Relationships
5/5/2015 9:13:02 PMI've had a relatively short career as an artist. I sold my first painting in 2012, and since then, I've sold more than 50 paintings. I don't show in a gallery, and rarely sell anything at shows or exhibits. most of my paintings have been sold to people I know, purely on the relationships I've built.
Granted, a lot of those paintings early on did not sell for a lot, and they were mostly smaller paintings, but I would say that about 95% of those paintings were sold one on one, to people I know. I've met a lot of people and developed some good relationships over the years, and although those early paintings, in my opinion, aren't of the quality I'm painting now, they were sold because I've had the fortune of meeting and connecting with people that enjoyed me and what I do.
Professionally, I work in a non-art related field. As I'm writing this, I'm at a business conference in Las Vegas. I watched one of our account managers last night at dinner with one of our biggest clients. I realized we have such a good relationship with this firm because of the relationship that he has formed with lots of the individuals that run the firm. It's because of this type of relationship that we do the type of business we do with them. I was struck by the fact that he not only knew them professionally, he knows them personally. It really comes down to developing relationships - good relationships - that transcend the business relationship.
As artists, we have a story to tell with our art. The story is translated to a visual image of something that our patrons can relate to. It may be a landscape of a familiar place, or it could be a painting of something else they can relate to. But what it really comes down to is establishing a dialogue about what we painted, connecting through relationship, and telling a story. People love stories. They love to know where we've been, what we've done, what we saw, and how a painting came to life. They love to know what we were feeling when we put the painting together. People love to be in the same place we were when we painted. They want to know what we felt, and they love the story behind it.
Are we telling enough stories? Are we conveying a relationship when we talk about our painting? The only way to connect with people is by telling the story and letting them be a part of it. When we connect with people and their emotions, and they understand what we see and what we feel, the art becomes more precious, and there's a value to that.
We need to remember also, that the people we connect with and the people we do business with have a story also. When we understand where they have been, and what they can relate to, we then become a conduit that connects them just something that's flowed out of us onto a canvas. And when we understand the things that they love, the things they feel, and what excites them, we become part of their life in a deep and personal way. Life is about relationships. Painting is about life. When we take the time to understand people, and what they love, we then go beyond having a collection of pretty things, and we become a personal connection to the creation, and consequently, a part of their life.
Paint. Love. Tell a story.
