Have you ever juried or judged an art exhibit? I'm very comfortable doing so now, having several experiences. But I remember my first time. I said yes, and immediately thought who am I to judge? I'm just a fellow artist, and many of the entrants have as much or more on their resumes.   Well, somebody has to be the judge. Why NOT you or I?   Still, there's the question of how to do the job. Please feel free to use any of this as you see fit the next time you are in the judge or juror role.   Should you just pick the pieces you like? You could. I am too ..read more

  Many days I feel accomplished to complete most or all of my to do list. What's on that list has changed over time. Is your daily to do list mostly fires that need putting out, or do you have lots of longterm tasks on it too? In short, what do you assign priority to? In this article, I want to share something it took me years in my art career to realize, even though it's really just common sense. No amount of planning for the future is as important as what's on my easel right now. Are you old enough to remember the hugely successful Nike ad campaign of ..read more

This post is by, Tina Garrett, regular contributing author for FineArtViews. Tina is an ARC Associate Living Master, she teaches workshops across the US and in Europe. Tina published her first instructional oil painting video in January 2019 and held her first Solo Show, "Pieces of Me" at Bountiful Davis Art Center in Salt Lake City, Utah in March of 2019. Tina is a proud Missouri State Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America helping Missouri artists fully benefit from their PSoA membership. She is also proud to be a 2018 & 2019 Cecilia Beaux Forum Mentorin ..read more

  Here is a concept I struggle with all the time. I bet many of you do too.   The value of our art has very little direct correlation to the amount of time spent creating it.   Stop and read that again please. Do you believe it? Intellectually I do. But my heart says it's not right. In a just world, the art I spend more time creating should absolutely be worth more than the art that takes me little effort.   I didn't write this article to discuss pricing strategies. This is more about resisting the urge to assign lower values to less labor intensive works. I've contin ..read more

  Last year, I won a little art contest at an event with several super accomplished realist painters who I admire greatly. My first response was to shout "I never win anything!" Just as soon as it was out of my mouth, someone shot back "Yes you do!"   Often. I forget all the stuff I accomplish, because I'm striving so hard to do more. In that moment, I realized that I really do win quite often. But for me, that's not the important thing. The important thing is to keep trying to win bigger. I grew up in Detroit, and it's like the muscle cars in the 1950's. I am alway ..read more

      We've discussed that the heart of creativity is that divine inspiration, that spark of soul fire that is, striving, through you to share something, to share its story. To bring into being something extraordinary, filtered through you, that the world has never before seen. And to truly achieve this, you must enter that divine state of flow and play in the eddies the creative waters swirl around you.   Interruptions kill flow and inspiration. I truly believe interruptions are the most dangerous thing an artist faces. Your family may mean wel ..read more

  One of the most personal parts of our art business plans is how much and how many resources we set aside for a rainy day.   What you do, and what I do, will be vastly different, depending on where we are in our art journeys, and where we are in life. Some brave souls took the direct route and have always relied on art income for their livelihood. Others of us had, or have careers that are lucrative but don't always feed our passion. Only you know what it takes to live the lifestyle you've always dreamed of.   Even if we are fortunate to have our basic needs p ..read more

    Throughout the years, we've stressed repeatedly that your email list is your number one marketing asset.   Yet so few artists actually seem to take advantage of this, the easiest form of marketing....that actually leads to sales....that you can do!   Don't just take our word for the power of email: "Cube-grenade" creator, and back-of-business-card cartoonist Hugh MacLeod has built a career out of selling his art online.   Here's what Hugh once said about his success and the role of email newsletters: "I'm a cartoonist. This is my tenth ..read more

  Are you happy with the progress in your art business? I am right now, but there have been years when I REALLY wanted to move the needle forward. I felt like things were stagnating.   We all have good times. But some times are just a bear to navigate. For many of us, our reaction is to work harder. If I can just improve my skills, or if I can just get into a gallery, or if ... You fill in the blank.   What I found, is working harder on whatever I was doing - it was the least effective way to move the needle. In order to affect change, I had to completely alter ..read more

This post is by Clint Watson,  former art gallery owner/director/salesperson and founder of FineArtViews. You should follow Clint on Twitter here or sign up for his newsletter here.             I recently surprised myself by realizing that I have an internal wariness of the to-do list.   This revelation would probably shock anyone who knows how I work. In fact, I use tasks lists all the time.  Most days I start by listing the things I want to accomplish on a list.  And, du ..read more