If anyone is interested in creating a lucrative business along the Mornington Peninsula, I have a suggestion for you. This part of the world is crying out for a dedicated fine art store. At the moment there is only one shop in Frankston that serves the entire peninsula, and they effectively hold a monopoly on high-quality art supplies. Their prices have become unreasonable because there is no meaningful competition nearby. While there are plenty of discount stores selling cheap products, there is only that single retailer offering premium materials. Over the years I have spent many thousands of dollars there, and I’m tired of watching my money drained by a business that applies massive mark‑ups to essential supplies. For now I do most of my purchasing at Officeworks; they can be pricey, but their prices are often half what the art store charges. I usually buy canvases there because they’re under half the price, and they also carry a respectable range of acrylics.

For every art session I put myself into I usually need to pull out around $1500 to cover several canvases when I can’t source them through Officeworks, and the remainder goes into a selection of paints and other materials. I always use the same sized canvases (36” x 36”) and they cost about $102 each. Paints vary in price from roughly $12 up to $50 apiece, depending on brand and pigment. This is why I need to raise my prices — the production costs are simply high. People often don’t realise how much goes into making each piece. Over the last 12 months I have sold maybe 20–30 canvases, but that’s largely because I don’t put enough on the pieces, not because of a lack of talent; many buyers are simply looking for a bargain. On Marketplace in particular, where I sell the majority of my work, price sensitivity is very apparent.