10) Money, Money, Money

I said that I’d look at the knotty problem of pricing this week, a subject I find many artists reluctant to discuss.
The difficult thing about pricing is that it’s not just a case of comparing one picture with another by the same artist, but also setting a price in line with other artists. If one person sets their prices very low it potentially undermines other artists who are asking a more realistic price for their time and skill. The other difficult area , I find , is when you’re in that in-between ground, no longer an amateur treating it as a fulfilling hobby, but neither having the “street-cred” of a well established artist whose work is starting to become collectable. I remember a neighbour being shocked when she saw one of my pictures in a commercial gallery with a price-tag of £200. I tried hard to suppress my anger and explain graciously how little I would receive after 30% commission, £20 frame and mount, £3 materials, £3 hanging fee and two week’s work! This is where Open Up can provide a real opportunity to educate those who visit, so that original pieces of art become valued.
I now have a sort of system to help me which fairly compares one picture with another and gives me a “ball-park” figure which can be tweaked. I keep a record of the hours spent on a picture and multiply that by the hourly rate I’d like to get ( in a real world, that is, not what I might wish I’d get!) and then add on the cost of the frame, which can vary considerably. Commission will also need to be taken into consideration. This system stops me selling things too cheaply when I’m feeling down or having a run of poor sales and stops me pricing things too high that I’m particularly fond of. This system works well for me and can be flexible too.