. I think you've done a marvelous job with your recent works. I think you ought to post your self portrait there as well. Don't be afraid to show a little more of that flamboyance. I also think the garden scene with the hat on the chair should be in your gallery. 

Julianna

I switched to a different template - don't know if it is better.

@BOB73  thank you for looking.  I am struggling with how many photos of my paintings - I have about 100 paintings (many of them "failures")…….  my attention span is short so personally, on other art websites, when they have 20 - 100 or more works showing, I lose focus.  I was trying to get different sizes and colors and themes - I love doing self portraits but I think they are my poorest of finished pieces and I have no interest in doing portraits.  I would like to get to where I can start adding figures into my paintings without avoiding it .   I don't mind messing my own face or likeness up, I would just hate to offend someone else    I am working on one now with a beautiful scarf wrapped around my head and very thick paint - fun but not anything anyone else would want to see probably.

I was struggling with deciding about one of those outdoor scenes I did - I still think I could do better and I have one sketched out that I want to explore.  None of those are available anymore - 

I really don't like the sunset, sunrise little paintings and think I just picked them for the size and variety - I have a Mission painting that has always been my husband's favorite - but I did it so long ago - it is hardly current and that was when I was much tighter.  I think my website should represent who I am now as an artist...…..     

thank you for your suggestions - you're making me re-think...…  should I add more or is around 10 plenty???

PaulB

Julianna said:

should I add more or is around 10 plenty???

What's your goal?  If it's selling, then I suggest any cutoff should be based on quality.

BOB73

I'm an old fuddy-duddy whose opinion is only valuable to me. If someone else  shares my opinion it is a matter of coincidence rather than a trend towards a consensus. However it is still an opinion and everyone else out there looking at your paintings has them too. So since you asked

Julianna said:

should I add more or is around 10 plenty???, My answer would be the more paintings you have on  your site, the more chances for coincidences. I like all your paintings but not because I have the same tastes as you. We are very different.  I probably wouldn't buy one of your window-lifes but I'd love one of those garden table scenes. So that's my Temporarily over-medicated opinion today.

Julianna

Sorry for all the questions and thank you for taking the time to help...

I don't understand - if you have a DSLR RAW taking camera - how do you get those pictures on your phone?

I use Adobe lightroom - upload on my laptop - edit on my laptop

Do y'all do this on your phones????   I cannot imagine.  I cannot imagine looking at websites etc... on a phone either so I'm obviously missing something.  Are you editing your pictures on your phone?

I mean, sometimes, I like to look at things on my huge smart tv - I can see websites etc... so cannot imagine going the opposite direction and hardly seeing anything.

I also cannot imagine having a phone with that much memory - My picture file on my computer is massive.  Why the hell won't Instagram just let me post from my laptop - it is so aggravating.  (I know y'all already answered that)

Supposedly if I switch to chrome (that will be a chore in itself but whatev)… I can make my computer think it is a phone and post a photo but I can't tag it or title it.

so, the question(s) is(are) - do y'all use your phone for the camera, editing, web surfing.... everything????   

It has taken me a very long time to figure out how to take good photos of my paintings - my cell phone camera is not even comparable to my dslr RAW - I refuse to get a new phone just for stupid Instagram. Im already trying to reconfigure a computer because of it.    I do understand the importance of Instagram and I have some business goals to attend to so that is why I am trying desperately to find a way.

anwesha

i take photos on my camera, regular and raw images. transfer to my laptop; after editing the raw images i save them as JPG files. I do all work (posting here, or on website) from my computer. For Instagram i send the final photo to my email, download it on my phone, post on insta. So most of my work is on computer.

Julianna

ahhh!!!!!!!!!   that makes sense.   I am going to try that then - genius!