I am currently drowning in a field of art works at various stages of completion. My 2 shows have ended with some sales but the question remains…how do I market my art successfully on line as well as exhibiting. I have an established style and ample work. I know I need to update my other sites so all the work is up and for sale so consistency helps but have been in this creative zone that demanded completion so I could put my best work into theses shows. Balance would be a good thing to achieve but I am still working on that.
My friend and co-worker Sara creates lovely chunky jewellery from polymer clay, wooden beads and hardware supplies and seems to have set herself up with ease and calls her business My-Metanoia. Please check out her work as she is doing some lovely things with her small start up business. For her the business side seems to be a natural part of her talent. Hopefully I can learn a bit from her expertise and bubbly personality.
I love creating and exhibiting but am not a natural networker and deeply desire a group of like minded souls to share my creative dreaming with. I believe the starting point as in any learning is to start the conversation. I would love to hear from other creatives about the way they have developed their art into a succesful creative business platform. I would love to be regularly selling online but how do you really build that initial base of people to make those connections. How do you get noticed in the plethora of businesses that the of are competing with on this amazing web that connects us across continents. I do know a social media site is different from a sales site..or so I have read…but then people use pininterest and Facebook to sell so my dyslexic brain is getting confused. So many people have done it so what is the path to success. So many people talk about it but I am not sure I really understand.
I know my target market is women and is a bit alternative. My intuitive contemporary art work focuses on uplifting figurative images of women and flowers and sometimes has words. I am aLso playing with polymer clay jewellery and small sculptures with a similar theme. This work like most of my art work has a strong use of symbolism in it.
My next step is to finish some of the field of artworks that I am drowning in…I know it is a mixed metaphor but I am seeing a field of flowers (artworks) and grass with long sweeping stems and I am the child wading through with only the top of my head visible. I need a holiday from school so thankfully the Xmas holidays are around the corner and I can sit in the field and pick flowers to my hearts content. Then I will update Artpal. A task I am way behind in. After that I will start applying for a solo show. Maybe a magazine article. This is where I am at but I feel like my mind is as chaotic as my desk becomes when life is simply too busy. Creating is flow and writing here and now helps to clear my mind but it is do easy to get lost for hours in this virtual world. Thank goodness that I get to connect with some of you via likes and follows so I have a sense that I amatt of something bigger.
I would love to hear from you ( especially local artists who would like to connect in real space) to see how you approach the idea of marketing pieces of your soul…that’s what it feels like at times…This art adventure is exciting but the question is always what is the next step and what will bring me to the place where I can make my living by making the art that I love. What would it take…?
I so resonate with your journey – the introverted process of digging deep and creating seem so far removed from the external journey of networking and marketing. I am only at the very beginning of my journey, not even as far as you are, but I have recognized that I am happiest in both spaces when I am honoring the flow that God creates – allowing Him to be the inspiration for both processes and going through the doors He opens. As you described so perfectly – “trust”.
PS Your work is so unique, stunning, and soul-ful. It seems like it would sell itself as your base of admirers organically spreads!