This is something most artists find difficult. With the knee-wobbling price of art materials and given that none of us are going to stop producing it’s something that we have to deal with, like it or not.
Personally, I like it not. But I have learnt to live with the uncertainty and it doesn’t bring me out in a cold sweat as it used to.
Firstly, I‘ve learnt that selling Art is a long game. I’m sure none of us expect to be an overnight sensation and to see our work red-dotted as soon as the hanging wire rests on the hook. Last year one of my paintings sold after it had become a seemingly permanent fixture in a local gallery for nearly 3 years. I was SO relieved to hear that it had sold as I was dreading yet another visit to this gallery to pick up another of my neglected babies. Needless to say, I haven’t replenished the gallery with more stock. This gallery serves more of a tourist market going by the number of bird paintings and nikau palms adorning its walls. Clearly, it’s not the right fit for my work.
This brings me to my next point: Find a gallery or venue or wall, that suits your Art.
If you paint landscapes or scenes of your local area, a gallery or café where visitors stop will be a good match. If you do gorgeous paintings of dogs, visit your local vet clinic or pet shop and see if they have a spot on a wall for a sample painting and a sign. Florists, garden centers, tasteful interior design shops, lawyers/accountant’s offices (where rich people go…) think hard where could you show your work, outside of an Art Gallery?
A sale is a sale whether it happens at a café, in a waiting room, a popup space, or a gallery. Making sure it’s framed well and presented beautifully is important wherever it goes – we want it to look valuable and something to treasure. This should also be applied to any signage around the paintings – make sure they are clean and clear with their message. If you’ve managed to find a good café or place that suits your work, offer the owner a small commission and don’t rely on them to sell the work for you. Leave your phone number on a card so that interested buyers can contact you directly.
Pricing is important to get right. I remember seeing in our local café a range of fairly average and badly framed artworks with HUGE prices on them. Clearly, the artist didn’t want to sell them! Visit galleries and take note of prices on works of a similar size as yours, done by early-career artists. Bear in mind that the gallery will have at least a 40% commission and taxes on the retail price. Do your maths and figure out how much the artist is getting. Let this be your guide.
Social media is another avenue to find sales. This too, is a long game. Consistency is key here. Gathering a following of people who love your work and are interested in how you make it is where you’ll find your buyers. You need to show off your work AND connect with people, letting them see some behind the scenes reality and get to know your personality. Don’t sell all the time, but make sure when you have work available you talk about it and let people know how to get in touch with you if they’re interested. Take good photos in natural light. There are lots of people who do this really well whose Instagram accounts can be your guide, but make sure yours is about YOU and reflects YOUR personality.
I would also advise you to enter juried shows and reputable competitions. This is a good way of getting affirmation for yourself as an artist and buyers like to see a judge’s stamp of approval. To get selected is good fodder for your CV and could open Gallery doors to your work. However, bear in mind also that the selection and awards are the opinions of one person – maybe 2 or 3 in some cases. A different judge would result in a different outcome altogether, so don’t take it to heart if you aren’t selected. And if you are selected, thank your lucky stars that the Judge liked your work – another Judge might not have!
Which now brings me to another lesson I’ve learnt over the past few years. Not everybody likes my Art!! There’s no accounting for taste, and some people just don’t get it! Even lovely people, like brothers, just can’t understand what it’s all about. And that, I’ve realized, is OK. I no longer take offense and throw my paintings across the room (to land safely on a sofa…) when they come back unsold from an Art Fair. There was a time when that is exactly how I reacted, shame on me…
It’s a fickle world, the Art World.
There is no explaining sometimes why someone gets the accolades and others don’t. Why some funny-looking stuff sells, and others don’t… But spending time on the why’s and why not’s is wasted energy – better spend it on painting and getting better at producing our own kind of magic on the canvas.
Come and share your kind of magic with me in The Upbeat Artists Group on Facebook. Or you can find me on Instagram. We need to support each other and cheer each other on as we make our Art and put ourselves and our babies out in the world.
