Does the volume of information we artists receive about selling our art seem a bit, er, daunting to anyone else?  It does to me.  I recently ran into a situation where the daunting flow of information caused the Too Much Information (TMI) blues to sweep over me.  The TMI blues were caused in this instance by reading about a blog post by Artist Kate Vrijmoet that listed 29 “essential” blogs and websites for artists.  http://katevrijmoet.com/main-menu-pages/blog/29-blogs-and-websites-that-every-artist-should-read./ 

Wow. There are 29 different blogs and websites that a fellow artist considered “essential”?!!!  I immediately went into overwhelmed TMI blues mode.   I presumed (wrongly as it turns out) that I hadn’t read any of these blogs and websites and consequently was so far behind the power curve that I’d never catch up.   

Just the mere the thought of reading through 29 new blogs and websites was so daunting that it took me about a week to muster up the nerve to actually read Kate Vrijmoet’s recommended list.   It took a week because I had the TMI blues big time.  (Cue B.B. King and his guitar Lucille here.)  I just couldn’t face 29 new sources of “essential” information.

I already feel overwhelmed at times by the business side of Art.  From getting pictures of my art taken to posting those pictures on my website, Facebook, twitter, as well as Xanadu Gallery’s online gallery, http://www.xanadugallery.com/Studios/Index.asp, Metropolitan State University’s Creative Innovation marketplace website, http://www.createmsudenver.com/store/index.asp, and my gallery’s website, Artists on Santa Fe Gallery here in Denver, http://www.artistsonsantafe.com/, handling the accounting and applying to Art Fairs, it often seems that there are not enough hours in the day in which to complete all of tasks required by the business of Art.

            If I added 29 more blogs and websites to the load, something would have to go.   Like maybe eating.  Or friends.  Or having a life.   Or creating Art.

But I discovered when I finally read Kate Vrijmoet’s blog that not all 29 blogs and websites were of interest to me.  Whew!  Dodged a bullet there!  I am not, for example, interested in The Artist Trust, a Washington State based funding option.  I am not all that interested in paying for a subscription to Art Opportunities.  I am not interested in NY based art criticism. 

Even better, a quite a number of Kate Vrijmoet’s 29 essentials I either follow or are familiar with.   For example, I follow Alyson Stanfield’s Art Biz Blog, http://www.artbizblog.com/, and I join in Kate Vrijmoet’s assessment that Alyson’s information is essential. 

As for websites, I already use Mail Chimp and I have copyrighted some of my work.  (Yes, you got that right; guilty as charged.  I have not copyrighted all of my work.  Yet.  As of today.) 

So, upon further examination, Kate Vrijmoet’s daunting 29 was actually less TMI blues creating than it had initially appeared to be.

The principal take away from all of this is that we are deluged by information.  We could read an infinite variety of blogs and websites about selling art, branding ourselves and various other aspects of the business of Art and the business of selling.  We could spend our hard earned cash signing up for every webinar that comes down the pike.  We simply cannot do that.

Instead, we must carefully choose what to follow, what to watch, what to listen to and what to read.  Even when we would absolutely love to listen to a webinar created by folks whose advice has earned our respect, we need to remember that we only have 24 hours in each day.  Learning about the business of selling art is useless if we are not creating Art worthy of being sold.

My personal solution to the TMI dilemma is to set a specific time frame within which I read and learn what I can.  For me, this is usually the first thing in the morning.  After that, I spend some time uploading my art to the various websites and working on the business side of Art. 

Then I shut off the computer and head down to my studio.   Most of the time, anyway.  As with all plans, this one goes awry at times.  But most of the time I put on my Art clothes and go do the job that I have chosen to do, that I love to do.

You can’t let the TMI blues get you down.  Recognize that you cannot possibly read every bit of information out there on selling art, nor can you attend every webinar.  Pick an appropriate amount of time for you each day (or week) within which to read, learn and listen to information on the business of selling art. Do what you can within the allotted time and walk away from the computer.  Walk far away from the computer.  Get back into the studio and create something beautiful. 

After all, creating beautiful Art is the entire point of being an artist, isn’t it?

            Is anyone ever successful without the help, love and support of their friends?  Really, I doubt it. Friends are the bedrock upon which we base our lives.  Without them, life would be small, shallow and uninteresting.

            I am particularly fortunate in having some pretty darned fabulous friends.  They support me in a big way all of the time.  Many have come to opening after opening after opening, just to show their love and support for me.

A huge (and I do mean HUGE!) number of them attended my artists’ reception last Friday.   This show was my first time to be a featured artist at Artists on Santa Fe Gallery, the gallery I recently joined.  I seriously wanted to show off by having a wonderful turn out.  Who wouldn’t?  I wanted our head honcho, our fearless leader, to see that I could make it happen – “it” being a decent turn out.  Thanks to my friends, we had a lovely turn out.

  Even better, one of my friends bought two pieces.  Rock on!!!  I realized in thinking about it that most of my friends own a piece (or two!) of my art.  Amazing.  My friends are just amazing.

I am not quite sure what I did to deserve being loved and supported by this fabulous and eclectic bunch of people but I sure do hope that I continue doing it.   In the immortal words of Joe Cocker, I am a success due to “a little help from my friends”.

