Business and Finance Week: July 2014

Reconnoitering Belfast, day two

Super-fast wee little sketch of tugboats in Belfast harbor. It came to an abrupt end (see below).

One of the tasks I love best is driving around scoping out painting sites for my students.

After stopping at the Fireside Inn to make sure everyone’s arrangements are in order for August, I started ferreting around Belfast proper.

Classic Maine promontory, outside Belfast.

If you’re looking for an archetypal mid-coast Maine community, you’ll look in vain. Every town and city has its own character; this is far more true than, say, the little villages strung like pearls along the Erie Canal. Rockland has an old brick Main Street that marches along its waterfront. Rockport curves around its harbor and ancient, defunct lime kiln. Camden is crammed full of luxury yachts, wooden boats, gracious inns (and cars). Lincolnville is a beach town. Northport looks like nothing from Route 1, but veer off on a side road and you might stumble across Bayside, with its lovely Victorian cottages marching down to the sea.

Quiet Maine moment, outside Belfast.

The Belfast area has been settled since around the time of the Revolutionary War, with the usual burnings and occupations of contested properties during our two wars with the British. In the 19th century, it developed into a shipbuilding center, a legacy still visible in the boatyards on the waterfront.

The risk you always take painting on a waterfront is that someone will park their boat right in front of you before you finish. Oh, well.

As wooden ship building faded at the turn of the century, the local economy shifted to seafood and poultry. Unlike many Maine cities, it wasn’t completely dependent on water transport; a spur from the Maine Central railroad was built in 1871. The poultry business is now gone, but the busy little city is now home to galleries and artists.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

How To Make Your Budget Work

There are a lot of things on a family's budget, and it is essential to spend on necessities. Often times, it can be difficult to decide which ones should stay or go on the budget. There are things that can help them free up some dollars.

Discount coupons are one of the things that budget-conscious individuals love, and it is obvious why. Buying something that is 10 to 30 percent less its original price will leave them some extra cash which can be used for other expenses. Of course more coupons mean more savings.

Checking one's receipt and change after every transaction can also help them spot any inaccurate amount, especially when paying in cash. Cashiers are humans, too, and are also capable of making mistakes. Before leaving the counter, customers must make sure that the purchases on their receipt are correct and they were given the right change.

Shopping during a sale may seem like the best idea, however, spending money that one has not earned yet can cause a tremendous dent on his or her budget. There is no point in buying something that a person or their family doesn't really need. If a person charges an item on his or her credit card and fails to pay it on time, the charges they will occur might double that of what they purchased. Credit card companies often charge a late or over the limit fees on accounts that were not paid on time. Sticking to the budget is always the best way to go.

Utility bills are also something that can be managed. Parents need to teach their children how to conserve water and electricity, so they do not have to pay more than their budget would allow. Not only do they save money in conserving electricity, parents also get to train their children on how to take care of the environment.

Walking instead of using the car saves a person a substantial amount on money and also promotes physical fitness. When going to nearby locations, it would be best to jog or bike to conserve gas, save money, and be environmentally friendly.

Moreover, making just the necessary calls can help you save on phone bills. Knowing how to eliminate your cell phone bill charges can also take out any unnecessary amount. You should carefully go through your utility bills prior to making a payment. There may be some erroneous charges that need to be taken out.

Reconnoitering, day one

Pendleton Point Beach, 8X6, oil on canvas, sold.

I have allotted two days to reconnoiter painting sites for my Belfast workshop. Yes, I am familiar with the Belfast area, but finding spots for a group of painters is different from finding spaces for solo painting.

Pup waiting for the Islesboro ferry. So good.

The first step was to take the ferry to Islesboro. I took my student Loren with me—since he lives in Maine anyway—and we drove the length of the island before settling on a public beach. It’s a different feeling from Monhegan: more sheltered because it’s within Penobscot bay, and a gentler landscape. It’s also more accessible, which is what’s important in this workshop, since in part I designed it around the needs of a mobility-impaired student. Monhegan is beautiful, but it’s simply impossible to navigate the ferry and the steep slopes if you’re not fit.

Loren Brown's oil sketch of Pendleton Point beach.

