After three years at DPW I have decided to now “diminish and go into the West” (Galadriel, Lord of the Rings). The reason is that it is, quite simply, not paying for itself and I must be realistic, especially running on a small fixed pension. I shall now just stick to my local groups here in England, while continuing to paint/pastel but at a reduced volume.
I have a few other drawing and creative interests that have been on the back-burner for a long time, and I’d like to do more with them before I lose the spark. DPW is an amazing place full of variety of art and I shall look in from time to time, to see what’s going through…but I won’t be taking part. Happy painting to all.
Christine!
while I’m sorry to see you go, it’s good sometimes to shake things up a little, take stock and head in a new direction.
I hope you are still able to contribute to ‘art talk’ once in a while.
From what I understand it is possible to take long breaks from DPW and return with all your artwork still in place.
Hope to see you again sometime down the road.
Best of luck!
I also left DPW, after only a few sales. I put my art on vango art online, and sell through Etsy.
Good luck to you!
I left, too (except for occasionally checking in on Art Talk).
Same thing happened with me. I loved being with DPW but it wasn’t economical for me. Good wishes to all of you and I shall continue to sign in to Art Talk from time to time. Anne Wood.
It’s so sad to see many good artists leaving DPW. I’m not sure what’s going wrong, but right now there are only 13 auctions with active bidding (and it’s October, which is usually pretty good time for sales!). A couple of years ago I typically saw 60-80 active auctions, and if there were less than 35-40, I thought sales were slow. Maybe everyone switched to PayPal option, or - as David Marine mentioned in another thread - online sales are simply getting way too competitive, but whatever is the reason, if professional and really good original artworks aren’t selling even for $50-$70 then I totally understand the decision to quit even though I do miss seeing your works here. Hopefully, times get better for all of us, and you will return to DPW.
I think you’re right, the market’s flooded, and has been for some time. It’s timing. If you’re there too early or too late it’s just no good, no matter how much work you put in.
And it helps to have a knack for marketing, which some of us (that includes me) don’t have. I will never understand the appeal (or logic) of blogging and Instagram etc… Never. Pics of works in progress and posts about personal life feel like a violation of sort. I will never be comfortable with that way of doing business…
1 Like
I know I could take six months out, then return, but at present my gut feeling is that it won’t make much difference. I like the site and shall still view, and read the arttalk. I’ve got my art group’s annual local show coming up in about seven weeks’ time, so that will keep me busy, picking out what to enter.There are a few more local-show options for me that I have never explored, mainly due to lack of confidence in the past, but I may well try and embrace one or two next year. A knack for marketing…oh dear, that’s exactly what I don’t have! Neither am I someone who wants to reveal all their personal life to others (heck, I’d prefer that they live, rather than be suffocated by a load of boring old drivel!). Anyway, I’m still content with my choice and look forward to doing…well, just more art.
1 Like
Just for the record…I hate it when good people go. I wish them well but I miss them.
3 Likes
I’m contemplating that too…I’ve been on DPW for three years now. First year was great, second year not too bad but now…it seems to be a dead zone. What I cannot understand is I get plenty of views but nobody is buying. Very strange. I’ve opened up my sales on Ebay and will probably open a store there. I hate to go but I cannot keep shoveling money into a dry well. Those of us retirees with small pensions know just where I’m at. Very sad.
1 Like
I really miss seeing your work on DPW, David. Do you post your work on another website?
Roberta
@tclucy Thanks for saying that, but nope, it’s nowhere else. I quit completely… If I had someone who would take care of the business side while I could be left alone to do the creative part, I’d possibly jump back in.
It’s amazing how many successful artists have a setup like that. There was a Canadian illustrator I talked to who’s wife is in the PR business, and she runs his website etc. Maria Brophy was over on Savvy Painter the other week talking about how her husband paints while she does all his business. I think the guy who was interviewed the week (or two) before had the same setup with his spouse.
I know that back in the day the gallery took on that role. But now you’re expected to be less an artist and more an entrepeneur, a la Shark Tank, which is ridiculous, isn’t it? Because it makes more sense to play to your strengths than waste time and energy trying to shore up your weaknesses. This is why designated hitters exist.
And that’s why the first thing an actor or a writer finds is an agent, who will find them work. They book you auditions, they shop your manuscript around to publishers… But if you’re a painter, you got nobody these days. Unless you married them.
I guess I’d better start saving for a ring.
Because I don’t have it in me to be a sales rep, a customer service rep, a website designer, and blogger all rolled into one.
And if someone enjoys sharing their works in progress etc, that’s cool. But for me, the whole experience, the whole process has always been a very private one, and every time I think of social media and blogging and Instagramming I feel un-nerved. I don’t like that feeling.
The whole painting experience, beyond the actual painting, has left a real bad taste in my mouth and the giant sense of relief I feel knowing it’s over is really, really good.
