Linear perspective revolutionized the way artists perceived and incorporated spatial depth in their work.  Devised in solid, mathematical terms in the 15^th century, linear perspective creates the illusion of three-dimensional space on a tow –dimensional surface.

To create effective linear perspective, artists establish a horizon line, a vanishing point on that line, and multiple orthogonal, or vanishing lines.  The horizon line is a horizontal line that runs across the paper or canvas to represent the viewer’s eye level and delineates the sky meeting the ground.  The orthogonal lines, which distort objects by foreshortening them, create the optical illusion that objects grow smaller and closer together as they grow farther away.  These imaginary lines grow smaller and closer together as they get farther away.  These imaginary lines recede on the paper to meet at one point on the horizon called the vanishing point.

The difference between one point perspective and two-point perspective is how many vanishing points there are and where they are placed on the horizon line. For more basics consider coming into Ogden Blue and take a class with one of our very fine instructor’s.

What are deceptive business practices?  We can deliberately, or inadvertently, be practicing them because they seem normal, socially acceptable, everyday, and necessary to making it DECEPTIVE.

So what are some of these deceptive practices?

Most things in life are not black and white and are not easy to identify.  So for any specific practice I might label as being deceptive, there can be an honest side..  The trick is knowing our motivation behind what we are doing, and being honest with ourselves in why we are doing what we are doing.

For example; red slashed sale practices.

We have all been in stores where there are two prices on the tag, the first one is in black for $25, but there is a slash through the number and below, in red, it says, SALE--$13.50!  Since the price tags are pre-printed, it’s obvious that the price was never $25 and was always $13.50, but the whole black/red thing is a play on our psyche to make us think we are getting a deal when we are not.  That’s deceptive.  But it doesn’t seem so, because it is so much a part of our daily existence that it’s normal.

On your website, where you have 10 paintings for $350 each, and you’re wanting to get them moving.  So you reduce the price by 20% to $280.That’s not deceptive, because you did reduce the price.

However, if you never intended to sell them for $350, and always thought that $280 was the right price, and set up the page that way, that’s deceptive.

Sure it is smart to figure out how people think, but when you use that knowledge to manipulate people into doing what is best for you and not necessarily best for them, this becomes questionable.  And when people find out that they have been used, and the truth does come out, and usually at the most inopportune times, the feel stupid, and that ultimately is not good for your business.

Ask yourself some of these specific questions when we plan what we are going to sell, and how:

“Am I scheming?”

“Am I pushing or prodding someone into a particular way of thinking or behaving?”

“How would I feel if this technique were being used on me?”

“Do I think I’m being remarkably clever and smarter than the average person in doing what I am doing?”

Anytime we start being overly impressed by our intelligence is a good time to stop and do some good, hard thinking.

So always be 100 percent transparently honest, right?

Well that’s another one of those not-quite-black and not-quite-white things and we’ll look at that next time.

I have been painting seriously for about 8 years.  Painting every day no excepations at least four hours hopefully more. This is an average as I am working a full time job as well.

I have had several group shows.  My first show was in a gallery that I worked part time as a framer. We framed the paintings with the gallery frames and asked other artists from the area to also show on a First Friday.  These were very nice frames and yes framing does matter. It is very imprtant to show off your work as professional as possible.

It is important that you understand the publicity and announcements policy of the gallery that you show in. Some gallerys send out information, invitations announcing your work as well as other artists in their gallery at the same time.  It is important that you have a clear understanding of what in the announcements and or invitations so you can share infromation with your clients, friends and family.

Make a detailed list of the paintings you are leaving with the gallery including support, dimensions, and price and be sure that it is signed by the person receiving the works.  Label the back of each painting to insure the painting on the wall will match the Gallery Label.  When you pick up your work check each piece of the inventory list as you get it and mark accordingly any work sold.

 Stay positive.  I not sure anything is much harder than exposing onself, working this hard and awaiting feedback.  Most people do appreciate your effort even if they do not buy yet.  Stay with it.  Keep showing. 

Portrait Painting Tips

Painting   portraits is a skill that may take a few years to master.  It is the job of the painter to bring out the persons /subject personal qualities as well as their attributes or what they look like. There is no right or wrong way to paint a portrait, the likeness comes with practice.

The portrait is not usually started without a lot of preliminary sketches.  A likeness can be mastered with patience and practice.

SOME SIMPLE TIPS

-The subject should not cover more than two thirds of the canvas.  It is important to size the subject right.