Islesboro, on the other hand, is a Maine community, rather than a tourist attraction. We ran across a “save our post office” rally; had we had more time, I would have joined in.

Loren and I both painted small sketches to make sure our designated painting site worked. Mine sold from my easel. That doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it makes me very happy.

Lighthouse at Islesboro ferry landing.

When I got back to the mainland, I stopped at the Fireside Inn to check on our arrangements. It not only has a salt-water pool, but said pool has a lift for mobility-impaired swimmers to get in and out. As my friend Pamela says, this workshop has “flow.”

I ran across my dream home along the way.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Appointment Setting Scripts For the Insurance Professional

Whether you are selling home, life, auto or even health insurance getting an appointment often means the difference between getting "I'll think about it" and "let's get this going now". Those who don't know how to set appointments quickly get out of the business because they just can't the policies.

Setting appointments in the insurance industry is different than other businesses. With complex jargon, confusing fees, and multiple payment options prospects are often skeptical. They think you are just trying to add on additional coverage to get a "bigger commission". They don't seem to understand that you are trying to protect them. If you could just sit down with them 1 on 1 you could help them to see the benefits in that extra coverage.

In insurance the more appointments you set the more policies you will be closing daily. In fact if you dedicated two and a half hours a day on the phone to just booking appointments you would have a 7 figure business in insurance. Most agents are so busy running around town or dealing with claims that they barely dedicate an hour a day to new business. When you consider the rewards of time spent booking appointments for your insurance business it is a virtual "no brainer" to master the art of appointment setting scripts.

To set more appointments for your insurance business I invite you to consider the following tips:

Give them a reason to meet with you - Most agents pitch in their sales scripts that they can save the prospect money or they can do a "free review" of existing policies. Prospects know these tricks and they won't be listening when you make those types of statements. Instead of telling them why they should meet with you consider piquing their interest. For example you could ask them "Would it be worth 17 minutes of your time to save 17% or more on all of your insurance policies?"
Give them options - People don't like to be told what to do. When you want more appointments give your prospects the option of choosing what time they will meet with you. By simply providing them two options you can easily double your appointment count weekly. Consider giving them different day and time options for maximum success.

As you are calling and using appointment setting scripts for your insurance business I invite you to consider giving your prospects options and piquing their interest in a manner that compels them to want to meet with you!

Dive in today to a free, power packed, sales script course that will have you doubling your appointments. Discover 67 interest piquing questions that selling in my free sales course - www.QuestionsThatSell.com

Do you know the Night Soil Man?

My neighbor clearing a fence at 6 AM, before the bugs came out.

In Leisure: the Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper posited that leisure is the foundation of culture and that our bourgeois world has stamped out leisure, Pieper wrote this before the construction of the welfare state. If he’d lived to see it, he might have posited a corollary: the West now concentrates leisure in the least-educated classes, and our movies and music reflect that, with their emphasis on violence and misogyny and peculiar fascination with Kim Kardashian.

That's a well. And a bucket. You know the drill.

As an intellectual in the German Empire, Pieper presumably had servants to do his grunt work. Being off the grid makes me wonder who in pre-Industrial society had any time to do anything but work. Of course, I am trying to marry my 21^st century work with an 18^th century existence, which in some ways means I’m doubling my work load. But having said that, I’m able to take certain shortcuts, such as going to the Laundromat instead of pounding my clothes on a rock.

The Eco-Warrior can't come up the lane any farther than this. Her poor suspension is meant for city streets, not off-roading.

On the other hand, I also live with 21^st century expectations, such as wanting clean linen and hair. And there are no longer systems for living without electricity and city water; for example, we no longer have night-soil men, which means my first job in the morning is to bury the waste from my improvised chamber pot.

Any camper knows the night-soil solution. Best done before one actually wakes up.

At home, I’m a pretty organized person. Here, I’m watching all my systems fall apart, starting with making my bed. It is obvious that integration of domestic work in a non-industrial setting means that if one job doesn’t get done, everyone suffers. Without refrigeration, if you don’t make dinner, you go hungry. If you don’t wash clothes, you’re filthy. There are no deep pantries or walk-in closets here in the woods. Just mosquitoes. The pejorative terms “slattern” or “layabout” have real meaning in a world where work equals survival.

