Trends in Artwork of an Emerging Professional and Their Pricing Structure
As an artist who paints in multiple sizes and media, I have noticed that the more I paint the more I notice trends in my work.
For example, my pastels seem to have a bit of a lean to the right on their horizon lines. i've actually seem the horizons look this way in person, and had to retake photos because my photo seemed to lean also. I checked my shoes....they don't lean. It's curious when we find a perspective issue in our paintings. I embrace some of this as getting more skilled, and embracing a difference. Yet, sometimes in studio, I may actually lay a ruler down and make my horizon straight. Then when I look at the painting and reference where I was, I judge did I help or hurt that rendering?
Some horizons in person actually appear to lean one way or another when painting a lake, for example with trees in the distance and a nearer cover to one side or another. As a painter, I am learning to judge how much of this I can convey with positioning within the painting plane, and how much I should adjust it, to reach a larger audience.
As artists we face this dilemma, each time we paint. Do we remove the dead tree that is in our viewfinder, of an otherwise "perfect composition", or do we keep it in to show that sometimes the hyper realistic notion of flaws along with our "picture perfect beauty" will be able to co-exist without changing the meaning or our painting?
We might soften the dead tree in the foreground or make it into a painting with a new meaning, or leave it out alltogether, or even reposition it to the background.
In some cases, if we see the view is beautiful 5 or 7 steps forward or to the left or right, we may select that new composition, as one we hadn't considered and run with that. It all take practice, however.
I've also noticed that, my smaller works sometimes take less time than they used to as I speed up from practice.
A pricing issue then arises, since I include a time factor in my pricing. I consulted my module on pricing from my art mentor's program. Matt Tommey has been my art mentor since Sept. 2019. What it included made me realize I hadn't been counting all of the cost on some work and was willing to pass on some bargains on some where I hadn't done that and had already quoted a price.
Because I believe that art should be accessible to various income levels, sometimes I may do this. However, when asked right now, after speeding up my painting, how long did it take you to paint that? I know to reply "x number of years, and x number of hours. Because you see the successful, saleable painting of today, has been built by the hours of painting practice, study of art, touring museums, and practicing drawing.
As artists we face these two issues at some point in our career.
1) do we embrace our perspective quirks, and perhaps become "known" for them? Or do we attempt to fix everyone, and present the "perfect composition"?
2) Do we lower our pricing for a quick painting that flowed from us? Or do we thank God, for one that was easy and take that sale as a blessing and move on to the next?
What about YOU? As an Artist? What quirks have you embraced or overcome?
What about YOU, as a collector? What artists' works have you embraced for their quirky habit, that helps you identify some of their work?
And what about pricing? As a collector, do you indeed feel cheated if a painter sells a painting that flowed from them easily, taking less blood, sweat, and tears, for less than the one you bought, when it's the same size? I really want to know, as this is a real journey moving into professional painting, where I'm trying to provide for myself and family, while creating both value and collectability for the audience of collectors.
I also want to know from some avid collectors of art, did you pricing beliefs change in 2020?
As an artist, I found myself submitting to more local shows, where I could have a chance to meet the collector, and National or Regional shows if I had joined them. I rarely found my work accepted unless I had joined them. Coincidence most likely, yet it changed how I entered shows in 2020.
Please, don't be shy. I really would like both begining and avid art collectors feedback on this topic, both on-line, and at the June art receptions.
Until we meet, keep smiling, enjoying original art to help make your house a home, and keep participating in life.
Amy Carter-Ishmael is an American Landscape Painter in Oil and Pastels, A Trained Printmaker, and Sculptress, a beginning jewelry designer, and an avid art enthusiast, blogger and newsletter writer, and a longtime collector.
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