Artdomain Art Marketing Blog

Just wanted to throw into the ‘How to Sell Your Art’ mix a recent experience of an Artist friend of mine. 

She exhibited three paintings at a local RNLI (lifeboat charity) exhibition recently, that was held during a local festival for two days only + an opening evening.  From this she sold one painting, however after the exhibition she was contacted by two further buyers. 

One buyer wanted a painting similar to the one that had sold at the opening.  The other buyer had seen the paintings at the exhibition but when he came back to buy, it was shut.  The second buyer was invited to visit her home and bought the painting he had his eye on, plus a further two small paintings that were related to the same theme. 

Additionally they discussed a large commission that he was thinking of, which was a much higher value item than the initial purchase. 

At this exhibition she was allowed to have her name and contact details attached to her art, which made it easier for anyone to contact her.  When this is not allowed an artist has to ensure their Internet presence is sufficient for someone to find them by a quick Google on their name.  This is not difficult to do if your web pages are set up correctly - we do this for the artists who are on Artdomain to help them be found easily via a Google search on combinations of their name + artist, or their name + location.

From a very small, local art show my artist friend achieved good sales and two new art buyers to keep in touch with. As you can imagine, she was very pleased and encouraged to get her art to other local exhibitions whenever possible.  

The entry costs, the commission taken, and the transport costs all allow the artist to participate at low risk financially.  Oh, and you get paid quick (YeeHa!). In addition the art can often attract a lot more attention due to standing out from less professional work. So it may be worth not overlooking the small and local art exhibitions as these can be very profitable.  They can also really build up your reputation as ’the’ artist in your local area.

Do you have any experiences of this working or not for you?  Let me know by commenting below.

Related Articles: Put your contact info on the back (or bottom) of all artwork