Marketing resolution

I’ve had lovely long stretches of time to paint this summer, and I am now taking the first steps toward getting the artwork out into the world. Today I am dropping off a carload of pieces at the photographer’s, and then I will have my website updated with the various new series (six altogether) I have created.

Since the closing of the wonderful gallery I was last affiliated with, I have had a lot of luck finding opportunities to exhibit and sell my work on my own. Plus I have ongoing relationships with several art consultants who have done well for me.

Now I want to expand on these past experiences. I am currently on a quest to find the best ways to market my work, and I have definite ideas about how I approach this goal.

In the past, I have used the “Marcia Brady approach” to marketing. That is, on the “Brady Bunch,” there was an episode when Marcia was concerned about having to attend a new school where she didn’t know anyone, and her mother advised her to try joining a school club so she could meet people. But Marcia, not being someone to take half-measures, signed up for every single club at the school, and eventually found herself overwhelmed with commitments to groups she wasn’t terribly interested in.

In much the same way, in the past I have applied for every possible opportunity that came down the pike. I had it down to such a streamlined system that I could get a marketing packet, complete with CD and resume tailored especially for the intended recipient, into the mail in under an hour. I used to spend hours combing the online classifieds for exhibition opportunities on an almost daily basis, and I subscribed to three print publications that list these types of opportunities as well.

But now I want to examine how I’m doing things. I want to slow way down and figure out EXACTLY where I want my work to end up. I am going to wait for that YES! feeling you get when you know something is right, and only apply for opportunities that give me that feeling. Any time I get that urge to hurry up and act, or I might lose out, I am going to stop and think about it and be SURE it’s what I want before I respond.

I truly love my new paintings, all of them. (The ones I didn’t love were painted over!) I honestly believe they are interesting to look at. And I am not in a hurry to get them out of my studio, just for the sake of getting them out of there. I definitely don’t want to keep them; I DO want them to find good homes. But I want to make sure they find the RIGHT destinations, for the good of all concerned, even if it doesn’t happen overnight.

I do have four shows scheduled for the upcoming exhibition season, so there is no need to feel that my career is stagnating. I can take a deep breath, relax and have faith that the perfect opportunities will present themselves.

The painting at the top of this entry is “Shadows,” acrylic, spray paint and fabric on canvas, 14 inches square.