Making a living?

I've been working full time (again) as an 'artist' since March 2024. I think it was just as difficult to make a living as an artist 20 years ago way back in 2004 when I decided that there was enough demand for my work (and that it was good enough) to move over to going full time then.

But back then I was full of optimism and although sales weren't wonderful they did provide a basic living. When I sold work to a dealer who took the work to the affordable art fairs, he inspired me to think that there was plenty of demand for my work, or at least the type of work I produced for him. Not quite the same thing, especially when the dealer went bust!

But more recently, since taking my work out of one gallery, putting it into another then taking my work out of that one too, I've sold quite a lot of paintings. 17 paintings in total since April, four of which were via galleries. It's caused quite a debate between my painting buddy Steve Roberts and I (and others) as to whether selling through a gallery is actually the right way forwards. It always seems to be more attractive as an aspiration that forms the next stepping stone to success as an artist. The reality is somewhat different in the current 'climate'.

From recent sales I worked out that renting a gallery space for a week or two (at the right time of course which is very unpredictable) works out the same as if I paid a commission to a gallery that 'represented' me. But the sales are more compressed into that week or two rather than over several months.

I think galleries are having a very hard time trying to sell work at prices that include a 40% to 60% commission, and many have gone under as a result. There's a lot of clinging on by the fingernails going on in the art world. And yet there is still hope. Selling privately through self-organised exhibitions or selling as part of a group show can pay dividends yet equally often, doesn't.

So with all that optimism in mind, my painting buddy Steve and I decided a year ago to have a two week exhibition at a lovely gallery in Cheltenham called 'Spring Cheltenham' owned and run by the equally lovely Conrad Clarke, a successful artist in his own right.

We titled the exhibition 'Stillness & Storm' as it represented four years working alongside each other producing work based on our many plein air painting and drawing sessions in all weathers since 2021. But the theme suggested that we should begin a new body of work that encapsulated not only where we had started but where our individual practices were taking us now.

Both of us had developed our own 'visual language' and a range of processes and obsessions related to the landscape. I had been working with ideas that came from my time creating trance like inductions for clients that included visualising themselves in a calm, peaceful woodland setting, listening to the leaves rustling and birds singing in the trees and bushes.

Steve Roberts - Tondo series titled 'Into The Storm' 1 to 10 - oil & sand on panel

So for me, I just needed a subject that fitted the idea of a small woodland, the shifting seasons and an atmosphere that the observer could enjoy in an almost unconscious way that would take them on a journey into the painting to create their own, personal narrative. And then I found one.

Back in the 1990's I lived in a small village called Notgrove nestled in the Cotswolds. My jewellery making workshop and art studio was a few miles down the road in another lovely village called Upper Slaughter - from the Anglo-Saxon 'Slohtre' meaning 'a muddy place' which is fitting as that's where cattle would congregate to drink from the river Eye. Close to Notgrove sits a small copse of mature trees that the farmer has ploughed around for decades as it sits on a mound of earth and tree roots.

My photo of the copse was a distant, grainy black and white shot on 35mm film stock and when I enlarged it many years ago, I had the intention of doing some drawings and paintings of it. When I recently found the image and some of my sketches from the time, I recognised that this small copse could form the basis of the new body of work. It would suit my recently developed textured impasto process perfectly.

The problem came when I produced the first paintings and drawings with the intention of holding on to them for our Stillness & Storm exhibition but when I started to exhibit them to get some feedback, they sold. All of them! Nice problem to have but left me with less work to show.

My other work started to sell well too and I realised that I was running out of time and the body of work I needed for the rapidly approaching October exhibition. Then we finally got an offer on our house and quickly found the house we wanted and had to move in the hottest July in the UK i've ever experienced! I then had to get work ready for an open studio show, go on holiday after that and then got sick which knocked me out for three weeks!

