I often wonder at those situations say when a house is burning down and a person has time to get out one or two things. Lots of people say they'd take photos.
Well, my place is not burning down but I am getting rid of lots of things, simplifying for the next abode we go to. Books are precious to me but I have so many. So I'm donating them to my library, which I dearly love to go to. They'll be happy there. Now mind you, I haven't let go of all of my art books. Books on Monet, Matisse, Georgia O'Keefe and several others of my favorites still line my bookshelves, for now anyway.
Clothes, well, clothes fill up my closet and they're outdated, I've outgrown them so time to discard everything but what feels "real" to who I am now. That can be a challenge as I wear many different hats. Don't know about the business side of me, that voice is quite small inside of me. So I'm donating most of them.
Now we come to art. This a tough area to focus on. I have original paintings unmatted, unframed in portfolio cases, I have a number of totes filled with framed pieces and I have lots of prints which I usually sell at art fairs.
Today I was in an art fair and sold two prints. Frank says to the people who wander by "everything must go, make an offer" and people laugh and smile. But he is serious. I have just started selling my originals and put price tags of $600.00 on them. Hm, guess I didn't want to sell them. But now in the last week or so, the price on them is $100.00 and less. Am I dismissing my artistic abilities? I don't think so. I'm just trying to make some money so I can pay bills, continue to make art and just generally stay positive.
Just curious, would you all have the same dilemma as myself if you were in this situation? How would you cope?
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2 comments:
Hi Bev, Firstly and I´ve said this before, your art is great, wonderfully colorful and creative. The problem you have is one that my partner, Helen, who is an Artist had. We were and are thinking about moving, but we had lots of paintings taking up space. More Helen´s paintings than mine as she is a full time artist. We discussed having a sale, of course the problem is if you view yourself as an artist or a business (and it is very hard being both at the same time). As an Artist your work is precious, valuable and most importantly incredibly personal. If you put on your cold business "hat" then you have stock lying on the shelf, which is your money lying doing nothing, selling it at the best price you can get for it puts money into your pocket for future investment and it clears space. The other nice part of it, and this is where the artist part comes in, your art is then hanging on someones wall being admired rather than being stored by you. This is what we went through, Helen had a sale and moved a lot of canvases, the artist part of her loved that her paintings were going to "good" homes, and the business part had to bite its lip, whilst the paintings were sold probably much to cheaply. We now have less to carry with us if and when we do move.
Hi Bev,
I just donated two pieces to a silent auction that sold! For a woman who suffered a massive stroke. I know of another silent auction coming up for KAG that will benefit Smiles for Children and art scholarships. And then all the shelters around do fundraiser... Just a few pieces and for a worthy cause.
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