-Ensure that the source of light will fall on the sitter’s face in such a way as to make the best use of shadow. Good use of light and shadow can give the impression of strength and solidity to the subject’s face.

-The background is important in the portrait. Avoid putting distracting things in the background so the eyes of the viewer will always be drawn to the subject of the painting.

-If possible use a live model.  If this is not possible use a good quality photo and a larger photo.

-Study the subject as a whole. Study the bone structure and try to see the shapes and planes.

-Focus on a section at a time.

-Begin with a thinner mix of your darkest darks, next paint your lightest lights with a thicker or medium consistency.

-Mixing flesh tones takes time and of course skin comes in so many varieties of colors. There is no specific formula; you will have fun experimenting and practice. Over mixing can deaden a color.

-The forehead and muzzle area (the space between the nose and the mouth) and chin are usually the same color but cooler.

-When painting hair, don’t try and paint every strand. Look at the hair as one object.

-Try and repeat the colors and values in your painting to create balance.

-Add bits of color where the shadow meets the light in your portrait.

Painting portraits does take practice so enjoy the practice!

The art and technique of Giclée 

Giclée ("zhee-clay" or , from French) is a neologism for the process of making fine art prints from a digital source 

Giclée is the process of capturing artwork through digital photography or scanning to reproduce the artwork. At Ogden Blue we have been doing Giclée for over a decade. There is a lot of information about Giclée, and without getting too technical, I will tell you the three P’s of Giclée: Process, Proofing, and Printing.

Process

With Giclée there are two main ways to capture the artwork.

The first process is through digital photography. When capturing through photography it gets very technical. You must have a camera, computer screen, and high quality printer all calibrated to each other for the color matching process. Additionally, you need a naturally lighted room to be able to capture the artwork without glare. Once you have the equipment you simply put the artwork on a wall mounted easel and capture the artwork.

The second process is through scanning on a flatbed and calibrating the colors; this is the process Ogden Blue currently uses. With this process the artwork is scanned in on our calibrated flatbed scanner. We use this process to keep the quality under control, and also to keep the cost low, so that all artists of any style or background are able to afford to reproduce their artwork.

We start first by scanning in the painting in on our flatbed scanner multiple times.  Depending on the size of the artwork it could take one scan or it could take up to twelve. Once we have the individual scans of the complete artwork, we start to piece the different scans together in Photoshop until we have compiled them to have a digital image of the original. We then clean the image of any flaws or scratches. Next we flatten the image and start the proofing process.

Proofing

The proofing process can either be extremely easy or a long process of adjusting colors. Since we use the scanning process, we are excellent at watercolors and sketches. However, oil or acrylics on canvas tend to be a tricky texture to work with. Even if you don’t use a high gloss, the liquidity of the paints tend to prevent the scanner from capturing the correct color of the artwork and instead reflect the light from the scanner back into the digital image. Don’t let that deter you from coming to Ogden Blue if you paint with oils or acrylics though. That just means that we need to extend the proofing process. We start with the original proof by comparing it to the original. The vast majority of the time the colors are exactly what you are looking for, and we can start with the printing process. If the colors or contrast of the proof is off, we adjust and do additional proofs. Once you we have created a replica of your original we start reproducing and printing your artwork.

Printing

Although Giclée is a major offering of Ogden Blue, we are known more for digital color printing of flyers, brochures, business cards, invitations, booklets, etc. If you want just replicas of your original, it’s an easy process and we offer a wide selection of reproduction papers to choose from. We have the three standards: artist paper, watercolor and canvas. We can also stretch and do gallery wraps or a simple foam core mount. One thing unique to Ogden Blue is that we aren’t limited to just those papers. My professional recommendation is our newest reproduction, a mimic gallery wrap. With a mimic gallery wrap, we print your art work on our large format printer; from here we then mount it to an illustration board, then to black stretcher bars. We have many examples at here at Ogden Blue of our different options.

If you are looking for an alternative to just printing out copies, we have many other options for you to decide from. Instead of the standard happy birthday card, we can turn your mother’s favorite painting into a birthday card for her. We can also print portraits of your favorite dead economists! From John Maynard Keynes to Frederich Hayek, show whose economic ideas you support with pride on your living room wall; it’s also a great conversation starter! Or not.  J

Ogden Blue also has a fantastic framing department. We can frame anything from 5x7 to 20x30 sizes. Last holiday season, a customer had us Giclée process a painting her mother did of the family. We printed 11x14 copies, and framed them so all of the siblings could have a copy as a gift, while leaving the original on her mother’s wall.