There are definitely consolations. Being alone in Paradise is one of them.

I am not afraid of the dark, nor am I worried about being alone in the woods. I do, however, perceive darkness differently from this vantage point of aloneness. Having not had the foresight to bring a musical instrument, I find myself going to bed early and reading, and then getting up with the birds at about 5 AM.

No electricity and a ladder to my loft means an 8 o'clock bedtime and getting up before 5.

Having spent Saturday morning painting re-enactors, I was able to peek behind the curtain of their performance. On Sunday evening, they went home and took hot showers, and went back to their day jobs. I wonder what they would feel about their existence if their encampments lasted an entire summer, and if there weren’t a lovely, clean restroom at the Visitor Center.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Goodbye, Castine, for another year

Water Street morning, 16X12, oil on canvasboard.

Yesterday, Jacq Baldini asked on FB, ““Is this how you really want to be spending your day?” Brilliant question. Darn, I love spending my days like this.

At the end of a plein air festival, what stays with you the most is the conviviality. I got to see Michael Chesley Johnson’s utterly fantastic painting of the Maine Maritime Academy’s training ship. I got to laugh like a hyena with Olena Babakand Renee Lammers while painting on a deck loaned to us by the owner, who rolled off to dinner as soon as we appeared. I painted with Carol Wileyalong Water Street, and with Michael Vermette at the Revolutionary reenactment at the Wilson Museum.

Dappled light (Revolutionary War reenactment), oil on canvasboard, 20X16.

Dyce Head Light, 16X12, oil on canvasboard.

Shot the breeze with Ted Lameyer at about fifty different locales, and painted his kid’s bike dumped along Perkins Street. I had a glass of wine with Bobbi Heathat the artists’ reception. Mary Byromplotted with me about participating in Saranac Lake, but I only had a brief moment to chat with Laurie Lefebvre while painting—she can set up, paint, and tear down in her inimitable furious style in the time it takes me to choose a brush.

Lunch break, 9X12, oil on canvasboard.

A happy band of brothers are we.

A very unique feature about Castine Plein Air is that they partner artists with local residents. My "host family" are gracious and avid supporters of the community, not to mention phenomenal chefs. When you're in the field painting from 7 AM until 9 PM, having a real home to come home to is wonderful.

The Path Below the Lighthouse, 6X8, oil on canvasboard

If there was a TripAdvisor for plein air festivals, I'd rate this one tops.

Next week, I’m painting both at Camden Falls Gallery and Waldoboro’s Paint the Town. But today I am going to rest, do my laundry, and peace out.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Get Professional Insurance for You to Enjoy the Splendid Benefits of the World

Insurance whether of life, vehicle, health or even property has become a part and parcel of our lives in today's time. You never know which mishap may crop up suddenly which you need to deal in that urgency of time. In such cases insurance seems to be the apt choice for many as it aids the individual with the appropriate necessitates in the rush hour.

Ironically, getting insurance is very easy but getting the best which suits and covers all your requirements is very tough. In such a case it is always advisable to seek professional insurance guidance. Thus with such a guidance of elevated experts, it confers all its patrons with esteemed after sale service facilities.

There are many insurance agencies doing the run of the mill job. Out of all, very few only have expertise knowledge to cater professional insurance to us which seems tailor -made to us and our family. Insurance agencies should not be chosen on the basis name or fame, rather the policies they offer with their benefits. Since future cannot be predicted, it is wise to insure your loved ones as well as your loving valuables that you do not want to part away very easily. By taking insurance you, your valuables and your dear one's are all protected against unforeseen risks.

Very few insurance companies give you a true value for your money regardless to the numerous promises they swear to make. A professional insurance, though how well it seems, may or may not fulfill all your desired needs. Hence a special care should be taken in analyzing all its pros and cons.

Insurances have somewhat become an indispensable part of our lives in this era of great financial burden. As a matter of fact the number of insurance agencies has also increased exponentially. With such striving competition one feels perplexed in what to choose and what not to. Many life insurance companies offer a range of health insurances some are cashless while some are not. Thus, a good care of such a scenario should be taken. Even the vehicle and life insurance policies that one may plan to take up might have some hidden loop holes. With so much of confusion it is always advised to take up professional insurance advice that will clearly help you identify all its features.