Whether we like it or not, social media is here to stay. Buyers expect to be able to find out about an artist on Facebook or Twitter or wherever. I use Instagram and Facebook and a blog. The latter two about every three weeks, and Instagram in spats. I honestly do not expect sales from them, but just to keep any potential customers informed, or that I am still here, lol.
It’s been a tough market for some time, and one must just keep going and adapt as best as possible.
1 Like
I listened to that interview with Maria Brophy too.
Very good. I love that Savvy Painter show; Antrese Wood has so many great artists on. I listen to it all the time while painting - I never listen to music - I find music distracting for some reason (maybe an idea for another thread 
). Some of the shows I listen to over and over. I do find them very inspirational.
On the topic of social media… I’m actually not trying to actively sell anything at the moment. I’m really just focusing on how to improve my skills. I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone by trying different things, and building up a collection of pieces that I’m not sure what to do with just yet…
Sorry to hear you had a bad experience David. I hope that with your talent you come back to it somewhere down the road, just for the enjoyment of painting.
1 Like
I’m here with David regarding social media: I’m not ready to share neither my personal life nor my ups and downs during the creative process (ugh!), as all those things are way too personal to me, and honestly I don’t even understand why it’s so necessary to do so in order to successfully sell art. When I come to a restaurant and make an order I want my food to look good, smell delicious and be tasty. I don’t need a message from the chief explaining that the green pea put on top of my steak symbolizes the victory of life and youth over decay and death. In the same way I’m not really interested to know what tune he was humming when taking the shower this morning. All those things might be interesting to me if we happen to become friends later on, but they are definitely not necessary to enjoy the food he makes. In the same way I believe that all that is needed to like - or dislike - my paintings are the paintings themselves, and I don’t think that any kind of words can add anything to to them. I understand that many people are open to share quite a lot about their life and creative process, but unfortunately I’m just not one of them.
4 Likes
David,
I second Roberta’s words: I also miss seeing your works here and I don’t think that someone who can paint like this can just stop painting for good. I do hope you will get back to it at some point. After all, market and painting are two very different things…
I do hope y’all do stay around art talk…
And I just wanted to tell you that I am on several sites, my work has improved, but my sales declined on all sites. I also agree that it’s everywhere, not just DPW.
1 Like
I did pick up a lot of those kinds of skills thru the years and I employ them all and business this year is still very slow for me. My ‘ring’ still does the heavy lifting and I’ve been able to focus on art at least part time too. Still didn’t sell a lot.
Keep checking in everybody, I enjoy the comradery. (spell check is telling me i spelled that wrong.) Oops.
1 Like
I’ve only been on here since May, but I am closing shop as well. In that time frame, I sold one drawing on here via auction. Same time frame on Etsy was 23 sales (that includes prints).
I think the format here of only really introducing new entrants once via the daily email is a bit weak. My experience was that you get a bunch of views for a couple of days and then the crickets start chirping. I also wonder how many of those email recipients are actual buyers as opposed to other artists. Finally, active bidding on only one percent of the auctions is cause for concern.
Not sure if DPW pays for google ads or not, but I think that is desperately needed to drive traffic here. Just my opinion.
1 Like
@tomdempsey, I completely understand your frustration with your slow sales.
I want to clarify that each time a member artist posts a new work to DPW (DailyPaintworks.com) that work can be on our front “What’s New” page, where it will be one of about 200, and in our Daily Email that goes out to over 5,000 subscribers. So, the best way to have exposure on DPW and to build up a following, is to consistently post often, up to once a day. If an artists posts infrequently, then yes, there will be crickets.
It is true that a lot of artists come to DPW for inspiration, however many of those artists do, in fact, buy the affordable art they find here.
While a small percentage of active auctions receive bids, many of the active auctions (over 300 for one artist alone) are simply auto and manually relisted endlessly. They haven’t sold yet, and may likely never sell, but they do skew the statistics. The majority of the auctions with active bidding are not those, but instead are auctions that are newly listed.
Importantly, auctions are only one way, and not the most popular way, to sell art on DPW. If you go to our “What’s Selling” page and click on the “Statistics” button at the top, you can see that sales through DPW are actually increasing, with last month being the highest so far. This is because, even though auction sales remain low, other sales, such as those through DPW generated PayPal links, are on the rise.
We did, for many years, pay many thousands of dollars a month for online and real media (art magazine) advertising. Unfortunately, we found, in spite of the expense, the advertising did not increase our monthly visits or sales. We finally realized the most effective thing we could do was to continue to work hard to make DPW the best we can and rely on positive online “word of mouth” and proliferating links back to DPW to bring new traffic. The challenge for all of us, of course, is there is ever more competition for people’s attention online.
Tom, if you ever want to rejoin, we would love to have you back with us! Just sign in with your existing credentials and click the “Sell with Us!” link up at the top of the site to rejoin. If you do, you will find all your work and your bio just as you left it! Carol and I wish you the absolute best.
7 Likes