DATE: 03/10/2008 13:01:10 / MOOD: disappointed

Did anyone check out Boundless Gallery? I am amazed that people are selling such large paintings for so cheap and then shipping them for $15. They also have to pay a commission. It doesn't compute. I'd like to hear what others think.

View Entry

DATE: 03/06/2008 06:08:01 / MOOD: other

There is a new group started about marketing. Anyone have some ideas to contribute?

View Entry

DATE: 02/18/2008 16:58:58 / MOOD: in love

I'm on Ebay selling art for the first time. I put four on and sold three (Okay, for pennies..BUT..) Anyway, my question is this: should I sell under my name or under a fake name? Has anyone read Jack White's articles? I love that guy. But, I'm confused: should I do as he does and sell under a fictitional name or should I sell under my name? Privately, I sell art at higher prices than I start on ebay. I wouldn't want to disappoint my customers.

What do you do?

Alison

View Entry

DATE: 02/13/2008 07:26:15 / MOOD: in love

I'm going to my first art festivals this year and need to get a booth. I've been to many festivals and observed that often the attendees look into the booth but rarely enter. It doesn't seem to matter that the goods inside the booth are awesome. I believe there's some sort of Feng Shue thing happening here. What booth designs invite and what designs repell? Any ideas?

Alison

View Entry

DATE: 01/06/2008 09:33:24 / MOOD: other

I am a full-time artist. My family depends on my income as well as my husband's income via his State job. I am concerned about the impact of the economy on my painting sales. I know there is a huge population out there who is immune from the ups and downs of the economy. These are the people who are buying or building huge homes on the lakes while the rest of us scramble to pay our fuel bill (ours was $475 this last refill!) I don't begrudge these folks their wealth, I just want to sell them lots of paintings.

I decided to do this by contacting the local interior designers. I made up some very attractive photo albums with Adobe Photoshop Elements and Kodak. They're expensive, about $40 each but they look very nice. I also am sending a few to some regional designers that hit heavy on my google searches. (After contacting them because I can't afford to have them toss my pretty albums!) I'm offering the designers a 15% commission if they secure me a sale.

I also just made up a (sentimental) brochure about doing commissions. "Would you like to capture a special moment in a beautiful painting?" I'll print this with Vistaprint and mail it out to my mailing list, about 300 people. The price list will be an insert which is easier to change than the brochure.  It took me two full days to put this together. I like commissions in general because the painting is sold from the start. They do sometimes lack in excitement. I just painted ten small paintings of the same thing. UAGHHRGH! Still, it helps to offset the fuel bill.

So, anyone have any other ideas?

View Entry

DATE: 01/04/2008 18:51:22 / MOOD: other

Skyfire, you nailed it. I spent the last two days on my computer making a brochure for commissions with the new software from adobe photoshop elements and then made two applications to galleries. It was such an intense time sitting at my computer trying to learn the software while creating intriguing descriptors of myself. I have learned to create a website, brochures, postcards, cards, and photo albums when I would MUCH rather be painting. This is the life of an artist these day. Eh?

View Entry

DATE: 12/27/2007 06:19:25 / MOOD: happy

I'm thinking of buying a video camera to use for marketing purposes, ie you-tube or postings on my website. Has anyone ever done this?

View Entry

DATE: 12/13/2007 06:53:19 / MOOD: happy

I just bought Cityafire from Jen Janson for a Christmas present for my husband. I saw her paintings on our Art Calender blog and had to have it. I had to tell everyone that the painting is amazing. It has such energy and light. Thanks, Jen. Keep it up! Alison

View Entry

DATE: 12/11/2007 05:59:31 / MOOD: happy

Here are two marketing tips, one is my own and the other was a gift. Here's mine: whenever you sell a painting make a set of matching notecards as a gift. The buyer will proudly send out the cards and announce that they had purchased the painting on the card. Be sure your contact info is on the card. The second tip is this: Download images of your work onto Snapfish.com and create a very professional-looking portfolio for fairly cheap. You can even cut and paste your bio, statement, and a short CV. This can be used for any marketing purpose such as approaching galleries, querying magazines etc.

Anyone else have any good marketing tips?  Alison

View Entry