Art: Building a website to sell my doodlesThat sounded rather rude. But it’s not meant to be, really. This art thing has gotten under my skin in the same way that photography did all those many, many years ago. Truth is, it’s always been there, I remember my first real drawing, in my first classroom at my first school, Wood End Park in Hayes, Middlesex. I even remember the drawing, it was of Anne Boleyn, copied from a history book. Another truth is that I had set my sights on becoming and professional artist (and in my teen years I did, a different kind of artist granted, one that included alcohol, lots and lots of alcohol). I remember trudging up to Shaftesbury Avenue to a grotty book publisher for my first ever interview, to become an illustrator, aged just 16, but I became a photographer instead. So here we are, full circle. Back to being an artist at 50-bloody-3. And here the story begins. Feedback from my recent artistic attempts have been very, very positive. So, in the time between sleep, awake, and working as a photographer and writer, let’s do some art, let’s see where, or if, it takes us on another creative path to superstardom, or simply, whether we can make some cash on the back of it. And here’s where the website comes in. I have been writing these blogs for some time now using WordPress. Now for those who don’t know, this is an open source web client initially designed for blogs. However, I have fallen into a WordPress trap, I’ve gone and bought stuff that could be free. How? You ask (you probably didn’t). There are two main WordPress’, WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The first is a commercial organisation that will offer you all the hosting etc etc, where you pay, the second is an organisation where everything is free (pretty much). WordPress.com is easy to use, WordPress.org is much more flexible but more consuming, plus you need to organise your own hosting. Well I have that, with a company called UK2, they do all my websites. Www.solidimagery.co.uk, www.mobilescanning.co.uk,www.solidschoolphotos.co.uk, www.jonball.co.uk, and now, my new arty one www.ballsyart.co.uk (coming soon). Now, the trouble with website building is that I’ve never built one from scratch but with WordPress.org, well, it seems pretty straightforward. Themed templates are vast, and many are free. Then there’s the wonderful storefront from Woocommerce. A superb plugin that turns your website into an online store, takes payments from credit and debit cards, bacs and much more, and that, you guessed it, is also free. Sure, it’s still a drag building this thing, but boy is it a rewarding drag, plus, I get a website exactly like I want it, I’ll (hopefully) sell postcards, t-shirts, children’s books, posters of my work and all from a place that has been made absolutely, utterly, totally for free. And that’s good right? Jon
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