I am a high school drop out. Even when I attended classes I didn’t pay attention. I failed across the board. My creative writing skills are poor. I barely know how to use the English language. My spelling is atrocious and I don’t understand basic pronunciation. So, if your looking for some great works of literature, you won’t find it here. I’m glad I got that out of the way! Enjoy my blog.
THIS IS HOW I SELL MY ART
The biggest question most artists have is how to sell their work. This is something I battled with for years. Sure, I would sell a piece every now and then, but I was making better money in my full-time job at Maccas or Coles and the small amount of art I did sell was to friends and family. I’m sure in most cases this was of some sort of charity.
I did a couple of joint exhibitions with varying success. On the night of my first of these I sold the three pieces entered before the opening. So I didn’t put large prices on them but it proved to me that there were people out there who saw something in my art. I look back and cringe when I think of the standard of work I was creating 25 years ago. I hope it was used for fire kindling. I was occasionally selling art but it was only a very small business for me. It didn’t put me into a position so that I could quit my day job.
There is an Australian online art market called Blue Thumb. I dare say they are the largest company out there who helped a lot of artists get recognition. The idea behind this website was for the artist to do their thing by creating the art and BT would take care of the shipping logistics and present the artists work in a professional manner. I never had any luck with this mob. They charged a significant amount of coin to host the artists work too. It’s worth having a look at their site if you are wanting to purchase out of a selection of a good variety of art but the artist needs to build up a lot of sales and credit on the site before they start to see a steady income. I didn’t mean to make this post into a review blog but I thought they should be mentioned.
So how do I sell my work if I don’t use Blue Thumb or exhibit my art at exhibitions? It’s called Marketplace. The last place one wouldn't expect to purchase or sell art, but it has worked for me. Let me first state that one will never become a millionaire through using this meathod but if you play your cards right, it can become as good as a full-time job. I average a painting every day or two that would successfully sell. There is nowhere else I would be able to execute this. The key is to start off making sales that are small. I made transactions where I actually lost money. This was in the early days. Some other tthings I have learnt is to create smaller canvases and not using the most expesive materials. Potential buyers aren’t looking for this in the artwork. They want to pay as little as they can and you will often find people try to beat you down, so it doesn’t hurt to put a few extra dollars on the work to allow for this. Also, remember that people don’t visit Marketplace expecting to pay an absorbent amount of money. Don’t try and sell to many pieces at once. I have found that I sell more work when people don’t have a huge folio of work to go through. People can become overwhelmed when they are delivered too much choice and may go elsewhere. Be friendly and reliable!! Even if you are dealing with someone who is rude or frustrating to deal with. Watch out for scammers as they are plentiful. Advertise your website or social media on each post you make. Take good quality photos of your art. You should post more than one or two photos of the piece you are selling. If you are comfortable having people make the pickup at your home, always have a selection of other works you are wanting to sell. I have found in most cases the customer will consider buying more if there is a selection of your best works for them to look through.
These are just a few tips on how to sell your work on Marketplace and now that I have shared all of my selling secrets…. Good luck!
MY NEW SITE
I have a new site. This site you’re reading through at the moment is almost full so I need an additional site to store all that will no longer fit. Instead of going down that route I have dedicated this site to my full folio. This will mostly contain works that are not for sale. It acts as a bit of a database for me to store the works I do over time too. Other features on this site are my blog, photography and about page. With my new site I will be posting work that is for sale and some of my more recent paintings.
I PARTED WITH MY BABIES
I cut off my children today. I simply had too many and they were taking up room in the house and sheds. It was time for them to move out into the world. We're talking about my canvases of course. Please don’t call the children’s welfare line on me. I don’t really have babies or children of my own thank God. We’re talking dozens of large 92cm x 92cm canvases (I never use any other size than this) They were taking up space in every room in the house and it’s not even my house! I had to watch person after person come through the house and take my sweethearts for a price I deliberately made extremely low simply to shift the work fast. I don’t usually talk my art up but there was some good stuff that I let go for less than what the piece cost me to create. Some would come in wanting one I advertised and ended up walking out with a few. I also admit to having some poorer work that I was happy to let go of. Not many people know anything when it comes to art (me included!)
