Category: Career Tips for Artists

Are you struggling to sell your original art… or even your prints?

The fact is, as of late 2025, fewer than 25% of Americans have $2000 in the bank.

50% of Americans have less than $500 in savings.

And 23% of Americans age 25 – 34 have nothing in their bank accounts.

Yes: Nothing. (Ref. Nasdaq.)

 

If you’re in business, you need to know your potential audience and customers.

If your usual fans & collectors are among 75% of Americans, they can’t buy your $1500 painting, wall hanging or assemblage, no matter how gorgeous it is, or how badly they want to own it.

Sure, your art may be worth that much or more.

Value isn’t the issue here.

The more pertinent questions might be:

• Do your business practices make your future customers feel better or worse about themselves?
• Do they like how they feel around you and (especially) around your art?
• Do you have rapport with them?

If they don’t feel that sense of mutual understanding on a personal level – even as artist-to-customer – they won’t be as open to connecting with what your art communicates.

Sure, you can focus on the minority who can afford your art.

However, that probably shouldn’t be your exclusive focus.

Reaching the 75%

If you’re meeting some of that 75% at art shows, galleries, or even as you’re running errands – and hope to attract them as clients, customers and collectors in the future, when they’re back on their feet – now is the time to establish rapport. They’ll remember it later.

Think about what you can do, so they feel a connection with you right now. What can you give or sell to them that they can own, and – at the same time – help them feel better about themselves?

Even if the person can’t purchase any of your art – even as prints – right now, he or she should walk away thinking, “That art is so great.  I’m going to own some of that, some day.”

Contrast that with the sad, “That art is beautiful, and yet another thing I can’t afford. Maybe I never will.”

See the difference?

So, make it possible for the person to connect with your art and feel good about it, right now.

The importance of gifts

Whether it’s a happy conversation, an occasional artcard, or a link to a webpage where they can download something… make sure you connect with your friends and fans, and they remember it as a happy meeting.

This isn’t a reciprocity thing.  It’s not, “I’ll give you this now, and you agree to give me something in return, later.”

The gift economy is a little different. 

It’s about bonding as individuals, and as a community, to establish a personal connection and goodwill for the sake of the group and each other, period.

What do you get out of this?

You get to be part of a happier, more connected community…

                                                                                         in a happier, more connected world.

You get the satisfaction of having done something good. 

Too often, that’s vastly underrated.

Remain sensitive to what’s really going on, despite appearances.

This is your opportunity to do something nice and helpful… and be remembered for it.

Everyone wins!

Pave the road to your successful future.

It’s fine to focus on people with cash who also like your art.  That’s common sense.

However, I hope you’ll invest a little happy karma by making it possible for everyone to own some of your art, right now.

This may require a little creativity, but you can do it.

(Note: If you liked my graphic at the top of this article, it’s a free download.  You can click on the image or here to download it as a 5″ x 7″ poster.  If you collect ATCs, click here for that free download.)

To understand more about
our economy and the importance of gifts
read Linchpin by Seth Godin

Never underestimate the value of the U.S. government when it comes to surreal and absurd images, many of which are in the public domain.

I mean it.  And, if you’re easily offended, or if the subject of VD bothers you, avert your eyes.

Seriously, this poster (at right) appears to be in the public domain.  (See notes at the U.S. National Library of Medicine.) You can download a 4MB copy of it at the gov’t website.

I can see so many very wrong uses for that image.  I’d like to put it on a tee shirt, except that I want to replace the VD words with… something else.  I’m not sure what, yet.

I look at her and think, “Really? I mean really? Is that what men found alluring in the 1940s?”

However, that’s not the only image of its kind. A search at the gov’t website using the phrase “venereal disease” turns up all kinds of strange posters of apparently dangerous women.

Check out the sweet girl in the poster on the left.  (Click on the image for the full, print-quality image at the NLM.)

