SOLD!
Life is Too Short
oil portrait painting
Prints are available here

If you haven’t read yesterday’s post yet, I recommend starting there. This is part two, and I promise I do get to the point at the end. lol 

If you’re just learning Photoshop, there are free tutorials on Youtube that show you how to edit photos to make prints. The editing process can be tedious, not going to lie, and if the prints don’t sell, you’ve done all that work for nothing. It’s the risk you take. 

SOLD!
Leave Me Alone
Acrylic portrait painting
Prints available here

Artists take risks every day, tho, so it’s nothing new to us. You gotta keep sticking your neck out there, and see what happens. There’s no guarantee of a paycheck with this job. You just have to keep working, and move forward every single day – no matter if you make any money or not. And, if you don’t make money, you gotta keep getting out of bed and work anyway. During dry spells, this is more than difficult to do. Artists can get really down on themselves (and desperate) when paintings don’t sell. 

SOLD!
In the Moment
oil portrait painting
Prints are available here

I know it can be very discouraging. Some artists lose faith in themselves and quit painting altogether. Or some never dare to put themselves out there at all because it’s too scary. It takes a lot of courage to believe in yourself, and your work. Artists need to tap into the blind faith they have for themselves daily because we never know when or if we’ll get paid for our time and effort. I know what I paint today could sell within minutes or it might take years to sell. Or, worse yet, it might not sell at all – ever. We know every time we start a painting that we could be doing all that work for nothing – other than the learning experience, and that’s great, too, but it doesn’t pay the bills.    

Everything you want is on the other side of fear.
Jack Canfield

SOLD!
I’m Listening
oil portrait painting
Prints are available here

It’s not an easy lifestyle. I finally sold a painting this year that I painted 10 years ago, but did it ever take jumping through hoops to finally do it. For 10 long years I relisted, marketed, and tried to sell the painting on several different selling venues. It didn’t happen. I knew it was a good painting. Many people told me how much they loved it. Complete strangers emailed me about it, and it almost sold several times. Almost doesn’t count, tho. 

A few months ago, I realized – as foolishly tenacious as I am sometimes, that it was time to give up, and let it go. It was a difficult decision to make. I felt like a failure, but I reached the point where I didn’t want to give it a minute more of my time or attention. It wasn’t meant to be. 

There is no innovation
and creativity without failure.
Period.
Brene Brown

I also knew I didn’t want to keep the painting for myself because I had painted it to sell. It wasn’t a personal piece of artwork, so the only thing left to do was revise it. I hemmed and hawed over it. I knew I was going to change it, but how??? And then one day, I walked to the closet, dug it out of the dark box it was in, and I made it unrecognizable from what it used to be. Just like that, I changed everything..colors, face, clothes, background. If I showed you the two images side-by-side, you wouldn’t believe it was the same painting. 

SOLD!
Revealing Herself
Acrylic portrait painting
Small to large prints are available here

I had many mixed feelings after I revised it. Even though I loved the new painting, I wondered if I had made a mistake. But, when the revised painting sold within a couple days, I knew I had done the right thing. 

Here’s the thing, tho.. (I’m finally going to get to the point I’ve been wanting to make. Woohoo!) This is going back to what I wrote yesterday about offering prints for sale before the original painting sells.. for those 10 years, I made money selling prints of the painting. Had I waited, and not offered prints because I still had the original, I never would have made a cent from the painting (before I revised it, I mean). So, make prints of your work. Don’t wait for the original to sell because it might never happen. 

Again, if you need help editing photos for your prints, you can hire me to do it for you. Contact me, and let’s talk. 

***

All the paintings above have sold within the past couple weeks. They all can be purchased as prints, which start as low as $13. Follow the links or click on the image to be taken to the listing. There are more prints & originals available in my Etsy shop, plus a HUGE clearance sale. 

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