Saturday, February 25, 2012

common thread?

Recently, I was in a little pop-up shop in Art Central along with two other artists, Diane Kinahan and Darlene Beck.  We originally planned to be there for 3 days, February 1st - 3rd, with February 2nd being the big First Thursday event Art Central always hosts every (you got it!) first Thursday of each month.  We were so successful that day, we ended up staying for an extra two weeks!  Shaw TV even interviewed me for our little group of three - Quite the Spectacle - getting up close and personal with abstract art

It was a long haul though, even though I only did 5 'shifts' actually manning the store.  You see, I had laryngitis from a cold I got just days before the opening, and I pushed myself to do the interview, be 'on' for the First Thursday, and muster the energy to get through the rest of the time we were there.  It's not like it was strenuous being there.... if I was well.  But I was not.  So I got really tired.  Eventually we came to the end of our stay, and I've taken the week off from speaking (pretty much whispering really) and have taken to carrying a wee whiteboard around with me to communicate with people. 

Which means I've had a lot of quiet time to sits and thinks.  And what I'm thinking about is... what sold what I sold?  What are the elements that are appealing of the pieces I sold.  The photo above is a set of three wee paintings I did on one of the days in the studio when Diane and I worked together getting messy with paint.  They were hung for Monday morning, and sold in the afternoon.  I think the other ladies and I were thinking larger pieces would sell, as an instructor talked about large art a lot.  But the pieces that sold were all small.  One that Darlene sold was I think about 12 x 16, but it was a realism piece, not abstract (yes, she snuck that in there!)  All the ones I sold were 12 x 12 or 8 x 8 or smaller.

I do think price point was a factor, as other artists and gallery owners said I was priced too low.  But was I?  I mean, pieces sold.  Perhaps if I was higher pieces wouldn't have sold.  I don't know.  I'm really looking for some insight on what it is about pieces I make that sell, and those that stay in inventory for quite some time.  Here's all the pieces that sold during those two weeks.  What do you think?  (oh, and I don't usually do hearts, but it was Valentine's Day and I was encouraged to do them... and they sold.)  I'd really appreciate any insights, as I'm about to do another show at Art Central - for the entire month of March!