Memorial Day: A Day of Remembering The Heros

 

Today is Tuesday here in Taiwan, but in the USA, its still Memorial Day.  Most Americans’ three day weekend is almost over, and it’s back to work for them.  I really wanted to talk about some other things today, but I was reminded through Facebook that today is May the 27^th in America.  I feel, instead of talking about art, business or something else, I should be writing about Memorial Day.  Memorial Day is about honoring soldiers who fought for what they believed in.  Everyone knows that, right?  It’s not a day for outdoor cooking, boating or any other recreation or holiday.  It just happens that these are just a few of the activities that we do during this time.  I know we all find time to visit the resting sites of those who gave their life to keep our life safe.  I spent 20 years right along aside of many those heroes.   Some of them are retired like me while others shorten their stay for some other pursuit in life.  Finally, there are those who never made it home they way they had left it.  Fallen heroes we call them. Some of them signed up because they had no choice sometimes.   Maybe they needed work to provide for their families or they were forced to serve because of some kind of punishment for things they have done in their lives.  A few joined because they wanted to finish college or maybe just to start college.  Others joined to “see the world” or fantasize in Rambo like activities.  There are a few men and women who join because they believe serving their country, their family and their freedom knowing that it was not given but earned.    In the end, most of the men and women, who join the service and stayed in long enough, recognized a more meaningful truth in the service they are providing for their country.  With that great discovery, some of them give up their life to provide that service.  For all the men and women all over the world that know what I am talking about and are providing that service now, I salute you!  And Be Safe!

Ken Law Artist

AKA SFC Ken Freeman

I Have A Dream: Don't Let Words Wash It Away

Thomas Edison had a dream too!

A long time ago, I wanted to grow up and be a forest ranger.  I even experimented with fire and burned down the field behind our house one day.  Funny, I thought it would be great to help teach people to love and respect our environment, and what did I do? I burned the field behind our house.  I would love to have the chance to be where I wanted to be-the outdoors.  I really like the feeling of being outdoors, breathing fresh air, listening to nature sing its song, and to contemplate life itself.  Even now I still like the outdoors, but I lost that chance with father time.  I’m a little too old now for activities like that anymore, and it is sad.  Why did I let time quietly and willingly take that dream away from me.  It is sad because we are swallowed up every day with fear of the unknown, pessimistic friends and relatives who believe they know what’s good for us, and our own lack of confidence and faith in ourselves.   I was just like so many people around the world who fall victim to this belief that it’s impossible.  You hear it enough from the people who love you.  You can’t do it; it won’t work.  I remember another dream where I wanted to be an artist back when I was growing up.  That was after I burned down the field and decided that I should leave fire fighting to other men who understand it.  To be honest too, I even realized that I had some talent with art.  I would pick up pencils and pieces of charcoal and draw people and animals.  People would say, “Wow, you’re an artist. How charming….”  Being quaint or charming is not how I would want to describe my career as an artist, but this was the way my friends and family saw it.  They even thought that artists were crazy.  “Hmmm, you’re an artist, I see…”  Yes, I was seriously considering being an artist.  I even started buying oils.  I remembered the smell.  I loved it, but my mother wasn’t too happy with it especially the smell.  She really didn’t approve it as a career choice either.  The one thing, even now, that stuck in my head was, “You’ll die as a poor man.”  To be honest, my idea of a poor man was like the people you see who live on the streets.  I didn’t want to push around a grocery buggy; I didn’t want that at all.   I really like to eat too; so, I couldn’t see myself as a poor man.  Although more than half my life, I have been close to broke working my little butt off for someone else’s dreams and most people are just like me.  Nevertheless, that dream died too.   Well, it was dead for a long time.  Then one day, I remembered how to dream again.  I left that corporate world (not really, I still have a job).  I realized that our only limitations are those that we create for ourselves every day.  I was the reason why I never became a forest ranger.  It wasn’t the field or my mother who spanked the living daylights out of me.  No!  It was me.  Many times we decide to not do something because we listen to people who have never even tried it themselves.  Would you trust your friend to rebuild the engine to your car when he doesn’t even know how to change the oil?  Of course not!  So, why do we listen to people who don’t have any experience?  That’s why I started to paint again.  It’s not a career, but it could be and I can and have made money doing it.  Don’t let anyone kill your dreams.

Time Is Running Out

Good day to everyone around the world.  I hope things are going smoothly for you!

