'Tis the Season for Shopping and thinking about giving art to everyone you know. No matter who you buy from, think about giving art this season!
Since I took a break off the festival circuit I've been searching for a way to empty my flat files so that I can happily fill them again in the next years. So the cycle begins.
During my "festival period" I was either always getting ready for a festival, going to a festival, in a festival or coming and resting from a festival. The creative spark had to take a back seat.
Now I'm back creating but I missed making that special connection with my collectors. I'm really not a gallery seeker nor an art scene groupie, so aside from festivals, connecting with collectors happens daily through the magic of the internet.
Which brings me to selling online. Definitely not all it's cracked up to be...well, maybe if you sell shoes or ladies purses, but making "a living", even a scant one, selling art online is not at all as easy as cranking out a website and waiting for the shopping cart to fill up.
So far, my best online ventures have been the unlikely wacky world of ebay
http://www.stores.ebay.com/1000woodcuts and the delightful Etsy
http://1000woodcuts.etsy.com/.
Ebay has by far the best traffic but can be a dangerous place; Etsy has a nice charm and is more suitable for fine prints. The price point on both of those is pretty low so I place my smaller prints and I sell unmatted and unframed. I think collectors get a good deal and all I have to do is kiss my prints and place them gently in a mailer and off they go!
But what to do with framed works, larger works and blocks? I started various other online shops through the years and traffic is just deplorable about everywhere. Many online galleries want outrageous amounts of money and don't seem to get the sales to justify the charges.
This year, I found Ruby Lane! Very elegantly done, nice offerings, great people and an overall very classy look to the website. And, very important for printmakers, no reproductions allowed! The price point is higher and that attracts a knowledgeable clientele as well. I started a shop and we'll give it a year or three and see how it goes.
They also have an alternate site, Ruby Plaza, which acommodates the lower price offerings and still (yeah!) reproductions have to be labeled as such. It's really a fine printmaker's heaven.
Anyhow, check it out for yourself. It's definitely worth a look and if you have been searching for an online shop that is classy, you might want to give it a try, tell them I sent you. Here is my Ruby Lane Shop:
NEW! Fine Art Gallery:
Shop Ruby Lane for 1000 Woodcuts Maintaining all these little jewels takes time, of course, and I try not to let things get too stale on any one website. Then there's promotion and such things but life is much easier when the booth doesn't have to go up at 3:30 AM...in the wind...and cold...