We can also do card packs with envelopes to sell at the Farmer’s Markets during the summer season. Another great idea is bookmarks of a fun drawing to give out to children to inspire them to read more; or better yet compile all of the grandchildren’s art work and make a family calendar for a great Christmas present.

Here at Ogden Blue we do it all, whether it is a 24x36 master oil painting, or a finger painting by your granddaughter. We are your store to help capture and reproduce your artwork to share with the world. Come in and see us today about our limitless options! 

Watercolor painting is versatile and fairly easy to begin learning. The materials can be varied, but for beginners, there are just a few basics that should be sufficient.

Brushes:  Sable brushes are the highest quality, but blends of sable or squirrel hair and synthetic will also be fine for starting. Synthetics are lower quality, so if this is your only option, select the highest quality brush you can. You will need a round brush, usually #8, and a flat wash brush, at least ½”. An oval wash or mop brush, usually size 3, is useful for getting large amounts of water and/or paint onto the paper quickly.

Paint:  A few higher-quality paints will be more useful than a lot of low-cost colors. Paints are available in student and professional grades and come in tubes or pans. Pans are less expensive, but dry out faster, while tube paints are ideal for covering large areas, and are useful if you paint often. Some artists recommend you start with a warm and cool version of each primary color, which allows for mixing the other colors you need. There are many other color suggestions, but this depends on the individual.

Paper:  Watercolor paper comes in rough, hot-press, and cold-press. Rough paper is textured, hot-press is smooth and slick, and cold-press is in-between and slightly textured, and usually best for beginners. Paper comes in sheets or blocks, and sheets must be stretched to minimize rippling and warping.

Other Materials:  Most pan watercolors come with a palette. For tube paints you can use any palette, but a covered one will keep your paints from drying out. You may also benefit from a drawing pencil, kneaded eraser, and a few odds and ends such as a spray bottle, sponge, paper towels, and whatever else makes your painting experience the most rewarding.

As you work, you will quickly discover which paints, papers, brushes, and other materials work best for you. The best thing to do for beginning artists is to dive right in, and enjoy the learning process!

Differences in Digital Presses

If you hear the term "digital press," what does it mean?  There are companies who manufacture copiers and call them digital presses, and there are digital press companies who make claims about resolution and quality that just don't match the delivered product.

What is all the difference?

1. Process - true digital presses typically involve a different process than copiers.  While there are many high-quality copiers out there, typically, they cannot match the resolution, color quality, or color-matching throughout the process of printing.  True digital presses are usually bigger, because they endeavor to keep the paper flat and away from heat to avoid cracking a folded, printed piece.  Heat is a major factor in the digital printing process, and you can tell the difference in the curl or lack thereof of the printed piece.  True color-matching is a very important piece of a commercial print, and good digital presses will produce a very consistent color match throughout the print.
2. Resolution - Not all digital presses are made equal.  The resolution is a major factor in making a print that comes very close to offset quality.  When examining a print, do you see little square bumps around the images in the finished piece?  Does it look hazy?  This is the result of resolution that is sub-par to the commercial printing environment.  True 1200X1200 DPI (dots-per-inch) resolution or greater completely eliminates this fuzzy edge.  While many companies claim to have this resolution, most derive that resolution through a 600X600 DPI that has been digitally "enchanced" to a greater resolution.  What this means is that the computer makes an educated "guess" at what comes next.  Result = the edge gets fuzzy and pixelated.  True 1200X1200 resolution is very clear and sharp, looking much more like offset.
3. Alignment - the adjustment from the front of the print to the back.  Many companies do not pay attention to this "skew" in the images.  If the alignment is off, the finished, full-bleed prints will look slightly off or askew.  Think of holding the image straight up and down, but having the print on the paper look "a little off"... not straight with the edges of the paper.  This is the result of poor alignment in the machinery that produced the print.  A good digital press will keep the alignment to .5 mm or less front-to-back.  This produces a print that is even with the edge of the paper.
4. Production speed - the page-per-minute of a digital press is critical to getting your printed piece back in time.  A good digital press will have a fairly rapid rate of production that will not slow based on the amount of printed material running through the machine.  60 ppm 4/0 or 30 ppm 4/4 is a good starter speed for digital presses.  The machine should also cool the paper during the process as the rollers tend to heat up during production.  This curls the paper and makes the finished piece brittle.
5. Stability - a digital press should have a great deal of stability in production.  Copiers tend to break very frequently, especially with higher runs.  A true digital press is made for the commercial printing environment, and they are typically very stable in comparison to copy machines.