Wasn’t she a famous movie star?  She looks really familiar… like someone I’ve seen in old movies.  Well, now we know about her history!

I’m amused by the phrase “‘good time’ girls.”  It makes me wonder, were there “bad time” girls?

That poster is in the public domain.

The next poster for your consideration (or amusement) is about clean water.  Gosh, it looks like our boys were dealing with all kinds of dangers in the 1940s… wasn’t war enough?

Because that was produced specifically for government use, I’m pretty sure it’s in the public domain.

Click the image to see a really large copy of it.  There may be even bigger versions in the NLM files.

(Of course, if you’re going to use it for a product, it’s smart to research the provenance at the NLM website.)

And, so it’s not all one-step-away-from-zombies, at left is an early poster that has a lot of possibilities if you’d like to alter it for a political statement.

This one is from 1917, so it’s almost certainly in the public domain.  (Most – but not all – American works from before 1923 are now in the public domain.)

If you have questions about copyright law and what’s in the public domain, one of my favorite resources is Cornell’s chart about copyright terms and limits.

 

I wrote the first draft of this article in 2006, when the arts community was still deciding if we were “art journaling” or creating “artists’ journals.”  Then, I expanded the article in 2011, weighing in on the continuing debate. (Today, the phrase “art journaling” seems preferred, so I’ve updated the article… but only a little.)

Two phrases are often used interchangeably:  ‘art journals’ and ‘artists journals.’

For me, an artist’s journal is an illustrated diary or journal representing the artist.  It’s about the person’s life, or some aspect of it, such as a travel journal, a diet & fitness journal, or something like my ‘decluttering journal’.

It usually includes art and the journal is also a work of art, in itself.

Many people call that “art journaling,” and I suppose it is. I mean, are we getting tangled in semantics, when the art is what really matters?

So what else is an art journal?

By contrast, an art journal is where I keep notes about art I’m working on or might want to create later.  It includes visual inspiration – photos, articles, etc. – as well as my own thumbnail sketches, etc.

It’s sort of my pre-art brainstorming, in a journal format.

At left is a page from a 2011 art journal. The photos and sketch represent ideas that I used to inspire an oil painting.

I use an art journal as my on-paper memory of inspiration and original ideas.  It’s sort of like a visual thumb drive of art ideas, for later use.

If I don’t jot down my ideas in a journal, they’ll vanish from my thoughts in a matter of days, if not hours.  I tend to have a steady stream of creative ideas, and one soon replaces another in my consciousness.

For me, it’s part of the creative process.

Here’s how my ideas develop, through my art journaling

People often ask me where I get my original art ideas. Well, I’m not sure that they’re entirely “original,” but they are fresh and new, if only to me.

Here’s a typical sequence: I started by surfing the Internet to see what other artists are currently working on.

Yesterday, I viewed a website called The Starving Artist’s Way, which included a project using second-hand woolen sweaters that had been washed and dried to shrink them in a “felted” style.

I didn’t think much more about that – not on a conscious level, anyway – but later in the day, after a nap, I woke up thinking about what else I could do with that kind of wool.

While the thoughts were still fresh in my mind -and evolving – I jotted them down in my art journal. These are my two pages of notes:

 

In a nutshell, I was thinking about the kinds of wearable art that I could make with felted-style wool.

(Geek note: It’s not actually “felted” wool when you wash & dry woven/knitted/etc. wool to shrink it. It’s called “fulled” wool. Felting is when you use the raw fibers and a tool to tangle and/or compact them.)

This merged with the Mondrian art that I was reminded of when I was playing an online game, Kingdom of Loathing, yesterday.

And, once I started jotting down these ideas, I remembered when I used to make stained glass windows. Those patterns would adapt nicely to this kind of wool treatment, too.

I’m not sure that I’ll ever actually do anything with this idea. I get a bazillion of these ideas, steadily.

So, I’m scanning the pages from my idea journal, and putting them into my next art zine. I’m doing that for two reasons.

