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11/04/2005: "On hiring an art consultant"

I've decided to hire Alan Bamberger as an art consultant. I'm going to formulate some specific questions this weekend since his advice is so expensive. I have a feeling it will be worth it though, his referrals spoke highly of him.

I just dug out a painting that someone has been bugging me to buy since December of last year. I get emails from people interested in commissioning work and sometimes I call them back and sometimes I miss the deal. I am not good at promoting my own work, I'm not good at the business end of things...I've lost countless opportunities for shows and sales due to anxiety and procrastination in equal measure. I'm always paying late fees because I don't turn in my quarterly sales tax returns on time. I'm basically a real mess.

I'm hoping that that is all going to change. I want to apply the same kind of discipline to promoting my work as I do to creating it. I want to see how far I can go if I really set my mind to it.

I work with a woman who has started taking art lessons for the past several years. I think she is really good and I've asked her if she has any intentions to show/sale someday. She replied no, that she only does it for self fulfillment. I don't know, there was something in the way she said it that made me feel like her efforts were more pure than mine, unsullied by commercial influences.

I felt bad for a little while, but then I remembered that selling is important because it may lead me to a time when I can dedicate myself to making art fulltime. And that so far I've been able to make modest sells without compromising what I enjoy creating and that with marketing efforts, I can continue to do so. So there!