Thank you Anne Schauffer for another awesome article...

How can something so visually beautifully be so terribly destructive?
South Africa has just gone into its first day of self isolation... I've chosen to hunker down with a friend. It was a hard decision. To be in my safe environment with all my comforting familiar things around me - or be with someone?  I've always advocated (strongly) or should I rather say pontificated,  self-righteous even, that people are more important than things. That love is the most important 'thing' in the world.  And here I was deliberating between safety and comfort and the fear of the unknown. The unfamiliar.  I'd like to say it was an easy decision. That there was only one choice, but it was hard. And the lesson I learnt was that self-righteousness is hard to see in oneself... I thought I was perfectly loving, kind, open-minded, blah blah blah - but when push came to shove, I had to dig deep...  

Ten years ago I refused to do commissions... I felt that I painted in a certain way and that no-one can predict another person's thought process - almost like painting blind.  I then gave myself a good klap on the head and reminded myself taht I was a professional - and that it was my 'job' to do whatever it took to do it and to stretch myself.

And how happy I am that I did...

The secret to high art sales, which must be done IN ORDER:


craving -> creativity -> competence -> community -> conversations -> commerce




Craving


You must have a craving to produce art. As Hugh MacLeod says, "The Hunger will give you everything. And it will take from you, everything. It will cost you your life, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it." If you don't have a craving this strong, it's probably time to think about doing something else.


Creativity


Nurture your craving by acting on your creativity. In other words, create.


Competence


Lack of sales frustrates many artists more than anything else. Often, a lack of sales is caused by poor marketing strategies or, simply, poor execution of those strategies. But sometimes, a lack of sales may indicate a more fundamental issue: that the artist has not yet reached a basic level of competence in their work. In other words, your art must be competent in order to sell. Think about it: Let's say you paint wildlife, and one of your potential markets is deer hunters. If you've not properly mastered depicting the anatomy of a deer, your target market will know. And your work won't sell. Or, at a more basic level, if you've not reached a level of competence in mixing and painting colors in your landscapes - people will be able to tell that something is "off". Invest the time necessary to become competent at your craft. Find people who will be honest with you (even if it hurts to hear) to critique your art. [1]


Community


After achieving competence, as people discover your art, you will find folks who are interested in your creations. Let's call these people "fans." Or, in modern guru-speak, your "tribe." You're the leader of this tribe and it's up to you to be organized and keep track of who these people are. You need to have an organized contact list and an organized email list. When someone expresses interest in you or your art, you need to add them to you contact list and make them part of your community. The more you foster a feeling of belonging and exclusivity in your fans, the more successful you'll be. Community precedes conversations which precede commerce. If you are not organized about this process and are not actively leading your fans, then you don't yet truly have a community and your sales will be lackluster. [2]


Conversations


It's been said before that "marketing is conversations" and, indeed, you should be constantly initiating conversations with your community. That's one reason email newsletters are so powerful, as your community grows, each newsletter you send goes to more people and each one should spawn replies which initiate conversations between you and your community. Of course, blogs, social networks and good old-fashioned exhibits are all other ways to spawn conversations.


Commerce


If you've done all the previous steps: you're satisfying your craving by expressing your creativity. You've put in the hours to develop your "chops" and are producing competent art. You've been nurturing your community and are having regular conversations with them. If you're doing all these things, commerce should follow. And that means sales.


Remember, Sharing Art Enriches Life.




Sincerely,


Clint Watson
BoldBrush/FASO Founder & Art Fanatic

To quote Nick Douglas in his article -
An Artist Explains What "Great Artists Steal" Really Means

'“A good composer does not imitate; he steals,” Igor Stravinsky supposedly said. Faulkner allegedly phrased it as “Immature artists copy, great artists steal.” Steve Jobs put it most simply: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The saying regularly inspires artists, thinkers, and dorm-room poster designers. But in practical terms, what does it mean?

There are some definitely wrong interpretations. “Steal” here doesn’t mean “plagiarize;” that doesn’t turn anyone into a great artist. It explicitly doesn’t mean “copy.” So what’s left? Plenty.'

In Nick's article he explores various options...

Make the idea yours...
Follow the pattern...
Be ethical...

Read his article for further info - click on his heading for the link...

So whilst this is an age-old problem, I recently had an artist contacting me off instagram asking me if she could copy my most recent painting for commercial gain... When I expressed that I would rather she not, she sent me some links on another artist who is flagrantly copying my work - with the comment that 'that' artist hadn't asked permission, whilst she had... Whilst I respect that she did contact me, it doesn't grant a passage of right... We all know that copyright laws are notoriously expensive to fight...

We left it that she would copy me but would express to her buyer that she hadn't received my permission...

“We are so accustomed to the comforts of "I cannot", "I do not want to" and "it is too difficult" that we forget to realize when we stop doing things for ourselves and expect others to dance around us, we are not achieving greatness. We have made ourselves weak.”
― Pandora Poikilos

So I went to Splashy Fenn... And did the sky fall in... No, said Chicken Licken...

I was scared - and maybe that's an understatement... I was shitfuckinganxiously scared...

I had hurdles to overcome...
Three days of sleeping in a car (I'm a seasoned camper - but hey I was a car virgin).
And where were the portaloos when you needed them (did I say portaloos...?)
Hot Showers - hell no (maybe there were a few - but the queue was over an hour long and the water ran out occasionally) - I mean, how do you time your shower so that the queues were manageable and the people had buggered off and not taken the bloody water with them...?
The people - all 8000 of them...!!!
The noise (the drunken people stumbling about, shrieking loudly into the wee hours of the morning)...
The drugs (marijuana has just been legalised so why wouldn't people go apeshit?)
Even the music...

And where was my safe space...?

Who knew the car would be warm and comfy (and even quiet), that the toilets weren't fuck-far - and were also clean.  Who needs showers when you can have a lovely warm bucket bath in a camping shower (that doubles up as a dressing room) - 15 minutes and you're clean and shiny and bright..
And the people were awesome... No hugely pissed people (except maybe me one night - but that's another story) and no drugged up zombies... Just normal happy families and friends out to enjoy themselves...

I made a decision a few years ago that I was going to say "YES" to every opportunity that didn't compromise my integrity and value systems....   Its always been easy for me to say no - to stay safe...  But my time has come...

Yes, I'm wearing a garbage bag...
Yes, I'm drinking a mix of gin, beer and granadilla...
No, maybe I won't be drinking it again...