Recent Posts
Is Marketing Manipulative? How Re-framing Your Beliefs Will Change Your Career
Artists often believe that marketing is manipulative, yet it does not need to be manipulative, but should reflect who you are.
It’s Tax Time: What Artists Can Potentially Deduct
Dear Artist: If you haven’t done your taxes, you should be doing them now (unless you’ve filed for an extension). In either case, there are art-related expenses you may be able to deduct, and I want you to be aware of them. (Please note that you MUST check with an expert tax attorney or accountant, and know that in order to make certain deductions, there are particular qualifications. Since being an artist is often considered a hobby business, there are specific guidelines you must follow.) Here is a list of potential deductions to consider (again, check with your experts): Magazine Subscriptions for Professional EnhancementYes, your subscription to PleinAir and/or Fine Art Connoisseur could be tax-deductible. Professional DevelopmentThat means your attendance at our Plein Air Convention and other development events, including workshops, can potentially be deducted, including your travel costs, mileage, hotel, meals, and registration fees. Also, art-related travel -- for meetings with galleries or clients or to other events related to your business -- could be deductible as well. Advertising and MarketingIf you’re advertising in Fine Art Connoisseur or PleinAir, in our PleinAir Today and Fine Art Today newsletters, or on our websites like OutdoorPainter.com or FineArtConnoisseur.com, you should be able to deduct that expense. And you should also check into deducting the cost of your website and its hosting and maintenance. Training Materials: Videos and BooksIf you’re buying marketing videos, such as my Art Marketing Boot [...]
8 Secrets To Winning Art Competitions From An Art Competition Judge
Today, art competitions are all the rage. Yet many artists still ignore them, thinking they're a waste of time. Competitions are tools you can use to build income and career, kind of like selling your painting more than once -- only ethically! More important, if you become a winner, entering a competition is the single most significant thing you can do to make your career soar quickly. Not only do art competitions give you a chance to win prize money (which is like getting paid twice for a painting, if it's already been sold), it gives you visibility -- which is great for your branding to potential galleries, collectors, and other artists. People love to associate with winners. Even if you're not the grand prize winner, just by being a finalist, you're in the category of winners. And if you enter a painting that sold, let's say, for $2,500, and you win $15,000, it's like selling six more paintings -- plus you don't have to share the revenue with your gallery. One gallery owner told me, "I find artists by watching who is winning competitions. I also learn of new artists when I'm judging competitions, and I watch who is advertising." What are the benefits to entering an art competition? You can win prize money You can win publicity when winners and finalists are announced You can [...]
How I Made the Naughty List
My fingers are crossed. Will there be a lump of coal in my stocking this Christmas? Will there be anything under the tree? You see, I was naughty. When you're naughty, you make Santa's naughty list -- and that means you don't get what you want. Why was I naughty? Simply put, I didn't practice what I preach. And I learned an important lesson. For 2014, I tried something new. I decided my system for getting things done needed an upgrade, so instead of writing out my to-do list each day and reviewing my goal list in my journal, which is always at my side, I converted to a digital solution. Now all my goals and "to do's" are on the cloud, and I can access them everywhere. Seems like a reasonable solution, but my digital approach failed me -- or I failed it. Last week I was killing time on an airplane, poking around all the programs and documents on my iPad because I was bored and didn't feel like working. I opened my goals document for 2014 and started checking them off one by one. Then something terrible happened: I realized I had missed over 30 percent of my annual goals. Gulp. I also realized that I hadn't opened my goals document for several months. Had I opened [...]
Challenging Myself: Why I Made a Guitar to Celebrate My Birthday
The Pearl inlay surrounding the guitar I made in the summer of 2014. As I approach a giant milestone birthday, my friends and family have asked me about my plans. On the past two big birthdays, I've had my closest lifelong friends visit the Adirondacks to help me celebrate, because the Adirondack Mountains is the place I love the most. This year, I wanted to do something different, but I wasn't sure what. Then it came to me. Since I started playing guitar just two years ago and have come to love guitars, I decided to challenge myself to make a guitar to celebrate this milestone. Cutting the boards for the side of the guitar. Making a guitar seemed like a giant challenge and something I'd never do on my own, and that was the attraction. I simply wanted to push myself, as my way of celebrating. I also thought about it a lot and knew it was so far out of my routine that I'd probably never do it. I didn't want to keep thinking about it, and I knew that if I didn't tell others of my plan it would be a lost dream, so I started spreading the word to a few friends, knowing that I'd be embarrassed if I didn't produce. Bending the wood with heat. The problem with making a guitar [...]
Two Roads For Artists: Which Direction Will You Take?
