For those of you who have entered the monthly DPW contest and been a featured artist, what was the experience like? Did you feel more pressure to paint and produce more paintings in that month? Did you have more visitors to your gallery? I’m interested in hearing about some of the pros and cons of the featured artist experience.
I was a featured artist only once, but it was a great experience. I posted a painting almost everyday, I posted some new paintings, but also used the opportunity to re-post older paintings that hadn’t sold. I didn’t feel any pressure to hurry and paint, I just used the thirty days to get as much artwork up both new and older to benefit from the exposure. I sold eight paintings during that time, several older pieces and was very grateful for the opportunity. Visitors to my gallery doubled. In addition, when you enter the contest, collectors seem to visit the contest page, so I saw an increased interest in the entered painting as well. I can’t think of any cons to entering the monthly contest.
I joined DPW in March and I entered a painting in the contest this month. I can certainly see a steady number of views on the painting I entered since I uploaded my painting.
Looking at my pop-up views chart covering the past two years, I can say this: while not a featured artist, my own line is above the average number of pop-ups for all non-featured artists on most dates. Now that I am in the Featured Artists group for a week (as the Spotlight Artist, thank you DPW), I am seeing the line for the average number of pop-ups for Featured Artists instead, and it is significantly higher than my line on all but two dates. So it is clear that Featured Artists average many more views than I typically get, and I am very motivated to post something daily while I have this opportunity. I will also start entering the monthly contest more often and trying to win a month on the Featured Artists page once in awhile. I was on it for a month several years ago and remember noticing the big difference in the average pop-up numbers then. Whether or not the additional views result in significantly more sales I don’t know. Certainly can’t hurt.
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I was a featured artist 4 times, and my viewed number of visitors was a lot higher and I felt very pressured to take advantage of the 30 days. The 2nd time, the same but felt a little less pressured. The 3rd time, life was happening so I just let it and was not able to post much and the numbers were not quite as good but still better than when not featured. And the same for the 4th…I don’t think being featured sold more paintings, well, maybe it did a little.
I was very uptight in the beginning about not missing a day painting, posting and it became about that instead of the enjoyment of the painting. I posted things that weren’t finished because of the self imposed deadlines. When life started happening in not such a delightful way, I didn’t have a choice, I had to let some things go…and it was all okay. So I don’t keep track of any of it any more. I just paint when I want to, post when I want to and now I am able to enjoy all of it.
I still do try to enter the contest each month but sometimes I miss here and there.
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I was lucky to have won a Featured Artist on last months contest. My views increased and I think I can attribute 5 sales to it as well. And yes, I made sure I had something up for each day of the month. Thank you to DPW - a great experience!