Lorraine Loots is a South African artist who, in 2013, started on a project called 365 Postcards for Ants. It involves her ‘creating a miniature painting every single day for the entire year,’ and not only is this a fantastic project, her website represents a great way an artist can promote and sell their work online.
365 Paintings for Ants
365 Paintings for Ants with Lorraine Loots from Gareth Pon on Vimeo.
Lorraine’s project involved people booking sentimental dates for themselves in her calendar and requesting a subject for the painting that resonated with them. Subjects ranged from musical instruments to fauna and wildlife, and were tiny! Original paintings will be 12.5cm x 12.5cm, framed in raw wood.
365 Postcards for Ants is now in its second year of activity after the first was so successful, and, just like before, you can reserve your place on her calendar for a unique and requested piece of art. Here are a few examples of her artwork:
Painting themes
Lorraine has decided to make this year’s postcard theme run in celebration of Cape Town, her home city, becoming the World Design Capital of 2014. This narrows down people’s requests a little, requiring some relation to her city. Each person can suggest five themes, and the most relevant to Lorraine and the city will be her choice.
Self Promotion
Lorraine’s use of the calendar is perhaps one of the most interesting things- aside from the paintings- about her project. By letting customers pick their own date on a calendar across a whole year, they are enabled to pick days with resonate with them emotionally. This is a brilliant and unusual way for an artist to market themselves and raise interesting in what they’re doing, not only from potential customers, but also art bloggers and news sites, being featured in more than 200 news and blog posts (based on data from ahrefs).
We have asked Lorraine for her thoughts on her continuing popularity, and hope that we hear from her soon!
How to order a painting
lorraine’s paintings for 2014 can be ordered from her website, any time from October onwards.
The original paintings cost 900 Rand, while a print of the postcard costs 400 Rand, working out at just over £20, not including shipping. There is usually a wait before your postcard or painting will arrive as they’re booked well in advance, but no one has been complaining yet.
Have you ever tried similar ways of promoting the sale of your work online? We’d love to hear them, if so.