Apart from the people yearning to take up insurance policies, even the insurance giving organizations also do research about the whereabouts of the applicants. So a proper one to one analysis of each other is done. This seems a bit necessary on the part of insurance agencies as many people do fake up documents in order to get the supreme gains of these policies, and with so much corruption these days, it all seems a common ground for such type of activities. Therefore in order to achieve the best, a continuous survey is done to facilitate yourself with the most profitable and advantageous schemes from the pool of webs.

Choose wisely as these professional insurance can turn your life upside down!

How do I love you, Maine? Let me count the ways.

Sunset at Castine, oil on canvas, 12X9, $395, available through Castine Plein Air.

Maine—where people offer you a spot on their deck to paint the sunset and add, “There’s a bathroom on the lower level and cold drinks inside, anything you need.” And then simply leave and let you paint. Or see you painting outside their house and come over and offer you a cool drink and a bathroom. Or coffee. Or anything you might need.

I really did finish it, but then I forgot to photograph it. The Dyce Head Light is too lovely to not paint, even if you suffer from a surfeit of lighthouses.

Maine—where even in the middle of summer, your window fogs up when you start your car after dusk, a gentle 64° breeze sweeps away the heat of the day as you drive slowly ‘home’ down a dirt road with the windows open. And when you get there, your friends have made you a delicious home-cooked meal.

Maine—where the clouds are ever-changing and always rolling along, pushed by the clash of ocean breezes and the prevailing westerlies.

Boathouse and dead tree. I painted this in a deluge and didn't like it at the time, but I've reconsidered. It has a certain off-hand charm. I was listening to Dorothy Sayers' Whose Body on my phone while I painted this. Perhaps it is influenced a little by Lord Peter Wimsey.

Maine—where there really are still village greens, Civil War memorials, streets lined with white-clapboard covered houses, and one-room schoolhouses.

A lovely scene below the lighthouse. If I live to be 99, I will never completely paint Castine.

Yesterday I painted four paintings. I was so intent on my work that I neglected to photograph one entirely, and photographed the other half finished. That is an indication of how intense Castine Plein Air is, but it’s also very engaging. I talked to people from all over the United States, including new Facebook friends from Central New York who are vacationing near Acadia and drove over for the day to see this event. It was great meeting you, Daphne and Bruce.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Street scene from Damariscotta

Main Street in Damariscotta, oil on canvas, 8X10

Yesterday I had less than two hours to paint with my student Loren in Damariscotta before I took off for Castine. I love the gaps on the water side of Maine Main Streets, with harbors glimpsed behind them. The buildings themselves are venerable and full of character, and the gaps speak of transition to a sparkling, clearer, brighter future.

Two quiet hours with a friend was in itself a nice transition from my concerns back in Rochester into the busy brushwork we will all be doing at Castine Plein Air for the next three days. If you’re ever in the mid-coast region, come by and see this lovely small city. Plan to take time for a self-guided walking tour of historic sites; Castine has an amazingly rich and varied history.

Me, painting. That was fun!

Castine is off the beaten track, so the tourists trundling up US 1 never see it. It has almost an otherworldly quality because of this. This morning at 7:30 AM, we painters will stand in the village green and have our painting boards stamped. It remains to be seen how we capture that quality.

If you come to Castine this weekend, stop by the Castine Historical Society and pick up a copy of their new self-guided walking tour map. I immediately marked mine up with potential painting sites. (Photo credit, Castine Historical Society.)

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Censored. Me. Really.

Shuttered. Closed down. Censored. Moi? Really?

My duo show with Stu Chait, Intersections of Form, Color, Time and Space was closed on July 18 by RIT-NTID’s Dyer Gallery because the nude figure paintings might be offensive to young campus visitors. It seems like just yesterday that I was saying issues of censorship didn’t raise their ugly heads here in Rochester.

At our first meeting with the gallery, I specifically asked whether nude figure paintings would be a problem. I pointed out that the primary work dealt with difficult themes of how women are marginalized in the 21st century. I am a feminist, and my figure work deals with things like religious submission, bondage, slavery, prostitution, obesity, exploitation, etc.