First, it documents that it was my idea. It drives me crazy when I decide to run with an idea and it turns out that another artist has been working on a similar concept… and people think that one of us is “copying” the other, when we’re not.

Second – and more importantly – I am sharing this idea so that someone else might be inspired by it and adapt the concepts (or copy it line-for-line, for all I know/care) to his or her own art.

Sharing art journaling, and the “copying” issue

My grandfather was a successful inventor and used his ideas to create his own (large) company.

When his original ideas were copied, he used to chuckle and say, “Plenty more where that came from.”

In other words, he didn’t complain about those who copied him.

I’ve always liked that, and he was the richest man I knew, when I was growing up. He literally made millions (when that was a lot of money) from his creative ideas; he was a good role model.

So, I’m okay with the idea of sharing my art journal pages so that people see what one can look like.

However, these may be my own definitions.  How you use the terms ‘art journals’ and ‘artists journals’ may be different… and that’s fine with me.

The creativity that matters more than the words!

Why art? Really, why would anyone take the time to create art, unless  he or she is a full-time artist?

The answers are clear to anyone who’s independently created art of any kind.

Even if it’s a scribble or a graphic note in the margin of your class notes, if you’ve ever expressed yourself visually, you’ve created art.

Note that I said independently created art.  That’s important.

If it was a class assignment, or something you had to do, the art process may have been vacant.

For many artists, the art process is where the value is. If the process is drudgery, it’s only mimicking art.

Artist Harley Brown said it well. “Within a second of starting a picture, I’m on top of a mountain which has finally become my reality. So, when I tell people to do a drawing a day, it is not only to learn to observe or perfect skills, it is putting ourselves closer to what we really are and for what we live.”

What makes art important in our lives is how art makes us feel.

Whether you’re creating the art or admiring it in a gallery or on your drawing pad, art should evoke an emotional reaction. If it doesn’t, the art isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just not resonating with who you are, inside.

For most artists, particularly when you’re starting out, the focus must be on the process. Your results will improve with practice. The joy is in the creative moments and the discoveries you’ll make — good and bad — as you work on art.

Your art, whether it’s drawing or painting or singing or fine-tuning a recipe, is a process that makes you feel more authentic… more alive.

In The Book of Awakening, Howard Thurman is quoted, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

Separate the technical aspects of art from the joy of creating. Sometimes, the learning process can be as exciting (or boring) as singing scales or reciting multiplication tables. However, the process of putting the pencil to the paper, or paint on the canvas, is where the magic is.

Aim for something original. That won’t come from copying others, or measuring your work against theirs. The finished product may be a disappointment, but the more important question is: How did you feel when the work came alive? Did you forget about time and tidiness? Did you feel in flow, following a joyful current?

Musician Jeff Beck said, “As long as there’s something original going on, that’s all that really matters.”

He’s right.

Art can be about the finished work. However, it’s more important to focus on the energy that is grounded in and emanates from the creative process.

If you feel that spark of vitality, even for a few seconds as you’re creating art, you’ve seen a glimmer of what drives us to be artists… and what keeps us fully alive in every moment.

We create art for how it feels, not necessarily for the merits of the finished work.

Photo credits
Art class – erdogan ergun, Turkey
Art gallery – brendan gogarty, Australia
Girl in field – Armin Hanisch, Germany

I’ve been completely redesigning my office/studio this week.

The room is a normal bedroom size, about 12′ x 12′, and it serves two important purposes:  I write in this room, and I create art here.

Writing

The writing requires lots & lots of reference books within easy reach.  I write on a variety of topics — mostly related to art, travel, history and/or paranormal themes — and I’m well-known for my exhaustive research using obscure (but fascinating) references.

Writers need to promote themselves and their books.  So, I have stacks of PR materials, including a dozen different styles of business cards, each tailored to a particular audience. I need to access them easily when I get a call from an event or a reporter.

