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What
is an OSWOA®?
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| OSWOA® is an acronym
for Original Small Work Of Art.
Pronunciation is a bit tricky, but after using the
term for quite awhile we have determined that the best
pronunciation is OS (like in toss) and WUH. Put
it together and you are saying OS-WUH with the accent
on the OS.
An OSWOA would be an original work
of art that measures 6" x 4" or 4" x
6" and fits into a standard 6" x 4"
photo album sleeve (Where the measurements 6" x
4" is used you can automatically assume 4" x
6" also). The idea behind the
OSWOA movement is to help create a market
for collecting and reselling these diminutive
artworks! An active OSWOA art market will
give artists an outlet for selling their works while
giving art collectors and speculators an increasingly
large base of quality works in which to invest.
Collecting art in miniature
dimensions has become very popular on the internet,
thanks to the ACEO movement, which involves buying and
selling small 2.5" x 3.5" works of art on
the internet. The OSWOA movement is simply
making the art a little larger so there's more of it
to enjoy!
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To maintain the trust of OSWOA
collectors, and avoid confusion on the part of
artists, we felt it important to have some
clarification of the OSWOA acronym and it's
descriptive use.
OSWOA means Original
Small Work of Art. The dictionary defines ORIGINAL
as:
1. Preceding all others in time;
first.
2. Not derived from something
else; fresh and unusual
3. Productive of new things or new ideas;
inventive
4. Being the source from which a copy,
reproduction, or translation is made.
Any reproductions of original
works that can be mass produced exactly, or nearly
exact, using a printer are NOT ORIGINAL and are
not OSWOA.
Original works of art
include:
HAND DRAWN and/or HAND
PAINTED - All hand drawn and/or painted
4" x 6" works of art can be identified
as OSWOA. This includes (but may not
be exclusive to) works done in Pencil, Ink,
Watercolor, Oil, Acrylic, and Pastel.
PHOTOGRAPHS and DIGITAL ART -
The OSWOA movement recognizes photographs and computer
generated digital art as viable forms of artistic
impression. However, to maintain the integrity
of the word ORIGINAL in the OSWOA acronym, only the VERY
FIRST PRINTED ORIGINAL of any artwork that can be
duplicated exactly, or nearly exact, using
reproduction technology, may be called OSWOA.
The work must be hand signed and clearly marked as the
first and only true original. All subsequent
copies are prints and not OSWOAs as they are copies of
the original works of art.
MIXED
MEDIA, COLLAGE, or ALTERED ART OSWOA -
OSWOA art can be made by using a combination of
materials and techniques. A mix of paint, ink,
fabric material, cut up print, glitter, dried
flowers, ...the list goes on and is bounded only by
the imagination of the artist. These are
identified as MIXED MEDIA, ALTERED ART or COLLAGE
OSWOAs and can be totally fabulous!
Examples of how OSWOAs might be identified
on the back of each work, and also in the description
of the artwork if being sold on the internet"
OSWOA Watercolor
OSWOA Oil
OSWOA Acrylic
OSWOA Pastel
OSWOA Drawing (pen and ink, pencil, color pencil)
OSWOA Mixed Media, Collages, Altered Art
OSWOA Digital Art or Photograph True and
Original 1st
OSWOA Block Print (woodcut or linoprint)
Use your judgment when combining
techniques above and how you identify the finished
work, always keeping the Collector in mind.
Since they can't pick up and examine the art, they are
relying on us to help them with our true and accurate
descriptions. It is to our benefit that the
OSWOA name speaks to the integrity of all OSWOA
artists.
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OSWOA
Artist Explained
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| What
is an OSWOA artist? Anyone who creates Original Small
Works of Art which measure 4" x 6" is an OSWOA
artist. In time I hope all OSWOA artists will be devoted
to the movement and want to spread the word of how fun and
rewarding OSWOAs can be to paint and collect, but all it takes
to be an OSWOA artist is paint in the OSWOA size.
It's easy to become an OSWOA artist as early
as TODAY! Simply paint or create an original work of art
(painting, collage, wax art, etc...) with the measurements of
4" x 6" or 6" x 4", sign or initial the
front and identify the card as an OSWOA and yourself as the
artist by adding your name and where you are from on the back
Sample of what to write on the back of an
OSWOA:
OSWOA Watercolor
by Dustie Meads
Northwest Arkansas
*more examples in the
category above
List your OSWOA online,
identify it in the title of the auction as an OSWOA and
explain in the description of the auction what an OSWOA is.
There are logo's
on the site you can use in your auction to send them to this
site to learn about OSWOAs, or send them to the Ebay OSWOA
group. Feel free to copy any text from this site to help
you along with the description.
