I’ve been getting the message from several sources that my prices are too low.
My subject matter is Tulare County, and most of my customers are here. Because we are poor, fat, undereducated, breathing bad air, and accustomed to frugality, I price my art work accordingly.
Common art marketing wisdom says that if your prices are too low, people will not value your work.
Common sense says that if your prices are too low, you will stay poor.
Contradictory common sense says that if your prices are low, you’ll sell more and more people will buy your work and then you will raise your prices and have a following who are willing to pay your new prices.
Common sense is uncommonly confusing.
(“Too many cooks spoil the stew” or “Many hands make light work”? “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” or “Out of sight, out of mind”? See what I mean?)
This little 6×6″ painting of Sawtooth is $50 plus tax. It is an original oil painting that took me about 2 hours to make. (First I had to buy the canvas, brushes, turpentine, linseed oil and paints.) When it sells at the Silver City Store, they keep a percentage, of course. That means I am earning a sorry hourly wage, particularly when you take the giant self-employed bite out of it.
Does this matter?
Not to me. I paint Mineral King because I love Mineral King.
However, I do need to earn a living.
I just looked up other oil painters. For 6×6 oil paintings, they charge $26, $65, $80, $100, $125, $150, $175, $190, and $325.
Holy Cow. Excuse me, I need to go do some more thinking. Might need to knit a few rows to calm down, have a hit of chocolate, pace, rock back and forth while banging my head on the back of the chair, perhaps even put my thumb in my mouth and curl into a little ball.
In the last century, I began drawing people’s cabins in pencil while I lived in a cabin. These were mostly in and around Mineral King. My business name, Cabinart, was born at that time.
Houk, page 119, 8-5/8×6″, $52
About ten years later, my friend Jennifer suggested that I make a book of drawings. Because this was all before print-on-demand, Amazon, assisted self-publishing, and all those other nifty tools, I called my cabin neighbor and friend Jane Coughran for help. She was a picture editor for Time-Life Books, and was thrilled to join me, as long as I allowed her to include historical photos. That decision took me about half of a second, and together in 1998, we published The Cabins of Mineral King.
Goldman-Davis, page 73, 9-1/2 x 6-5/8″, $63
All of the books and most of the original drawings sold. (You might get lucky on Amazon or eBay.)
Mann-Kennedy, page 114, 8-5/8 x 6-1/2″, $56
Now that I am working on The Cabins of Wilsonia, I am looking for more space in my studio for all the new drawings. Thus, I located 18 unsold drawings from the Mineral King book (more, actually, but the others are too big for my scanner, so I’m not showing them.)
Bissiri, rear, page 118, 5-1/4 x 6-5/8″, $35
These drawings are available for anyone who would like to buy them. Six appear in today’s post with a BuyNow button; the other 12 will be in consecutive posts.
Goldman-Davis, page 72, 10 x 8″, $80
The prices are well below my current (and even my former) commission prices because I want to sell them and because they are on odd sized pieces of paper that might be a pain to frame. I’ve put the name as it appears in the book, the page # from the book, and the exact size of the piece of paper it is drawn on, in case you get lucky and have the perfect mat and frame waiting for one of these original pencil drawings.
I have learned that the commenting system is irritating.
Mineral King sunset photo by Trail Guy
This is the procedure:
1. Click on “Be the first to respond” or “# responses so far”. This is at the bottom of the post.
2. After you type your thoughts and submit or enter (I’m unclear because as the “administrator” of the blog, it doesn’t ask me for this step)
3. It goes to a Spam folder, and then I have to mark it “not spam”. After that, it goes to a pending folder, and then I have to approve it. THEN it appears!
The commenting system isn’t very good. My own replies go to the spam folder and I have to do the process with them too. It also doesn’t give anyone confidence that their remarks have gone through.
Oh, and you might suspect this of me – I correct your typos, and remove anything that I deem too personal for the World Wide Web. (Please feel free to correct my typos too!)
It might be possible for me to change the annoying characteristics of the commenting system. However, my attempts might break the whole blog, so let’s just limp along with the current method for now.
What do you think? Want to try responding to this?
P.S. If you don’t see your comment for awhile, it might mean I am in the Land of No Electricity or Internet. Eventually I’ll catch up with you!
