The Art of “Selling Art”…
Selling my art is something I truly enjoy! I enjoy the process and am not afraid of it. I am not intimidated (beyond taking a deep breath when necessary) by promoting myself or investing in myself through marketing and overspending on paint...yes, I have enough supplies in my studio to begin a side business if necessary!
I am not saying that selling art is easy. It is a process. It requires determination, effort, research, keeping a level head, telling yourself the truth and making sure you have invited your potential clients to get to know you as an artist and a person. Here are brief thoughts on the first 4 of these 8 topics.
Selling art is not easy but unless you have the budget, you must always be involved to some degree in the selling. Not everyone has the bent or the natural talent to sell a product much less themselves. Selling may feel very uncomfortable or even prideful though it is actually only honest confidence. As an artist I know that I have found a niche to sell my art. I also know that I will do my best and make sure that my client is happy. It is my belief that an artist should be gracious about any success they have experienced. If you are gracious, and kind as well as thoughtfully giving of your best you can sell your art...most often it begins with a friendly conversation and a new friend. Believe it or not, once you have sold your first piece, you are on the path to already knowing how to talk with your potential clients!
There is a process to selling your art and, in fact, there is a popular hashtag that reads #doitfortheprocess. In the process of selling my art I have had questions and needed to learn a process to proceed but I did not ask anyone to hold my hand and do it for me. I found that gallery directors, the internet and at times, shop owners provided a wealth of information for me. It is very easy to “google” many questions about the process online and learn a huge amount. In fact, my research provided a foundation for a list of questions I could ask directors of what I considered great galleries. I found that even though I had not yet begun my art business, there were directors that would make time to talk to me if I set up the phone call or meeting to their convenience and was prepared to ask good questions that I may or may not get to ask again. Keep notes and be organized because the process is worthy of your best. One group I did not choose to ask for advice would be artists. I did do it one time only and was very uncomfortable. Although she was very nice, I noticed then and observed later situations in which artists were guarded in what they shared. I get that. Although there is nothing new under the sun, social media has made it very obvious when artists share similar styles and outlooks on art. I actually do not follow as many artists as I might like because I do not want to inadvertently look like anyone else. Because of this, I choose to ask my “learning/work” questions of those who work with artists and then enjoy my art friends.
Determination is best defined for me by being “firmly resolute”. Once I know that I am to go forward, I do until I am shown otherwise. Let me share one quick story. Before I began selling my art I attended an art show. Walking around and meeting artists, I had one gifted artist approach me and ask me how I would price her art because she questioned it. She also told me she had been working on a particular painting for two years. In those few sentences I saw no direction, a lack of confidence and any determination she had was misdirected. Determination is what you have in you to accomplish the process. So determination is necessary but there has to be a planned process. So although I did not tell her I was
planning to be an artist, I did respond to her questions. I tactfully told her that her potential clients were the wrong people to ask for pricing. I also said that it would be impossible for me to guess what a painting she had taken two years to paint should cost and that I would guess a gallery director would be the best person to consult. Be determined but connect that resoluteness to a defined process.
Effort is the last topic I would like to offer a few comments on in this blog episode. It takes a lot of effort to start a business and you have to want it because it will take work, work, work. Through the many years of being an entrepreneur I have met with a good number of women who wanted to start a business. I can say that only one of all those ended up going through with her business plan. All of the others wanted someone to hold their hands, make their decisions, do the research and at the first challenge mentioned, folded. Effort is defined as a “conscious exertion of power” and I believe that. You can not be powerless. You don’t have to know every step before you take it but you do have to put in the effort to figure it out. Effort is not miserable, it is a good and honest thing. Effort is something to be proud of and you can do it.
The very nicest part of selling art will always be the clients, the gallery directors, and my followers. They are located all over the country and many have become sources of encouragement and friends. I have been gratified to text or even have regular phone calls with many and my life has been enriched because of them. The gallery directors where my art is available have been my friends, given me advice and I respect their opinions. Sometimes when I think about how many paintings I have been blessed to sell and where they are now located, I find myself laughing, literally. It is overwhelming to think that art I have been allowed to create would be a part of someone’s daily surroundings and the joy bubbles over!
Kim Kreis graduated with a Master’s Degree in Elementary Education and taught the most delightful fourth graders in a blue collar, farming community outside Dothan, Alabama for 10 years. Following her marriage in 1986, she moved to Birmingham where she began a new career as a stay at home mom and a fine stationery entrepreneur for 25+ years. Once she and her business partner passed on their company, Sweet Pea Designs, the next step became obvious...to be an artist with a purpose...
