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Are we all underselling ourselves?
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Message
Posted
I've just seen a painting by one Danny Abrahams, advertised by a Cheshire Art Gallery. It is, in my view, possibly the foullest thing I've seen committed to canvas, but you may disagree.
The gallery is asking £999 for it (why not £1,000? God knows, I don't).
I have never asked that much for an oil painting. I should be embarrassed to do so, although I don't believe in under-pricing work either. Should we perhaps be revisiting our pricing policy? If there are people out there prepared to pay that for this, I feel we should be prepared to take a mean advantage of them before their eyesight comes back....
I won't post the painting, you should be able to find it by Googling the gentleman.
Posted
There are a few of his paintings at that price Robert - none of them to my taste, but, hey-ho that is nothing new. £999 is a "psychological price" - i.e. "get this for under £20" and you feel you have a bargain at £19.99! I think that because a lot of us are "amateurs" we feel our work is unworthy. To ask a high price will lead buyers to believe you are a professional no matter if they like your art or not and they will buy accordingly. We should all have more confidence in ourselves!
Posted
On second thoughts, of course - I don't make a living from painting; and you'd have to sell ten of these at this price to even begin approaching a quarter-decent income.
The painting of this gent's I saw was pretty ghastly - twee and sickly. I've seen others of his that are better. But I await Alan's inspection!
Posted
Evening! I've just had a quick look on their website, and although they are not to my taste, they are ok i think, and i guess there will be people out there that like them, I find it interesting that he has done so many very similar paintings, I suppose it is just a scene he particularly likes. I think i'd get bored though of repeatedly painting the same scene.
In terms of pricing, I have no idea how you get your work displayed in a gallery, whether they found him and approached him, or the other way around? As you say Alan, I assume they know their audience, but who's to say how many have sold.
Posted
It's an old marketing trick - skimming the market - you put something out at a high price to give it "luxury" appeal. People who see the "luxury" product assume that it must be good at that money.
As the lady in a local Charity Shop said, one afternoon, "price it up and put it on show; somebody'll buy it"
Posted
Yes indeed, mention Bob Ross and the forum comes to life which is a good thing and I had pre-empted this response as it always happens.
I have said on more than one occasion and on this very forum that he did a great job in getting the masses to pick up a paint brush and painting knife, for this I applaud him. However, his paintings bear no resemblance to real life subjects, and he never seemed to encourage artist's to get out there and find their own style, it's all stereotyped and all his ardent followers paint exactly the same subjects and have an identical style to Bob, and it's not a style that I like, but I accept that many do like it.
Those who have gained confidence by watching him and then moved on I also applaud, mission accomplished as they say.
Posted
I am about to put some paintings into an exhibition for sale for the first time and have no idea where to start with pricing. I went into a gallery in Cheshire recently to look at what paintings sell for. I was shocked. To me, it seems that gimmicks sell at silly prices. I don't get the mass appeal of Steven Brown, but my brother loves him and has bought a few.
Posted
I remember buying a Bob Ross video years ago and I even went so far as buying a couple of his brushes which I hardly ever used. I never judged his paintings but he was happy and enthusiastic and made you want to have a go! I certainly don't understand why the mention of his name should produce such responses. He must have done something right to still have such a following years after his demise.