To Sell or Not to Sell Your Art

I have gone back and forth obsessively over the past 5 years on whether or not to sell my visual art.

This seemingly straightforward decision has tortured me for a long time. It unearths a complicated cavalcade of issues and thus, I change my mind — regularly.

Can you relate?

Two years ago, I had begun the process of selling my art, signed up for, and gotten into a few art fairs and into one local Open Studio Show (these cost money and take a tremendous amount of time and work), I purchased the necessary 10 x 10 white tent, + rolling red cart, scheduled the art fairs in my calendar, then decided a few weeks later, that I was crazy when I applied.

Reality thoughts overcome me —

“California Heat in the summer?”

“Schlepping all the stuff in my car, out of my car, hanging the art”?

“AND working weekends?

”…Endless long days on my feet and having to be friendly to every person who stops by?”

“I was insane when I thought this was a good idea”

The off switch for selling is triggered.

I feel relieved. (This lasts for about 6 months).

Did you have a lemonade stand growing up?

I did, and I remember being ~ 10 years old and creating the worlds best and most delicious lemonade elixir with my friends in the summer. The quest of building our business was the best part: the sign making, the squeezing lemons, the adding too much sugar, the realization that there were no matching plastic cups, finding a jar big enough for our massive cash earnings, finding the best location on our street, and best of all — the satisfaction from our smiling first customer remarking that our lemonade was spectacular. All of those romantic nostalgic memories of selling homemade lemonade and making people happy and feeling recognized are thrown in the emotional blender with my endless decision “To sell or Not to Sell my art.”

It feels so raw and uncomfortable to sell my art to the public. It is such an odd feeling to watch people look at your art on the walls, and to smile when you tell them the cost and to worry/wonder if you are pricing yourself too high or low.

Making this decision to sell more problematic is that my work is so varied — I know that a diversity of styles/mediums doesn’t sell as well. I don’t want my work to look like a rummage sale. I am worried. I need a style…a theme, a series…..I don’t have a cohesive body of work…..What was I thinking?

Note: this is typically when I stop working for a show or a fair, dive deep into what I know and love — teaching adults and youth — and cease serious art making for “sale”. This period typically lasts a few months, where I then crawl back out of my fear, and buy another new website domain. (I love naming my new art making designs. I have purchased ~25 different domain names over the years — Go Daddy we have grandchildren together). And cycle back into YES I will work on selling my art again.

And then my desire to sell resurfaces with increased motivation —

“I don’t want my work to feel so private.”

“I can’t grow as an artist without having an outward facing conversation”

“I want to share my love of how I see the world with others”

The switch to SELL turns on again. I am ready (again) and feel pumped to get my piles of stacked finished art — out of my home and studio! And (just saying) collecting a small donation towards my art supplies wouldn’t hurt.

“They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself” — Andy Warhol.

Yep. Time for change and courage. Just get over your fear of being “not enough” and sell your art.

I comb my emails for an earlier announcement of an artist collective in Sebastopol (near where I live). I reach out, pitch my art in person, sign contracts, and officially push myself to SELL (at least for the next year).

Wish me luck!

Eliz

How about you?

Can you relate to this story?