We hung our paintings up today, ready for Monday’s exhibition, and I thought I’d show the photos here. A couple of the photos came out a bit blurry, so you can’t see my stuff properly.
The first image is of a few of my class mates and my tutor, Angela.
Below you can see a couple of my paintings. The first is on the top row on the right hand side, and two others are on the second row.
And here you can see a couple more. The very bottom right hand painting and the one above it are both mine.
Now I only have to come up with some prices for my work, which to be honest I don’t have a clue about. I was approached today and asked if the painting were for sale, and how much they were going for, but I had no clue. I really need to sit and think about this. How do you value your own work, especially when you don’t think it’s that great?
What fun! I could come and view forever. I'm horrid at pricing art. I had the question from a student, once, and think by answering her, actually insulted her as she felt her work was worth much more. From then on, I decided never to advise on that.
Thank you Leslie, and I understand why you never advise. It’s difficult when you don’t know your own worth. I think I’d always undervalue my work because I don’t value my ability very highly. Also there is a huge disparity in pricing of similar pieces across the board. Some people will charge £50 for a piece, and someone with the same ability will charge several hundred pounds. It’s a minefield, and a huge headache.
The exhibit looks great! And I recognize your art by its distinctive color and pattern.
Pricing art? No idea. It's a tricky question. From what little I know about you- I think you do value your work- but I think you know you are still growing as an artist. Best of luck in the exhibit and I look forward to reading your further comments.
Thank you Pam! I haven’t had any offers for my work yet, and I’ve no idea what price to put on them. I may not receive any offers so it may be a moot point! As for valuing my work, I’m afraid I’m not very confident about it. I don’t see a great ability in my work. It’s not rubbish, and I love some pieces but I think I’m too close to it to value it properly. As I mentioned to Leslie in her comment, there is such a massive gap in pricing for similar pieces online and locally. So how do you position yourself among that? It’s a quandary!
I would like to be there,to admire all these beautiful artworks of everyone.
Thank you for sharing with us some pictures of exhibition
You are very nice!
Have a wonderful day,my friend!
Thank you Alina! I’ve almost forgotten that my work is on display! Out of sight, out of mind! It is nice to see the work up on display though, even if some of it isn’t my best. I’d love for all my blog friends to be there to see it! Have a nice day Alina!
I admire your work. It’s very original and it represents you too! You know? Are people who don't know to express them feelings or ideas through words, but when they paint or create something themselves then we can know them better
Thank you again!
Enjoy your day!!!
How fun! I love your advisor's yellow brick road, ruby slippers art – at least that is what I see
. Your work is incredible. I would say start conservative and maybe go by the potentionial buyer's reaction to see how things play out.
Thank you Claudia. The yellow brick road one is by a classmate. It’s a fantastic piece and she was asked about selling it yesterday. I hope she gets what she’s looking for as Gilly is a fantastic artist!
Hi Heather, Good luck with your show! On pricing work, I started by looking at what similar work was going for in the area then considered what I thought would be my minimum. I started sort of at the lower end so I would have room to increase the price if things started selling. I developed a chart based on size of piece, regardless of medium and what I thought about it. Then, paintings are assigned a price based on size. I don't change the price. The price stays the same regardless of where it's shown. I don't change the price very often; something significant has to happen for me to raise prices. I don't want to go lower. Does that help?
Hi Peggy. Thank you so much for your input on this and for the link! I have no idea how much work is going for locally, as I only get to see work in the art gallery. I will need to dig around and see what pricing is like. I have heard that you price in the cost of materials, charge 4 times your hourly rate and then add something like 50% on top. The problem being that some of my pieces I can knock up in just over an hour and are quite big pieces, and are some of my best work, yet I have others that I spent weeks on that are the same size. This makes it very difficult to price on that basis. It’s such a minefield! I think it’s good that you can detach yourself from your work, as I know that I love some pieces more than others making it difficult for me to view them objectively. I will take a look at the website you gave me to hopefully get some guidance.
Hi Heather, I didn't think of it before, but I'd recommend going to the wet canvas forum: http://www.wetcanvas.com/. They have lots of good information. On their art business sub forum, I'm sure their are threads about pricing. Best of luck!