To Sell or Not to Sell

Pricing art is such a difficult thing...I am still not very versed in this aspect of creating and subsequently selling....and after my second annual participation in the Thanksgiving Art Tour, I wonder if I have overvalued certain works. This year only one painting sold, and yet I sold loads of my art cards. Here is what I sent to print before the tour:

I found this a very good article on how to price art and will continue to assess and adjust as I go along. Input from viewers is really helpful, and honest opinions too. The main thing is to keep painting and progressing and not worry so much about the other part, and just keep developing my niche by putting it all out there. 

I'm not by any means an established full time artist. I have to work at my part time job as well as all the casual hours I can manage to stay afloat, and paint when I can in between. I will do this same tour again next year, seeing as it really is the only time I show my art in one place to the public (aside from the Nanaimo Art Walk in December) and even though far fewer people showed up this year than last year, I still enjoy the discussions about art, the fun of welcoming people in to show my work, making new connections...and the inspiration that takes over afterwards....the inspiration to forge on with my painting.

Here is a not so great photo, taken in the almost dark tonight.....the rustic sandwich board sign which definitely needs a little more refining. This "working sketch" gives an idea of the design for my sign that I'll place out on the road on the odd Saturday when I'm home and ready to spontaneously welcome visitors.

 And here is the cozy little studio, from outside and in:

Having to regroup and reassess my direction, I went yesterday and spent what I could on more wooden boards and canvases. I'm struggling with sadness this week for a variety of reasons...the passing away of another person I admired a great deal..he was only 54. Through the fog of wondering what it's all about, the never ending questions, getting back to making ends meet, and trying not to stop long enough to allow a sinking anxiety to creep into my psyche, I know there is still some small spark of joy within me as I'm always able to muster it to the surface to interact with others, but another side of me is shrinking from social opportunities...my own company is all I want during the majority of my free time this month. I'm tempted to remove the internet from my home, and venture further into the isolation of just painting.

Tonight I worked a bit on this piece, inspired by the movie Mustang. There is a scene in the movie where the girls are made to dress conservatively and they express their distaste for being strictly disciplined. This scene really affected me from many angles...the defiant emotions of the young women, as well as the subtle beauty of the colours of their dresses, their flowing hair and the backdrop of a celedon green wall. It will be interesting to see what I manage to capture from my impressions of this moment.

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