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You know, everybody wants a clear, focused, no drama kind of life, but very few people know how to actually get that done. In this article, I’m going to share with you a “lost art” that has supercharged the focus in my life, something I like to call the Art of Subtraction.
Having been an artist and a business owner for over 25 years, I have participated in and learned from one of the biggest misconceptions that keeps creatives from genuinely thriving in every area of life. That misconception, or lie, is the idea that if a few great things in life are beneficial, then adding a whole bunch more to your plate must be the way to grow and succeed in life and art. If this mindset sounds way too familiar, then let me dismantle this falsehood and give you some insights on how to move forward. As I was starting this thriving journey, I really wanted to have a clear, focused life. I wanted to avoid the drama-filled life and live a life that was pleasing to the Lord. Not knowing how to do this on my own, I dug in and started to read good books, take good classes, and seek out good ideas to help me grow in business and in life. And it WAS all good, and I was learning and growing, but before you know it, all this stuff started to pile up in my life. You see, my life became full of what I would say was GOOD stuff, but it really wasn’t full of the BEST stuff. I find that this happens a lot in the lives of people who are experiencing success in their life. Maybe you have been on the road to thriving for a while now. Perhaps you are starting to experience some success in your life as an artist, and you just think, “WOW! That works.” So you head off, and you do more of that. That course works, so you add three more. That show works, so you do one every month. You keep adding and adding and adding. Before long, though, what happens is you end up with a bunch of GOOD stuff, but not the BEST stuff in life. Know What You Are Called to Do in This Season of Life For me, it began back in Atlanta on the floor, crying out to God after I felt like I hit bottom in my professional life. It was from that time of being real and honest with God that He pointed me towards my life’s calling. If you know a bit of my story from then until now, the Lord has had me on a wild journey. From pulling up our roots in Georgia and settling in Asheville, to launching a world-wide Artist Mentoring Program. But several times during this journey, I’ve had to pull over in order to take stock of where I am in the journey towards fulfilling God’s plan for my life, my family, my art, and my business. I had to go back to that place of being real with God and ask Him to show me where I was on the “map” at that time. His answers always provided me with the context I needed to do what had to be done next. Evaluate and Eliminate I’ve actually been in this process for the last few years in my life and in my business. It’s a process of determining what the BEST things God has for me are, and what are just simply GOOD things. I’ve learned to evaluate each opportunity and open door by how it will potentially impede or expedite the things I’m called to do in this current season of life. The really crazy thing is that yesterday’s best often ends up being today’s good. Things that were life-giving and fruit-bearing in previous seasons of life are now just GOOD things keeping me from the BEST that God has for me today. Recently for me, yesterday’s best was teaching basketry classes. I did this for years, and it was a great source of income for me when I was starting my art business in Asheville. But as the Lord began to move me more towards mentoring other artists, this formerly great thing, teaching classes, morphed into something that ultimately needed to be eliminated. Say No to the Good and Yes to the Best This concept is the heart of the Art of Subtraction. Begin by taking a look at all the things you are currently doing in your life, business, and art. Then ask yourself the following questions about each of these things:
So listen, I don’t know where you are right now in life, or if this is even resonating with you at all, but if it is, I want to encourage you to go for it. Take some time with the Lord. Take a hard look at everything that you are doing in your life, in your business, and your art. Ask yourself the hard question, “Is this producing the fruit that I want, or is it not?” If it is not, then ask yourself, “What is producing fruit?” Then take the bold step to double-down on the things in your life that are actually producing the fruit and momentum in your life, your art, and your business. I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend. Thanks for reading.
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Do you struggle with pricing your artwork? Do you often feel like you're underpricing, or maybe even undervaluing, your artwork? It's an all too common problem for artists. If you can relate, I have some good news and some surprising news for you. The good news is that this doesn't have to be your story. The surprising news is that we're going to have to address a mindset issue that's probably been holding you back.