I often see artists who seem to think that because their art is beautiful, it will sell itself.  All they have to do, they seem to believe, is hang the work in the right place.  The buyers will see their work and the art will fly out the door and they will become rich and famous.  Or maybe just rich.  Or at least not starving.  They seem to think that selling art is only a question of hanging their art in the right spot.

They are wrong. 

Art doesn’t sell itself.  You have to sell both your art and yourself to Buyers.

            These artists seem to think that they don’t know how to sell.  While I will be the first to admit that selling art is not the same as selling hula-hoops, selling art is still selling and they do know how to sell.  After all, they’ve been selling their whole life.

            Let me repeat that and direct it toward you. 

You’ve been in sales your whole life.

You haven’t thought about it quite that way but it is true.  The product has varied but you have spent your entire life selling. 

You sold yourself during every job interview you ever had.  I first realized this when, not so long ago, I applied for a job doing interior design and selling furniture at a local furniture store.  The owners asked me if I had any sales experience.  Somehow I had the chutzpah and presence of mind to reply:  “Yes.   I’ve been selling all my life.  I sold myself and my clients to judges and juries for years.” 

I got the job.

You too have been selling all of your life.  You sold yourself to every prospective employer whom you asked for a job.  From your first babysitting job or lawn-mowing gig, you sold yourself and your skills.  You sold yourself when you sought that first “real” part time job, which for me was working during the summer in the best ice cream stand in Muscatine, Iowa.  Oh, the homemade peach ice cream!  It was to die for.  People would line up ….

But I digress.

You may have sold yourself to get into college by writing those dreaded college essays unless like me you went to school back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth and no essay was required.

You sold yourself to your employer in order to get your first “real” job on your career track.  You sold prospective projects to your bosses. You sold yourself, your skills and your employer’s skills and expertise to clients. 

You’ve been selling your whole life.  You just didn’t think about it quite that way. 

So don’t be afraid to sell your art and yourself to prospective buyers.  You do know how to sell. 

You’ve been in sales your whole life.

             On the spur of the moment last Wednesday, my guy and I headed down to the Wazee Supper Club to listen to some jazz.  On Wednesdays, Al Hermann and Bob Montgomery assemble a quintet of wonderful jazz musicians with drop in performances by local and, as it turns out, non-local musicians.  Bob and Al are quite simply fabulous performers and individuals.   They have perfected their art over a lifetime of playing.  Bob and Al are virtuosos.

            Last Wednesday, Bob was out of town so we missed his fabulous trumpet.    The group was joined by a sax player as well as a bass player who was standing in for the incomparable Kenny Walker.  A fellow trombonist from Boston jammed with the group, his vibrant sound complimenting Al’s subtle trombone harmonies. The pianist was superb and the drummer was fabulous.  The music was, well, out of this world.   The price of admission was … zero.  Just buy a food and/or a drink and listen. 

            My kind of night.

            As we watched and listened and let the music seep into our souls, I could not help noticing the diversity of ages in the musicians.  The drummer looks like he needed a note from his mother to stay out past 10 pm.  The bass player was mid-range, maybe 30 - 40’s.  The Pianist, like Al (and for that matter, like me), was a well-seasoned dude.  The Boston trombonist was youngish, maybe 30’s – 40’s. 

            In short, we were transported by the art of an eclectic group whose ages spanned about 50 years.

            What does this say about Art?  It says to me that the creation of beauty is a combination of the Big Four: talent, hard work, persistence and joy.   This combination can be achieved at nearly any age. 

THE BIG FOUR FOR BECOMING A VIRTUOSO           

1.  TALENT.  First, one must have some talent, that’s a given.  Without talent, there is no hope of becoming a virtuoso. 

2.  HARD WORK.  Once you recognize that you have some level of talent, hard work is in the offing.  Few if any have ever risen to the top of any field, whether music, painting, writing or anything else, without working hard to learn one’s craft.  Malcolm Gladwell was correct in Outliers that 10,000 hours are required.  That seems about right to me.  How the very young looking drummer could possibly have been drumming for 10,000 hours is beyond me but clearly he too is a virtuoso.

            3.  PERSISTENCE.  Next comes persistence. Making it anywhere and especially in the arts requires significant persistence.  There are many, many talented artists and musicians but most are not persistent about pursuing art as a career.  Often the pursuit of one’s career in the arts means playing some sketchy clubs and showing one’s art in coffee shops or anywhere someone will let you.  After all, few of us get to start at the top.  The rest of us have to work our way up there by keepin’ on keepin’ on.  We absolutely must have faith in ourselves and faith that this is the path for us.  We must persist, against all odds.

            4.  JOY.  The last required element is joy.  Joy is what enables us to persist in the hard work long enough to bring our talent to fruition.   Joy is why we do this.  Joy comes when you’re in The Zone.  Time flies, your coffee gets cold and you’ve forgotten lunch because you were engrossed, entranced, and enmeshed in your art.  Joy comes when you step back, look at the piece you’ve been working on and say to yourself, “Wow, that really IS good!”   That’s Joy. 

            If you have some talent that you are willing to develop and you are willing to work hard and persist against all of the odds, you are half way there whether you are young or old.  If you’ve got Joy too, well then, you’ve got what it takes to be a Virtuoso.