The Laborer Resting, 36X48, oil on canvas. Available.

These paintings were reviewed, accepted and hung by the gallery with no problems. The opening was well-attended, and there were children present. (For that matter, my son regularly schleps paintings for me, and his biggest complaint is that he’d rather be using his computer.) The show was featured in RIT’s University News and mentionedin City newspaper. It was not until administrators saw the work that it was deemed unacceptable.

The cynic in me thinks that if I painted coy, sexy Odalisques there would have been no objection to the show. Young people are exposed to sexually-charged but non-intellectual images every day; in fact, this is part of the problem I am painting about.

Meanwhile, kids who go to malls are exposed to images like this on an everyday basis. And this really is obscene, because it uses sex to sell clothing.

If difficult issues of women’s rights can’t be examined in a college gallery, where can they be examined?

I have occasionally pulled individual pieces that were too challenging. Last month I had a show at AVIV Café and Gallery at Bethel Church on East Avenue. The director pulled one work because its depiction of starving Africa frightened children. But since he left the bulk of the work intact, this was no problem.

Aviva Sleeping, 36X24, challenges the notion that an obese woman cannot be a beautiful one.

Of course, I’m in Maine, so Stu Chait and Sandy Quang had to deal with the work of pulling, wrapping and moving around 60 large paintings. And visitors to the show will find the gallery empty. What a pity.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Know All About Credit Card Machines

The present era is a high tech era. Gone are the days when one would pay via paper e.g., cash or cheque, for the purchase. Plastic is the new face of currency. Apart from the card being convenient to carry, it is also easy to use. A person, using a card to pay, requires the merchant to acknowledge it to complete the sale. The credit card machine is the viable answer to both the parties to complete the sale. It is a boon to the people.

In the times not far from now, the business organizations used to take the print of the card and to follow up, they issued charge slips to the card holder. This charge slip was duly signed by the user after verification and was taken as an acceptance by the user to pay the liability. However, these actions have become the things of the past as in the present world, the sale takes place instantaneously. The machines, used for the transaction, are light and portable. They acknowledge major credit cards issued by leading companies. Apart from the credit cards, these machines also accept debit cards of all major banks. These machines do not come in any standard design and shape. The device is connected to the master link and there is a slot for swiping the card. The moment you swipe the card in the slot, the device recognizes the card by reading the microchip embedded in it. The read information is then sent to the computer for verification and authorizing the deal. This process hardly takes a few seconds and the user gets the deal approved in a small span of time. The card reader is the most significant part of the device.

When the card is swiped on the device, the information in the embedded microchip is transferred to the bank or the credit card company. The machine then prints out the receipt having the detail of the purchase and the money that the user has to pay to the merchant establishment. There are two receipts printed, one is signed and handed back to the merchant and the other receipt is retained by the card holder, known as the customer copy. It does not take more than a few seconds to complete the whole process. The contemporary credit card machines are more user-friendly. They come equipped with an alphanumeric keypad which is easy to use. The modern devices also boast of special features, such as the LCD display. Some machines also come attached with thermal printers making it easier for the merchant to take prints instantly.

You can come across these machines in almost all the hotels, restaurants, petrol pumps and departmental stores. The device is also helpful in producing information on sales and a total of credit given out on a daily basis. These machines are also efficient in keeping track of transactions and debt payments on credit cards. These also come in wireless units, which is the latest technology perfected lately. The wireless devices are much in fashion and can be seen during carnivals, trade shows and exhibitions.

Off the grid in midcoast Maine

Lichens on the well head at my new home. One lowers the bucket to get water. How cool is that?

I arrived at my temporary home in mid-coast Maine at mid-day yesterday. Despite ample warning to charge my toys, I managed to run my cell phone, my laptop, and my Kindle down to nothing, which is why this post is late.

I’m staying in a 12X16 cabin owned by dedicated off-the-gridders. It’s set back in the woods, and it has a living area, windows with screens, a dry sink, a wood stove, a propane stove and a sleeping loft. I have a plastic bucket for my human waste, and any other garbage must be packed out, which is a strong impetus to not buy lots of packaged goods.

My beautiful bike, waiting for me to use it while teaching in Belfast.