What if you could have tear-resistant, waterproof construction plans in the job trailer?  Think about all the conditions that you encounter everyday on the construction job site.  How cool would it be to have the same redline drawings from job beginning to job end?

Ogden Blue offers printing on Tyvek, the same 3M material used to wrap buildings.  This highly durable material is perfect for those drawings that get dragged around from plumbing to HVAC to electrical.  Don't worry about it anymore, and get Tyvek plans.

We have technology that puts a waterproof, durable "surface" print on Tyvek.  This new technology is perfect for CAD in both color and black & white.  Our large construction customers who have used these unique plans are coming back for more.  Why?  Because in all the rugged environments of a construction site, the old style plans on 20# bond will deteriorate over time as the general or sub-contractors make changes to the documents, note discrepancies, and perform field engineering.  Change documents are sometimes slow in coming, and torn, ripped paper is not going to communicate these changes well.   

While it would be cost-prohibitive to print all the sets of drawings on Tyvek, what we are finding is that two sets in the job trailer provide a great control set for the entire site.  While the material is waterproof, it can still be written on and maintains permanent inks in the face of water... or coffee spills, whichever one comes first.  The plans can also be wash gently with soap and water to clear up areas that may have gotten muddy or dragged through a not-quite-completed plumbing area.  Watch our video on this site under Commercial Services | Tyvek.  This will show the amazing durabililty of Tyvek in comparison to typical 20# bond prints.

We can do Tyvek prints up to 36" wide and any length.  Since you can also have it printed in color, the use of 3D CAD on Tyvek can make your plans clear, concise, and minimize job mistakes, rework, and increase customer satisfaction.  By making your blueprints as clear as possible, we hope to save you time, money, and hassle now and into the future.  Of course, we always have the 20# bond prints at great prices as well.  Let us know what we can do to help! 

When it comes to buying art supplies, we’re luckier than the Old Masters because we can buy everything ready-made, ready to use and we have far more choice. What hasn’t changed is the importance of being particular about the art materials you use, opting for quality rather than quantity. Tubes of paint you know are full of pigment, not just a little stretched with filler. Paper that doesn’t yellow or have spotty sizing. A brush whose hairs stay firmly in place and shape. By using top-quality art materials, you make the most of your artistic skill and creativity.

Even if you are already using top-notch materials, it’s worth periodically checking to see what’s new. It's not every day that you will discover a product such as Winsor & Newton’s Artists' Acrylic which introduced a totally reformulated acrylic, but innovations and improvements happen all the time.  For instance, Winsor & Newton now has three versions of traditional lead-based white for oil painters. 

The right brush for the painting

Hog-hair, sable-hair, squirrel-hair, synthetic fibers, mixed fibers... filbert, flat, round, mop, fan, rigger... long handle or short. There are so many variations to something as fundamental to painting as a brush. Everyone has their favorite, the one that’s just right for your painting style. But familiarity puts you into a comfort zone; you know what you can do with the brush and if you’re not careful, the brush dictates how you’re painting.
Try a different shape of brush and see what it does to your mark-making in the paint.

Try a different type of hair and see how it works with the paint. A rigger brush for delicate lines longer than you’d think possible, or a mop for wonderfully watery washes. And if your memories of synthetic-hair brushes date from when they first came onto the market, give them another go as you’re in for a pleasant surprise.

If you look after a top-quality brush well, it may even outlast you, whereas a poorly made brush will frustrate you by leaving hairs in the paint and soon end up unused in a jar on the shelf. What you’re after is a brush that will hold the paint within the hairs and let the paper gently pull it from the brush rather than it all slide off the instant you touch the surface. As well as a brush that is balanced in your hand, not top- or bottom-heavy. The ferrule won’t rust or loosen. The varnish doesn’t flake off the handle. Hairs don’t fall out or instantly splay in all directions.   

When you look at the Rolls Royce of sable brushes, such as a Winsor & Newton Series 7 brush, you’ll notice it has an exceptionally fine point. That’s because it’s made from different length hairs, carefully arranged to have longer ones around the fatter belly of the brush and tapering to a point. Put a little pressure on the brush to paint a thicker line, lift up and the hairs spring back to the point, enabling you to paint fine detail without swapping to another brush.

