5) Branching Out

Incredibly hectic week this week, only managed about three hours of art, but I have got the owl finished that I mentioned in a previous blog.
As a family we provide Homestay accommodation for Sheffield Hallam University and presently have a French student teacher with us for a month. Consequently, I’ve had to put a bit more effort into meals and housework. We really enjoy meeting the different people and it fits in well with working from home. The income evens out the drop in sales during the winter months. It was also my week to cook for the elderly people’s club at church so I’ve also been busy shopping and preparing a meal for 90+.
However, back to business…..
During Open Up in 2006 several visitors asked me if I had any cards or prints for sale, as they liked my work but were not in the market for original paintings. From my experiences producing charity Christmas cards for the Sheffield Branch of Riding for The Disabled, I knew that it wasn’t easy to make money on cards unless you had a good distribution network, enabling you to turn over large numbers. Not only is there the cost of the printing but also the expense of envelopes, cellophane wrappers and labelling. Because my paintings are detailed, they take quite a long time to complete and it isn’t always possible to charge as much as I would like (taking into consideration outgoings on frames, hanging fees and commission). However, I picked up a flyer on Giclee printing during “Art in the Garden” and on further enquiry discovered that they were not that expensive, especially if two pictures can be fitted side by side onto an A3 scanner.
Producing prints, therefore, seemed to be one way in which I could maximise my income from carefully chosen paintings which might appeal to a wider audience.
I took the first two paintings to the Printer in November to see how they turned out (I’d had mixed results from standard photocopying of artwork, and pastel paintings are a bit vulnerable at the best of times). I was delighted with the accuracy of the colour and the fact that they still looked like pastels. I was also very pleased to see that the original paintings were handled with due care and respect. Consequently, four more pictures followed and I’ve just delivered another two for scanning this week.
Cutting the mounts and packaging them up is time consuming but I keep a tenplate for each one that saves re-measuring every time. I’m hoping that I’ve gauged the market correctly and that the prints prove popular, not only for Open Up but also when I exhibit with The “Crosspool Artists” as an invited guest. Its all a steep learning curve!