What I Know About Selling Art
Service, Service, Service
You can’t scrimp on quality.
Presentation is important.
Let your customers tell you what they want and listen.
The best ones do go first, you better be willing to let them go.
The more you sell the more you sell, sales feed upon each other.
Customers want to purchase from successful artists, so let them know you are successful.
Keep in contact with your customers.
Make your customers your friends.
Your customers have something in common with you; you both love your art.
Don’t be afraid to let your customers know what you are doing, your goals and objectives.
Customers love to know the story behind the painting. They also love to know the process.
If you are excited about your work, they will sense it.
Your art needs to be seen, the more often it is seen the more chances to sell your art.
You must be approachable.
Make it easy for your customer to purchase from you, have a variety of ways they can pay for your work.
Respect your customer’s time.
Honor your word and guarantee your work.
What tips do you have about selling art? Please share!
2k14 current footage 6052 sq. inches
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
Chinatown and Pink Plastic Bags
Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco is the largest Chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest in North America. The first immigrants to come to San Francisco were two men and a woman in 1848, where it continues to retain it’s own customs, languages and culture.
Grant Avenue is the southern gateway to Chinatown and one of the oldest streets there in Chinatown. The architecture varies from Old St. Mary’s church to the Sing Chong Building of which I painted in “No Parking in Chinatown”.
The town is mainly populated by Canton region of China immigrants and new immigrants including those from Hong Kong and Mainland China.
You will find restaurants galore serving great dim sum, plus wildly colored markets carrying ethnic Asian spices, teas, and Chinese veggies.
Most people who visit Chinatown have a love hate relationship with it. But for a painter it’s a feast for my eyes. Chinatown’s colors are vivid, a colorist’s dream. The chaotic atmosphere, the brightly colored signs and unique shops add to my interest. It’s a Disneyland atmosphere of touristy trinkets. The contrast of the elders selling antiques and tourists carrying pink plastic shopping bags create a wonderful juxtaposition.
I will be showing you many more paintings from Chinatown and I hope I captured the energy of this interesting neighborhood and tourist attraction.
2k14 current footage 3728 sq. inches
*Painting above~It's Not Kiki's Market II, 36" x 36" acrylic on museum wrapped canvas, Price $3240
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
Is Art Purposeful?
The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls.~Pablo Picasso
Being an artist can be very difficult, especially if you are looking at it in a purposeful sort of way. Just being alive is purposeful and certainly taking care of my son with Down’s, although humbling at times, is purposeful. But, I have to ask myself is creating art “purposeful”?
Here are some of the responses from my artist friends:
"I often think of how all of the arts have influenced me, taught me, enlightened and delighted me. I would suggest that if just one person is moved to tears, or made more aware of the human condition, or is able to see oneself or the world in a new way, then yes, making art is purposeful to humanity. I bought an abstract painting of water by a local artist, Peter Carolin, and had it hanging in my living room for several years. One day I was standing on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. I found myself looking at a patch of water and noticed the layers and elliptical patches of color intermingling to make a moving tapestry, reflections of the blue sky, white clouds, and the transparent patches that saw through to the yellow sand, and inexplicable patches of green water. I was amazed - it was like Peter's painting. Although I grew up by the water, I never saw it like this before. I understood at that moment that Peter's abstract painting had taught me - literally - how to see the world that was so familiar to me in a brand new way. "~Jim Carpenter
"I believe that art serves several purposes beneficial to humanity. First, it is a visceral form of communication. More important, I think, is that art can inspire, invigorate, even calm both viewers and creators. Artists are essential because we are exploring our universe and sharing our explorations in unique ways that can inspire each of us to (hopefully) positive action. There's also nothing wrong in simply adding more beauty to the world."~Patricia Vener
"Art has the power:
To give voice to a community
To transcend traditional communication processes
To express community issues and cultural values
To document history
To effect change
To open hearts and minds
To inspire, to motivate, to heal the spirit
To increase economic development
To create and maintain legacies"
Col Mitchell~ said the above so eloquently from a mission statement from Huntsville Art Society
"Art is an articulation of our interaction with nature and one another. Without art, the creative process, which involves both the act of creating and the process of participating (intellectually and emotionally) in the artist's vision, we would lose our humanity. At its deepest level, art is an expression of both our spirituality and our place in the universe."~Charles van Heck
Joseph Campbell believed that the artist is a mystic with a craft that enables the truth to be brought to consciousness.
Artists are the image-makers, the seers, the prophets, they create new vision and enlighten. Artists can build-up the human spirit and in turn our culture.
What is your answer? How is art purposeful for you?
*ART20K footage completed 15,078 square inches
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!
Ernie's
Artists have you ever had a chill while painting a painting?
Influenced by the movie “Vertigo” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, I was drawn to paint a scene taken place at Ernie’s Restaurant in San Francisco. It became more enticing to paint, since it could also used as part of my San Francisco series.
There was no avoiding the red; it became very psychological, just as Hitchcock wanted it to be. He purposely used certain colors in certain scenes indicating warning, guilt, polarity, ambiguity and death.
It is hard to paint a red painting without be moved emotionally. Using a touch of pink softened the aggressiveness. The Hitchcock blue intentionally used in the suit of Jimmy Stewart's was to indicate guilt, I didn’t realize this until more research was found.
While painting the painting, my father showed up, with his familiar hairline, stature and common gesture of placing his hands in his pocket. No matter what I did, the painting resembled my father, my father who passed away 52 years ago. That’s when the chill came, my own little Hitchcock experience in my studio appeared.
This is my thirty-third painting of my #paint52 challenge, Atelier Interactive Acrylic on velum, measures approximately 8" X 8", price $175.00.
*All art from Janet Vanderhoof’s Fine Art Gallery, maybe seen in Janet’s studio at Morgan Hill, CA. You may purchase through contacting my email jvander51@msn.com or phone (408) 460-7237. Thank you!