Many people have been asking me about how I got a website with my own domain name, and whether or not I spent a lot of money in the process. A few years ago you could spend a lot buying a domain name, having someone design a website, and then renting an Internet server somewhere to be the home base for your website 24 hours a day.

I do research for a living during the daytime. Of course my daytime research is related strictly to one business but the discipline of researching something before I jump in pretty much comes natural. When I thought I might want a website I also decided I didn't want to invest a lot of time or money into it. So, research was necessary to follow the most efficient course.

It turns out that there are several good companies that provide Internet servers to house your website. Those companies will also help you obtain a domain name (like www.artbycarl.com). As a matter of fact they have package deals where they do all of that for one annual fee, often less than $100. When you first start out you can even use their free web design software with some off the shelf site templates.

Of course before you can put your art on the Internet you'll have to scan or photograph it. If it is relatively small (less than 8X14 or so) you can scan it into a computer file. But if it is larger than a scanner can handle you'll have to figure out how to photograph it. If you use a digital camera it will make computer files suitable for the Internet. Of course if you want a really high quality image (more resolution that what is needed for the Internet) you can use a film camera to produce a transparency or 8X10 photograph, and then scan the photograph into a good photographic scanner (if the scanning part scares you off you can always take your photo to Kinko's and let them scan it in for you).

Then all it takes is time. You should plan to spend a week or two of evenings setting up your website and getting things to look just right. In my case I discovered that the free web design stuff you get from the providers just wasn't complex enough to let me do everything I wanted. So I spent a little more money and got a website editor.

If you have questions I have not answered or if you would like more information (including the name of my site provider and the web design software  I bought) send me an email. I'll be glad to correspond with you more about this interesting process. Just email me at carl@artbycarl.com.

A question that many ask is "are you selling a lot of art?" The answer's pretty simple: no. But getting to that answer provides an education for the beginning artist. I have spoken with dozens of artists about selling art and have come to the conclusion that making art is an entirely different job than selling or merchandising art.

An enlightening thought process has you examine your own home - or those of your friends and family members. Look for anything that is art. How many original drawings or paintings do you find in a home? How often is a new work added to the collection? Many, if not most, homes do not have an original piece of art in them (with the possible exception of the wonderful art on the refrigerator door).

Next, ask yourself how much money you would readily spend on a painting or drawing to place in one of your rooms? Probably not more than the price of a good print in a quality frame - maybe $100 to $200 if it was good. This thought process also helps bring into perspective just how lucrative (or not) the art world is. Add to that a moment of reflection counting the number of artists out there and you begin to think an art career probably isn't a good scheme to get rich quick.

I have repeatedly found some beautiful art available for very little money. I have asked many artists how long it took them to create the original. They've often answered 30 or 40 hours. And the price tag on the original is $50. Hmmmm. That's not even minimum wage. A painting on even a small canvas has at least $50 in the materials alone. I have also been paying attention to the creation date on art I see that is for sale. Much of it was created several years ago. The artist has actually been trying to sell the art for a relatively low price for a long time and they still have it.

My favorite question came recently while I was sitting at a booth at an art show. I was asked if I had a day job. Yes. My art is a non-profit endeavor. To show art in some cases you need to put a price tag on it (gallery's get a commission on what is sold - that is how they get paid). So far I think I can show my annual hobby costs exceed my annual art sales.

Now if you are reading this and know how I can get rich quick with my artwork, let me know. I really do admire artists like Kincaid who learned early how to effectively sell their art (in addition to being a gifted artists). But I have also figured out already that I like making art a lot more than I like showing and selling art.

Meanwhile, if you want to keep tabs on my progress, you can watch my website. There are a lot of originals for sale there. We'll see how quickly they find new homes.

When I decided to show my artwork one of the first questions that came up had to do with pricing and selling what I show. After all most studios make their money by collecting a percentage from artists who show their art in the studio, so often some of your art must be for sale. Ok, so how hard is that? I want to put a price tag on a painting. In California you can't do that unless you first obtain what's called a seller's permit.

A seller's permit from the state sets you up to collect sales tax on each sale (in the case of California the sales tax is 7.25%). The good news is that a seller's permit is free. The bad news is that to get one you must list a business address on the application. I paint at home so I don't have a business address per se. So, how about using my home address for the permit? Well, that's a problem. In Camarillo it is illegal to use a residence address to obtain a seller's permit (or conduct any form of business) unless you first obtain a business license.

A business license is mainly just a piece of paper that says the city got its annual tax ($25). But there's a catch. You cannot obtain a business license at a residence unless you first apply for and obtain a home occupation permit. For that you pay $95 and invite a city inspector into your home who looks for any code violations or improper use of the residence. In Camarillo you can only use one room in your residence for a business and it cannot drastically alter your home or neighborhood. You cannot advertise at your house or do anything that would create business traffic (buyers and deliveries, etc.). It's not that hard but it seems rather crazy. I put on my application that I wanted to paint in the evenings at my kitchen table (that was my big occupation). So the inspector came out and looked at my kitchen table. He looked at the rest of the house too. I got my home occupation permit. And my business license. And my state seller's permit.

I visited with the folks at city hall in the process curious about how people do business without all the permits, taxes, and paperwork. I was surprised to learn that probably most of the home occupation permits in Camarillo (there are thousands of them in place) are mostly for Internet based businesses like Amazon.com Z-Shops and E-Bay sellers. And the lady at the counter told me how she enjoys visiting the town's art shows and exhibits. She says she like to pick up artist's cards or write down their information. She said one of her pastimes is checking individual seller's permits. It all sounded a little far fetched to me, but whatever trips her trigger.

I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is for tax problems (income and sales tax). But I'm pretty sure that whatever art sales or Internet business that gets conducted generates a paper trail of receipts and income. I guess $120 and a few hours running around is worth the piece of mind to not worry that I'm going to have to come up with a bunch of money someday because I didn't do things the right way from the beginning.

Carl E. Gluck
ArtByCarl.com
PO Box 2565
Camarillo, CA 93011-2565

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