how can i sell my paintings?

Question

i enjoy painting portraits from photographs for friends and family and people have told me that i should sell them. it would be lovely to make some money from this but i only want to do it to order (ie. they give me a photo and i can paint it, but i don't want to sell ready done paintings). how can i advertise locally? i live in york and was thinking maybe i could take out an advert in our local village magazine. has anyone got any other ideas? i can't do ebay but any other ideas would be great!

Answer 1

Perhaps you could scan a picture of your work (& the original photo) & create an A4 sized poster advertising you & your work.

There must be some local places who would be willing to display the poster for you. What about your local library? Or Community Centre? Possibly even local dentists or surgeries? (Our local vet has an advert on the wall from someone who does dog portraits from photos.)

Perhaps if you could create a smaller, yet clear, poster - it could be of a size to be displayed in a newsagents window or charity shop (if you offer to donate)?

Maybe your local art shop has facilities for it's customers to advertise?

Also tell your friends & family that you are now starting to sell your paintings & say that you are open to accepting commissions. Ask them to take some of the smaller advertising posters to put up on their notice boards at their workplaces.

It may be a good idea to put suggestions on your posters/adverts of when such a gift might be appropriate ... like golden wedding anniversary, birthday, mothers day, etc.

Good luck

Answer 2

Put adverts in all your local shops and put an advert in your local free ads also some times in summer take some to a park with you while painting see if people show interest you might get a few sold that way good luck :)

Answer 3

Well if your really adventurous and Good at Paining Move into displaying your work on the Internet . You can find E Bay shops that will ace pt and package your work for distribution Being artistic you would prefer to spend your time thinking of your next projects and their completion. This is not meant to be a pat answer to gain points . i have sincerely try ed to think of a genuine way to help you . If Van Gough had had the Internet he may have sold a pain ting --- Enjoy your work

Answer 4

I would say that you could get a website, and then distribute cards or advertise. Also you could see about getting a work area somewhere where people can watch you paint etc.

So you need what other businesses need, a storefront(be it real world or virtual) and advertising(which you can design yourself since you're an artist already).

Best of luck.

Answer 5

School art galleries. I had a few pieces put up in my college's gallery. No one purchased anything, but at least they got a taste of Kat. =)
Also, around here, certain cafes and such will hold local artist's work for like a week for public view.
~Kat

Answer 6

ask a local cafe to put some of your work on the wall. put a little notice on the corner with your contact details on it. we have local artists selling paintings this way. good luck

Answer 7

You must advertise further afield, a local mag will not give you enough coverage, go to local paper's in York and put ad''s in them, good luck.

Answer 8

try getting a stall at
your local market.
Roll up Roll up
buy your paintings
direct from the artist
no middle man..

Answer 9

Try e-bay. Sell portraits.

Answer 10

contact any local galleries and they should be able to help. practice drawing from real life and then you could make money on the street aswell, that's what i do.