I'm submitting a painting I finished to a local gallery for a chance to be in an upcoming show. I figured I'd sell it (if, of course, it gets selected for entry), but have absolutely no idea what to set the price as.
That's one thing I don't like about being an artist. And there are so many opinions on how to price work that there doesn't really seem to be any standard. I'm almost better at accepting a commission where the client says, "I have this much money to spend, can you do it?"
Then I can just say yes or no!
So, an original oil painting, 24"x30"... Gallery would keep 20%... Hmmmm.
Luckily I have a few days to play with some numbers.
5 comments:
I would never be able to make it as an artist. First and foremost - no talent. But that aside, I would completely undervalue myself.
Fingers crossed that the painting gets accepted!!
Thanks!
Does it help if you think of it as:
Materials + (dollars/hour x hours) ?
That's what I was considering initially, but a mentor sort of talked me out of it for various reasons. I mean, that's obviously part of it (the price should cover the cost of materials, frame, etc.), but it's the worth of the piece itself. He put it to me this way: If something only took 2 hours to create, but was amazing, do you sell it for $100 (at $50/hr?). He is almost looking at it as supply and demand. If someone likes it, and they want it, they are (hopefully) going to buy it. Of course, we're talking small gallery here, and I'm obviously not a big name, but it shifted my perspective a bit.
Didn't make it any easier for me to come up with anything though :)
There's also my dad's argument: People like buying expensive things (especially art). Someone buying art is more likely to buy an expensive piece of art because "serious art" cost more than "amateur art." Or something like that.
People tend to think that inexpensive = "cheap," especially when buying items of artistic or entertainment value.
Or I could be totally off on that! :)
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