You “MUST” be on Facebook/LinkedIn/GooglePlus/Twitter to be considered a serious promoter of your work.
Oh yeah? Do I really need more time on the computer, with “virtual” friendships?
Are these Giant Sequoias having a water cooler conversation? Four Guardsmen, pencil on paper, 11×14, unframed, $175
I’ve heard that Facebook is like the backyard barbecue, another one whose name I’ve forgotten is like the bar scene, and LinkedIn has been compared to the water cooler.
I chose LinkedIn, because the barbecue is too big and feels like a waste of time, I don’t like bars, and having not worked for big companies, I’m curious about the proverbial water cooler. (Ever seen farmers on the side of the road, their pick-ups side-by-side in opposite directions, windows down as they chat? That’s their water cooler.)
LinkedIn is a bit of a puzzle to this simple rural artist. I haven’t yet concluded if it is helpful, or if it is just another distraction from being in the studio. It takes so much time to follow the links, find people’s websites, examine their work, comment if they have a blog, and for what? Are other artists truly my potential customers? And as a definite regionalist (referring to my subject matter), is anyone outside of my area truly a potential customer? Do these people in Minnesota/Washington/New Jersey care about Mineral King or Sequoia or Wilsonia??
Sure, it is fun to be asked to join people’s networks, and I feel warm and fuzzy to see that I now have 120 connections. But why? I’m not having personal conversations with these folks. I’m not looking for a job, which seems to be the primary function of this virtual water cooler place.
I’m always hoping for sales and for commissions, but doubt if this is going to happen from clicking “Accept Invitation” or “Send Invitation”. And that seems to be the motivation behind every person’s request to join his network. We all want sales – we are in business, and businesses exist to make a profit.
On LinkedIn, I am somewhat active in an Art Business group. So far, I have picked up a few tips, commented occasionally, and enjoyed some good virtual conversation. This is conversation minus body-language and vocal inflections, so who can say how authentic it is??
In Mineral King, we seek authentic conversation with real people, complete with body language and vocal inflections. Sunshine at the Neighbor’s Place, pencil on paper, 11×14, unframed, $175
In this Art Business group there are many beginning artists, seeking answers and help. (Most established artists are too busy working to be spending time talking to strangers on the computer. Yikes, what does this make me?) So many commenters obviously don’t take the time to reread what they have written – the typos almost give me a rash at times. It takes time to weed through the dross.
I pay attention to those who are articulate, friendly, professional and thoughtful. This sometimes causes me to look for their websites, which is a little tricky and time-consuming on LI. (lots of clicking and link following and window opening) Again I ask, “Why?” Is this my version of reality teevee, am I just procrastinating, am I seeking like-minded colleagues or do I just want to find a secret recipe to success by copying the business practices of Someone Who Gets It?
I could buy Linked In For Dummies. If I read it and followed its recommendations, would I begin to sell more work to strangers?
I’d rather be drawing, painting, teaching, or blogging. When I’m not doing those things (i.e. WORKING!), I’d rather be knitting, gardening, reading something, or hanging out in Mineral King.
I love the beach. I love the mountains. When I lived in Sandy Eggo, I missed the mountains. Now that I live in Three Rivers, I miss the beach. There’s no hope for it except to stay here in the middle.
Meanwhile, here are a few inspiring photos. Some day when I am finished with The Cabins of Wilsonia, I will paint again. These photos won’t be wasted, and thus, going to the beach is always a business trip. (Had to mention that on Tax Day. When art is a business, that nasty topic is always lurking.)
Trail Guy at the beach.
This is the Bluffs Trail at Montana de Oro, a great California State Park. (What has become of all the money squirreled away by that outfit??)
Uh, Trail Guy, you wanna step back, please??
This was a finger of turbulent water.
Here is a tower. The sun came out briefly.
These cliffs were gorgeous and interesting, and we didn’t mean to walk so far that day but we just kept going. Should have brought lunch with us instead of leaving it in the car. . . What is the difference between a walk and a hike? I think a hike is when you bring food and water along.
The water was all sorts of shades of teal, my favorite color. My current favorite combination of colors is brown with teal. I LOVED this walk. (with apologies to Craig B. for not telling him we were in his neighborhood)
As a California artist based in rural Tulare County, I am willing to do odd jobs. Odd art jobs, that is. (Please don’t call me to wash your windows – they will probably turn out odd.) Staying in the business of art in a place like this means saying, “Yes” when asked to do odd jobs.
