Blog
Stacks Image 81
IS IT WORTH IT? - the value of art
Feb 22nd, 2021
Stacks Image 57
Have you ever looked at the price of a piece of artwork and thought ‘Cor blimey! That’s a bit steep!’?
’ll put my hands up and admit that I have, but recently, in the pursuit of making a career as an artist, I have been thinking about this a lot and I decided to do a bit of research. Here’s what I found…………

Artwork is notoriously hard to place a value on, with some people willing to spend no more than twenty quid and others looking to invest thousands.

Should it be valued by the joy it can bring? The time taken to create it? The quality of
draughtsmanship? The fact it’s a one off? The kudos it offers? The medium that it was created in? Or, maybe, the cost of the raw materials?

As an artist this makes pricing your own work a tricky business. Artists’ can often undersell themselves, plucking prices from the air, a reflection of their confidence rather than the quality of, or time taken to create the work, thinking ‘no one will pay that much for it’. I’ve been guilty of this myself, and still find it difficult to get past, but I have come to realise that in doing so I am contributing to a culture that undervalues the time, skill, care and creativity taken in creating an artisan product.

When you buy artwork from a gallery, or direct from the artist, as opposed to mass produced prints from a chain store, you are paying for exclusivity. You are paying for quality, carefully chosen colours and marks, lovingly applied to create a truly original piece, rich in lustre, a luxury item.

Artwork makes a house a home, and in choosing to invest in a one off you are saying that you are not scared to stand out from the crowd. The artwork that you invest in will make a statement about your own personality and tastes, it comes with a story, and makes a great conversation starter.

Artwork can provoke an emotional response, cause you to raise a smile, evoke memories, bringing a joy to your life, and if all of that is not enough, an original artwork has the potential to appreciate in value as the artists’ career develops.
Stacks Image 67
I’m going to explain the considerations in pricing a piece of artwork, so that when it comes to buying artwork, you’ll be better placed to decide if it’s worth it.

I have recently been working on developing a new collection. I spent hours researching imagery, playing around with ideas and materials before coming up with something that I was happy with. The piece that I came up with took 40 hours to complete. I tentatively put it out into the world (always a nerve-racking moment) and thankfully received really positive feedback. ‘Right!’ I thought, ‘time to take this seriously and do some maths’.

Firstly, I worked out the cost of materials, paints, papers, printing inks, framing and packaging - £53.61.

I worked out my overheads per hour, the costs of running my little business, insurances, memberships, website fees, utilities, etc - £4.59ph

I set my hourly rate at £10 an hour, not exactly the wage of a skilled worker, but hey, it’s early days in my career as an artist and I don’t want to risk overpricing myself before I’ve built a reputation. It’s starting to add up now.

Then if I want to keep my little business growing, I need to factor in a profit. At this stage I don’t want to be greedy, but I need to give myself a fighting chance, so I opt for 20%, enough to fund the new projects that I have in the pipeline.

So, now I have the price that I need to achieve if I want to cover the costs of production, and keep my business afloat, but that doesn’t factor in the possibility of selling through a gallery. Galleries take around 50% of the sale and so suddenly I’m working at a massive loss. If I bypass the gallery and sell on my own, I will have to factor in hours of marketing and building a market.

The result? In order to make a living I need to make a minimum £1500 from this one piece. I then have a decision to make. Do I spend all of my time focusing on selling the piece at its full cost? Or, do I sell at a loss and then try and recoup the difference through the sale of limited edition giclee prints. What did I do?
Click here for prints.
Stacks Image 93
#art #artwork #price #cost #worth #artist
Blog
Stacks Image 107
IS IT WORTH IT? - the value of art
Feb 22nd, 2021
Stacks Image 113
Have you ever looked at the price of a piece of artwork and thought ‘Cor blimey! That’s a bit steep!’?
’ll put my hands up and admit that I have, but recently, in the pursuit of making a career as an artist, I have been thinking about this a lot and I decided to do a bit of research. Here’s what I found…………

Artwork is notoriously hard to place a value on, with some people willing to spend no more than twenty quid and others looking to invest thousands.

Should it be valued by the joy it can bring? The time taken to create it? The quality of
draughtsmanship? The fact it’s a one off? The kudos it offers? The medium that it was created in? Or, maybe, the cost of the raw materials?

As an artist this makes pricing your own work a tricky business. Artists’ can often undersell themselves, plucking prices from the air, a reflection of their confidence rather than the quality of, or time taken to create the work, thinking ‘no one will pay that much for it’. I’ve been guilty of this myself, and still find it difficult to get past, but I have come to realise that in doing so I am contributing to a culture that undervalues the time, skill, care and creativity taken in creating an artisan product.

When you buy artwork from a gallery, or direct from the artist, as opposed to mass produced prints from a chain store, you are paying for exclusivity. You are paying for quality, carefully chosen colours and marks, lovingly applied to create a truly original piece, rich in lustre, a luxury item.

Artwork makes a house a home, and in choosing to invest in a one off you are saying that you are not scared to stand out from the crowd. The artwork that you invest in will make a statement about your own personality and tastes, it comes with a story, and makes a great conversation starter.

Artwork can provoke an emotional response, cause you to raise a smile, evoke memories, bringing a joy to your life, and if all of that is not enough, an original artwork has the potential to appreciate in value as the artists’ career develops.
Stacks Image 119
I’m going to explain the considerations in pricing a piece of artwork, so that when it comes to buying artwork, you’ll be better placed to decide if it’s worth it.

I have recently been working on developing a new collection. I spent hours researching imagery, playing around with ideas and materials before coming up with something that I was happy with. The piece that I came up with took 40 hours to complete. I tentatively put it out into the world (always a nerve-racking moment) and thankfully received really positive feedback. ‘Right!’ I thought, ‘time to take this seriously and do some maths’.

Firstly, I worked out the cost of materials, paints, papers, printing inks, framing and packaging - £53.61.

I worked out my overheads per hour, the costs of running my little business, insurances, memberships, website fees, utilities, etc - £4.59ph

I set my hourly rate at £10 an hour, not exactly the wage of a skilled worker, but hey, it’s early days in my career as an artist and I don’t want to risk overpricing myself before I’ve built a reputation. It’s starting to add up now.

Then if I want to keep my little business growing, I need to factor in a profit. At this stage I don’t want to be greedy, but I need to give myself a fighting chance, so I opt for 20%, enough to fund the new projects that I have in the pipeline.

So, now I have the price that I need to achieve if I want to cover the costs of production, and keep my business afloat, but that doesn’t factor in the possibility of selling through a gallery. Galleries take around 50% of the sale and so suddenly I’m working at a massive loss. If I bypass the gallery and sell on my own, I will have to factor in hours of marketing and building a market.

The result? In order to make a living I need to make a minimum £1500 from this one piece. I then have a decision to make. Do I spend all of my time focusing on selling the piece at its full cost? Or, do I sell at a loss and then try and recoup the difference through the sale of limited edition giclee prints. What did I do?
Click here for prints.
Stacks Image 125
#art #artwork #price #cost #worth #artist