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The
History Behind OSWOAs
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| A few years ago, a movement began on the
internet among a group of artists trying to sell their
paintings online. That movement involved original
artworks, or small run editions of original artworks, the size
of baseball trading cards, 2.5" x 3.5", known as ACEOs
(Art Cards Editions & Originals).
The ease of creating these small artworks in
terms of space needed, time involved, and supply costs,
coupled with the fun of collecting affordable art worldwide,
has made ACEOs one of the most popular forms of art sold on
the internet today. Do a search of ACEO completed
auctions on Ebay and you'll find thousands listed, many which
have sold in the three digits!
My very talented artist friend (and cohort
in this adventure), Erika Nelson, began selling ACEOs on Ebay,
and she convinced me to give it a go. My name is Dustie
Meads and I am a graphic artist slash computer geek. I'd
never painted anything, except maybe the walls of my house,
until I met Erika. So imagine my thrill when I painted
an ACEO and actually sold it!
It wasn't long before I began collecting
ACEOs. I loved receiving the little artworks in the
mail. Often times, though, I wished the images were just
a wee bit larger so the artist could have shared a bit more of
her talent with me. I also wished I had a more
attractive way to display the artworks rather then putting
them into a baseball card album.
It was while arranging pictures of my
granddaughter in a darling photo album, that it came to me.
What a great size for a small painting! The photos were
4" x 6", the size of most standard albums today.
Photo albums come in all sizes with attractive covers, some of
them quite artsy! A lovely photo album full of 4" x
6" Original Small Works Of Art (OSWOA) would be a real
treasure indeed, one you'd be proud to share with friends and
family! I couldn't help but think, too, that if some of
the little 3.5" x 2.5" artworks could sell in the
triple digits, then a quality miniature artwork more then
twice the size, and yet small enough to be collected into
photo albums, could bring some impressive prices!
I could hardly wait to share my idea with
Erika! She loved the idea and so we put our heads
together and OSWOA.com was born. It's going to be fun
painting in both sizes, ACEO and OSWOA, with the ultimate goal
being to sell them, while at the same time making miniature
fine art collecting fun for art collectors worldwide!!
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Benefits
of OSWOAs for Artists!
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| Small Enough and Large
Enough
Artists who've not done ACEO works may have
a bit of a challenge painting in the OSWOA 4" x 6"
size, but they should enjoy the savings in supplies, and in
time. For the most part, smaller paintings take less
time to paint (although that's not always the case).
Starting Price
Those who have been painting in the ACEO
format should discover that the OSWOA format gives all the
benefits of of the ACEO, as well as the added benefit of a
larger canvas, allowing them to be more expressive in their
art and, ultimately, allowing them to sell their work for more
$$$. We've taken a number of polls in the Ebay
OSWOA group and it's was overwelmingly decided that OSWOA art
should be sold for no less then 9.95. OSWOA has
therefore set a Minimum Advertised Pricing policy of that
amount.
You may, of course, list your art at any
price. If you choose to use the OSWOA®
acronym, however, you must not list your art for less then the
MAP policy price of $9.95.
TIP!
If a planned OSWOA doesn't quite work out, start flipping
it about. You might just find an ACEO hidden in there.
Cut a 3.5" x 2.5" "frame" out of heavy
paper and use it as a view window to go over the OSWOA. Since
I'm still learning to paint, more then once has an
intended OSWOA became an unintended ACEO.
More Repeat Customers
Artists may see more repeat business since
works in the 4" x 6" size could better represent
their abilities and skills and yet, still be affordable to the
collector.
Artists around the world are discovering that the internet is
not an easy place to sell their art. One of the problems
is that true collectors are leery of purchasing art on the
internet when they can't pick up and examine first hand the
quality of the artists work. Few, however, would
feel threatened by purchasing affordable small art.
The idea is to get your art into the
collectors hands and let the art speak for you. 4"
x 6" is still small, but large enough to do just that,
get your art into the collectors hands! Let them
discover the quality of your painting for themselves and they
are more likely to come back for more!!
OSWOAs Could Help You Sell More Art!
When it comes right down the success of the
OSWOA art movement is going to stand or fall on whether or not
the art sells. Sure, it would be great if we could
create art for art sake, but most of us can't. If we're
going to paint, we need to sell. Besides, we can't keep
painting unless we make room for the new paintings and what
better way to make room then to sell them!
OSWOAs have a lot going for them which will
make them attractive artworks that others will want to own and
display. The size is small enough to help keep them
affordable to the collector, and yet large enough for the
artist to create interesting collectable artworks that have
value!