Art

My art is all over the place, sometimes literally.

I paint with oils and acrylics.  My canvases can be 36″ x 48″ or larger, and as tiny as 3″ x 3″. It’s easy to lose the little canvases and difficult to store the huge ones.  They end up in boxes, behind doors, in closets, under beds, etc.

I also create fabric art, especially dolls and wearable art, plus quilts.  My paper arts require considerable space, including my basic collage supplies (lots & lots of magazines) and embellishments.

Then there are the one-off assemblages that occur to me at odd moments, which — completed or in gestation — take up space.

Placing all of my writing supplies and all of my art supplies in the center of my studio floor… well, it’s been exhilarating and enlightening.

Magpie syndrome

I often think of myself as a magpie, in a way.

Sometimes, I see things that spark a project idea.

More often, that project idea is how I explain to myself why I need to own whatever-it-is. It’s how I justify the acquisition.

This is important: If I stay locked into that project idea and don’t explore other options, that collected object becomes clutter.  Two years later, I have only the vaguest memory of the painting, collage, shrine or doll that I intended to make.  The energy is lost, at least partly in regret.

Don’t let the guilt obliterate the energy of the object, or how it resonates — no matter how quietly — with your creative impulses.

That’s what I’m learning as I open boxes and rediscover half-finished projects and objects that never realized their greatness in completed art.

At least half a dozen paintings were in limbo, waiting for the technique I’m currently developing in my work.  (The photo at right is an example.  It’s barely started, but I love the glow of the houses facing the sunlight.)

Until I hauled those paintings out of the closet last night, I had no idea those paintings were such wonderful starts. With a fresh eye, I can see what works — and what doesn’t — and the energy is surging off the canvas as I admire it.

(I thought they were just bad paintings that I’d paint over, eventually. But, every time I looked at them, I wanted to cry because I could see the sparks of brilliance in them.  I couldn’t bear to paint over them, and now I’m glad that I didn’t.)

Yarn intended as doll hair now sings to me as embellishment wall hanging.

Books that I purchased are falling open to illustrations and phrases that almost glow with inspiration.

This is a very cool experience.

Though I realize this can be an excuse to accumulate clutter, I think it’s vital to avoid the extremes of collecting or purging, compulsively.

I’m also mindful that — from a bigger perspective — if you’re supposed to create a particular work of art, the supplies will probably show up, almost on their own.

However, as I sit here surrounded by art supplies, books and projects, I’m astonished at how precisely my “magpie collection” is fitting into place.  It’s as if I always knew that this day would happen.

It’s a concept worth considering.

My paintings: Three Trees (Bush Park, Houston, TX)
York Harbor View (York Harbor, ME) – in progress
Photo credit: Magpie – Juha Soininen, Finland

 

Years ago, when I worked in fashion in Los Angeles, a co-worker at the May Company told a great story about a desperate ad campaign.

He’d had just a few hours to write a newspaper ad for the ugliest argyle socks ever made.

He wrote this headline: “You’ve never seen socks like these!”

The socks sold out the first day.

Obviously, one should never underestimate the power of a good headline… and the way that curiosity will attract people.

What’s among biggest hurdles at a large art show or crafts fair? Getting people to your booth… before they’ve spent all their money at other booths.

Bring a friend or hire someone to mingle in the crowd with half-sheet flyers that have a clever headline. It could be a direct steal from the argyle headline such as, “You’ve never seen yarn like this!”

That might be enough to bring customers to your booth. Or, you might want to add an extra incentive, offering them an extra freebie. Maybe you have a free, vintage knitting pattern for them. Or you offer free gift wrapping. Or… well, anything free is a good idea.

If you know a food vendor who’ll be working at that fair, maybe you can offer your shoppers a “10% off ” coupon for a large beverage from that vendor. Though that will send shoppers away from your booth, it may be enough to get them to your booth in the first place. Then, your challenge is to sell them something before they leave.

