I gave out a fair number of business cards, sold several note cards and one of my two " Berry Lonely" strawberry paintings.
On the first picture, you can see two "Berry Lonely" paintings; the one at the top, the smallest berry, is the one that sold.
Here you see some of my note cards, printed from my pictures of my original watercolors.
My next showing is in September, where I will show only 1 painting in a group show by the Ottawa Art Association that will take place at the Ottawa Littlle Theatre and will run for about a month. One of my friends is preparing an Open House in early October for a group of 4 artists - this should be a lot of fun. In November, I will most likely enter one painting in the Ottawa Art Association Annual Fall Awards Show. I intend to keep an eye on all Call for Submissions for at least one interesting Xmas Show.
Meanwhile, I want to focus on improving the "purchase" section of my blog for internet sales.
Do internet sales work for you? What strategies do you use? Is joining a group site ( the best known probably being the Daily Painters and difficult to join at this point) the best way to go? I think these topics could start a very interesting discussion. I am looking forward to reading your insights on the topic....
Enjoy your Sunday evening.
Congratulations on your sale and a great looking show. I don't have a lot of insite on internet sales. I have sold some original paintings from my website and I am now trying to publish some smaller paintings for sale from my blog but I am in the early learning stages. I will check back and see what insights will be shared here.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Vicki. I would love to find a way to develop/use successful internet sales strategies. We can all learn together...
ReplyDeleteGood display!
ReplyDeleteInternet sales is a tough one, I am not a serious seller.. but I have found that when I joined a forum on one of my other interests (dogs)and talked about dogs, people naturally would look at my site and then want to buy something. So a totally different interest to painting led to sales. And they weren't all dog ones :)
Pat, what an interesting post! I had never thought of that!We usually talk about painting on our art blogs and naturally we draw mostly other artists!
ReplyDeleteOnly other tip on that line I can give you, is not to join somewhere and advertise your art straight off. I saw many others do that and really, it put people off. I do have a love of dogs so talked happily about them - and that came across. Painting sales came as people got to know me and felt a connection with me :)
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't why I joined to start with - just a happy result :)
I certainly understand, Pat. I was thinking more about how using tags wisely in our blogs would be helpful:for example, the right tags would bring gardeners to see our florals, bird watchers to see bird paintings etc... You have given me food for thought. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteBefore you add a tag, google it.
ReplyDeleteIf for example, you google "peony" you get 3.7million results. What's the likelihood of someone finding your blog post about peony in all those results?
So if you want tags to be memorable, the name must be very memorable and one that someone would search for. Peony image narrows it down to 1.7 million, pink peony still further. You get the drift?
A Feedjit widget will let you see what people searched to find you - which might help.
One of my most popular tags was "Princess and the Pea" -that's brought a lot of people to my blog :)
Pat, you should be a marketing expert! This is great information!
ReplyDeleteI had success (surprisingly) on one site. Etsy, which is mostly all crafts, sold 5 right away and then nothing,, I eventually let that go.. Right now it's FAA Fine Arts America which makes prints of your work.. and I've had no results. Tons of competition. .Internet sales are very difficult. It's mostly artists just looking at other artist work ,, People have wonderful comments, love your work, then move on.. I think Art Shows do much better for sales. Good Luck everyone.
ReplyDeleteChristiane, you're welcome.
ReplyDeleteI actually think Barbra has it when she says art shows do so much better - and I think that's because there's a personal connection. People get to see and talk to you and the art is in front of them.
Internet wise, for me, it is the people who "knew" me from the non art forums that buy. They see my paintings on my FB fan page (only ever post a link to blog or painting site). That's how my last three went to new homes :)
Hi Christiane. I dropped by to see what you were up to and glad to have done so. Your question is a good one and one i've been asking myself lately. I believe in years to come artists, who are creative creatures to begin with, will find many new ways to sell outside of the traditional gallery. I'm searching now for alternatives and have found so many artists online that seem to be doing well with things like Ebay, Etsy, Facebook etc. I just pulled out of a gallery because it was just not worth it to me. With 50% commission, my framing costs, shipping, etc. there was never enough left over. My commission business is going steadily and that is very encouraging. Anything i do in direct contact with a customer is a pure sale. My experience with the gallery i am still with is that the people will so often buy the artist not just the art. They really like to meet the person behind the painting or at least think they know him/her.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if you can post a link here or not but here is an artist who is having great success with different marketing approaches. He is a distant relative and i may have to steal some of his ideas. Smile! He is very creative in his approach. http://shop.marcjohns.com/
I will have to check back now to see what others are doing. Smile! Thanks for asking the question Christiane. I am sure it is on a lot of peoples minds these days. It'll be interesting to see what we come up with.
What interesting posts! Thank you, Pat, Barbra and Ross!
ReplyDeletePat, from the mid-nineties until 2003, I wove hand-dyed silk scarves. I attended large craft shows and sold through 2 galleries. Indeed, I loved the contact with my clients that the craft shows provided; on the other hand, the galleries sold everything I gave them and although they kept about 50% of the sale price, they had their percentage only when they sold an item. The shows often cost over $1000 for 3-4 days and although I sold a lot, there was never any guarantee that after all the work I would cover the booth fees, the cost of supplies etc.Which of the two types of marketing did I prefer? I don't know: both had their advantages and disadvantages. I often felt under pressure with the galleries wanting more and more and more...while I was holding an almost full-time teaching job.
Ross, some art probably sells better on ebay etc...than other types. For example, on RedBubbles, the artists who do well are those with simple, but humorous drawins on t-shirts:-)Your friend seems to do very well with his drawings used for tattoos:-)
I think that many of us would love to find a niche on the internet market. Let's put our thinking caps on:-)
I may post this question again soon and make it the title of my post so that more are aware of the topic.
christiane congratulations on your sales .... as a thought...have you considered selling your artwork directly from your blog ?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jane. I do have a link on my blog to some works for sale...but that page does not get very much traffic. I really like the exchange with other artists on my blog and hesitate to making the blog too commercial...although, maybe I will try it for my next few paintings.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy visiting your blog, Jane, and envy you for living in such a beautiful part of Europe!