Most of all, paint because you enjoy it. If you do not enjoy painting you will give up. You may give up on art but art will not give up on you! The way I find inspiration is by taking photos of beautiful places everywhere I go. I have developed the eye to see art in the environment and can see a work being painted, take a photo of it and save it for the day I am motivated to create a work. Sometimes I use many photos combined to create one work.
Derek McCrea
Representing:Columbus, Georgia
Featured Artist - Fine Art
My career is as a Soldier. My two hobbies include painting and offshore fishing. Both of which are very relaxing and allow me to express myself. Creating art for me is a way of life. Something I enjoy.
As an artist in today’s changing environment it is vital to create a marketing strategy capable of meeting the demands created by tense competition. Different areas to focus on for marketing include: identifying and promoting to your target market, carefully select what you pay for as an artist and compare the advantages and disadvantages before making a decision, seek alternate means of exposure, and explore different options for getting your art ’seen’ by your target market.
Identify your market and attempt to promote your work through the various media of today, magazines, books, Internet, and traditional galleries. Be careful what you pay for. Lately I have seen a large amount of galleries charging a fee for placement of works. In some galleries this may be productive for the artists, but there are also those galleries who make their profit off of the artists almost solely.
Observe a gallery before making a decision to place art in it. You may pay 200 per month and pay 30% commission upon the sale for example. If you sell one art in 6 months you will lose money. Art galleries are a lot like real estate, location, location, and location. Do not fall victim for the ‘Calls for Artists’ on Craigslist that ask for large fees for posting your art in their gallery where you pay 200 plus dollars for 5 square feet. Your art may be among 100 other artists in that gallery for a short period of time. It is also sometimes a good idea to ask another artist that has shown in the gallery about their success there.
Galleries are only one means of exposure. In rough times look at other ‘free’ venues to showcase your art. For example, approach restaurants or hotels to place your works in their business. This has worked very well for me and what makes it even better is if you paint a painting of that business or restaurant and then have a spot near the painting with your business cards. In the end, you may come to realize that you being the only artist on the wall in a nice restaurant may be better than being among 100 others in a rarely visited gallery.
Many towns have ‘First Fridays’ or similar names for one day a month where local business display local art. This is also a time when artists can set up a small booth and paint en plein air. Customers like to purchase art from local artists. I have had the most luck with this by painting and selling at different prices. In advance for example I will paint some of the local cityscapes or landscapes and also create prints of the same works so I can price the works at various prices. This makes my art more affordable for different customers. With all of my sales I hand out business cards and sometimes hand out 100 business cards in one day and not have any sales until later when I get an email from someone I met that day.
I am amazed at the number of emails I receive, almost daily, asking me to pay to be in a book of professional artists. The company asks for the artist to pay a large fee for their works to be on 1 page or even a half of a page. These same books are sent out to prospective future artists for free as samples to maybe a spot for their art in the book in the future. All along the featured artist in the book had to pay 350 dollars for their book and that was supposed to be at half price. Recently I went to www.lulu.com and created my own book titled, ‘2007-2008 The Inspirational Years’. It costs me nothing to created this book and when it sells I get a percentage. Plus the book has only my art, not hundreds of other artists.
Remember, as an artist what is most important is what you deem as success in your art. Why do you create art? Does it make you happy to paint? Paint when you feel inspired, if you are not selling currently concentrate on making a series of works for future promotion. Continue to keep a positive attitude and do not give up.
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