Professional artists promote their art

In part one, I emphasized the fact that artists must come to terms with the fact that their art can be sold, and in fact selling art is an important part of being a professional artist. But realizing that your art is an product that can be traded is only the first step. Your last masterpiece won't find a buyer sitting in your studio waiting for a buyer...

The second step is taking action and promoting your work. Now this might be difficult for you as an artist because of one or many of the following reasons:

• You are very attached to your work.
• Even though you completed your piece, you still see some flaws in it; it did not turn out exactly the way you wanted it to.
• You are very sensitive about others judging (and disliking) your art.
• You're afraid no one will want to buy your work (fear of failure and rejection).
• You feel cheated by commissions that galleries or agents charge.
• To sell art work reduces the purity of your creativity.
• "Advertising costs money and I have none".
• You became an artist to create art, not to sell art!

Art is Subjective
While as an artist you are probably more sensitive than most, you must strive to detach yourself from your artwork. All these reasons are more or less related to the fact that since art is subjective, it is difficult to know if it will be sought after or not. While a tourist with a conservative upbringing might like calm landscapes, a businesswoman from a large urban city might enjoy edgy abstract pieces. It is mostly a matter of taste, and each buyer has different needs and wants.

No matter what type of art you create, there is a buyer out there somewhere that is looking for exactly that All that is left to do is find that buyer and convince him or her to buy your work!

You're creative enough to promote your art on a very low budget
Being an artist means you're probably more creative than the average person, which means you can probably find out great ways how to promote art on a shoestring budget. There are many great ways to get your stuff in front of potential buyers - which I will be discussing in further articles.

Moral of the story: Selling your work implies that you must promote it. Be confident about your artwork and try to detach yourself emotionally from it as much as possible. This will make it easier for you to get it in front of potential buyers and accept the fact that not everyone has the same taste.