Computers

I figure I have average ability with computers. I can use some programs pretty well and I'm not afraid of digging around in the innards looking for an answer when something isn't working. But I have to say I get tired of my electronic life, sometimes spending hours every day at my keyboard. Like now. Twenty years ago I would have been reading a book, something I rarely do any more except for a few minutes before the Sandman slugs me.

It all started with my painting 'career'. Working artists spend a lot of time not making art, unless they are famous enough to make enough money to have staff. The hoi polloi of artists do their own marketing and administration which requires a certain level of computer expertise if you want to present yourself well.

It begins with digital photo references which always need cropping and enhancement and that requires a photo editing program which can cost upwards of $1000.00. I use free ones: PhotoDraw (obsolete now), ACDSee, Office Picture Manager, Picasa. Some artists do virtually all their creative work on the computer and them literally copy that work to a canvas. It feels like cheating to me but it works for them. You have to do digital photo editing for documenting your work as well as for reference, and also for marketing materials.

Marketing means, again unless you've got money, that you learn how to develop a website so you can be 'out there' in cyber world, and 'have a presence'. I learned FrontPage because it was free and then relearned Expression when Microsoft upgraded. Then you find a web host and learn how to maneuver through their system, and in my case, manage your website so you don't have to pay someone else to update it. The web work isn't difficult but it takes hours to learn as well as a Dummies book that was written by a normal person.

Okay, where am I. Right, you have to have a desktop publishing program so you can make posters, show invitations, art cards, etc. Publisher has been my close ally for a lot of years; I don't know how people work with Word for marketing materials. Thankfully I hung up my paintbrushes before I had to get very serious about Facebook, not that it's hard to use but it's something else to remember.

Let's not forget about inventories and tax issues for which I had to learn Excel at a rudimentary level. Then, because we travel quite a bit and our friends and family are all over the world, I thought a blog would be a good idea, another program to learn, and now I am making digital photo journal books. By the time you have all that under your belt it starts to look as though you sort of know what you are doing. Scarier is that you can almost follow a Geek's conversation!

And then it starts to fall apart. You get asked to DO STUFF! I am just 'putting to bed' a 12 page newsletter for our neighbourhood association, after a lot of hours of formatting and creating. It looks like I know what I'm doing, but I don't. It's all smoke and mirrors.