In the Art Marketing Minute Podcast, you’ll learn how to sell your art, how to market your paintings, and everything else you need to know in order to have a successful art career. Each episode answers questions from artists by host Eric Rhoads, author of “Make More Money Selling Your Art,” publisher of several art magazines and newsletters, and author of ArtMarketing.com. 

In this Art Marketing Minute, Eric Rhoads shares reflections on how artists can plan for retirement; and options for putting your painting behind glass, and when you should (or shouldn’t).

Listen to the Art Marketing Minute Podcast: Episode 103 >

 

Submit Your Art Marketing Question:

What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

FULL TRANSCRIPT of the Art Marketing Minute:
DISCLAIMER: The following is the output of a transcription from an audio recording of the Art Marketing Minute. Although the transcription is mostly correct, in some cases it is slightly inaccurate due to the recording and/or software transcription.

Announcer:
This is the Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads, author of the Amazon best selling book, “Make More Money Selling Your Art.” In the marketing minute we answer your questions to help your art career brought to you by artmarketing.com, the place to go to learn more about marketing. Now, here’s your host, arts magazine publisher, Eric Rhoads.

Eric Rhoads:

In the marketing minute I try to answer your marketing questions from well from your emails. Just email me [email protected]. Here’s a question from Laura in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, who says I’m close to the age when most people start thinking of retirement. But what does retirement look like for an artist? Do I have time to build a retirement fund from selling art? Well, look, Laura, I am very much a believer that age is a state of mind now obviously ages a physical thing. But I know people like my dad, you know, 93 years old, working 15 hour days, happy, making money, doing great things socially active, and I know people in their 50s who can’t get out of bed, and some of its physical and some of its metal. Alright, so I can’t predict what you personally can do. And of course, I don’t give financial advice. I’m not qualified. And I don’t know what your needs are. But let’s kind of approach this from a generic standpoint. First, I think obviously, all of us should be looking to do the best we can to save, put money away invest some money, overtime, before we get to retirement age, because you never know what’s going to happen. You never know if you’re going to have a health problem and not be able to work. I encounter people all the time about the idea of making a little extra money in what they refer to as retirement, a lot of people who’ve worked in other jobs, a lot of doctors and psychologists and architects and professionals of all kinds, who become artists, and a lot of them who were you know, never had those kind of jobs but had some kind of job. And so some of them want to do it just because they want to be part of the lifestyle, they want to be part of the shows, some of them don’t need the money, some of them want to just make an extra 500 or 1000 bucks a month, you know, to supplement their social security, or their investments. And some of them, you know, they want to make a full Fallout living. So what you got to do is build a plan, you got to figure out what is it that you need? How do you get there. But I think you know, being an artist is a beautiful thing for a retired person. And of course, you can’t really look at yourself as retired, if you’re becoming if you’re taking on a job as an artist to make an income, you’re not retired, you’ve just changed jobs, right? Your job is to be an artist who makes money. And if you don’t have to be an artist to make money, if you want to be an artist who doesn’t make money, then your job is to be an artist. And then you can be kind of more casual about it. But you got to be disciplined. Anytime that you have to make a certain amount of money, you have to follow a discipline, a marketing discipline, a management discipline, and so on. And that’s just kind of part of the deal. When you’re anything you’re trying to do to make money. It’s just like you got to manage your money when you have a job, right. So I did a couple of couple years ago, I did a marketing session that was designed for people who want to quit their job and start painting full time it was called How to Quit your dirty, rotten stinking job and become a full time successful artist or something like that. Anyway, it’s and there’s a video floating out there somewhere, I think it’s streamline art video. And the concept is that you can do it, it’s best to start your career and gradually ramp up your income before you leave or before you retire. And that way you’ve ramped up your income before you quit. And that way, you’ve kind of proven that you can do it, then you don’t have to kind of scramble all the time. I think that’s a good way to do it. But there’s lots of other strategies too. And the idea is, you have to understand that if you’re going to sell your work, depending on the level of sales you’re looking for, you have to brand yourself, you have to build a reputation you have to market yourself. Branding is all about building trust and awareness. Right? So people will if it’s down to two paintings, and they’re both equally beautiful, and they can’t decide they’re gonna go they’re gonna default to the brand. That’s I was in the shoe store today. And I was kind of down to two pair of shoes. I liked that they liked them both. I didn’t need them both. And finally I said, Well, I’m going to take this one because I know the brand a little better. It was actually a little bit more expensive, but I felt more confident with that brand. So that’s kind of how it works. I hope this helps anyway, nothing good is easy. I’d be lying to if I said it wasn’t easy, or was easy, but you’ve just got it you know, you could take it on. And you know you may have different levels of energy than you did when you were 12 or 30. But I have the same energy quite frankly. So I’m just crushing it. And you can do it to it. But you know, you got to work at it, you got to there’s a lot of stuff you have to do physically and mentally and everything else. So anyway, hope this helps you.