You might also ask the food vendor to give his or her customers a coupon good for something free or discounted at your booth, as well.

Curiosity is a powerful sales tool. Adding a freebie may not be necessary, but it can help.

The game at any art fair or crafts show is to attract shoppers to your booth before they’ve spent their money elsewhere, or bought from a competitor.

Advertise at the show, as well as before it. Be creative. After all, that’s what you do best!

This morning, I read Seth Godin’s blog in which he posted a joke set of predictions for 2008.  (He claimed to have written them in 2002.  Obviously, he’d written them this week.)

But, as he concluded his post, he stated his point very well:

“…just think about how impossible it is for your to predict what your life is going to be like in four or six years… being ready for anything is the only rational strategy. So, why exactly are you planning on the future being just like it is now, but with better uniforms?”

THE FIVE YEAR PLAN

Many of us have accepted traditional goal-setting strategies.  They include looking ahead five years to what you can reasonably achieve, but perhaps with a slightly starry-eyed vision.

That’s where I recommend a shift to the Getting Things Done view, mixed with a little of Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits…

Think in terms of wild success.   I mean success beyond your wildest expectations.  How would that look?  How would your life be different?  What would your workday be like?

And then, plan for that.  Take the steps to integrate those changes into your life right now.

Remember what you’re doing this for.

LIVE YOUR GOALS… NOW

Is it to be a successful, well-paid artist?  Well, do you dress like one?  What about your car… is it as immaculate inside (and out) as it would be if you had a chauffeur to maintain it for you?  Do you always have nice, upscale business cards with you, to hand out to fans (or people you’d like to have as fans or clients)?

Are you doing this to be famous for future generations?  Okay, what are you doing to create a name for yourself, right now?  Do your PR strategies include getting your paintings into highly visible locations, such as your town offices, state offices, the offices of your Congressional reps, every local museum… and then work up from there?  Have you contributed (or contributed to) a very visible mural in a public space?

Are you working on your art so you can be a full-time artist?  That’s great; how much time are you dedicating to your art.  I don’t mean the commercially successful art that can be the first step into the marketplace. I mean strange, deeply expressive and authentic art that may never match the colors in anyone’s sofa, and may only make sense to you.

The fact is, no one can predict the future with certainty.  The five-year plan was fine when five-year intervals could be predicted.  Today, life moves and changes at a vastly faster pace.

Don’t plan for the forseeable future.  Plan for a wildly successful future.  That’s what’s within your reach, and perhaps sooner than you think.

Start now.  Plan with the end in mind:  Success beyond your wildest dreams.

Today, I was reading a blog entry by Rick Sheffren, Leverage: Maximize your income in minimum time.

It reminded me of the potential leverage of past accomplishments.

As artists, we don’t always pause to update our resumes (CVs).  We participate in swaps, group shows, and see our works published in zines and magazines… and all we do is tell our friends.

Everything that you do as an artist holds the potential to move your career forward.

No matter how small the project, or how many other artists were involved, your participation is still news.

It doesn’t matter if you were part of the project because it was open to the public and you simply signed up for it.  Frankly, art collectors don’t always know which are invitational projects and which aren’t… and many don’t care.

It’s the quality of your work that matters, as well as the audience that see it.

Sign up for every project that you can, if you can participate with quality work.

Then, be sure to add your participation — and a photo or scan of the art — to your website and your CV.

Some of your most powerful leverage is what you create for fun.  That’s where the best energy can be, and it’s the energy — not necessarily the technical expertise — that separates mediocre art from art that soars!

Every year, new art galleries and crafts shops open. Often, they’re launched on a shoestring.

They need consigned items to sell.

Every year, new artists and crafters decide that this is the year they’re going to launch their careers.

They need places to show their artwork.

It could be a perfect partnership for your artwork or crafts.

But… is it?

 

Is Consignment Right for Your Art and Craft Items?

