thank u!

Doing God's work right here.

Wow! Claudia, you are very talented to have condensed this so well.

Your also more likely to sell to a person than you are to a pretentious gallery who only wants money

Thank you so much!

Thank you, that is the same feeling I have. After hours and days creating a piece and selling it for pennies it not what I want to do.

@@juelkapr I was told not to alter price, but to stick with what I do and what I charge (if the market bears it, and if I feel good about what I charged) and I will find my market. You will too!

@@CourageousPainting Did you hire someone to create your own website or did you have to learn wordpress - what is the deal with that?

@@CourageousPainting I was unable to access your website.

I'm a fine artist on etsy and have sold £200-500 paintings on there, but the vast majority of my sales are my smaller items like £3 stickers and £20 keyrings. The bigger stuff takes forever to shift. I can understand why it is not a good platform for most fine artists

Steven, I like that.

I am not very good at selling

It truly is THE place to go for ideas. I have heard of people saying it's a great place to sell but I have no idea what those numbers would look like. Pinterest brings me about 14,000 viewers per month but I have no idea how many of those people actually buy :/

@@EllenBrennemanStudio Perhaps as part of your sale, it may be worth asking the customer where they 1st saw your work

Food for thought!

Yes it is..

Natasha Thompson Absolutely.

thank you for your contribution to the discussion - much appreciated.

I'm an artist went to art school graduated so close to a BFA but I dropped out as I was taken back by artists way much better than me. I was also young an foolish messed around didn't take it serious. Although a card company took interest in my paintings but my dorm mate shot that down real fast. Art is a very personal preference from your view and from potential buyers. I also worked as a custom picture framer and in a gallery. I wish I could go back and get my BFA degree but it's been to long. Hasn't technology killed the real traditional artists somewhat. IDK I would advise art students to study art as a second elective and get a degree in something that is going to pay the bills. Just a thinking online thought from a wannabe.

@@pattywolford yeah, social scene at gallery is not for me since I has a processing disability.

in europe galleries are not only a selling factor but more of an "building the artists name" undertaking. It's about being taken seriously in fine arts, becoming known as an influencual contemporary artist, getting a reputation... if it's a good gallery they will slowly build up your name with exhibitions and shows, selling it to "important" collectors and your prices will then climb and climb. here, there is no other way than through an art gallery. my partner and I are extreme opposites. he is a painter, very serious, makes huge incredible oil paintings and is striving to be successful in the harsh world of contemporary fine art. I however have different mediums and styles that oscilliate between art and illustration... (in europe not everything is called art) and i dont really give a **** how i will make money or where i will be recognized... i just want to ve able to create as freely and as much as possible while making a living off several incomes... ^.^ what a couple... his way seems more secure once you've made it, but my way is more flexible with all the obstacles that lay around... he is the serious artist, i am the happy artist ^.^ he is concerned with recognition and success and having an impact, i am concerned with freedom of expression and playfulness.

50% fk dat

Thank you for your lovely comment, Holly; greatly appreciated 😊

Thank you for the kind words; so glad it was helpful!

Thank you for your comment! 😊

Patty, you are so good to me - thank you!!

I'm glad you found it helpful!

Linda, thank you so much for your kind comment here. It's okay to get discouraged; it happens to all of us (I STILL get discouraged when opportunities don't go the way I'd hoped). Even the most successful artists always reach higher; it's the drive that keeps we creatives going and we're all in this together. :)

SO glad to read this - and you are welcome! :)

You are most welcome. Too often we put so much pressure on ourselves to do it all, when it's truly an impossible task. Do what you can, do it as well as you can and take pride in knowing that's enough ❤

Thank you for your comment, so glad you found this video helpful :)

Thanks for the encouragement, William! 😊

It can get overwhelming for sure. Deep breaths 😊

Thank you for your comment! :)

Yelida Hierro Art thank you for your comment! I’m glad you’re realizing that for yourself and wish you lots of success!

Marlene Lee oh my gosh, it’s exhausting, isn’t it? There’s so much pressure to be everywhere and it’s just not possible. I became much happier when I let go of the channels that didn’t really matter. 😊. Thank you for your comment!

@@EllenBrennemanStudio I'm not going to leave this post up for long so I hope you read it. I'v sold thousands of paintings the last 4 or 5 years ( I am a watercolor street artist). I have to paint 7 days a week. (Mostly watercolor seascapes, landscapes, surfing) Never been online with my paintings accept facebook. I have not been in any a show sinse high school in the 1970's. I NEVER give my phone number out. I paint and sell on the street. The reason Id' bet that you didn't sell in person is because of price and competition at shows. Make some big paintings to attract people but make a lot of smaller one's 12 x 18, 9 x 12 etc. to sell for bargain prices. Let the customer frame it themselves and tell them where best price's in town are for framing. VERY IMPORTANT:Always have your easel set up and be painting when out selling. Learn what your customers want and paint that, not what you want to paint. You will not only sell a lot but you will have to paint a lot more because of it. You will get so many commissions (paint those at home in A/C) over time that you will have to turn some down. You HAVE to have a type "A" personality and know how to do sales and talk. Study a group of black artists called the Highwaymen and there sales techniques. They literally sold 100's of thousands of paintings. Also, i'v learned, if you want to make big bucks, you need to be able to draw and paint a portrait on moments notice and/or as commissions. It does not matter if you are a landscape artist or something, people are going to want portraits. Don't be afraid of "not having a permit" if you find the balls to sell on the street. You have to be bold. I'v had a lot of people try to get me to tell them how i do it. Including one very pretty women who i gave my number to and then called me several times and once told me she was naked in a bathtub with candles and wanted me to teach her how to sell on the street... lol. Did'nt work. It's very hard sweaty work but you will make money. Customers will be literally going around town looking for you you will get so many. The commissions are where you quadruple your price's and ask for bare minimum half the money up front. Trust me, they will go to the bank and get it. If they want a portrait (they will) take a bunch of your own photos on the spot and never show the photos. Just the painting when fully finished. I have a bunch of people that have completely decorated their beach house's with my work. Your painting theme HAS to be directly related to where you are selling and to your target customer. ie: If you target tourists in New York City, you need to paint paintings of New York city. One last thing: Tourist's FROM New York will buy more paintings than anyone on the planet. I'm in florida.

What is the best site for actually selling your original work though? Is ebay not a good thing, as most people go on there to find a cheap bargain.

social media can show you trends to take advantage of. untill the market is to saturated with, let's say unicorn-butterfly-mermaid-sloths

@@joesurfer9754 That's freakin awesome!

Thank you for your kind comment! So glad you found it useful :)

Absolutely right! So glad you found it helpful! ☺️

Phyllis, you are so dear to leave me a comment here, thank you! And how wonderful that you are following your bliss! You can never go wrong with art and it sounds like you have a true passion for it. Congrats on your Etsy shop and BEST of luck to you! 😊

Best of luck to you and your new art career! ☺️

Kimberly, thank you so much for taking the time to comment here; I'm happy to know you're finding these helpful! Above all, BEST of luck to you on your exciting new career! ☺️

Thank you! I love your paintings btw! :)

Thank you!

Connie, I'm so glad you found this video helpful - thank you so much for the feedback! :)

Susan, you are very kind - thank you! ☺️

@@EllenBrennemanStudio Just fyi. I had another site but directed my domain to my fineartamerica account. I haven't been there long but it is making sense to me to have the store already built in and it's quite straight forward. If that helps give ideas

thank you for contributing to this conversation!

You are welcome! :)

So happy to know you found it helpful! ☺️