As a city dweller, I notice first that it’s shockingly quiet and shockingly dark at night. But the beauty of modern America is that even in the deep woods, we have 4G, so I was able to check Facebook before going to sleep.

The amenities I find primitive would have been considered luxurious by our pioneer ancestors, desperate to get a roof over their heads before winter. They would be considered luxurious by the standards of many of the world’s poor.

The powder room.

I plan to reflect a bit on this during the weeks I’m here, but that will have to wait a bit. I leave tomorrow for Castine, ME, where I’m participating in Castine Plein Air. I’ll be staying with a friend who not only has hot water, she has a guest room with a bath. Whoo hoo!

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

Killer Instincts Only Insurance Professionals Have

Are you an insurance rep that has killer instincts to level the field and then seize the sale? If you feel defenseless, exhausted, or powerless, your future is doomed. Find out what separates the pros from the many inadequate insurance representatives.

An insurance representative that aggressively oversells is very weak. Likewise an insurance rep that is constantly caught in an objection trap is way too fragile when giving a presentation. Both are defenseless and vulnerable because they can not adapt to the prospect. It does not matter if you even like your prospect. Can you by talking develop a common bond of trust.

The rare successful reps develop a killer instinct by losing their fear of the prospect controlling them. Almost all prospects are experts at knowing when to buy. However, it is a rare insurance representative that knows when to sell and when to be a problem solver. Far too many insurance reps are problem makers. They actually cause the prospect not to purchase. Hope, pressure, and lack of control never create a sale.

Do you have a buyer, or are you going to waste a couple hours with a tire kicker? Adapt to a killer instinct. Tell yourself that you are ready to walk away as fast as possible from evasive prospects. Do not tolerate or accept any ands, ifs, buts, or the see you later responders.. Rarely will these people do more than string your along for months and months. Do not be a sap, call their bluff by acting dumb. Start by asking them to repeat their objection again. Then reply "Fine". Next say, "In all my years I rarely ever hear that, so please explain what you really mean."

If you get an answer that is not positive, just remember this prospect needs you more that you need him. He may say "I will call in a few days" Immediately reply, "I constantly help new clients, I only come back if you have a claim situation." That is it, your prospect is a loser for a sale. End an appointment in 15 minutes should your prospect does not feel he has a problem to solve. This is not a true prospect, so give yourself credit for recognizing it and leaving early. Just like you get away from irritating telephone solicitors you have no use for, dump these type of reject prospects as fast as you can.

Killer Closers are simply the problem solvers of the sales world. Before they visit a prospect they get him to admit that there is a problem to solve. In fact, they have the instinctive power to say why they are the true rescue person. You are going to use your product to solve their fear. However, it is your job to get your prospect to feel the pain. Ask them how they can solve this painful problem. Do they want to solve it? Or are weak instincts showing? They know you don't have the pros' skills, and are just pumping you for information or trying to give you a line? Killer instincts invite prospects to not ask stupid roadblock type questions.

Applying the killer close is easier then you think. Put your prospect's mind in the right perspective. Tell them you are not going to sell them anything, You are going to get them to solve a problem.. You want your prospect to acquire the ideal solution to fill the gap. The gap you both know that will be best solved by your insurance product.

As an insurance representative, the time for you is now. Develop the killer instinct of an insurance professional, and make you client reach out for your advice and problem solving assistance. If not it is a quick goodbye forever. You are not the welcome wagon on a making friends mission. Your true insurance friends become your clients.

My paint list

With the palette I outline below, you can get anywhere you need to go on the color wheel.

I’ve been using RGH paints for several years. I like them because they’re relatively inexpensive, they have a high pigment load, and they don’t add driers. In addition, they’re made in a small workshop in Colonie, NY.

On Friday I stopped at RGH to talk to them about finalizing a paint list for my students.

Paints are often sold with poetic names like “Naples Yellow” that mean nothing. The real pigment by that name, antimony yellow, is toxic. Alizarin crimson and Indian yellow are both fugitive (meaning they fade). When people buy paints using those old romantic names, they are in fact buying a mixture of pigments that approximate the handling and color of the original pigments.