I’ve shown you some of the unusual things I’ve been asked to do in the past. Here are a few links if you want to see some of these items (each will open in a separate tab or window): cabin sign (gotta scroll down the post to see it), chair back slat, ornament (you can read the entire story and see all the photos in December 2011), antique window, pet sign, boat sign, quilt square. There are more, but I fear I will test your patience and you will say TLDR*.
My latest job could sort of be considered a mural, sort of a commission: a faded decal on a recreational vehicle at a mobile home park in Hanford, California.
It was a challenging and fun job. (I consider a job fun when the conditions are good and the job turns out well.)
The most fun part was mixing the colors to match the non-faded sides of the RV.
This side wasn’t faded as badly but the owner requested a touch-up here too.
I’m drawing my brains out, working on The Cabins of Wilsonia. (Okay, I’m not really drawing my brains out – I need them for stuff like posting to my blog. Try not to take me too literally here.)When I get commissions, I take a break from that Giant Project.
There is a house here in Tulare County that I have admired for years. It is on a road I really like – it is curvy, against the foothills, and it meanders through citrus country. A friend was hired to do some work at this house and provided the name and address of the owner.
I had the audacity to write a letter introducing myself and asking if he would like to hire me to draw the house.
He did not respond.
I was embarrassed, but got over it. If I was a really good business person, I probably would have followed up with a phone call. Alas, I don’t want to be sellsy, so I let it go.
A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the man’s wife, via a common friend.(She isn’t really “common” – she is actually quite special. But, what I meant is that she is a friend to me and to the wife. Try not to take me so literally here.) She asked if I could draw the house for her hubby’s upcoming birthday. She mentioned that I had written to her husband awhile back – I was a little embarrassed, but also pleased that my self-promotion hadn’t been too sellsy.
Trail Guy and I went to the house to get some photos. Now that he is retired, he gets involved in the more fun parts of my business. He also does errands for me so I can draw uninterrupted.
These are not the photos I am using for the drawing – because it is a birthday surprise, and because there is a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that the man reads my blog, I’m not showing you those yet.
On the off chance that he does read my blog, he won’t know which view I am drawing. Sneaky of me, yes?
Now that I only have Perkins, I am especially vulnerable to any and all cats. Try not to take advantage of this weakness, please.
If I didn’t love living in Three Rivers, I’d want to live here. Of course, I thought that when I was in Blowing Rock, Washington, and Downers Grove. Stop it.
After the birthday gift has been given, I’ll show you the photos I used, the ones I didn’t use, and the finished drawing. I think it turned out great, but given the subject matter, how could it be anything except beautiful?
A list is coming. First, please enjoy this drawing of a Wilsonia cabin:
Turned out pretty well, especially considering it was another one of those cabins with cedar trees blocking much of its detail.
Here is the sort of thing that runs through my head while I draw.
1. Yea! This is #________. I’m on schedule/running behind/might be getting ahead. (A continual evaluation of my progress)
2. Why are there ALWAYS cedar trees blocking the views?
3. Persistent thoughts on a loop – one day last week I ruminated about whether it is better to have work at a gallery that doesn’t sell very well but pays reliably OR work at a gallery that sells but won’t pay. The answer kept returning to me that the lesser selling gallery was infinitely better. Do you know how awful it is to try to collect from someone for 3 years, someone who sneers at you and says, “Patience is a virtue, you know!” I hope you never have to know that firsthand.
4. I wonder if I am enough on schedule or possibly ahead of schedule in drawing for The Cabins of Wilsonia to take a day off to paint.
5. It would be nice to paint instead of making yet another trip to the sneering, virtue-spouting, non-paying vendor.
6. Maybe she’ll have a check for me this time.
7. I can always visit a yarn store afterward. Wool fumes are soothing. Alpaca is soothing. Lots of color and nice people are soothing. Soothing is good.
8. Now what number am I on in my drawing progress?
9. Hmmm, I think I have an idea for a blog post. I wonder if it belongs on my “real” blog (this one) or my new blog (the Cabins of Wilsonia)?
10. This is hard. Maybe I should just go to Chicago for a few days. . .