The next question is from Carolyn in Houston, who says, How do I know if I should put my artwork under glass? I’m ready to sell a piece. Does the type of glass matter? Kind of an interesting question, Carolyn, I’m not sure how to answer it exactly. But most artwork that’s under glass is art that has a chance of fading. Or maybe getting damaged, like pastels oftentimes are under glass so that the, the, you know, your hands don’t get on him. Of course, you can spray fixatives on them. But watercolors are oftentimes under glass too. So some of the newer watercolor pigments don’t fade. But the reason they put them under glass originally is to protect them, but also so that they didn’t fade or so that the cleaning lady didn’t come along and spray it with some kind of a substance that made it run that would be a disaster, I’ve seen it happen. Anyway, the type of glass matters, most people suggest what they call museum glass, it’s more expensive. It’s non glare. And of course it has UV filtering to keep the fading from happening. But you know, glass complicates everything. Plus complicate shipping, you got to be more careful, you got to pack it better. If you’re somebody like me, who’s out you’re doing shows you got to carry glass with you, you got to frames and you know, it’s a lot of hassle. So that’s why a lot of people paid in other mediums when they’re plein air, especially if they’re doing shows just because they don’t have to carry glass, quite frankly. But that’s up to you. Back in the late 1800s 1800s. There were they put oils under glass. Matter of fact, I have a beautiful old Dutch 19th century painting maybe 18th century painting in front of me that’s framed under glass, the whole frame is under glass, and there’s a built a box built around it. And I asked the art dealer about this. And he said well they did that because at the time there were a lot of coal stoves, people were smoking cigarettes and cigars, and there were you know, fireplaces and in these things would get covered with soot. So all they had to do is clean the glass instead of clean the painting. But as I stare at that painting, I’m seeing reflections of myself in my paperwork. And it’s not as beautiful as it could be because it’s not non glare glass because it’s well over 100 years old, but you get the drift anyway. So I think you just kind of decide what you want to put up with and whether it’s worth it. You know, a lot of people will put things hang things with glass in their homes all the time. You know, they have pictures under glass and documents under glass glass is very common. I wouldn’t worry about that. I hope that answers your question. And I don’t think glass is a deterrent.

Well, this has been the art marketing minute with me. Eric Rhoads. My goal in life is to eliminate the idea of the starving artists to help your dreams actually come true. So if you want to submit questions, simply email [email protected]. And to learn more about marketing ideas, you can visit Artmarketing.com. Thanks for listening.

How to Submit Your Art Marketing Questions: What questions do you have about selling your art? Email Eric today at [email protected] (include your name and where you’re from) to hear your question answered on an upcoming Art Marketing Minute Podcast.

> Visit EricRhoads.com (Publisher of ArtMarketing.com) to learn about opportunities for artists and art collectors, including:

  • Art retreats
  • International art trips
  • Art conventions
  • Art workshops (in person and online)
  • And more!