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"Yellow Bird"
I know...such a clever title. But in my defense, it's hard to come up with clever titles for birds you've never actually met. I cannot claim intimate knowledge of this little guy...but I think he's cute.
This is one of several recent small paintings I did as gifts. My fellow artists will understand when I say that I learned a long time ago to be cautious in giving my art away. Choose your recipients very carefully. This brings me to my topic. My fellow artists will totally relate. My non-artist readers...well, I hope it gives you insight. Or whatever.
The first time I did the "Celebration of Fine Art" in Scottsdale, I was somewhat naïve about selling my own art. Actually...I was completely naïve. I had no idea how to price my work. There are about 100 artists who participate each year at the "Celebration", so the first thing I did was walk around the tent and check out other artists' prices.
Holy crap...I have seriously under-valued my work in the past. That was my first thought. Followed by Holy crap...these artists think very highly of themselves. But I figured out quickly that these other artists were experienced enough to understand the psychology of buyers. If one artist's work is substantially lower than another's, the buyer wonders why. Sometimes - especially in the realm of art, in which most people don't have a great knowledge of art and not nearly enough confidence in their own taste - buyers just assume that a lower price is an indication of inferior work.
I know. It's crazy. And you may be an exception to that. But it's generally true. So I did the logical thing. I priced myself somewhere in the middle. That would describe a surprisingly substantial apportionment of my life. Somewhere in the middle. Size?...somewhere in the middle. Intelligence? somewhere in the middle, I suspect. The middle is okay. And at the end of the day...it doesn't really define one's true value, does it?
Uh, oh...I think I just veered slightly off-topic. Typical. Ability to stay on task?...somewhere in the middle. But then, there has to be a connection between the way we value ourselves and the way we value our work. Maybe I'm not so off-topic after all.
So much for philosophy 101. Never look to an artist for philosophical reasoning...
This is one of several recent small paintings I did as gifts. My fellow artists will understand when I say that I learned a long time ago to be cautious in giving my art away. Choose your recipients very carefully. This brings me to my topic. My fellow artists will totally relate. My non-artist readers...well, I hope it gives you insight. Or whatever.
The first time I did the "Celebration of Fine Art" in Scottsdale, I was somewhat naïve about selling my own art. Actually...I was completely naïve. I had no idea how to price my work. There are about 100 artists who participate each year at the "Celebration", so the first thing I did was walk around the tent and check out other artists' prices.
Holy crap...I have seriously under-valued my work in the past. That was my first thought. Followed by Holy crap...these artists think very highly of themselves. But I figured out quickly that these other artists were experienced enough to understand the psychology of buyers. If one artist's work is substantially lower than another's, the buyer wonders why. Sometimes - especially in the realm of art, in which most people don't have a great knowledge of art and not nearly enough confidence in their own taste - buyers just assume that a lower price is an indication of inferior work.
I know. It's crazy. And you may be an exception to that. But it's generally true. So I did the logical thing. I priced myself somewhere in the middle. That would describe a surprisingly substantial apportionment of my life. Somewhere in the middle. Size?...somewhere in the middle. Intelligence? somewhere in the middle, I suspect. The middle is okay. And at the end of the day...it doesn't really define one's true value, does it?
Uh, oh...I think I just veered slightly off-topic. Typical. Ability to stay on task?...somewhere in the middle. But then, there has to be a connection between the way we value ourselves and the way we value our work. Maybe I'm not so off-topic after all.
So much for philosophy 101. Never look to an artist for philosophical reasoning...
