Product as it applies to Watercolor Paintings

Product refers to your painting or work of art. Some typical questions are how big is it, what medium is it painted in, is it original artwork or is it a print, the subject matter, how good is the framing, is it framed or unframed, the materials you used e.g. artists quality or student quality material. It also refers to who you are as an artist. The more well know you are, and the more demand there is for your paintings then the higher you are able to charge for them.

One point on the subject of framing; do not try to save money by using old or poor quality frames. It says something about your work and a good frame will help sell it. I would be lying if I said people just buy a painting and not the frame and have had times where people has said they would buy a particular painting with a particular frame. Luckily this is not often the case but it happens.

As you start selling your work the cost of the frame should not go up in price as fast as the price of your artwork, so in time the percentage cost of the frame in your sale price will go down.  Also if you use good quality but generic frames you will be able to reuse the frame with another painting if the original one does not sell. They don’t all sell, so don’t sweat on it – paint many more and move on. For me if a painting has not sold within about two years I take it out and reuse the frame.  I don’t through the painting away but just store it for the future, or show it to certain customers unframed.

By the way, I have a personal policy of never framing watercolor paintings I would not like to see on my own wall. This has served me well over the years. I have found that as long as I paint a subject that appeals to me, I only have to find a way to show it to someone with similar tastes to mine, and with the right (not too high or low) price I can sell it.

Let us now look at Place as it applies to the selling of a watercolor painting or other artwork.

Continue to: Where to sell your artwork