If you do have to replace a quality brush, the new one will respond like the old. With poorly made brushes that wear out rapidly, you have to keep buying a new one and learn its idiosyncrasies all over again. You’re spending time mastering a tool – again – rather than developing a painting.
Next time you looking at brushes, don’t think of it as simply “this brush costs X and that one Y” but analyze what you’re getting for the price. The quality and selection of the hairs, the construction, how many miles you’re going to get out of it, what it might add to your painting technique and style.

Student paints and artist’s quality paints

There are many different types of oil paint and at the bottom end of the market, those of a poorer quality have so little pigment that they can be difficult to paint with. Above this you get cheap student paint, and above this you get the student or hobbyist lines produced by the reputable brands. These student paints can even be better than what some manufacturer’s sell as affordable artist’s quality.

Buying a reputable brand means you can know the colours aren’t going to fade or produce peculiar colour mixes, that there’s a decent amount of pigment in the tube and it’s been properly formulated.  

Winsor & Newton’s affordable brands -- Galeria (acrylics), Cotman (water colours), and Winton (oils) -- all offer an array of colours that will have anyone painting contently. But WINSOR & NEWTON’s artist’s ranges give access to far more; to the full range of pigments, traditional and modern, the full extent of the strength and subtlety of colour available to artists today. Learn with student paints, and then step it up a notch and move up to artist’s quality paint.   

For an in-depth look at how to judge what you’re getting in a tube of paint, read The quality of your oil colour by Emma Pearce, former technical expert for Winsor & Newton. It’s about oil paints, but the key information applies across all mediums.

Quality in the foundation

The best paints in the world aren’t any good if what you apply it to isn’t going to last or yellows. With canvas, some of the problems encountered are easy to spot. Stretchers that aren’t put together square or so thin they’ve warped. Canvas not stretched tightly enough or pulled skew so the grain is distorted. Canvas with a coarse weave that will overwhelm fine detail. Unsightly folds at corners. 

Other issues are less easy to spot, such as uneven priming. I’ve even encountered a canvas where acrylic paint simply wouldn’t stick in one spot. I had to sand it down and prime it again.

If you’re using oil paint, look for canvas that is double or triple primed or buy unprimed canvas and apply several layers of gesso yourself. Several layers of gesso helps stiffen the fibers in a canvas, reducing movement and flexibility, thus protecting the paint. Gesso also protects the canvas from the oil in the paint. Acrylics are more flexible, so it’s less of a concern unless you’re using thick layers of paint or texture paste.

Paper needs to be acid free or it will deteriorate and yellow over time. Few of us are going to check a paper declaring itself to be acid free is indeed so, relying on the integrity of the manufacturer. Similarly, you can't see the sizing in a paper, but once you put brush to paper you experience it. A quality paper will have the same level of internal and surface sizing, so you can rely on it responding consistently. Poorly sized paper can lead to paint spreading unexpectedly. One small spot on a sheet of paper is all it takes to ruin a watercolour painting.

Once you've found a paper you enjoy using, why might you change it? There's the new-on-the-market aspect, the greener-credentials papers, and the stuck-in-a-rut factor. If you only ever use what you know, what might you be missing out on, what paintings might you not create by changing the materials you’re using?

A heavier weight paper isn’t simply a thicker version of a thinner one with the sole benefit that you don't have to stretch it before painting on it. Try it and you'll feel it responds differently, it’s more resilient. With graphite, for instance, a thicker paper will more readily take additional layers. You can leave the paper for a bit to 'relax', then apply more on top. If you’re lifting colour off to fix a mistake in a watercolour, there’s less risk of disturbing the surface of the paper.  


Don’t forget mediums

If you’ve never used anything but oil and turps for oil paints or water for acrylics and watercolours, then you’ve been missing out. How about adding a bit of texture medium to watercolour? Or a sparkle to colours with iridescent medium? Deliberately making the pigment dry uneven with granulation medium? Slow the drying time?

With oil paint, there are mediums for speeding up the drying time, for making it easier to blend without brush marks, for adding body (impasto). With acrylic paint the range is even larger, including mediums to facilitate glazing, make the paint more matt or gloss, or slow the drying time, as well as all sorts of texture mediums for extra body and surface textures such as glass beads.

