Life is About Your Passion, with @carolee1

Hello, bloggers!

Today, I am pleased to welcome back Carol Stanley. Carol is talented in so many ways, with both art and words. We’re going to be focusing on her passion for painting today.

Please enjoy…

Life is About Your Passion

Painting and writing are both passions you either have or not. You are not likely to decide one day you are an artist or writer, it is there in your soul. Marketing your art—that is a very different story.

I am not sure which is more challenging to market – a book or paintings. Marketing a service is sometimes cut and dry. You advertise, you network, you stay in touch and look for creative ways to do this.

Today, it does help being a savvy online marketer especially when you have few dollars to spend promoting what you do. I get bombarded daily with offers of promotion, many online seminars and promises of success in whatever your endeavor is.

Marketing used to include making telephone calls, letters and sending information in the mail, and today the internet supersedes most other marketing venues. I have been, and still am, an Astrologer which has followed me around for years and I also have written several books on a variety of topics. My current book is Feel Better Every Day. With all my businesses, and I loved them all, painting is where my heart is. In fact, I have had so many businesses that my husband has threatened to wall paper a wall with all the business cards he has made for me. I often wish I could just sit and paint and not have to think about the marketing end.

Here are a few ideas for marketing art:

Knowing people connected with your chosen venues
Being willing to make many calls
Sending images of your work to galleries and other appropriate places to show your work
Finding restaurants and places of business to hang your art for free
Enter art shows and contests
Doing art fairs
Always working on your skill as an artist
Showing your artwork online on social sites
A website of your own or an art site
Offer free paintings for non-profit giveaways or auctions

These are all good suggestions, but none guarantee success. It is no easy feat to get places to hang your art even for free. The most important thing is that painting has to be a joy in your life and selling is the bonus. However, the house can get pretty cluttered with one’s finished canvases. I just keep getting new ideas for creating new paintings and some turn out and some don’t. Love my gesso where I can white out all the canvases I don’t like. I feel in my heart doing what you love is the best thing in the world.

My artwork can be seen on Fine Art America-Carol Stanley. I have chosen this site because it gets a lot of traffic and allows you to market your art.

carol