Selling your work

I think this is one of the most puzzling questions to an artist. Most of us, as human beings, are tempted to sell our art emotionaly, pricing the work accordingly to the personal attachment we have to it or the degree of mastery it shows. Unfortunately, this is a mistake. Our jugement on ourselves is usually biased, and, well, the art world is a commercial market. You have to think business.  

So, herein, the 5 commandments of art selling:

          Of your art, you will detach yourself

This is obvious considering my introduction to this post. Yes, you hate that one and wouldn’t show it for the world. Yes, you love this other painting. Our works are sometimes like relatives to us. Our attachment real. But if you want to live of your art, you need to start considering it as what it is: in this case, a frame with coton fabric stretched over it. One will go, and others will come. Your pieces are not unique, because your creativity will never leave you, and therefore, they are not a rare object, have you poured your heart into them or not.

 A constant pricer you will be and receipts you will issue

You need to set a matrix for the pricing of your artwork. There doesn’t seem to be a particular rule ( and if I am mistaking please say so!), yet the rule of thumb seems to be to charge a certain amount per square inch.  This amount should increase with your experience and notoriety. Whatever mathematical or logical system you use, you have to stick to it. If you start selling, your art will take on value with time, according to the actual selling price of your art. If you sell your work cheaper because you don’t like it, you will be devaluating other works you’ve sold previously. This is obviously not very well looked upon in the business world.  You also want to issue receipts: they are proof of the value of your work at a given date. You need them for your taxes, and so does your buyer, most of the time.  Another common mistake is to sell cheaper to your relatives and friends. For the same work value reason, this is not a good idea, even though it is tempting.

 A contract you will always sign

This applies more to galleries, but it may be useful in other situations.  A gallery usually takes a commission  on your work they sold. You want to have all those dispositions in writting, so you know exactly how much they owe you.  They have to issue receipts, so if they go bankrupt, for example, you can prove you weren’t issued payment, should it happen. I’ve heard horror stories about artists having their work stolen; without a contract, this is hard to prove.  A contract should also be issued by you should a buyer ask for a payment settlement. This happened to me, recently. The buyer couldn’t pay up front.  I told him we could arrange, but we would have to sign a contract stating his first settlement, the full price of the work, and how long he had to pay the remaining balance, after which date the work was considered unsold and available again on the market. Make sure you specify the first settlement is non refundable. That way, if you keep a piece under reservation for six months, you will not have done so for nothing, should the buyer change his mind.  And please, never let a piece of art leave the studio before it is fully paid.

   Archiving you will prioritize

Before setting up a show, make sure you have taken pictures of the new work you’ve produced, taken the measurements and added the pieces to your list of available work. If you don’t, you’ll regret it if you sell anything. Your portfolio needs to be frequently updated. It is a horrible experience to have to take pictures of 4 years of work at the same time, trust me on this. You’d rather take a dozen pictures at a time.

Thank your buyers you will gladly do

After all, they are enabling you do make a living from your passion. Be greatful.

Vernissage and Opportunities

One of the things I love about art is how it brings people together.  As an artist, you also meet lots of interesting people, namely other artists, especially when you are the one showing. A vernissage is a great opportunity. I met great individuals at my last show, many of them, emerging artists, like me.

Because it was part of our building’s open door event, we had to organize the vernissage and the show. The fun thing about this is you can then use this opportunity to your best advantage on all levels, which might not be the case in a gallery.

My studiomate is an expert of vernissages. She has got it down to an art. Here is her kit: a printed portfolio, business cards, a golden book, blank receipts, a smile and a quick little discussion about your artist statement.

The portfolio will show potential buyers the works of art which are not part of the show you are having a vernissage for. You will then have a chance, if they are willing, to set a later date to show them a particular piece if you don’t have it at hand. This is where the business cards comme in handy; instead of running around for a pen, you slip a card in their hand ( of course, you may hand them out to anyone who wants one also). If you do have the piece nearby, take it out. It might end up in a sale... and don’t be shy; timidity never sold a painting.

The golden book has a double purpose. First,  visitors can write down their impressions. Needless to say visitors who don’t like your work won’t bother. You are assured of having that little encouragement you sometimes need from strangers when you get doubtful, because it inevitably happens. Also, you may invite visitors to leave their email adresses for future newsletters. Politely asked, most people won’t be offended, and will politely decline if they are not interested. This is a crucial part of your network development; you absolutely need to get out of your circle to find potencial buyers, because your family and friends won’t be buying your art forever.  Only send emails to individuals who have given you permission. Make sure you mention in every newsletter you send that the recepient may unsuscribe from your sending list. Not only will you be better considered, it is also part of what internet users call ‘netiquette’ ( You will find many posts and references on the internet concerning this topic. I encourage you to read about this if you’re thinking about using the internet as a part of your marketing strategy) . If anyone asks to be removed from your list, please do so as promptly as possible.

Blank receipts have to be in your studio at all times. You never know when you will sell a piece, and you need to be able to produce a receipt, especially for larger pieces. Some buyers are investors; the receipt, as their proof of purchase, is very valuable to them.  Also have whatever legal papers you think you need: contracts, authenticity certificates... It really is up to you, but the more written material you have, th better it usually is, even though the receipt is really the only absolute necessity.

The list of works will help you keep track of what you sold, the dimensions, for how much, and when. This is basic data you really want to keep.

Your smile will say a lot about you to visitors. Potencial buyers like nice people, it’s no surprise. With your smile, you will get visitors interested in your artist statement when you start to describe what you do. In other words, you will be sharing your passion. I think this is the best part of all.

Oh, yeah, the new dress I got for the vernissage was a lot of fun too!

A Little Thank You Note

Last week, the building I rent a studio in had an open doors weekend.  Needless to say my studiomate and I have jumped on the occasion, and  transformed the space to make it more gallery like. First, we patched all the holes in the walls, and painted it a neutral matte grey for picture taking.  We then proceeded to clean up the studio, and set up our show.  Everything was quite nice, at that point. We still had to make a few minor ajustments, but we were ready. And I came home with a great sense of accomplishment.

However, I don’t want to give you some motivational talk in this post. I’d rather just leave you some food for thought. 

I can never stress enough how much work putting up a show is. We had 2 very important helpers: my studiomate’s friend played photographer for our portfolio pictures, and J. came over to help us plan our space for the show.  I think our show was only better because of these two men and their generosity.

Our photographer kindly came to take pictures with his latest model Nikon, a beautiful camera. He offered to fix our photos for us in Photoshop. We are paying him, but much less than it would have cost to rent the equipement to do it ourselves. The whole process took one hour and a half. We had fun, he had fun, and we all went for a snack afterwards. His help was very much appreciated.

J. also had great ideas for hanging the art. It was great to have an outside view of our space. I realize we weren’t thinking about how people would interact with the space before he showed up and insisted on creating angles to break up the linear walls.

These episodes made me remember how greatly personal projects depend on the help we can get from other people. Art is a huge project, and because you can’t be good at everything, well, friends are a great alternative!

Thank you for your kind help, J and J !