Strangers are your future collectors.

Friends if you have been in the Art Business, trying to sell your Art work and have been selling for 5 years or less. Then the price you put on your paintings or how much you think your painting is really worth is not as important as getting paintings onto peoples walls.

So many starting Artists have put the cart before the horse, their prime objective should be to get people, strangers, to buy their paintings and hang them on their walls, not achieve high prices, if you are successful that will come.

Make your prices so people will want to buy and you will become popular.

I am not saying to give them away but I am saying make them very competitive.

Unfortunately family and friends and Artist friends, though trying to be kind and concerned for your well being and career, can sometimes be a big hindrance to your future.

Yes, if you are good, your paintings are worth good money, but if no one is buying them because you are unknown, then you must listen to the market place not well meaning family and friends.

Sometimes when dealing with new unknown Artist and I say, “No, that is to expensive it will not sell for that.”

It is the family and friends who rise to the defence of the Artist. I try and explain that yes it is probably worth more but you are unknown and we are trying to introduce you to collectors, who are always cautious of new Artists, they ask questions like, “how long will they be around?”

I deal with Artists who get upset with me because I say that they must be realistic about their prices, especially when they see works by a known Artist not as good as theirs, but sells for a high price and question why are their prices so high, the answer is, they are a known Artists.

They always tell me that their family and friends love their work and they are selling to them at good prices and I usually reply something like this.

If you believe that your family and friends and friends of friends will buy your work at these prices for the rest of your Artistic career, then do that, you do not need my help.

But if you know that they will not then you can listen to me and I will help you or you can go and complain about how unfair the Art Business is and you are doing it for all the right reasons and do not want to deal with people like me who have no soul. Yes I have been accused of many things, I do not react just smile and say, “ I wish you the best of luck.”

If you do want to listen then this is what I tell new unknown Artists.

The object is to sell your paintings and get them onto walls of strangers.

To introduce you to strangers and convince these strangers to invest in your work at prices that they will consider reasonable for an unknown Artist.

I want these strangers to become your collectors and your friends and life long collectors of your work and the price of your work will rise as you become more popular and more collectable.

I am not interested in selling one of your paintings to someone, I want to sell all your paintings that you produce in your Artistic career to strangers. Now that does not happen often as Artists move on but it does happen.

I know three Artists in this Gallery I am presently engaged in who have been with the Gallery since the 1970's, they continue to sell and have a loyal following.

Its is not about the short term rewards it is about building an Art career, putting paintings onto the walls of strangers.

Selling paintings to strangers.

Turning strangers into collectors.

Turning collectors into friends.

Not selling one painting but selling a lifetime of paintings.

I do hope this has been a help to some, I appreciate all your comments and feedback.

Love your paintings, love painting, love yourself.

Mark Shellshear.

Art consultant.

mark@shellshearmedia.com