Listen to Your Gut
Oil portrait painting
daily painting: 365 day project
day 47

Don’t ask me why, but I think the blue hair works on this portrait, unlike the last blue haired portrait I painted. Oh, how I dislike that painting, still. I’m so glad I listened to my gut, and revised it, even though not everyone agreed I should. 

The way I look at it is this..life is waay too short to keep paintings around that I don’t like. I recently made a new rule to go by..if I won’t hang a painting on my own wall, then it has to go. Immediately, if not sooner.

I used to wait to see if paintings would sell before I revised them, and I have sold many paintings I didn’t like. I have since realized that waiting to revise ugly paintings only costs me time, energy, and money. 

Don’t look, but isn’t he cute
16×20 inch acrylic mixed media collage figure painting on canvas 

This painting is an example of what I’m talking about. It’s not one I consider “ugly”, per se, but it was made with a much younger person in mind. It’s been forever since I was in high school, so it’s not one I connect with personally. I wouldn’t hang it on my wall for that reason. According to my new rule, it has to go, and I’m perfectly fine with that.

I’ve been holding onto this painting now for four years. FOUR years of my life spent paying Etsy listing fees, listing it in various places, using precious space to store it (space I could use for paintings I love instead), moving it around my office and studio, marketing it over and over again, blogging, replying to social media comments and emails about it.

I always say the real work begins after the painting is completed, not before. Painting doesn’t feel like a chore to me, but it never stops there. There are additional, often time consuming details that can’t be overlooked. The advice I give new artists is to make sure they price their work accordingly, not just for the amount of time it takes them to paint. What I wrote above is just a snippet of what goes into selling. I’m leaving out all the time spent researching and buying shipping materials for each size painting, packaging the paintings, printing the labels, post office runs, tracking the packages, emailing the tracking number to client, and customer follow up emails. There is so much hidden work involved when selling art. It makes me cringe when someone asks me how long it took me to paint a painting. I get that they’re trying to justify the price, but if they only knew the whole story about what goes on behind the scenes, they would never have the nerve to ask that question.  

So, why have I waited 4 years to revise or paint over this one? Well, for one thing, the rule I’ve set in place is new. It’s going to take some time for me to weed through the paintings I don’t like. Also, I’ve been told that many people like this painting. It actually almost sold several times, so I’ve held onto hope that the right person would come along.

Time is running out, tho. The listing is about to expire on Etsy on September 25th. I won’t be relisting it. If you want this painting, this is your final chance to own it!! If you want to set up a payment plan, contact me. We can discuss the possibilities.