A little more about the internet and artists marketing.

I think you need to have an internet presence, But I am not sure how much is really required. My own assiduous research seems to indicate that blogging is not a moneymaker. There is however plenty of work in it. I don't think that Facebook is a bad idea either, although I don't put in much time there, it is fun to network a little with some artists from across the country. Where that will lead I don't know. There seems to be a linked community developing and I have discovered some fine painters out there and probably gotten some name recognition. I don't think it its a moneymaker either.

You simply have to have a web site though. The first thing people do these days is go online and look you up. Gotta have it! If you don't, you don't exist. I think the phrase "award winning artist" is getting a little shopworn incidentally. I wrote several posts about writing bios and here is a link to one of them. Your site needs to have a good bio and it needs to show perhaps up to 20 of your best paintings.

When I had my first web site built in about 2001 it was an e commerce site. It was a data base driven behemoth that had prices on it, computed tax and gave dimensions , shipping costs and fed my cats when I was out of town. You hit that flashing "buy now" button, and the patent leather dirigibles came in real low, strafing the frightened customer with feather bearing leopards wearing balls and chains. Everything in my inventory was on the site, and it had to be updated every eight hours. I kept telling the web master I wanted flames coming from my name but he wouldn't let me have em, said that was only for porn sites. It was wicked cool, but it didn't sell art.

Now I see a web site as an advertising device, like a magazine ad. I put up about twenty of my paintings and now and then add a new one. But it is pretty static. If you want changing, dynamic content and you have to come to the blog.

I am a little torn on how to advise amateurs and students on whether to post their art. I know it doesn't make sense for them to buy magazine ads. My advice on that is that you shouldn't pay more for an ad than you are ROUTINELY paid for a painting. I see some advertisements in the art magazines that make me embarrassed for the people who bought them. They always begin with "award winning artist".

But I guess I feel differently about web sites. So long as they are not expensive and as your art improves you update them. But don't try to pretend you are something you are not, avoid the superlatives like "internationally known". There are so many artists out there making those claims that no one is impressed by them and what the artist is really selling is integrity. Tell people what the deal really is, and build their trust. In the long run, people buy from artists they trust. I don't generally think it good to post your prices on your web site, but people differ on this. I guess if they are very low and you don't need to look classy its OK. But if you have high prices and want to play in the upper market I think it looks a little off.

I am not a big fan of the daily painting thing, however if that's what you want to do, I suppose it is a good discipline. You will post prices for that though. I think it will make it hard to sell more expensive work in the galleries. If I were running a gallery I would be reticent to handle an artist who was selling his work online for less than the price of a decent pair of tassel loafers.

For developing your art doing a painting a day is probably a good idea, although I suggest you plan on doing a certain number like 60 rather than making an open ended commitment like this ridiculous blog, that just goes on and on.I wouldn't recommend it being ALL that you do. As I said last night I think the bottom of the market is a miserable place to operate. That's not to say we can all be the big Kahuna either, but there is a lot of room in between.

It seems funny to me that the idea has a risen that art can be sold in great quantities to Joe Bagadonuts for low prices and a living can be had that way. Maybe it can, I have to admit I have all my life been dealing with the well to do and the upper middle class with substantial disposable income. I make a formal sort of painting, so my art naturally goes into more formal homes. But if you can make it selling small inexpensive paintings, good for you. In 1983 I was selling 8 by 10s for eighty five dollars, framed.