Best Time of Year for Sales? Worst Time of Year?

I think its important to display prices on paintings. It gives customers the time to mull it over, and instead of going crazy and then find they can’t afford the truckload they have selected, gives them a change to levitate towards one they really really like, which then they will buy. I’ve never had a painting sell on the first day of an exhibition, and every one who has rung me said they saw it a few days earlier and then came back or rang up and bought it after thinking it over. If you’re up for negotiation you can also display that too - gives hagglers a go. Just my thoughts. It is also very slow here in my area in Australia too. I have been lucky to sell what I have this year, as some of the seasoned artists haven’t sold much at all. Hopefully better times ahead.

Hi Joseph,

A couple of comments. I noticed on another inquiry you mentioned that you painted on Fabriano 300# Artistico, so do I though often I also use the extra white. Another artist said she tried the 300# but it was too expensive and made no difference anyway. Such a comment is thoughtless. First and foremost I use the best materials because anyone who purchases my work deserves the best, I take pleasure in working with fine materials and it facilitates impeccable craftsmanship. On this post you mentioned that auctions were preforming poorly. However the only aspect of the site that can be somewhat accurately analyzed is the auctions and the problem is not the auction itself. The auctions merely indicate the general trend of decline. Can you imagine that artists who have the, “Contact the artist for price,” are doing that much better. I cannot. With the fixed priced work artists can manipulate the data so those “sales” are unreliable. Artists always have to work blind. We can never attain the body of meaningful data that would be necessary to properly observe the actual market and all of its complexities unless we monitored a site such as this one or we ran a gallery, nonetheless I observe and study that which I am able. Good luck.

Thank you Peter. Your analysis is spot on. We can only hope that occasionally we may buck the trend with a few sales. I agree with you completely in the use of only the best materials. Best wishes Joe