As an OSWOA artist you just may
discover your financial situation much improved!
Wouldn't that be a switch from being a "starving
artist"!
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Benefits
of OSWOA Collecting!
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OSWOAs will allow collectors a good look at
the artists skill and yet still be affordable enough to allow
the collector to take the risk of buying art from the net.
Once the artwork is in the hands of the collector, they should
feel more comfortable about collecting future pieces from any
particular artist.
4" x 6" is a nice size for framing
and putting on display for others to enjoy. These
artworks can easily be matted into a much larger frame for a
quite substantial work of art or displayed in small frames as
treasured miniatures
as well as collected and kept in attractive
photo albums to share as your own personal mini gallery with
friends and family (and yourself) to enjoy over and over
again!
Numerous attractive photo albums in all
styles and colors can be chosen to highlight these small
original works of art. Interest specific photo albums
may help the collectors focus their collection. For
instance, an album with a lovely landscape on the cover could
hold a landscape art collection. There are so many album
covers today, the sky is the limit! Photo Albums with
archival safe materials will help keep your collected OSWOA
artworks safe for years to come.
For collectors who also collect ACEO's, the
OSWOAs could enhance that collection, adding a new dimension
to their collections. It would be fun especially if the
artists they collect were to paint in both miniature formats!
OSWOAs can be sent through the mail as
POSTCARDS! Just put an address and a stamp on the back
and drop it in the mail. Imagine, original art coming
from a friend as a postcard in the mail. How special is
that?
Collectors could find OSWOAs a very good
investment, especially if the artists goes on to become famous
OSWOA painters, or famous painters in general! OSWOAs
are ORIGINAL works of art and the 4" x 6" size makes
them easy to collect and to archivally store, and as the
artists become well known, those collected OSWOAs could be
worth quite a bit more then the original cost!
It will be easy to collect OSWOA art.
Simply search OSWOA the auction search or on Google. It
may take awhile for the number of OSWOA's to grow but keep
checking!
ADVICE FOR COLLECTORS WHO ARE BUYING, OR
LOOKING TO BUY, ART ON the NET.
The OSWOA definition guidelines at the top of this page
were written in the hopes of encouraging correct
identification of the form of art being sold, but there are
always things to keep in mind when shopping on Ebay that will
help assure a satisfactory transaction.
ALWAYS check the sellers feedback
rating on Ebay before bidding on any auction. A
high feedback rating is like a credit rating to an Ebay seller
and they will try hard to protect it by being as honest and as
open as possible about what they are selling. If a
seller has no feedbacks, or few feedbacks, it probably means
they are new. Email them and ask a few questions.
You'd be surprised how much you can learn about a person
through email. You might want to buy only inexpensive
items from that seller till they've built a feedback rating.
If you're unsure about a seller's rating
because of some negatives, try to read the negative feedback.
At the bottom of a person's feedback page you'll find a drop
down menu where you can choose to see 200 feedbacks on a page
(the default is 50). This will help you go through a lot
of feedback quickly. Look for the red negatives in the
feedback rating as you scroll down.
To learn more about selling and buying on
Ebay, go to http://www.ebay.com/
, click on the site map link at the top of the page and visit
the subheading links under buyer and seller. An
educated seller and/or buyer is going to be a successful
seller and/or buyer!
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Feature
OSWOA Artists & Collectors
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web site will feature OSWOA artists from time to time and
archive the features. We'll be watching THE NET for
OSWOA art and asking the artist at random if we can feature
them and their work on this site.
We'd also like to hear from the collectors!
We'd love to feature some collector stories too. Why are
you an OSWOA art collector? What got you started
collecting art and tell us a bit about your collection!
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The
OSWOA movement could be a WIN/WIN situation
for us all but we need your help! Join us in the fun!
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Erika and I both plan on
continuing the fun by painting and collecting ACEOs, but we
will also plan on increasing our fun, and hopefully our sales,
by painting and collecting OSWOAs too! Sure hope you decide to
join us by creating in the OSWOA format and auctioning OSWOAs
on the net!
The more OSWOA collectors, the
more OSWOA painters! The more OSWOA painters the larger
the range of art offered to collectors, encouraging more
collecting! We're trying to start an art VORTEX in the
world!
So far we have no membership,
no newsletter, ...just this website, an Ebay group (link at
the bottom of the page in the left hand corner) and big ideas!
We're here to encouraging you to become OSWOA Artists
and OSWOA collectors right along with us!
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lofty goal of this site is to interest the whole world in
collecting these Original Small Works of Art for pleasure and
profit, and in turn, giving artists from around the world the
excellent excuse to continue sharing their talents with the
world! |
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