The Artist's Life - All Comments

re: Art for Thought: Save the Date for...

Pat Jenkins — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:56:06 GMT

Hope you will have a catalogue of the marvellous showing for your 75th Anniversary, I am a bit far away to get on my bike to come and see it! However, don't want to miss it.

Pat Jenkins in Oz.

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

gayle63 — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:53:13 GMT

"Retreated to far for anyone to notice" relates to me, but my resolution for this year is to change all that.

re: Working Through My Moods

GIJillie — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 13:22:24 GMT

I tried to take the survey and it wouldn't advance from the "Where are you?" page to the next section. I tried! Happy Crafting!

Jillie

re: Working Through My Moods

ShenStudio — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:39:40 GMT

Should be fixed, now, Janet- Thanks for letting me know! ~Shen

re: Working Through My Moods

janetkeen — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 02:32:14 GMT

Your video and website are not working. Cheers janet keen

re: Art for Thought: Always Respect Truth

Diana Ray Taylor — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:57:56 GMT

Thank you, Allison. I thought the same when I first saw the David thirty years ago.

A few works of art cause the same feeling of awesomeness. Just to stand and look at something beautiful and eternal, is humbling.

re: Photograph Your Art Like a Pro

ivDanu — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 14:43:45 GMT

The only problem is that if you are a poor artist (most of us are, I suppose?) you cannot afford very expensive or even expensive equipment like this... you have to do with what you have...

re: Photograph Your Art Like a Pro

peterworsley — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 23:36:43 GMT

Very good advice, but you may wish to look at my recent article on scanning your paintings to obtain a high resolution digital image:

www.peterworsley.com/.../On_Scanning_My_Paintings.html

Peter Worsley.

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

thomas l. myers — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 15:55:02 GMT

I think a painter needs to learn to promote himself as he grows as a painter. I believe that without self-promotion it probably won't get done. Therefore the right amount of self promotion is necessary. This year I decided to learn to use all social media that was available. Last year I pushed myself to start a web site, which I did, it is TLMYERS.webs.com. I am also on Facebook on ThomasLivingstonMyers. This year I have sold 5 or 6 paintings and a lot of prints. If I were young and single this would probably not be enough to live on but it is a start and with some parental help I believe a career could be developed like this.

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

bonnierosefargo — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:57:35 GMT

I agree with this post wholeheartedly.. I am an artist, and I'll always be one. I try to create every day and yes I blog and show my work online, but I'm not as money driven and success driven as others out there.. if i lived the rest of my days just as I am now, with no big notoriety or fame, I would die happy.

xo hugs

bonitarose

http://bonitarose.com

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

pagnes — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:36:03 GMT

I agree on non exaggerating self-promotion and work more on progress as artist (techniques, concept and self-expression). I feel like Esther said: self promotion is sucking out life from the artist's soul. I am enthusiastic of making people know my art but there must be a limit. So I cut back on self-promotion and go on heavily on study and practice. Life is short and I am very ambitious, so I have to use well my time and my energy.

On the other hand I can't agree on the idyllic scenario described in the article. Fellow artists that spread the word about you to galleries etc. Why'd they do? Maybe they admire you but they may also envy you. The fact is that there too many artists and too few people that can afford buying art, especially in crisis time. So everybody tries to sell his/her own art.

Possible buyers in general that have no clear idea about art and its value, will follow the artists that are "in". Like advertisement, the more you hear about the product the more you're convinced that you must buy it. A good part of clients buy as investment, they go for the known names. As nowadays anything passes as art, even the more horrible creations, maybe only because provocative so people speak of, so the "artwork" becomes famous and sells. Who cares the humble artist that maybe creates masterpieces?

Sorry, I see it in this way. I live in Italy, maybe in the US it's different

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

Lori Woodward — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 17:09:50 GMT

Allison, very interesting topic.

It's usually best for an artist to have a gallery or dealer who can market their work to collectors while the artist paints, but recently many galleries have been forced to close for lack of sales and those that are still open are often not able to spend on ads or promotion as they did before the recession.

Just like the housing bubble, there was an art buying bubble which allowed many new galleries and artists to make a good living from the sale of their art. It was exciting, but now the tide has turned and everyone, including artists who have sold well at galleries for over 20 years are having a hard time making even a modest living. For the most part, their gallery sales have diminished to the point where the artist must promote themselves - because in most cases, the gallery cannot afford to do it for them.

Everything has changed in the way art is sold and bought in the last few years. I have a couple of close artist friends who pulled out galleries and began doing the outdoor show circuit in New England - lowered their prices, and guess what? They had their best year of sales ever! While some other artists friends who are continuing to wait out the recession and keep their work in galleries are really suffering for income. Some have begun to teach or do commercial work.