With three weeks to go and little work completed (and I paint in oils so little drying time) I dragged myself back into the studio and set to work. With two paintings from earlier in the year completed I managed to get another five paintings framed and ready in those three weeks alongside some pen, ink and watercolour drawings. A whip behind me with the deadline and hard graft produced results. I sold 5 out of the 7 oil paintings during the show and a watercolour. Luck shone on both of us as Steve sold four of his series of circular oil paintings and three of his lino prints so we both earned well from the exhibition with a lot of interest for our work generally.

Colin Clark - 'Four Seasons Copse' - Oil on Canvas

During the exhibition I met a business strategist and coach Dan Burner who liked my work and during our conversation asked me if I was one of those artists who had to be inspired by the muse or if I created come what may and just got stuck in. I realised that although it's nice to be constantly inspired, I more often just get stuck in and get moving in the direction I want to go in rather than wait around for inspiration to strike. He said that this was a much better strategy for producing work If I was to grow my popularity as an artist and get where I wanted to go in my practice.

Another business mentor, during a free session some years ago, (also an artist) said that the difference between artists who make it and those who fall by the wayside is that the successful artists keep on painting regardless of success or failure as they progress in their career. There have been quite a few failures for both Steve and I during the last few years but we have just kept going and it seems this strategy is the one we can both live with that is fortunately starting to produce results.

I realised that there is a sharpening of the senses when you decide to fully commit to being self-employed as an artist, and an even louder cracking of the whip when it's your only source of income moving forwards. There's several years before I can draw a pension that can act as a cushion but until then I need to sell my work come what may, and whether the muse is with me or not, I just need to focus on producing the work and getting it in front of those who might buy it. I'm not really earning my living yet and still relying on what little redundancy money is still left in my bank account, but i'm getting there.

I sat down during the exhibition and took a long hard look at how many paintings across the price range I needed to paint and sell through the year to give me a reasonable living. The figures were a little scary. If I sell 40 paintings through the year and take out fixed overheads on the studio, materials costs and other expenses directly business related and also tax on earnings, plus accounting for the occasional discount offered to entice buyers, I end up with just enough to live on with some savings and a bit to re-invest in the business. And that's if I raise my prices by 20% on my 2024/25 prices.

Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Copse - Oil on canvas, 30 x 30cms.

I have often sold paintings where I earn less than the minimum wage and a lot less than the national living wage - a common story among artists these days. This isn't tenable moving forwards however. If I sell at raised prices and forego gallery 'representation' then my work is still a lot cheaper than gallery prices. This may be the way forwards for now but hitting that sweet spot in pricing depends on where the work is sold and to whom.

I have an ongoing tussle with myself over trying to get a gallery interested in my work, go it alone or share an exhibition space with other artists on a pay-to-display basis where you rent the gallery for a week or so at a time. The slight exception to this for me is exhibiting work with Abbey Galleries Tewkesbury run by Chris and Jilly Oxlade-Arnott. Unlike other galleries they don't insist on having exclusivity over selling your work within a 25 to 40 mile radius around the gallery, or that your pricing when selling privately match those of the gallery.

Their model, does not prevent them from selling my work at gallery prices. There's a lot of trust implicit in their model and If they recommend a customer to me for a commission or to see me at an exhibition outside their gallery, then I'm happy to pay an introduction fee to them if the customer buys a piece of work. A visitor to their gallery came into our recent exhibition and I made a note that the visitors first intro to my work was via Abbey Galleries. Should the customer contact me to buy any work directly then i'll make sure I thank Chris & Jilly with a fee.

So going back to my title 'Making A Living?' the question mark at the end still stands. The art market is flaky but for me the flakiness comes from finding the right customers, in the right location and selling at the right price for them. These variables are a constant headache and yet it's 'a story as old as time' as another artist put it to me. I've had some success and people like my work. It's not everyone's cup of tea but it's a big world out there with something for everyone. I just wish people wouldn't keep saying '... your work is like Pointilism!'. Grrrr!