My Groups Open Invitation 03 July 2011

This is an open invitation to join and submit your finest and most beautiful images to the groups I host as well. With more exposure on FAA we have more opportunities for making sales as well as friendships as we enjoy our international social network, we all share a great passion for fine art and visual communication . after all . that is the primary reason most of us are here . as well as to build a dynamic storefront . develop friendships . market our work and enjoy sales .

There are a wide variety of subjects of interest, literally something for everyone, and each group gallery is specialized. Have a look at the group's Featured Work galleries for an understanding of the content and professional quality I am looking for in each group. As you will see, the new groups I have launched and host on FAA are interesting . some are young groups as I work to campaign them to recruit new members and showcase the very best images FAA has to offer our viewers. I am interested in quality and not quantity . I would rather have a small specialized group with a beautiful fine art gallery than a incomprehensibly large group with thousands of unmoderated images flooding the groups that few people would wish to wade through in search of a fine art print . I am very pleased we now have a moderation queue . . I feature on the groups homepage and once an image is featured it remains on the homepage as a representation of the best of the best in the gallery . as we still do not yet have a group feature gallery

The groups are not only devoted to fine art photography and beautiful well composed candid photography, as well as landscapes, seascapes, florals, ,macro, monotone, tropical art and still life studio work, etc. but also to traditional style fine art paintings, sketches, watercolours, as well as digital art, fine art impressionist style photography, and all other artistic mediums. I actively promote the beautiful works of those artists I admire.

Mouse over the group titles below, they are live links. Click on them and you will navigate to the group homepage. As I said . each group is specialized so please be sure to review the group guidelines


Dimensions
Starz
Square Format
Monotone
Hawaii
Polynesian Connection
Tropical Paradise
Greeting Cards
Still Life Fine Art and Food Photography
Reflections of Beauty
Sensational Sun
Forests
Plumeria
Hibiscus
Americas Rural Urban Wild Free
Wetlands Ponds Lakes and Rivers
Alaska Beyond Your Dreams
Atmospheric Optics
Jolly Olde Saint Nicholas
The Unicorner






Aloha kakou, warm greetings from the beautiful island of Maui

It is wonderful how the activity feed works on Fine Art America .
There are beautiful images streaming through the image feed every day.
I love that about it, and I actually seek out images on this site for that very reason, to view and admire them, learn from them, sometimes purchase them . and if I resonate with it . when I really love the work, I favourite them and may recruit the photographer and/or artist to join and showcase their work in my groups. It is one of the things I love about this virtual community. If I could redesign the image feed it would stream my favourites of those on my watchlist as well as the recent art from the homepage :))

Depending on my interest of the day, often I type random keywords into the search browser on this site and discover the most extraordinary beauty. Often this work is also buried in the back pages of other groups archives with no comments for over two years. I smile to myself when I comment and favourite the work and then find within days it is featured in other groups or on the homepage. It is like breathing life into their work. I think due to the sheer volume of art streaming in on this site the life span for an image on this site is about 7 minutes :)))

We must work to keep our work alive and on the front pages so that it is not buried in the depths of obscurity. The portfolio collections on this site are a tremendous source of creative inspiration and I am constantly amazed, dazzled and inspired by the many brilliant and talented photographers and artists on this site. I have learned so much from other photographers .

My groups are specialized and they are continuously being refined and redefined. I enjoy them all. With the many subjects in content there is quite literally something for everyone. And like many Hosts on Fine Art America, of those groups which I moderate, I have my favourites for the subject and content and Dimensions is on the top of the list…. although now that I have launched :: Monotone :: and :: Starz :: this may change . . . I know this may come as a surprise considering I live on the beautiful tropical island of Maui and I host the Hawaii group as well as Tropical Paradise and Polynesian Connection . yet the lovely tropical islands of the world are included within Dimensions as well as many other beautiful cultures and subjects and places around the world. I love them all. Dimensions covers such a wide range of content, subjects and styles, it is a multi-faceted international community with many interests. Some websites have described our groups as little villages and it is so true, the artists are wonderfully inspiring.

For those of you who have featured my work, and for those who have visited me, responded and left wonderful comments and notes on my work, mahalo nui loa, thank you very much. I cherish every single message . Hopefully you will understand about Time and slow wireless connection as so much of my free time online is devoted to viewing and featuring and promoting other artists work. For those who have purchased my work I extend to you my heartfelt gratitude :))

The images you see in the various galleries and featured in all the groups I host are chosen carefully and featured based on their own individual merit with my compliments to you. For me this is not a popularity contest. I look at the image first and then I view the entire portfolio of the Artist. I am familiar with every single member of all my groups, not on a personal level of course, yet I recognise each one and thank you for joining, mahalo for your enthusiasm, and for contributing your beautiful artistic expressions.

There is so much more to moderating and hosting groups than many people realise. I do enjoy it very much. Most of all I enjoy bringing a smile to someone’s day with a feature . That is the fun part .

After hosting for a couple of years I have learned so much from all of you! This experience has certainly broadened my scope, opened my heart and widened my horizons as well as my interests . My primary goal is to offer talented photographers and artists an additional option to showcase your work. It is my gift of Aloha for you.

I wish for you to know I keep all these things in mind for consideration when moderating images. It is amazing how many members on this site totally ignore the hosts . While it is nice to hear from those members I promote . it is not required to receive a feature . yet I am an artist too and your gracious reciprocity . your wonderful encouragement and positive feedback means so much to me . For me it is purely and simply an honest straightforward altruistic approach and a sincere appreciation for images of beautiful Fine Art and the talented photographers and artists who create them.

Now perhaps you have a better understanding and an idea of what goes on behind the scenes.
As a Host, this is what I do and I love doing it

So, you may look at it this way . Consider the groups as Fine Art Galleries, as specialized wonderful shoppes where you may walk in from the street . enter and browse around at your leisure, very much like a beautiful fine art gallery you would enter in Wailea or Munich, Venezia, Lahaina, Manhattan, Black Stone River Valley, Cape Town, Melbourne, Honolulu, Pa’ia, Aix-en-Provence, Udaipur, London, San Francisco, Sidney, Tempe, Tres Ritos, La Paz, Ontario, Harrisburg, Hilo, Kyoto, Rome, Barcelona, Karachi, Sao Paulo, Bangkok, etc. etc. ....... The only things missing are the complimentary Clos du Mesnil and pupu



Mahalo nui loa and Aloha kakou.
Thank you so much for your kindness, and most of all your creative vision and beautiful art



Aloha mai ‘e, E pili mau na pomaika`i ia `oe.
May blessings be with you always.

Aloha mai e
Sharon Mau
first published on RB 25 August 2009