The great debate among those of us who make art is whether we are selling out when we strive to make a living. For some, complete purity is a must. An artist, they say, must never allow outside influences to affect his or her art. It's a very romantic concept. I know of an artist who lived this life. Let's call him James. Never in his life did James sell a painting -- he only worked ON his art. I was contacted and shown his work by a friend of his, and his work was amazing. He had a body of work of hundreds and hundreds of paintings and had determined it was time to sell them. Up till then he felt his work was not ready, and he never want to be influenced by something so crass as a commercial gallery. James' goal was to sell his entire collection to a museum, showing the progression of his work from a young age to his mid-60s. As I inquired about his life, I learned he supported himself with a job he despised, one requiring hard labor. Most of his life was devoted to this go-nowhere job, and now that he was near retirement, the thought of selling paintings may have actually been motivated by the need for money and the need to downsize for storage. I passed on [...]
Hurt or Help? What You’re Doing Online Can Impact Your Brand as an Artist
Branding is really nothing more than the process of building trust, then building upon that trust to reinforce the unique things you offer as an artist, such as your unique style; your voice; your acceptance by others, such as collectors; and your price and value perception. Everything you do contributes to your brand, in a positive or a negative way. Facebook and Instagram can be great tools for building credibility as part of your branding, and many artists are relying on them heavily. One artist even told me he no longer needs to advertise because he has so many followers. But that's just his ego getting in the way: When I asked exactly who was following him, it was clear they were peers -- other artists -- and few if any collectors. People tend to gather with like-minded people, so artists tend to follow artists. Collector groups are much more difficult to find, and are more likely to be found on LinkedIn, which tends to attract professionals and serious interest groups, than on Facebook. One giant mistake I'm seeing on Facebook is "Hey, look at me!" syndrome. I suppose if your followers are fellow artists, there is little harm in that. But if there are any collectors watching -- directly, or indirectly, via other artists' followings -- it can be dangerous. I'm seeing many an artist posting everything they [...]
How You Can Become Independent as an Artist and Live the Dream
Fireworks will light the skies around our great nation this week as we celebrate our independence as a country. Yet thousands of artists I hear from are lacking independence. They long to quit their jobs and create their art full-time -- without having to live the life of a starving artist. Yesterday I met a man who told me the story of spending years in art school to get his MFA, yet he was never able to make a living with his art. He said to me, "No one around here can make a living as an artist." I didn't want to disagree, but I know artists nearby who actually make a great living as artists, and who are not as accomplished as he. The reality is, you can quit your job and become a full-time artist and make just as good a living or better in most cases. If that sounds like a stretch to you, it's not. I work with people every day who have done it, including some professionals who were already making excellent money. One artist who follows my plan sent me a photo last week of a pile of checks. She is living the dream, just three years after she started. One of my missions in life is to help artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, crafters, etc.) live their dream. I have lived the life of [...]
The Dark Cloud Over Many Artists
"I'm depressed. I feel like I've got a giant dark cloud hanging over my head. No matter how good my art is, it's simply not selling. I don't get it. I know painters that are not as good as I am who are selling more art. Why? What am I doing wrong? How long will I have to wrestle with this? I can't seem to find a solution, and I've tried everything. I tried advertising, and it didn't work. I've done art shows, and people just pass by. It's now starting to affect my work because it's robbing me of all the joy of painting when no one seems to want what I do. Is seems like day after day, this problem plagues me and brings sorrow to my heart. "What am I doing wrong? I need the answers. Painting alone isn't enough. I need that validation from knowing others want what I've put my heart and soul into creating. I need to know others appreciate my art enough to buy it. Plus, I want to paint full-time, which means I need to sell art in order to escape my go-nowhere job. I know there's got to be a solution. I've tried everything. I know there is answer, and I'll be elated when I solve it. I can see success, I can taste it, I know it will [...]
Fuel Your Art Career
Anyone can change the entire direction of their career in just 90 days. I've seen it happen many times. To do it, you need FUEL. FAST: Something that will build exposure fast UNIQUE: Find ways you can stand out EXCELLENCE: Improve the way you appear to others LARGE: Build your career in a big way FUEL comes from deliberate actions that create opportunity. Though there is often luck involved, we all know many people make their own luck. For instance, you won't get publicity because someone just happened to discover you. You have to make sure editors hear from you and know about your work. You don't get blog posts, TV appearances, and newspaper articles by wishing for it to happen. You need to be proactive and make them aware. Two things that will fuel your career more than anything else are publicity and winning awards (which of course gives you publicity). Have you ever seen someone become an overnight sensation because they were discovered by the media? Well placed publicity is like rocket fuel to take you to the next level fast. Here's a little secret from a lifetime in the media: Publicity does not just happen. People don't just get discovered for TV shows, articles, etc. Someone is working to make editors aware. An artist friend of mine recently had articles in several art magazines at [...]
