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Message
Posted
My only representation at present is a local gallery Tessa, but there are so many online sites to choose from.
Without doubt Artfinder sold a lot of my oils, mainly to the States etc, a few UK buyers also. They do ask for samples of your work before being accepted so joining takes a while.
I’ve tried several more sites ArtRehome being another but that didn’t work for me.
Posted
Yes it’s far less hassle if you have a local gallery. I’ve never found it particularly easy though, I’ve been rejected by numerous ones over the years.
They all have their own group of dedicated artists quite often, and aren’t interested in new artists, space is often a factor I suspect - their loss!
Posted
Tessa and Alan i'm selling on Etsy.com.uk but its mostly my small wildlife paintings. I will never make big bucks,lol but its better than having lots of paintings hanging around and if someone wants a little bit of original art then that's lovely if they choose one of my paintings. I have also just joined Art Gallery uk with some of my larger pieces of work but as yet have to see how that works. Their commission is 35%. Tessa I hope this helps. Linda
Edited
by Linda Drury
Posted
I also used to run with ArtGalleryUK but the commission is quite hefty and during my period with it I couldn't command a high enough price to handle the commission....I probably could now, but I don't care for the way the thing is run. Linda, I agree it's not good to have loads of unsold paintings around the house; I've toyed several times with the idea of Etsy since small works do seem to go well there....but I noted that you have to sign up for their own payment system and cannot use Paypal to receive your earnings...I'm assuming that's still the case. A year or so back there was also some big dispute over VAT on overseas buyers' acquisitions, so I left it well alone.
In fact, I don't think Britain has all that many online galleries to offer. Not much in the way of local galleries for me; must admit I prefer the online process.
Posted
Many thanks Linda and Christine. I will have a look at Etsy etc.. I’m part of a group of six artists formed earlier this year to exhibit around our area, and we are constantly looking for suitable exhibition venues, but that’s not easy either! It seems online is the most popular way to go at present, and you don’t have the hassle of setting up exhibitions, but nor do you get the interaction when meeting your viewers!
Posted
Very interested to read people’s comments about selling in local galleries and the commission they take. In order to make any kind of a profit I recently tried having prints made of certain drawings. I reasoned (with myself) that I could have just one A4 print made and then the rest of the edition according to demand. It seemed like a good plan…
The printing cost + VAT + framing + the £8 gallery entry fee (whether it was hung or not), came to a total of £66. (Not including art materials or time spent working on it).
IF the work sold the gallery in question would take another 40%.
So, in order to simply break even and work for NOTHING I would have to sell that A4 print for £108.
If I sold it for £150 I would get a small reward of just £24, whilst gallery took £66, well over double my take.
In my opinion that’s a situation which cannot be justified.
Posted
Absolutely agree Ian, I’ve looked into it myself and frankly it’s simply too expensive, the figures don’t justify going down the print route for me either.
And not forgetting that the public aren’t particularly (in my experience), all that keen on prints by ‘comparatively’ unknown artists, and this will often determine the selling price. It’s difficult enough to sell an original let alone a print!