In Taiwan, the Taiwanese people are celebrating Mother's Day.  So, I would like to take a moment and say, "Happy Mother's Day!"

I also want to let everyone know that my countdown to Coupon Day is just around the corner.  Coupon Day is actually all month of May where you can bid on and purchase some of my artwork using a "discount code".  This code will give you another 30% off the already low starting prices.  All you have to do to win is get on my mailing list using this form. 
 

* First Name:
Last Name:
* Email:

* required fields

The form above is a simple input that will take your name and email address and put it in my video email art contact list; so, I don't have to.  When I send out my video email, all of the people who are on my list will get a video email with the "Special Code".  You use the special code to get your 30% off your purchases.  Yes, it will work when you buy more than one.  If you like two or more paintings, it will combine the paintings and you can use your code to get a discount on all of the art.

You can go here to view the works I have for sale.  You'll also find some work from my wife.  She has a distinct primitive look to her paintings, but the discount codes are only for my work.


Eventually, (3-4 months?) Ega and I will open a new eBay account, but this time with Taiwan.  There's a link where we simply log on and go to the US site to sale.  Pretty simple, I think.  It is still the best way for us to show off some of our work.  We are looking at Got Art Work.com too.  Here they sell prints as well and you can sell your originals, but it's a little complicated when that happens.  Anyway, I am looking to make my own prints of my art.  A lot of artists do that now with some very affordable art printers.  Again, way into the future.

If you have any questions, please contact me at ken@kenlawartist.com 

Good Luck and have fun!

Ken Law Artist  http://gotartwork.com/

Moving About the Past

Over the weekend, I got a chance to work in my (small) studio and finished a painting.  It always feels good when that happens, but the fun and ecstasy wears off quickly, and it’s back to work.  This new painting is title “Distant Relatives”.  It’s my feelings of people that I haven’t seen for awhile.  It’s a 24 by 20, acrylic on canvas and you can buy it here or just have a look.

distant-relative-ken-law-artist

 

Recently, my wife Ega (Yu-Chieh Taiwanese) and I traveled back to America to say goodbye to my mother.  Although we didn’t get to stay there for very long, I did get to see some of my long forgotten relatives and see my family.  I’ve never been good with names and had to rely of faces, but images of the past really fade away with reality.  Things can really change, and my mind doesn’t seem to know how to put them back together. 

It’s strange too to see my mother.  As I recalled gazing upon my mother’s body, I noticed that she seemed really different.  She wasn’t my mother at all; she was someone different.  It alarmed me, but I could see that it didn’t seem to be an issue with everyone else.  I knew that it had to be my mother or why would everyone be here.    

So in reality, my mother has gone away, and left nothing but this shell and a few worldly goods for me and my family to remember her by.  So as I look upon her the tears of grief never came.  Looking at her didn’t make me cry, but remembering her and how she had shaped my life for good and bad, brought tears to my dry eyes.  

Life is nothing more than a short breath that is taken way slowly or quickly.  Live in the present and remember the past.

Ken Law Artist

In Taiwan, the date is the 30th of April and soon May will begin.  I'm really looking forward to May.  As my recent post has mentioned, I am using a different site to auction off my paintings.  As a matter of fact, Ega (my wife) has put some of her unusual painting there too.  That new site is called Webstore.  That's a funny name, I think, for an auction site, and I mentioned some other things that you may be interested in reading.  For now, I want to bring May and Webstore together.  One of the benefits of Webstore is their ability to generate coupons.  Even my website, where I do have a store, cannot do that.  I really think a lot of my fans out there like to participate in auctions and would love to save money at the same time.  I know I do.  This is where Webstore is going to help me.  Starting in May (the date is secret)  sometime, I will send out a video email using WowWe to contact everyone who is on my mailing list.  For those who are not on my mailing list, I have created this simple form to add your name and your email address. 

* First Name:

Last Name:

* Email:

* required fields

 

 

Only those who are on my mailing list will be able to get the code for the coupon.  By the way, my first coupon sell will be 30% off the selling price.  So, if you want to be on the list, all you have to do is fill out the form above.

 

 

I'm really looking forward to all the fun this year!

 

Ken Law Artist

To Ebay Or Not: Guess What There Are Alternatives

Well, this is a follow-up review slash editorial of my newest discovery site called Webstore.  Let me first explain this new website.

Most of you know all about my trouble with eBay HongKong.