This whole process left me feeling refreshed at the end of the day. More room for more canvases. I sold most of my work for a tenth of what I had it listed as on this site but I ended up with a few dollars in my pocket and there is something romantic to think of all of the art that I moved featured on someone’s wall. As average as some of these pieces were, I never sign my work, so I don’t have to fear of someone associating it to me. The whole art busiess for me is to create. Almost all of my finished pieces get disgarded pretty quickly. I am rarely happy with what I do. Most of it collects dust, is thrown out or burnt, or someone likes or sees something in my work that I simply doesn’t feel. Art is very subjective and that’s one of the things that alure me to the process of creating. I feel like I’m wasting time if I’m not hard at work. Even when I’m not putting the paint to canvas, my mind is always ticking over. It’s a full-time job! And of course this mostly happens at the early hours of the morning when my insomnia kicks in and I’m desperate for sleep. Trust me.. I know what the troubled and tortured artist goes through.
So here comes the exciting part of this ordeal of loosing my babies - I get to go to the art storer today with a pocket full of coin. I’m like a kid in a candy shop when ever I pay a visit to the store. The staff there know to put aside half a dozen canvases with my name on them, I don’t look at prices either. A small tube of paint can range from 12 dollars to 80 dollars but if I have an idea for a project and I need that overly priced paint I will put it in my basket without a second thought. For most of my work I apply the paint very thick so it starts to add up. As for the canvases.. They cost me $102 each. Maybe you can understand why I get so frustrated with a piece that doesn’t work out. The markup on art supplies is ridiculous. They have no competition in this part of the world so they know idiots like me will make the purchases. Even with my ten percent off, I’m still getting ripped off. I don’t want to share how much I spend on each excursion but it’s significant. I don’t allow myself to feel guilty when it comes to investing in supplies. It does wonders for my mental health, it gives me a reason to get up each morning, I can make a few extra bucks and it gives me purpose. Almost all of the coin I make from selling wok goes back into my art. That’s how I justify it anyway. To sum it up: Life is well and truly too short to not pursue the the things that make you happy. For me it’s my ‘art’ so I never beat myself up over how much I spend. The only bummer is when a piece doesn’t work out the way it was visioned and it gets thrown in the junk pile. These moments are soul breaking and they happen a lot.
I’ve rambled on for way too long. It’s almost 1am and my brain is tuned into GO mode. I wanted to write a piece on selling my work and it has tuned into a different kind of beast. Sometimes I can’t attack the keyboard fast enough. Other times I stare at a blank screen for a long time and even then my work isn’t the best it can be. With all of this winging I guess there is a positive that I must keep reminding myself - People like my work enough to put down their hard earned money and buy something I created. Vincent Van Gogh didn’t sell a paining until he died. Of course he didn’t have the internet either to help show his work off to the world. That brings us to the end of this nonsense. It’s time for bed. On a completely different note I am going into hospital for tests in exactly 8 hours. This has been playing on my mind. I’m getting old people!
AN EMPTY CANVAS
I’ve been staring at these six canvases for days. This happens. I have so many different ideas for how I’m going to attack them. I go through restless nights where I can’t sleep and my days are filled with a nagging voice inside my head telling me I am wasting time by not applying myself to the work. It is an unrelenting business that never gives me rest. I look at a blank canvas and see a world of possibilities, these thoughts and ideas twist and turn and evolve from one creative idea to the next. I know at the end of the day my ideas will be replaced with something I never expected. Rarely does the creative process resemble what I had in my head the day before. This leaves room for the unknow which excites me.
I paint what pleases me. If someone sees a painting and gets something from it then this is a bonus. I have learnt it is impossible to create what I think other people want. This is why I am reluctant to do commissions. I refer people to this site and ask which paintings catch their eye. That’s as technical as it gets when dealing with others wants, outside of scoping out the room to where the painting is destined as this gives me the best direction as to where to take the piece(s) while keeping to what is true to me.
My next big adventure will be to tackle these 6 canvases. I am housesitting for two weeks and want to use this opportunity to dive into the creative realm. As per usual I have ideas. I just invested a considerable amount of coin into the canvases and close to a hundred tubes of paint. It always turns into a costly endeavor. The completion of one piece can cost up to three hundred dollars and I’m not guaranteed my satisfaction. I can’t tell you how many of my pieces end up on the fire, in the trash or discarded amongst all my other failed works. I usually put some of the canvases out with the hard rubbish, but they don’t last long before they are picked up by people wandering the streets, who obviously have no artistic sense.
Only the best materials are used to create each painting. I use Matisse paints and varnishes and I have the canvases professionally stretched to the desired size. Each paint is high in pigment making sure the colours don’t fade.