Colors like cerulean are very expensive, so manufacturers make mixes that approximate them, which are labeled as "hues". But mixes of any kind give you less value and flexibility than buying the straight colors and learning to mix yourself.

Even when manufacturers use the same pigments there can be wide variations in color in the finished product, depending on the pigment load, how finely the pigment is ground, what oil is used for the binder, etc.

I carried my palette box into RGH’s shop and Roger and I spent an hour comparing pigments. This is the palette I am now recommending to all my students, or to anyone else who wants to paint like me:

Burnt sienna
Cadmium orange
Cadmium yellow light
Indian yellow transparent
Ivory black
Mars yellow deep
Prussian blue
Quinacridone magenta
Raw sienna
Titanium white
Ultramarine blue

For all colors except Titanium white, a 37 ml tube is sufficient. For Titanium white a 150 ml tube is necessary. Order them here.

I buy my paints in cans and put them in a plastic pill box but for most painters tubes are fine.

Note that this palette contains neither a red nor a green. I’ve concluded that neither is necessary on the everyday palette. If I were to add them, I’d add chromium oxide green (the color of summer foliage in the northeast) and naphthol red, which approximates cadmium red but doesn’t dry out as fast (or cost as much).

If you want to learn more about pigments, the best source of information is the Handprint website. Although designed for watercolor, its information is true across all media.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.

5 Practical Points to Consider Before Buying Professional Indemnity Insurance

In the unfortunate situation of professional negligence or error, PI Insurance may well save your business. It is important to ensure that you obtain the most suitable form of cover in order to maximise protection. Before you buy, ask yourself the following questions:

Is my profession covered?
For some professions, the purchasing of PI Insurance is mandatory. These include Accountants, Solicitors and the Medical profession, amongst others. A definitive list of named professions can be found online. However, anyone can purchase Professional Indemnity Insurance, and an increasing number of professionals in a range of industries are choosing to do so on a voluntary basis. Even if PI is not essential to your profession, it may be advisable.

How much cover will I need?
This varies dramatically from case to case. When taking out a policy, you need to consider the size of your contract and client, any potential defence costs and the maximum amount of compensation which could be awarded against you. In general terms: the higher the financial stakes, the greater the amount of cover required. You can usually set your own limit of indemnity when taking out a policy, but bear in mind that you will often be required to pay an excess. It is also worth noting that some clients will have a minimum limit of indemnity that they require. Some government departments, for example, require contractors to have at least £5 million of cover.

Am I covered for work that I've done before I take the policy out?
The majority of PI policies work on a claims-made basis. This means that the insurance covers any claims which are made during the policy period, rather than the actual incidents themselves. However, some insurance providers will require you to pay for retroactive cover to ensure that you are protected against any issues with work completed before the instigation of the policy. Some policies will run for a set amount of time, whereas others will continue indefinitely until payment is actively cancelled.

Does it cover me internationally?
Again, this varies according to industry and to the insurance provider. Many insurance providers offer industry-specific policies to ensure the most relevant and tightest level of protection. Policies can be further tailored to the requirements of your individual business, and amended as your needs alter. The function of Professional Indemnity Insurance is to protect you against the worst eventuality. It is therefore vital that you select (and if necessary, create) a policy which extends to the level of cover you require.

How do I pay?
The most common form of payment for PI Insurance is by direct debit. This of course means that the insurance is usually an ongoing business expense, rather than a single lump sum. The benefit of this is that your policy will continue to run until you cancel payment, thus avoiding a situation where your policy has expired without your realising. There are other methods of payment which can again be arranged to suit your individual situation.

There is much scope for flexibility with Professional Indemnity Insurance. By asking yourself these questions, you should begin to develop an idea of the needs of your particular business. The purchasing of this type of insurance could make the difference between professional security and dissolution - it is therefore important that you capitalise on the protection available.

But enough about me...

Photographer Iván Ramos was at the opening of my show, “God+Man” at Roberts Wesleyan’s Davison Gallery in April. Yesterday he sent me a slew of photos from the event. Sit back and enjoy.

Courtesy of Iván Ramos.

Sorry, folks. My workshop in Belfast, ME is sold out. Message me if you want a spot on my waitlist, or information about next year’s programs. Information is available here.