Although I have an online store, I’ve been searching around for alternatives ways to offer my clients who prefer an auctioning format a place to go and bid on some of my paintings as well as My wife’s art.  Believe me, when I say, “There are too many to chose from,” especially for those Americans who are still living in America.  Well, I am still living in Taiwan for right now, and that puts only a few sites into my reach because of the international aspect, but there are still choices to make.

I decided a couple of weeks ago to put some of my paper works up on one of those sites.  I settled on using Webstore.  There are many reasons why I decided to use Webstore.  Let me list a few:  1.  Free!  2.  Free!  3.  Free!  4.  Free!  Ect.   I think you are getting the idea here.

Now, believe me, “free” wasn’t the only reason for me to go there.  There are other reasons too.  For example, I can list as many paintings as I want, and use social media to promote them just like eBay.  I can place a painting in more than one category for free.  There’s that word again.  All you need to buy or sell anything is a PayPal account or Google Checkout.  There’s a place where you as merchants can set up merchant accounts too.  You can put several pictures up for your item.  You can set up shipping, taxes, invoices and many other things just like eBay, and the list goes on.

You ask, “How can they do this all for free?”  Well, just like Facebook, they have a sidebar with advertising.  For some people, an advertising sidebar can be annoying but not for me.  I know that I will be saving tons of money and can give my wonderful customers an even better bargain for their money.  That was another reason for using Webstore.

 

Last but not lease, Webstore offers a cool way for you to set up coupons!  That’s right! COUpons!  And those wonderful, glorious coupons are the main reason for me to go to Webstore!

I’m still looking at different ways to set up coupons and not sure exactly what they will entail, but this post I would like to start offering to those people, who would like to receive a coupon that they can use on any item of mine listed on Webstore, a chance to get on the email list.  If you would like to receive coupons to purchase original art from me, please fill out the form below. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope some of this information I shared with you will be helpful to you in the future.

Ken Law
Outsider Artist 

* First Name:
Last Name:
* Email:

* required fields

Blog, Blog, Blog: How Many Times Are We Going To Hear About Ebay?

After more than a year, I still see traffic going to my first art blog and very little going to my new website. What does that tell me? “Ken, you have no idea of what you are doing.” Right! Maybe I should continue to blog for both sites (my official website). So, that’s what I’m going to do.


So, I'm start blogging here and at my website where you can purchase my originals.  I wanted to start with a new piece that I call "The Watchers" 

I know Google! That paragraph above has absolutely nothing to do with my title or the situation with eBay, but it is “content” or at least words, and we know how important content has to be.

Actually I don’t blog because of content or traffic. I do blog because I have some issues. We all have issues. I especially have issues with eBay. Let me be more specific by saying, “I have issues with eBay Hong Kong.”

Almost five years ago, I had a friend that suggested that I should post some of my art on eBay to sell. Usually, I would just give it away, and really didn’t pursue it as a serious endeavor. So, I decided to take my friend up on his idea. I opened an account with the user ID of “artbylaw123” on the Hong Kong site because it was the only site close to Taiwan that had an English version. Soon after that, the site went into what they call “beta testing”. The site reverted back to Chinese only and has been “beta testing” ever since. Actually that didn’t affect me at all. My market was mostly in the US. So, I used the US site exclusively and sold my paintings all over the world. Sounds like a commercial, right? Well, it was almost a match made in heaven, but something down the road went terribly wrong. Let me give you the background information you’ll need in deciding for yourself what happened to me. For me, I am still lost. Here goes. Around four years or so, I’ve been eBaying on the USA site, but being registered on Hong Kong and living in Taiwan. This strange combination, in the beginning, had never caused me any problems. Even now, I’m not really sure if this is the reason for my listing "category" limitations. My feedback is 100%. I had 420 positive remarks left and not one negative. Nevertheless, I can only list three paintings on ebay.  Wow! That was a kick in the butt.  When I started getting this 3 listings in art per month, I contact the US because Hong Kong raised the item limit to 160.  So, It couldn't be Hong Kong causing me the problems, but finally, ebay in the US told me that Hong Kong was causing the problem.  I wrote Hong Kong and you can read their response here if you want to.  It's really funny.

Honestly, I still don't have any good reasons for what happen to me, but I'm not quitting.  I'm going to close that account and will reopen an account with Taiwan.  It is all Chinese too, but this time my wife will help me in opening it.  So, I hope you look forward to more posts on this blog because it is going to happen.  I hope too that you will look forward to a new "ArtbyLaw123" on eBay as well because that will happen too.

Thanks for stopping by!
Ken Law