A new collector of my art shared with me how she chose my art for her home. With the art she selected and the way she installed it, I believe she created a perfect composition for this nature-oriented retreat in her home:

“(Our home has) a spacious reading room overlooking a lovely wooded spot in our yard and a small creek with two little waterfalls with plunge pools. The room’s architecture was designed to draw one’s eye directly to the outdoor trees and water and is furnished simply so as not to distract from that goal. It’s a peaceful, meditative room… but also had a spacious blank wall.

I’ve been watching for a large piece of eye-catching art that would enhance the room without taking away from the view — a seeming contradiction of purpose. Your four handsome photographs are not only stunningly beautiful and intriguingly interesting but I chose them for their quiet presence. They will be available for contemplation and enjoyment but not at the expense of the natural setting outside. As a matter of fact, being of natural subjects they coordinate beautifully.

And here’s my favorite quote:

I leave all leaf litter, ferns, wildflowers, rock and mosses to take over their spaces outside as they choose. One could imagine that you picked up a leaf from outside the window and we brought it inside. Perfect!”

She gets it. Absolutely gets it.

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how a new collector chose my art

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Sometimes, one subject can reveal two completely different personalities, depending on how you interact with it. These two photographs are of the same shell. But one is bold and fearless, while the other is shy and reserved.

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Two perspectives on a shell

I wanted to expand a little on one other point he makes. Ze talked about how there is a craft to doing what feels right and true, and a totally separate craft to doing what is marketable. But there is also a third craft that is a combination of the two. It is the craft of taking what you create and bringing it to the world, learning how to market it, sell it, and hopefully make a living from it. Many artists have no interest in this path, and that’s fine. But if this is what you want, to be a professional, profitable artist, just realize that this craft is not an easy one to learn. It is not simple. Oh man, this is in no way a piece of cake! In fact, it takes as much, or even more, time and energy to learn this craft as it does to learn your original artform.

Being an artist is one of the most difficult kinds of businesses to run. For a group of people who typically don’t like to think about business, we all picked the one career that is pure sales and marketing. Think about it — you are trying to convince people to spend a decent amount of money for a colored square of canvas, or a rock you chipped away at, or a bunch of words on a paper! Crazy! I mean, selling ice cream is easy. But art?? Business schools should force their students to manage an artist’s career for a year to really learn what it means to market and sell.

But if you are at all serious about making a livelihood from your art, this is a craft you need to learn. Be ready to spend years learning, and relearning, the craft of selling your art. Be ready to take time away from making art to figure out how to show it and explain it and market it. Be ready for some to dismiss your goals, saying “commercial” or “sell-out” through gritted, self-righteous teeth. But if you can pull it off, it will be worth it.

Build it and they will come? No, sorry. But build it. Build it the best you can. Then make signs in the road pointing to it. And then stand on the roof and shout about it. And then maybe, just maybe, they will come. (And hopefully bring their credit cards.)

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learn the craft of selling your art

Variation 1 – deep into the spiral. Purchase a print

Variation 2 – open and aware. Purchase a print

Variation 3 – sweeping motion. Purchase a print

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3 variations on a shell

Every summer, my family follows the New Jersey tradition of heading down the shore. And like most, we can’t resist wandering along the beach collecting shells. Of course, I can’t just pick up the usual perfect specimens. I tend to look for the more “interesting” shells, the weathered ones with a little history to them.

This photograph is of one of these shells, eroded and softened by the waves. I was fascinated by its subtle interplay of grays and whites, colors I normally associate with winter. In those colors I saw a snowstorm blowing across a mountain range, the drifting snow revealing the ice and stone beneath. I love the idea of creating a photograph about winter from a shell saved during the height of summer, of a mountain range created from something found at the sea.

Purchase a print of The White Mountains

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The White Mountains – an abstract of a sea shell