Today's Silver Price: $31.65/t.oz.
When I started doing craft shows I quickly learned that my style of art is not exactly mainstream. I enjoy exploring and learning about other cultures, and some of my paintings reflect that part of my personality. I connect with exotic patterns and designs and I am particularly interested in Indian and Asian art. I naively thought that everyone would appreciate this type of aesthetic- but I was wrong. Below are some of the first watercolor paintings I displayed for sale at vendor shows.
Most people had no idea what the Om symbol was or what Namaste means. I got a lot of compliments and folks passing by said that my paintings were beautiful or lovely, but no one was buying them. Not my audience? I still have not sold these pieces.
In February of 2010 I was doing a vendor fair at a high school. A very old woman in a wheelchair came by and was looking through my paintings. She left, but a while later she came back and bought this painting:
The woman had no knowledge of the symbolism of a lotus flower; that it represents strength and perseverance. She bought it because it was a pretty flower. Again, not my audience. It made me think about my customers and what they were looking for. Being the stubborn bull that I am, it was hard for me to put aside my own ideas about art and try to create pieces that would be more popular and more attractive to buyers. I noticed that vendors around me were selling items that were cute, witty, or personalized. While I still like to create spiritual or cultural pieces, I am starting to incorporate paintings such as this into my offerings:
Items for the home (mostly the kitchen) that are witty and playful are being added to my collection. I have a wooden sign that I made in my kitchen that says La Cucina (The Kitchen in Italian). These are the kinds of things people will by, and I have to offer at my table. I am also considering offering personalized signs that people can order, such as "John's Tavern." I think that personalized items with children's names would also be very popular.
I did a show at a bar last spring. The show was held on the second floor in their catering room. It was part of an Earth Day celebration. There was live music and dancing downstairs in the bar, and the attendees would wander upstairs to see what was happening at the craft show. I found that people are more likely to buy something if they've been drinking... lol. I sold the painting below, a 9x9 watercolor along with two others.
That event turned out to be rather successful for me. I sold several jewelry items and 3 or 4 paintings. A woman stopped by and complimented my wire technique. She stated she was a jewelry maker and was impressed with my rings. There was a heavy hippie population at this event and lots of young artsy hipsters. Had I found my audience?
I guess I have to find a balance between the super artsy paintings that I enjoy creating and the more commercial pieces that are more likely to sell. Then of course I have to think about the time of year...jewelry with hearts and paintings about love will sell well around Valentines Day, Celtic jewlery and art will sell more around St. Patrick's Day, etc.
I guess when I'm rich and famous I can paint whatever I want and people will buy it... For now I will cater to the conventional masses and see if I can make a few bucks here and there.