Over the years, I've learned that if you are struggling with pricing as an artist, it rarely has anything to do with the value of your work, the quality of your work, or what people are willing to pay you. What I have found to be the case is that 99% of the time, the major roadblock when it comes to pricing is YOU, or more specifically, your MINDSET. No matter how talented you may be or what kind of local art market you live in, at the end of the day it all boils down to what you believe about yourself and your artwork. Don’t worry, I’ll explain more as we keep going, but first I want to start here. Let me challenge you to take a few minutes and do a little self-assessment. Be honest, even if you don't like your answers. The point of this little exercise is to find the root cause of why pricing your art is such a struggle. Mini-Assessment
Now, take a moment and ask God to show you the common thread that runs through all your answers. What is one thing that is most responsible for the problems you've had pricing your artwork? I know for me, when I started, it was a struggle to figure out how to price my artwork effectively so that I could make money as an artist. One thing that I did learn over the years was that if you don't value yourself and your art, then that same discounting of yourself and your artistic giftings will be reflected 100% of the time in the price that you put on your artwork. Take a moment to let that sink in while I share this story. After I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, and had become a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild (the second oldest and most prestigious fine craft guild in the country), I had an experience at one of my first shows with them that exposed my false thinking and highlighted the need to change my mindset. Being a new artist in a group in such a prestigious group, I decided to push my pricing to where I felt comfortable, to a price point I thought people would pay based on what I would pay. My mindset at the time was something like, "If I wouldn't pay more than this, then I won't price my work any higher than this." At the time, it made sense to me. Well, I had a beautiful sculptural piece there with me that weekend. And as I started working the crowd, and people are coming up and talking to me, this one guy came up and started circling that piece. I tried to hold my excitement back just knowing he was falling in love with the sculpture and that I was about to make a sale. Everything was going well until he looked at the $200 price I had on the piece. The guy finally engaged me and asked, "Well, are you the artist?" I said, "Yeah!" He said, "Well, this is a really beautiful piece, a really special piece." I said, "Well, thank you so much.” He said, "You know, people come to this kind of show because they are looking for something that is really, really special." Now in the back of my mind, I am thinking the whole time, "This guy is going to totally buy this piece! He is driving himself into the buyer's lane right now." I said, "Yeah! Yeah! People do come to this show because it is a beautiful show." He said, "Matt, can I be honest with you?" I said, "Sure! Sure!" He said, "You have been doing this a lot longer than I have; you have got a lot more experience than I do, but I'll be honest with you. $200 really doesn't say "special" to me." And then he walked away. I have a friend that had the same thing happen when she was selling a piece of pottery. She had priced her art at $150, but a prospective customer mistakenly thought that the piece was priced at $1,500 and was eager to take the piece home. As the customer took the piece up to the counter to check out, she was informed that it was only $150. Normally you'd think this would be a good thing, but the customer who was willing and ready to buy a $1500 piece of pottery refused to buy it now that it was only $150. Why do you think this happened in both of these cases? I believe it all boils down to perception. From the artists' point of view, we both priced our pieces based on what we perceived our value and the value of the piece to be. Again, this made perfect sense at the time. But to both potential buyers, their perception of our art, art that they wanted to buy, was damaged by what they perceived to be a cheap price. For me, this experience was an excellent opportunity to reach out to God and allow Him to challenge and change the mindsets I held around the pricing and valuing my work. As I grew in this area, I began to gain the confidence to start pricing my art in a way that set me apart. If this resonates with you, then I challenge you to take your own pricing and value mindsets to the God and ask, "Lord, am I charging for my art based out of fear, or am I charging for my art based on being a business person, being confident in what You have called me to, knowing that I need to make money and make a profit to sell?" I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend. Thanks for reading. For a detailed explanation of pricing artwork, check out my guide to How to Price Your Art: The Definitive Guide for Pricing Artwork for Visual Artists.
You know, a lot of artists have dreams about supplementing their income with their artwork, but few know how to take those first steps towards making this dream a reality. If this is you, please keep reading. I’m going to be sharing some practical things you can start doing now to turn your art hobby into a profitable and productive side-hustle.
