“ Why is it when I give my paintings away as gifts to family and friends they love them, but...."
acrylic on canvas
48ins x 32ins
“ Why is it when I
give my paintings away as gifts to family and friends they love them,
but when I want to sell them, they do not want to buy them?”
How many times have
I read this on Artist group sites and been asked this question by
Artists.
I think the first
question that you should ask yourself before you become offended is,
have these people ever bought an original piece of art before?
Most likely they
have not.
The next question
would be, “ Artist, before you were an Artist, how many pieces of
original art did you buy?”
Artists always seem
to question this fact, but the average person out there does not buy
original art, it is not something that they think about or need.
An Artist gives away
work to people who love it and appreciate but they will not buy it
and we cannot grasp that most of them have never bought an original
painting in their lives, so why the offence?
Most Artists before
they decided to paint never bought an original piece of art of any
reasonable value, the small painted stick or rock at the craft show
does not count.
So the question is,
we never bought an original painting so why should they?
So Artist you need
go beyond well meaning family and friends and try to sell your work
to strangers who have no emotional attachment to you, now you are
about to enter the Art World or can I use that terrible word Art
Business.
You cannot judge the
value of your art on the opinions of family and friends and Artist
friends, they are biased and they care about you and your feelings
and will not have an unbiased view of your art.
It is only when you
enter into the Art Business World that you will be able to realise
the value of your work.
It has nothing to do
with how much talent everyone says you have, how many days and hours
it took you to produce your painting or how wonderful and expensive
all your art supplies are.
Do people like your
paintings and are they prepared to part with their hard earned money
to get one of your paintings?
Now please do not
get upset with me and say art is not just about money and the Art
Business.
I do get that, but
if you put a price on your work be it $10 or $10,000 you are in the
Art Business, selling, and therefore you must accept the decision of
the market.
Now you may say that
it is easy for me to say this being a Gallery consultant, but I have
been where you are and I had to make the decision after 20 years of
painting that my work was ok but it was not outstanding and did not
sell well.
Was I upset at this
realisation? Yes.
It sent me into a
couple of very depressed years, I recovered and foolishly I decide
to have another large one man show, it cost me a lot of money and a
years work and I sold nothing, not one painting, so I do understand.
I accepted the
decision of the market place and decided to use my now 30 years of
experience to help other Artists be very successful selling Artists
or be very successful hobby Artists.
Do I still paint?
Yes of course and I enjoy it immensely.
In an earlier post I
talked about being a successful Artist but never selling. For me the
confusion is not how much you should sell your paintings for, but why
are you trying to sell it?
Think about why you
are selling it?
To get money, then
in the next breath people say, but its not about the money.
Then don't sell
them, give them away?
No, I can't do that
I need the money.
So it really is all
about the money?
I do understand the
Artists I deal with, they are all very good Artists and love
painting, but they are not doing it because they want to give them
away, they are doing their art to sell and hopefully get into the big
time of the Art World. I can respect that, its upfront with no story
about that they just do it for the love of painting, they do it to
earn a living from the thing that they love doing and that is fine.
I genuinely believe
that there so much pressure for the hobby Artist to sell, because
they feel that it is a validation of there work. I understand that,
but please do not complain if the market does not think that your
work is worth what you are asking for it, the market decides.
Your choice then is
to be brave and ask people why they do not want to pay for them and
why they do not want them, especially strangers as they will on the
whole will be honest and then from that feedback you can change your
work to meet the market demands.
Or you can stop
selling and give paintings away to friends and family who will love
and appreciate you work.
In my failed
exhibitions, there was two of them, I could have railed at the Art
World for rejecting my years of hard work but after receiving very
good advice from my Son, “ When you get lemons, turn it into
lemonade and sell it for $5 a glass.”
I looked at all my
years in the business I love and decided to use what I had learned,
“what not to do” and help others do what is necessary to achieve
success in what is sometimes a very brutal business. Art is a
wonderful pastime and can be a successful business but it is a
business and must be approached that way.
I always believed I
would be discovered but that is like believing in the tooth fairy,
now I have great joy in helping Artists to break into the Gallery
world and sell their paintings and on the whole it is great fun what I do and I love my work.
Sometimes I have to be brutality honest with some artists about their paintings but I also
add I could be wrong and to get a second opinion.
The love of Art and
what makes a good painting is different to everyone, so I do not want to
hurt Artists, so I say it is just my opinion.
“ Why is it when I
give my paintings away as gifts to family and friends they love them,
but when I want to sell them, they do not want to buy them?”
The honest answer if
you want to sell is.
Search your heart,
know the “why” of your love of painting, adapt to the honest
feedback you get and adapt your work to meet the demands of the
buying public and learn to sell.
I wish someone had
said this to me.
I have added two of my old paintings, they are not for sale and I do love living with them
I do hope that this
post has helped some Artists a little.
If you have feedback
both positive or negative I would love to hear from you.
My email address is
below or please comment on the group you are reading this on.
Have fun painting.
Mark E Shellshear.
Art consultant
" Faith, Hope, Charity"
acrylic on canvas
48ins x 32ins
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