Selling Art Work

Since I've been in the business of selling art work for the past 35 years, I'd like this blog to help people learn to sell both their own original paintings and works of art as well as works of art they have purchased over the years.

If you are an artist and you are looking for methods that are not the conventional "get a gallery" route then you might like to visit this site often as I plan to introduce different techinques and ideas as to how you might be able to market you work and begin to generate income from your efforts. For example, there are greeting card companies that are looking for artists to do unique one of a kind greeting cards, There are publications that feature artists works and give your name, address and telephone number so the public can contact you. In addtion, some of the publications are sent directly to designers, architects and art consultants so they can increase their data base of artists and they are then able to introduce your art to a new audience. One of the methods I like for generating additional income from paintings is doing giclee prints of your work and making them available to consultants across the country.

Some of the print publishers are looking for new artists and would welcome hearing from you if your work is consistant with the work they publish. Publishing prints is great for both hospitals and hotels so if your images are appropriate for either, you might consider contacting publishers that are interested in that marketplace.

Poster publishers are always looking for new and exciting images and getting to them is more difficult but can be done. Later in future blogs, I will go into detail about how to reach both the print and poster publishers and learn what they are looking for. Digital photography has a large audience in both the hospitality market and in the hospital arena. If you are doing digital prints you should begin to think about the images that would work for this guestroom and patient rooms. The senior market is rapidly expanding and their are many new assisted living and long term care facilities that need to have art.

Have you heard about "staging" in the real estate field. Yes, they are setting up homes so they are more likely to sell and in doing so, they are using companies that stag the homes including art and accessories. They need the work for short term projects and sometimes will rent the art for a period of time so you get income from the rental as well as the potential for a sale. People coming to the home for open houses might see your work and decide they want to own a work.

Speaking of rental, that is another whole field that you might want to consider. The digital photographer is great for this as he can produce a number of the same images and have the same image rented to a multitude of different venues. These are just a few ideas that come to my mind this evening. Perhaps something will click and you will begin to think about less traditional ways to bring your art work to market. As you come bag to the blog, I hope to go into more detail on each of these ideas so you can begin your marketing campaign and be successful.