Make Space First of all, be sure you are intentionally making space in your life for both your day job and your art. If you’re like most folks working a full-time job, then Monday through Friday is probably dominated by work, commuting, and living life, and that’s entirely understandable. The challenge, then, is what you do with those other hours in your day, your weekend, and your free time? Well, if you want to make your art work for you, especially as an income stream, then you have to be serious about making that work for you from a time, energy, and resource perspective. So, sit down, look at your calendar, make sure you are giving intentional space every week to your art. Be Realistic Secondly, you have to be realistic about the time you have to invest in your art, but more importantly, you have to make that time count. Be consistent and faithful in the time you have to be inspired, practice techniques, and create pieces of art. Remember, you’re in this for the long haul. Also, be realistic about how you are going to get your work out there to potential buyers. You may want to consider quarterly shows, online sales, or even working with a local gallery that can market your art for you while you are still working a full-time job. Remember there isn’t a one size fits all approach, the secret is finding what works best for you, your family, and your art during this season. And this brings us to my final point... Be Clear Be clear, I mean really, really clear about what you want, what you are willing to give up in order to get that, and where you want to go in this season of your life. We call that vision, and the Bible is really clear on this topic. Proverbs 29:18 tells us that, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” and that word perish there actually means to cast off restraint. It means going here or there with no real direction in life, but VISION allows you to be clear about who you are, what you want, and where you are going in any given season of life. All of us go through different seasons in life. Right now, my focus is on being a Husband to my wife, a Dad to my son, and a Father to artists. When new opportunities arise in my life, I take a moment to evaluate each open door in the light of the current season that I find myself in. If the option being offered doesn’t line up with the vision God has laid out for me during this season, then I don’t do it. It really is that simple to be clear when you have a vision for your life. I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend. Thanks for reading. 
There’s a fresh wind blowing through the arts right now, all over the world. Many have called it a New Renaissance of sorts and as an artist, that’s exciting!
For many artists, it's brought a new vitality, a resurgence of buyers and the opportunity to significantly grow their businesses through new tools and technology platforms, but is that it? Is that the end game? I believe there's much more on God's heart for artists. More than Marketers During this current resurgence of the arts, God is highlighting artists, our work and our creative process. It's an exciting time but God's not simply interested in raising up more talented artists and better marketers for our own sake. This move is not just about creating great art and making money as an end in itself (although both of those things can be the fruit of following Gods lead)! He’s actually waking up our hearts, drawing us into wholeness, transforming our minds and raising up an army of creative sons and daughters who know who they are and what they are called to in the Kingdom. This is definitely a God-inspired movement - a tidal wave of creativity in our generation - but to simply see it only as a renaissance is to miss the essence of what's going on. This move is very different and if we don’t recognize the differences, we will miss the central focus of what’s Gods really doing in this hour. Here’s why: 3 Philosophies of the Renaissance During (and as a result of) the Renaissance, three main philosophies emerged that have guided artists for generations since:
These three systems formed the basis of how most artists approach their work and business - Christian artists included - even today. It goes like this: pursue my artistic expression (because that’s who I am), make it all about my desires, my talent, my expression and then find others to support me through grants, donations and sales. For some that works, although not long term. For many, it doesn't work, resulting in a starving artist mentality on one side or a success-focused art marketer on the other. The ugly side of patronage during the Renaissance of the past was that the artist became dependent on and was at the mercy of the patron (rather than a healthy identity in the Lord), adding a complicated (to say the least) dynamic to their life and art. Today, being a slave to the market or latest marketing trend can yield the same frustration. More than an Arts Renaissance In this season, God is using this renaissance to lead us to revival and ultimately, thriving in His Kingdom. He's also raising up an army of artists who operate in three wholly different ways:
Lasting Success, Grace to Grow As an artist myself and one who’s had the great privilege of walking with thousands of artists over the years as a mentor, I know this: artists who seek the transformative power of God in the context of their life, art and business will always experience more lasting success than those who simply seek after the latest artistic fads and business trends. Further, artists who center their art and business in their relationship with God also have the grace to grow and mature over the long term, building what Proverbs calls “wealth without sorrow.” I want revival, not just renaissance. Revival starts in the heart - my heart - and flows out to others by the Spirit of God through my art, my business and my life. Revival awakens and empowers me from within. Revival centers my life, work and business in hearing Gods voice and following His lead. Revival calls me to community and lasting impact, for His glory. Sure, becoming a better artist and a better marketer is a part of this process for artists but it’s when God shows up that everything changes. That kind of lasting transformation will never happen as the result of my own effort. When God shows up, transformation is released. When God shows up, my life and art has meaning. When God shows up, then the world is changed. Pray this with me: Oh God, raise up an army of artists - sons and daughters - who know your voice, follow your lead and release the beauty of your Kingdom in the earth! Here I am, use me.
