Experiencing Joy Through Art

   Good morning my friend! I am glad to spend a little time with you today talking about art again. I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and that you are as excited as I am for the holidays coming up. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or something else this is a festive time of year to be sure.

   I recently began to sell small format paintings on eBay. After reading a book on the subject as well as getting advice from artists who have sold there in the past, it seems that the key is to list at least four to five paintings a week in order to keep the bids coming.

   This means I have to get into that studio pretty much every day and paint. It’s easy for artists to give in to distractions…phone calls, checking email, playing around on Facebook and a million other things that can draw our attention away from our art. It could be fear of failure or sometimes it’s just not knowing where to start. Or simply a ‘I’ll get around to it tomorrow’ attitude. This can very quickly add up to a lot of time lost in the studio. It’s so important as an artist to always be producing. 

   I have found that this new eBay venture has been really good for me in a couple of ways. Not only is it putting some extra money in my pocket every month, but it forces me to paint almost daily with a few exceptions. It gives me a commitment I cannot back away from and that is a wonderful thing! There have been a lot of daily painting clubs and trends over the past few years, but I cannot express how important this really is to our art. It definitely can be a challenge but it can also be fun! Most of the time the hardest part is just getting started. Once you get into the flow it’s so much easier to keep going. Now, I find myself feeling restless when I can’t get into the studio…and that’s just the direction I want to head with my motivation.

   Even if my paintings don’t get a lot of bids yet, I am getting into that studio every day and that alone is helping me get better as an artist. No artist is ever happy with where they are and that is what always pushes us to keep moving forward. I signed a contract with myself to commit to the eBay thing for a year before re-evaluating its success. But I’ve already realized that no matter what happens with it directly, it is already guaranteed successful in getting me in that studio and painting. Once that year has ended I will be a much better artist than I was at the start and that is worth its weight in gold. You may view my eBay page by clicking here.