The galleries who keep their roster of artists small and actively promote their artists through ads, email newsletters and shows are those who are doing well right now. If an artist can list with a gallery who limits their number of artists and actually hangs the work, they can do well and spend more time at the easel.

On the other hand, many galleries (even well known ones) are storing the majority of their artists' work - not hanging anything but the current show. They make little effort to promote the artists who are not "big time" sellers already, and so the work sits, and there are no ads - and sometimes the gallery even forgets to update the artist's page on their website. When these things happen, the artists stay in the gallery anyway because they feel that being on their roster helps the artist's resume.

Some artists who are continuing to sell with galleries are beginning to do some self-promotion in order to help bring attention to their work whether it's in a gallery or not. Almost everyone I know personally who is a full time artist is experiencing a slow down in sales - at the galleries and is engaging in plein air events, invitational shows, and selling at the workshops they teach. Without these "extra-curricular" sales efforts, many would need to find a second job. In fact, many artists are working second jobs outside of the art industry.

It still remains true that artists need someone to do the "office-work" and promotion for them on some level, so they can get time to paint. If the gallery can't do it, then perhaps they can hire someone to put their artwork out there in-front of collectors. My husband has a full time job, so I need to do everything myself. However, I once hired a friend - paid by the hour - to do all the promotion, and admin work for me... contacting associates, keeping track of email, sending photos and submissions etc. Now, there's a job just waiting to happen!

Artists who have spouses to do the promotional and administrative work seem to get the most work done. Dennis Sheehan had an agent who did all these things for him - including shipping the paintings, and that agent only took 10% on sales. They insisted that their galleries only take 40% so that Dennis was only 50% when the sale was made.

gotta run... I'm going to paint at the Bedford Farmers' Market now - lots of fun and self-promotion... plus I get work done at the same time ;-)

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

triathlon1 — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 20:12:21 GMT

> My name is Robert O. Caulfield. I read with interest

> your article about self promotion. I'm a national

> artist having sold over 2,000 paintings all over the world

> in 28 years. Since we (my wife Marilyn and

> I) decided to quit our jobs and open an Art Gallery in

> Woodstock, Vt. in our home in the downtown area. I was

> 55 years old, and we had no previous sales experience.

> We did all this without any agent, mainly by exhibiting in

> galleries all over the nation.

> The only self promotion we've done is place Ad's in

> American Art Review Magazine where Tom Kellaway is the

> editor. We've been with these ads for over 28 years

> now. We have had many articles written about my art

> work in the magazine, and newspapers, even the New York

> Times and Christian Science Monitor.

> Of course, some of the galleries we've been in over the

> years and exhibitions on Rodeo Drive, San Diego, Palm Beach,

> FL, Michigan , Boston, Carmel, CA, has helped.

> As far as self promotion goes I'm not complaining, but in the

> back of my mind, I think If I can sell this many paintings,

> why haven't some of the larger galleries around the nation

> contacted me? Although, one major Gallery I'm proud to be represented by is the J.M. Stringer Gallery in

> Bernardsville, NJ. This gallery sold 15 of my

> paintings on an opening day exhibit for over $200.000.00 in

> gross sales. John Stringer writes in his biography on

> the web page "we are so proud to be the Eastern

> Representative of this extraordinary American talent.

> I give my wife of 59 years all the credit in the world as

> she has turned into an excellent sales person. My

> daughter, Cynthia also assists in the gallery. I

> have written my life story "Ruggles Street", which HBO

> thinks will make a great movie someday. I have also

> written a book "The art of Robert O. Caulfield", which was

> sold out in Borders, Barnes & Nobles; a total of over

> 4,000 copies.

> Where will it end as I'm 80 years old now? Still

> painting every day and so proud of how far I've come in the

> world of Art. Without any help from an agent or the

> world of art.

> Please feel free to contact me via email to caulfieldartgallery@comcast.net.

>> Robert O. Caulfield

> www.caulfieldartgallery.com

re: Art for Thought: Self-Promotion--A Hindrance or Help to an Artistic Career?

thomas l. myers — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 12:45:43 GMT

I know everyone is different, but I find it difficult to Self-Promote. For years I was so passionate about painting that I would become uncomfortable when talking to other people about my paintings, so I was that unknown gem of an artist hidden away. I accumulated so many paintings, stored in my basement. I was waiting to be discovered, which never happened till I started Self-Promotion. Now the business of painting is a balance of Self-Promotion and painting and life with my Family. I am lucky I have retired from other types of income, so I don't have to rely on selling to pay the bills. It is always good though to sell a painting, I always make prints of my paintings so I will have a copy of it when it sells.

re: A Simple Formula for Pricing Artwork

Lolly and sugar — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:49 GMT

This is not where I should ask this but I can't figure out where to go...sorry

I have been painting on Yupo paper fo years and love it. I have been trying to attach I to a board after it is finished but it always buckles. How can I do I withou buckling. Thanks