Painting 'Joy in light' acrylic painting

 

Fun exercise for abstract painting

Outcome                                                                                      

I made all these paintings and compositions through a simple and fun process:                           

• Took a sheet of paper marked six sections with pencil, taped it. 
• Used same mediums same colors on each section but differently, had fun.
• Removed tape, cut sections and done.

   What I have learnt from this exercise is:       

• Got more sense of composition.
• Explored different ways of using colors and mediums since I had to use same in each section.
• Better control of values in a painting.
• Better understanding of my choices and results. 😊

Material used:

Acrylic paints, highlighter, pencil, oil crayon, soft pastel, hand painted paper collage.

Over all an excellent exercise to practice more often. I plan to try it on a larger scale and see if I can get a good painting/paintings out of it. Enjoyed!

I learnt this here from Adele Sypesteyn.

Process                                                                                       

All about Etsy in Urdu part 1 and 2 (English Subtitles)

Part 1                                                                                                             

                     Part 2

Watch how I pack my paintings

Things I wish I knew when starting my Etsy shop

My Etsy shop is doing a good business by God's will. I am very grateful for it but there are few things that I wish I knew right from the beginning.

1- This is harsh but true:

You have made many things, your shop looks good banner and about section looks perfect and now you are busy in other things or you are just lazy waiting for sale or many sales. Forget about it this is not going to happen. Whether you believe it or not for frequent sale you have to work every day on your product or on your shop or both. When you sit and wait for a sale it shows. Some how buyers can feel it. When you look at a shop you can tell how active and serious the seller is. No, don't try to change your banner or profile picture every week or month or even year. This will only show how confuse you are rather put serious effort. Genuinely give time to things everyday. Your hard work and effort will show through everything.

2- Keeping things simple is good for both buyer and seller:

When you have too many options you get so confuse that your mind wants to skip it. To much to see to many size options to many variations it is not a good idea. If you see best sellers with extraordinary sale on Etsy having exceptionally high standard you will notice that they keep their shop simple. For example there are many good original art shops on Etsy where sellers make paintings on one basic size of canvas. This gives the buyer a very relaxed atmosphere. Because of having only one or two size options the seller can prepare all packaging stuff beforehand and thus can ship it with in no time resulting in a happy customer.

How to improve your Etsy shop

General information:

1-First of all have an authentic shop be honest with your work, it shows on your shop.

2-Read articles to understand branding, very important. Branding does not mean selecting a beautiful font for your shop. Just for hint:

a-Be your self.

b-Bring your taste in everything like banner, fonts, photography etc

c-Win people's trust.

3-See international trends and try to forecast trends if possible.

4-Please keep in mind things that are much appreciated by your friends relatives and family may not attract buyers. People close to you lookup at your creations as how difficult and challenging it was for you to make it. Whereas buyers want some thing creative, fresh, unique, focused, simple, handled with care, modern and cute ( all or some of these qualities depending on what you are selling). It could be something that might have taken you only a couple of days to make but weeks or months to think or figure out in your mind.

5-Renew your popular listings to get more attention and views on your shop. I have not yet used promotion but check if it works for you.

HOW TO OPEN AND RUN AN ETSY SHOP FROM PAKISTAN

In this article I will discuss things that are different and difficult from rest of the world for Pakistanis, who are willing to open a shop on Etsy.

After you make your profile/Sign up on Etsy. You need to first verify a credit card on Etsy. This in reality is the most difficult thing of all because not every card is going to work. Here is what will work and what is useless:

Useless:

Pakistani bank's

1-Debit card ( with few exception. New HBL debit card works)

2-ATM card or online shopping cards

3-UBL WIZ card any card for online shopping

4-Master card ( I have not tried it but I think it won't work)

What works:

1-Many new Pakistani debit cards issued in 2019 (from MasterCard) work on Etsy I personally use HBL debit card (updates added in 2020)

2-Pakistani bank's Credit Card with magnetic chip 

3-Payoneer Master card works.

4-Simply request a relative or friend who lives in USA, Canada, UK, or EU to share a near to expire credit card (one that has few $ in it) info with you. Etsy will deduct only one or two dollars from the card, I think they refund it as well. It is only to check if the card is working or not.

Once card is verified your Etsy shop opens!!!

Link to Etsy to open shop and 40 listings for free signups here:

Etsy

How to receive payment from other countries:

We don't have PayPal right ( I am writing in 2016 ) but it does not mean that people will not pay you. If they like something and they want something they will try their best.

Methods to receive payment:

1-Bank transfer
2-Western union/ Money Gram
3-Direct checkout on your personal website.
There are certain other methods but they don't work well enough for me and neither for my clients but you can try them:
Payoneer
Money broker/Skrill

1-Bank transfer:

Your bank account detail they may needs:

Bank name: 
Account holder: 
Account number: 
IBAN Code: 
BIC (Swift): 
Bank's address: 
Your address: 

2-Western union/ Money Gram:

Your first name:

Your Second name: 

City: 
Province:
Country: 
Postal code: 
Form: Receive cash (or you can request it to your bank account)

3-Direct checkout on your personal website:

At the moment Etsy is not providing direct checkout to our country (I am writing in 2018). You can provide your Etsy customers a direct checkout facility on a personal web site. There are several easy ways to make website these days. I have tried two but found this one very easy it is Wix.


Which ever source you use to create your website keep in mind that you have to have your own domain name.

For checkout option I use 2Checkout. It is very easy to create 2Checkout account.
1-You will need a scanned copy of your ID card both front and back side (It is all right if it is in Urdu).
2-A utility bill which should be in your name or a lease/rant agreement which again should be in your name.

 Once your 2Checkout account is approved you have to connect it to your website. Wix will automatically guide you on this.

How to pay your Etsy bills each month:
HBL debit card works on ETSY.
You can pay your Etsy bills through your Credit Card or through a relatives Paypal account. You will have to send them money to load the Paypal account for sure. You can also apply for a Payoneer Master Card.