Getting an easel

Few things feel more like a commitment to creating art in the long term than getting an easel. If you’ve been in an art class with battered tripod easels that wobble however you stand them, struggled to adjust wing nuts or tighten them so your painting doesn’t slide down as you’re working, then you probably won’t need persuading to buy a sturdy, h-frame one with a ratchet so it’s easy to adjust. If it seems an expense you can’t really justify, divide the cost over the years you’ll use it, probably the rest of your life...

Check the largest size canvas it’ll take and whether your ceiling is high enough for the easel at its maximum extension if you like painting standing up. Check the mechanism for adjusting is easy to use and, if it’s on castors, that these are easy to lock. If an easel wobbles or is a pain to adjust, you won’t use it and may as well chop it up for firewood. If an easel is sturdy enough to withstand vigorous brushwork and simple to adjust, the joy of using it will be reflected in your art. Once you get over the horror the first time you get paint on your lovely new easel, that is.

I recommend taking a look at Winsor & Newton’s Shannon and Welland studio easels.
 

Don’t get stuck in an artistic rut

It’s easy to find excuses for sticking with what you know, for not trying art materials other than what you’re now using or using better quality paint. Take the initiative and discover for yourself how much more you can achieve with top-of-the-range art materials and experiment with new products. You won’t be the first to discover that it is true you can use less good quality paint to achieve more than you can with loads of inferior paint.

Marion Boddy-Evans is an artist and writer who now lives on the Isle of Skye. She paints mostly with acrylics, but regularly gives herself a creative boost by using other mediums too. Marion also writes About.com:Painting.

http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-centre/product-articles/choosing-quality-art-materials

The Internet is a powerful tool for business. It displays your products to the world 24/7 without huge costs to the organization. I have met many business owners who will put a web site on the Internet and not do any follow-up with that site. Web traffic is like any other traffic to your business. It needs to be tended, fostered, advertised, and promoted in various ways.

One of the fastest ways to drive web traffic is through social media networking and direct mail.  But how does a business do this properly?  The first evaluation should be based on what you are trying to accomplish.  If you have a national or international product that involves shipping and delivery to various locations, you would use a form of "direct mail" or directed traffic via Ad-words on Google or advertising through social media and promoting your product through distributors web sites or other types of targeted advertising.  Most local businesses, however, rely on a very small demographic area for their "bread and butter" business.  A restaurant, a club, a retail store, or other highly localized business that relies on "foot traffic" would be better served by using both ground-based and Internet advertising.

Many companies do not have the resources to do a full web presence (which can cost upwards of $10,000) to develop, nor do they really need a "fully-functioning" web site with shopping carts, databsases, etc.  What they really need is a nice informational site that can be promoted through social media (which is free, although you do have to tend it) like Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc. and through ground-based advertising which is targeted to specific areas of the city or town in which the business resides.

For businesses in Ogden and Salt Lake, Ogden Blue offers unique direct mail services that can help boost awareness for your business.  There are several options available, and some are very low-cost for the amount of people reached.  Direct Mail pieces should have a clean design that is used to point people to your web site where people can more fully get acquainted with your services and offerings.  In spite of what you might think, there are some very low-cost, new options where expensive mailing lists and first-class or even standard postage is not required.

This year, the Postal Service introduced a new product called Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM).  This delivery service is available at half the price of Standard Mail, and your mail can be tailored along delivery routes to hit the main target area or demographic that you wish to reach.  Look at the rates below:

With these rates, Direct Mail becomes a low-cost way to directly target and mail to a specific demographic area.  

Ogden Blue just did a mailer to 3,500 people about our services.  This mail piece directed people to our web site where we are running a contest.  Total cost of postage was $507.  For our customers who are printing and mailing, that same reach would have been around $900 total cost (Ogden Blue charges an additional $.02 per piece to deliver the mailer to the individual Post Offices).  That is a lot of people exposed to your product directly in your targeted area for very little comparable cost.

The nice thing about direct mail is that you are not competing with other offerings, as you would be in other print media.  Your piece is seen directly by the person without distracting messages surrounding it.  When this is coupled with a direct or targeted message telling customers to visit your web site, it can be a powerful tool in raising the awareness that your business exists and the types of offerings you have.  

 Think about how this could impact the number of people who know about your business in an area.  Typically, restaurants, retail, and other local services only pull customers from a 5 - 10 mile radius.  If this matches the description of your business then Direct Mail might be an option for you, especially if you are newly starting up your services and need a jump start on getting customers through the door.