Tell me my friend, does this sound familiar?
You've created a significant body of work and have done your best to let the world know you're open for business, but no matter what you do, you just can't seem to sell your art locally. If you find yourself in an extremely rural area, an area that is economically depressed, or an area that doesn't have an established art-buying culture, then it may be time to face facts. Your local area may not be where your ideal clients, the best buyers for your art, are located. If this is you, don't worry. This isn't the end of your artistic dreams, but the beginning of a new way of thinking about and approaching your art business. And to help you get started, I want to share three ideas that I've seen work for artists around the globe. 1. Selling Art is Not the Only Way to Make Money as An Artist When I first moved to Asheville and started to establish myself as an artist, I discovered that teaching art classes was a great way to augment my art sales. These classes brought in some much-needed income while helping to elevate my status as an artistic professional in my community. Over the past few years, online courses have come into their own. Even in our currently socially distanced world, it's never been easier to use what you know artistically to create a great source of income. 2. You Need to Go Where the Fish Are I grew up in Georgia and learned quite early that if you're trying to catch fish, you've got to go to where the fish are. The same wisdom applies to selling your art. If your local art market is sluggish or non-existent, then it's time to find out where folks are buying art in your region and your state. Start with a little online research. Spend some time looking into shows outside of your local area that are a good fit for your work. Then look into the galleries that are attracting the clientele you're looking to connect with. Once you've narrowed down the list, check out these shows and galleries in person. It may mean taking a road trip and getting a hotel. The goal is to find with the Holy Spirit's guidance, the shows and galleries that are a great fit for your art. 3. Selling Your Artwork Online Is a Great Option The fundamentals are simple: attract an audience, get their email address, and build a connection over time. It may be a new concept to you, but over the years, I've learned that Connection is Key when it comes to growing your art sales. Every successful artist I know cultivates buyers by intentionally and consistently building a connection with their followers. Now once you've built that connection, everything else is quite simple. From processing payments online to worldwide shipping, it's never been easier to sell your art to a global audience. Looking for A Blueprint for Success? Over the years as I've developed my own thriving art business and helped thousands of other Christian artists do the same, I've discovered there are some key elements you need to be focused on in order to start or grow your art business. They include things like: ✅ Having a simple, clear pathway for your purpose ✅ Knowing where to focus your time, attention and resources to accelerate growth ✅ Understanding what habits make success easier ✅ Clarifying God’s plan for your life and art ✅ Discovering why people aren't buying your art ✅ Transforming lookers into raving clients ✅ How to build a personal brand that attracts buyers both online and offline ✅ Knowing the key elements every artist website should have to start making sales ✅ Feeling confident in creating a simple artist marketing plan ✅ Knowing how to handle the business side of being an artist without being overwhelmed These key elements are the beginning of starting or growing your art business to the next level.
I hope this has been a big encouragement to you. If this article has been a blessing to you, take a moment to share it with a friend.
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AuthorMatt Tommey is an artist, author and mentor who is passionate about empowering artists to thrive spiritually, artistically and in business. |
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