Comments on: Delicate

By: Miss Mari

Miss Mari — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 19:00:06 +0000

Yes, we discussed this and I love that you shared it with everyone. It is about creating awareness. John Muir said “We need Beauty as much as we need Bread.” Entire cultures are defined by art and design, the level of value is actually priceless. You are divine, my friend!

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:26:50 +0000

I don’t know what you’re currently charging, as I bought some of your pieces a couple of years ago. Anyway, I’ve started doing collage myself and know how much time and money (buying materials) goes into it. If people understood this process and calculated all the hours it takes us to produce the work and money for materials, they’d realize that we really aren’t making much if anything.

By: creativelyselfemployed.com

creativelyselfemployed.com — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 08:49:22 +0000

How did you start the idea for workshops? How BRAVE!!!
xxoxoxo thinking of you honey!

By: megg

megg — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 10:15:36 +0000

Living with a fine artist, I have been having this conversation with him for years. He has been showing in galleries in London where the same sort of piece goes for three times what people where we live are willing to pay. He won’t change the price to make the smaller gallery happy. It’s all about putting a value on your work and believing in it. The question of value is tricky, but as the artist, I think it is yours to make!!

By: Lin

Lin — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:02:33 +0000

i’m not an artist…just an admiring all your beautiful art! If I had the money, I would have bought every single one! they are beautiful! The price is right…and sometimes I think you artists ask to little money for your talents…or more for just going out and do what we all dream of doing! Let it go…believe in your art…and your price…your work is…priceless!
xx

By: MsConley

MsConley — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:09:21 +0000

You can’t put a value on something so personal that comes from your soul. Don’t sell yourself short..Art makes people dream..and dreaming is what the world needs more of. Good luck.

By: Kate

Kate — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:56:42 +0000

I so love that you have delved into this. With my transition soon into the freelance world, I’m finding that so much more thought goes into my day when I’m having to figure out how to divide my time.
So add into the costs of producing the work, the payment of being a manager (because that’s a skill a business usually pays someone to execute) and let’s not forget accountant and supply orderer and receptionist fielding phone calls. If one parsed apart all of the back end of being an artist, and calculated how much it would cost to hire someone out for those things as it would be with a “real” business, the cost of that painting would look like a real deal!

By: Justin Davanzo

Justin Davanzo — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 08:26:16 +0000

wow…how familiar this is for myself and probably everyone who reads this….as artists how do we comfortably stand up and say this is what I am worth? For us the most difficult thing to do is take our passion and translate it to the world as a monetary worth because for us the actual joy of creating it is the money that we feed off and if we could somehow create a system that was automatic in the exchange how fun would that be? Like this: You spend 12 hours in the studio creating, you get a free dinner at the local diner, a car payment, and a massage…then you create 2 huge paintings the next day and for that you recieve a shopping spree to your favorite clothing shop, and then you write some amazing poetry and for every 5 people that read it and are touched in the smallest way, you get movie tickets and so on and so on so that you never worry about what you need or want because your addition to the universal joy is greater than that of the masses who are driving the actual economy…I’ve always thought…”if i could just get paid enough money to subsist very basically doing theater I would do it…” but guess what…no one wants to pay for a bunch of actors “playing” all day…nevermind the mountain of work, time, and deep inner process it takes to create one character and the put it out there for others to enjoy…wow…what a concept, artists who get paid to be in their passion…
But here is the rub…you are standing in your grace and power as an artist and by setting your own rules and standards you are creating that space that will allow for complete abundance…let’s never stop creating and living because someone tells us it’s too expensive….i love that you are in the struggle and in the moment and standing so strong…good for you Swirly.
Love you!

By: kelly

kelly — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:06:22 +0000

oh…as always you make a direct hit. this such a issue. and if it hadn’t been for you and a couple other artists. i would be the one lowballing it all. at our little christmas open house last nite, i was talking about this exact subject withanother artists. she prices her art extremelylow. she was worried about offending potentional buyer. she honestly price only for the cost of the frame and supplies. and i told her how you had explained all of this to me.
so thank you for this today….

By: sunny schlenger

sunny schlenger — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 16:32:26 +0000

What some people don’t realize is that there is *time* involved with creation — conception, delivery — never mind the other aspects of running a business. If those people thought about art as billable hours they’d understand it better.