FAQs

What is the Do Your Art Way series about?

The Do Your Art Your Way series of books is for the Collage Artist, Mixed Media Artist, Crafter, or SoulCollage® card maker who wants to include beautiful copyright free images in their art.
Each book contains dozens of original images, with each image on its own page.
No worries about cutting out these images to use for your art!
Each of the images comes in a large and small version, so you can use them in your larger or smaller works.

What is the format of the books?

Each book is composed of 26 or 30 distinct photographs. For each photograph, there is a large image and a small image, for a total of 52 or 60 usable images. Images appear on only on side of the page, so you won’t lose any images when cutting out photographs for use in your art.
How do you determine the pricing?

The publisher sets the minimal printing cost for the book based on the number of pages. I have added $2-3/book markup to help cover the costs of equipment and travel to get the next set of beautiful images.3
How frequently will you be releasing books?

I am planning on releasing one book each month. The upcoming books and the schedule can be found on the main doyourartyourway.com page.

What is the inspiration for the books?

The Do Your Art Your Way book series origin story…
I have been a nature photographer all my life.

In the spring of 2016, I joined a friend of mine to attend a SoulCollage® facilitator’s training in California.

In the training, I learned about the challenges of sharing our cards on social media when making them from photographs in magazines.

You cautioned us about potential copyright violations that made sharing SoulCollage® cards difficult.

A fellow student had just been sued for an image on her website — an image she got, in good faith, from a reputable “free” image site. She was able to negotiate to a lower penalty, but it was still an expensive and wounding experience.

After learning of her story, another student suggested I might make books out of my photographs to share with the SoulCollage® community. I thought it was a good idea, but put it in the back of my mind as life circumstances took my attention.

And then I got the dreaded letters about images in two SoulCollage® cards I had posted on social media. Fortunately, once I explained the SoulCollage® intent and process and pulled down the cards from social media, the photographer was generous enough to not to pursue a lawsuit.

But that terrifying experience cemented the desire, purpose, and drive to create books of copyright free images that SoulCollage®, mixed media, and collage artists could use without worry.

The “Do Your Art Your Way” series was born.
- What is your Photography Process?
  
  I am a photographer trained in a contemplative photography process, called Miksang. Miksang is a Tibetan word that translates to “good eye.”
  
  This process comes from the Buddhist Contemplative Arts tradition that includes Ikebana, Calligraphy, and Tea Ceremony.
  
  With this process, I go out to a location rich in images and see what I can find there. I don’t go with an agenda other than seeing what shows up for me during the trip. I try to quiet my mind and be open to the images that are arising at that moment. I then, with minimal aggression, take the picture.
- How do you make the books?
  
  I love taking pictures of nature and enjoy getting out shooting to immerse myself in nature. I travel to a variety of different gardens and locations with flowers and plants.
  
  I shoot a lot of pictures and then begin the process of reviewing the images that I have. Some locations, like Japanese Gardens, are themes in themselves. Other locations yield pictures of all types of subjects, so a theme for a book will develop as I review the pictures from one or more locations.
  
  It takes hours of time to cull through the images to select the most beautiful, impactful, and sharpest images for the book based on the theme. I then add the images to my book template in an order that is selected to produce the best overall experience for the viewer.
  
  I work with my book cover designer once I have the images selected. I have a DYAYW series theme to the covers with slight variation in colors used for each new book. Each book cover has three photographs from the collection in the book.
  
  Then I push the interior as a pdf and the cover as a pdf to CreateSpace for their initial review. I am able to review the books on line and then order a proof copy to review the actual physical book.
  
  Finally, if all is good, I push that “publish” button and off it goes to Amazon!

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FAQs

What is the Do Your Art Way series about?

What is the format of the books?

Each book is composed of 26 or 30 distinct photographs. For each photograph, there is a large image and a small image, for a total of 52 or 60 usable images. Images appear on only on side of the page, so you won’t lose any images when cutting out photographs for use in your art.

How do you determine the pricing?

The publisher sets the minimal printing cost for the book based on the number of pages. I have added $2-3/book markup to help cover the costs of equipment and travel to get the next set of beautiful images.3

How frequently will you be releasing books?

I am planning on releasing one book each month. The upcoming books and the schedule can be found on the main doyourartyourway.com page.

What is the inspiration for the books?

I have been a nature photographer all my life.

In the training, I learned about the challenges of sharing our cards on social media when making them from photographs in magazines.

You cautioned us about potential copyright violations that made sharing SoulCollage® cards difficult.

A fellow student had just been sued for an image on her website — an image she got, in good faith, from a reputable “free” image site. She was able to negotiate to a lower penalty, but it was still an expensive and wounding experience.

After learning of her story, another student suggested I might make books out of my photographs to share with the SoulCollage® community. I thought it was a good idea, but put it in the back of my mind as life circumstances took my attention.

And then I got the dreaded letters about images in two SoulCollage® cards I had posted on social media. Fortunately, once I explained the SoulCollage® intent and process and pulled down the cards from social media, the photographer was generous enough to not to pursue a lawsuit.

But that terrifying experience cemented the desire, purpose, and drive to create books of copyright free images that SoulCollage®, mixed media, and collage artists could use without worry.

The “Do Your Art Your Way” series was born.

What is your Photography Process?

I am a photographer trained in a contemplative photography process, called Miksang. Miksang is a Tibetan word that translates to “good eye.”

This process comes from the Buddhist Contemplative Arts tradition that includes Ikebana, Calligraphy, and Tea Ceremony.

How do you make the books?

I love taking pictures of nature and enjoy getting out shooting to immerse myself in nature. I travel to a variety of different gardens and locations with flowers and plants.

I shoot a lot of pictures and then begin the process of reviewing the images that I have. Some locations, like Japanese Gardens, are themes in themselves. Other locations yield pictures of all types of subjects, so a theme for a book will develop as I review the pictures from one or more locations.

It takes hours of time to cull through the images to select the most beautiful, impactful, and sharpest images for the book based on the theme. I then add the images to my book template in an order that is selected to produce the best overall experience for the viewer.

I work with my book cover designer once I have the images selected. I have a DYAYW series theme to the covers with slight variation in colors used for each new book. Each book cover has three photographs from the collection in the book.

Then I push the interior as a pdf and the cover as a pdf to CreateSpace for their initial review. I am able to review the books on line and then order a proof copy to review the actual physical book.

Finally, if all is good, I push that “publish” button and off it goes to Amazon!

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