Musings of an unhinged mind.

Hi friends,

Of course, the straightforward answer is, no.

Not too long ago I was asked a really good question about selling and how you would know when you've "made it".

This artist sold a nice pastel piece for a decent price and then later entered what she considered a couple of her better works in a local juried art event. Neither of the pieces was accepted.

So, from the emotional roller coaster of a good sale high to the depths of the dreaded rejection, she was perhaps feeling betrayed on some level.

The hard truth is, one good sale does not guarantee anything. Not continued success, not the top of the mountain. The truth of the matter is that a buyer in the circle of exposure that is this artist's world liked a piece enough to buy it. It was the buyer's opinion that the art was worth owning. Just as the judge(s) that rejected her work for the show didn't like it enough to jury it in. It's still just their opinion. It doesn't or shouldn't then become that artist's reality.

Art is created from the depths of an artist's being....it's a personal thing. Taking the step to put your art on the market leaves you open to as many opinions as there are people. The narrower your "niche" market is, the more people there are that probably won't much care whether you create art or not.

Your mission, if you are still wanting to be in the game, is to find the market that will love your art enough to buy it. It takes perseverance and a lot of fortitude to stick with it, because so much of this is learning the hard way, by doing. Watching people to see what pieces they linger in front of at art shows, listening to comments, talking to them.....ask questions for heavens sake! Find out why they like something and, yes, why they don't like something.

An entire world is at your fingertips.....get on the internet and go to other artist's web sites (FineArtStudiOnline is a good place to start). Bookmark the art that really catches your eye and then go back and study it carefully. Decide exactly what it is that drew you to it....color? subject matter? Note whether there are a lot of sold signs on the work.

Is there room for your own work to improve? Be honest now. There's always room for improvement. Consider making some changes so that your work becomes more marketable.

And this last bit of advice is serious......grow a thicker skin. Don't take rejection personally. Someone out there rejected your work, not you, and there's still a lot of people out there that didn't reject your work.

If you analyze this as a business and find out what can make your "product" better, the sales will come.

Will the whole world then love you and your art? Of course they won't. But why should you care. Build your empire.

All my best,

Sandra