April marks the 20th Anniversary of alanreed.com It’s hard for me to believe that my domain name dates back to the 20th Century! I knew very little about the world wide web in those days but it only took a few weeks for me to realise the value of having a website to promote my business. A client called into the gallery that we had at the time in the Eldon Garden Shopping Centre in Newcastle. He wanted to see a watercolour of Iona which he had noticed on my website. Understandably he wanted to see it for real rather than buying it from a jpeg. Once he saw it, he made the purchase.
This was the start of numerous online sales, commissions and visits to our gallery from clients from all over the world.
Overseas clients
It never ceases to amaze me how people find my paintings. The client who purchased the original watercolour above titled Morning Eye came across my work whilst working on the Caspian Sea. He turned up at our gallery and ended up making a number of purchases.
An Italian working in Canada came across my original watercolour of the Pantheon whilst searching for paintings of ancient Rome. After making the initial purchase online he went on to commission several large watercolours of Rome including views of aqueducts and the Roman Forum.
Posting some of my sketchbook studies of Umbria, Italy on my website back in 2003 resulted in a whole series of fascinating commissions of Italian holiday homes and was also the birth of our Painting Holidays in Italy.
The World Wide Web has opened a door for me into other countries further afield including Oman. Susan and I have fond memories of our visits to Oman for various painting commissions ranging from Arabian Dhows and ancient mountain villages and forts.
To celebrate our 20th Anniversary of alanreed.com being on the World Wide Web we are having an Easter Exhibition at our Studio & Gallery in Ponteland starting on the 20th April 9:30 – 5pm