terence ulrich 03 Jan 2005

I have a deep feeling of gratitude. That someone would look at my work and actually fork over cash because it touched them in some way means a lot. And a little regret too...because more than likely a little soul went into that piece as well and you just hate to part with an expression (however small) of your soul.

Juan Gomez 03 Jan 2005

Ditto Terence...

cramer 03 Jan 2005

ive only sold a few..but..it totaly excites me...like an endorphine rush...not because i got some money..i hate money...it just makes me happy because someone wants to hang it on there wall :)

Gayla Drummond 03 Jan 2005

I'm with cramer on this....I love selling something, because someone's going to hang it on their wall!!

Dawn Schmidt 03 Jan 2005

My paintings are sort of like children to me - I joke that it's like sending them off to college. It's exciting, sad, and seriously unbelievable that they are ready for the "real world"!!

...and I have complete gratitude that someone sees their potential, too.

Fred Odle 03 Jan 2005

I agree with all you guys ,sometimes I feel like keeping all of my work but it's only because of this commercial world that we live in that ditates that to survive you need dinero tthat I part with the work , sometimes I even get to the point where I'll tell a client who commissions a piece that the piece looks so good I'll keep it if they don't , and this is'nt a sales ploy either, I guess you could say I fall in LOVE with my own creations LOL, hey is'nt there some story of a sculpter who fell for his own work or somthing like that........

Kari Franklin 03 Jan 2005

:::g::: I for one like money, so I work very hard and have more than one job.

Honestly it never fails to amaze me that someone thinks highly enough of something I've created to pay me for it. I mean I'll take the money..lol, but I still always feel kind of surprised inside.

I think the biggest rush for me is when I get a client who gives me some vauge, fuzzy notion of what it is they have in thier heads or hearts and I finally manage to convey it for them. And they get all excited about it and go "Yes! That's it!"

That is in itself is Deeply gratifying for me. So I guess for me it's more the execution thing.

Art is my Love, but I seriously doubt I'll ever get rich doing it...I just kinda do what I do because...I dunno...because for some reason, I have to wether I get paid for it or not.

N. Michael Bryant 03 Jan 2005

I've sold a number of pieces, and I like the feeling on one hand, but makes me feel weird on the other. Kinda like someone taking me home with them to exhibit. Weird, I know, what I'm saying.

Elizabeth Smith 03 Jan 2005

After selling numerous prints and originals...I still get the same rush as if my first piece of artwork is getting sold. :o)

The same as when one compliments me on a piece. It just feels great to be appreciated once in awhile. :o)

Each time an original sells...it is so hard to part with. I mean I have to take tons of slides and photos of it like it is a family member that will never be seen again. I find it is like a roller coaster of emotion...you get the high as well as the low. :ol You are happy that a piece is sold but yet it is a piece that you will more than likely never see again.

~~~The uploaded image is of my latest commissioned painting. It is acrylic on canvas (20" x 60").

Gordon Szczubelek 03 Jan 2005

I have sold alot of commissions the last few years and it is hard to get excited about doing a painting when money isn't involved. We have had "our" dog for about six years and I have yet to put him on canvas. But I do donate one or two gift certificates for pet paintings to fund raisers every year so I am not as greedy as I may appear.

Chris Van Horn-Musicwolf13studios 03 Jan 2005

After selling and doing commission work for about a year now, sometimes it all becomes so ~mechanical~. I still feel a big rush when something really good explodes and people are emailing about it. I agree with alot about money needed to make things happen and survive. Much emotion is lost when I know I have to crank out so many drawings to make the housepayment. I don't know. Starting to get burned out and less of my self is starting to go into the works..

Sal Buchanan 04 Jan 2005

I don't mind so much selling an old painting, because usually it's taking up valuable space in my little house and I'm sick of the sight of it anyway, by this time it's going cheap!

A newly painted piece however is totally different,the price is highest when I've just completed a piece because deep down I know that I'm really not ready to sell it yet. The older the painting gets, the easier it is to part with it,so the lower the price becomes :-) I know that's the wrong way to price your work, but I can't help myself.

I've even blown it once by pricing too high when a propective buyer asked me how much, before I'd even finished the painting...

Geez, I hope no buyers are reading this.

Elizabeth Smith 04 Jan 2005

Gordon...I highly urge you to do a portrait of your dog as soon as you can. I have done a few pop art style portraits of one of my cats and surprisingly those sold really fast. I even had one collector commission me to enlarge an (18" x 24") canvas painting to (3' x 5'). He just loves my stuff blown up to a large scale.

Anyway, I sold all of my paintings and drawings of this cat that unexpectedly died. I felt so bad. She was gone and so were the artworks of her.

What I am trying to say is you must do a painting of your dog. When you do you should keep it for your own private collection. If people show interest in it them paint them another. I totally regret selling all of my pet portraits. It is such a horrible feeling. I wouldn't want you to go through that too.

~ Uploaded image is of the smaller (18" x 24") acrylic on canvas painting titled "The Tipster"

Terrell Smith-Dorfeo 04 Jan 2005

when and if I do....lately all I get are people who want me to create something for nothing for their benefit, not mine...I am usually not in the giving mood

art for me has been very frustrating this past year, but I don't expect success overnight either.

I had more sales before art school!

excuse my rant please, just venting!

When I make a sale, or allow an image to be used, it tugs at me,which sounds silly doesn't it? I suppose because it was /is a part of "me", but am always happy when my client is pleased and I have money in my hot lil' hand!

04 Jan 2005

Zomrak 05 Jan 2005

Very interesting topic. I hate to sell my paintings so much that I eventually stoped painting because there was no point pilling new paintings, no space left. I think it is easier to take photographs, and sell them, if possible. I sold a lot of paintings, in the glorious years of late 70's, early 80's, in America, Europe, Japan, but my first painting, exhibited in Paris in a show called "American painters in Paris" was for sale, 5000 dollars, in 1976 it was a lot of money, somebody wanted to buy it, but I refused to sell it, and now, I am glad I still have it. I guess you have to be either young and looking for recognition, or either, very hungry, and need the money to live. I am none of those, so, I am waiting for the sacro-saint "Inspiration" to start again, just for my own pleasure, because it is what I liked doing the most in life. I know I won't be able to sell. Why?

sher richardson 05 Jan 2005

No, i kinda go into a depression .. i miss what i smiled/cried over in the original state...

Theres work out there i touched and wish i could see again ...old friends i guess..

: )

RQ Trietsch 05 Jan 2005

For the prices I charge... I love selling my work. Few and far between but it comes with the territory.

sher richardson 05 Jan 2005

Fred...since you had 'rush' in your topic....

I did want to add that the hugest, most glorifying 'rush' is when the piece is completed, for me... i become reborn in a sense and have described the feeling to a non artist as being healed from some terminal disease when a piece is completed..

Am i alone in this feeling?

I dance and boogie and smile and eat happy...hopefully someone knows this feeling too...(or maybe i'm looney and should slink away quietly : )

: )

Fred Odle 06 Jan 2005

Sher, I too get a nice fuzzy feeling when a piece is complete, but do we really complete a piece or do we abandon it ?? and if we don't go back to the painting some time later do we start a part 2 or three to that original piece? I ask these questions because since the work comes from within and we are constantly changing which means that we're never complete, should'nt this concept apply to our work as well? I know in my case , pieces I've done years ago that I see again seem to need and upgrade and I do that in the since of a new painting, oh and guys excuse my psycho babble I get like that sometimes, so, what are your thoughts on this analysys.