First, can you afford to consign your work? If you need income this week, you’ll do better if you can find a shop to buy your work, outright.

On the other hand, it can be brilliant business strategy to consign your art in a shop that becomes a local (or tourist) favorite.

Consignment works like this: You provide artwork for the gallery or shop. When it sells, you get part of the selling price, and the shop gets the rest. It’s not unusual to see a 30-70 split (the shop keeps 30%) or a 70-30 split (the shop keeps 70%).

The latter should probably be avoided.

In a perfect world, the split is about 50/50. After all, you’ve put time, materials, skill, and originality into your work. The shop is showcasing your work, providing valuable wall, floor or counter space for it.

Consignment can be great, ho-hum, or a nightmare. There are many factors.

Do Your Art and the Shop’s Style Actually Match?

Does the shop or gallery have a style, and – if so – is it a match for your work?

Just as important: Are the shop’s standards high enough?

Your art can shine in a setting with a good mix. However, if visitors take one look at most of the art and say, “Ick,” they may never even see your work.

Or, if the shop can’t find enough good artists and it’s obviously half-empty, that can disappoint visitors. They won’t stay, browse, and buy.

However, if the shop owner does business with a collection of great artists, you can be in fabulous company.

That can help you build your reputation while you increase your income.

Visit your markets regularly and be sure that your work is shown in the best possible light.

Consigning Your Art: Prices and Paydays

How soon will you be paid? If you aren’t paid within 30 days after the work sells, you may want to look for better opportunities.

Who is setting the prices, and are they in the correct range? If you’re new and the shop owner is as well, consider getting a second opinion about the prices. Items won’t sell if they’re priced too high or too low. (From my experience, items are generally underpriced. If your art isn’t selling, try a higher price for two weeks and see if that helps.)

Supply and Demand Can Vary Widely

In the past, I’ve worked with multiple consignment shops and galleries each summer. Some of them will succeed and some will fail. However, a few will sell my work so rapidly, I may have to phase out the less successful shops, just to meet demand.

Even though I’ve supplied galleries and shops for many years, I still can’t predict which items and which shops will be successful.

It’s important to be on good terms with the shops you deal with.  Open communications — and flexibility — are vital.

Ask about Insurance

Discuss risks with the shop owner.

If there’s a fire, or the sprinkler system dumps water on everything in the shop, or if your work is stolen, what happens? Either you or the shop owner (or both) should have insurance, or be willing to cover the risks.

The shop owner may want you to carry insurance, as well. For example, if you’re making children’s toys, be sure you have liability coverage. It could be a shock — and a huge expense — if you have to recall 200 wibbly-wobbly toys because the manufacturer recalled the plastic eyes that you used.

(That said, those kinds of disasters are rare. Insurance can turn disasters into speed bumps instead of career stoppers.)

Consigning: Flexibility is a BIG Plus

Although I wholesale some of my crafts to shops, I like to work with at least 50% consignment galleries each summer. (That’s my favorite tourist season in New England.)

The reason is simple: I love the flexibility of working on consignment.

If I get tired of making a particular item, I can simply discuss alternative products with the shop owner.

If a line of products doesn’t sell, I can take it back and place it in another market where it will sell. And, I can put different items in the shop where they collected dust. Everyone wins!

If I’ve committed to a shop and delivering the art is more trouble (or expense) than I expected, I can renegotiate terms.

Mix It Up!

Generally, I wholesale (to shops that buy from me, outright) enough crafts to cover my basic expenses.

After that, I focus on consignment shops and galleries.

I negotiate good commissions, I work closely with new shop owners, and we all have fun.

I work primarily with seasonal shops and galleries… stores that open in June and close when the tourists go home.

I work all winter, building my inventory, and then I can take most of the summer off. Most of my ‘work’ in the summer involves visiting my favorite tourist areas, checking on shops, and delivering products.

Then, I go to the beach. Or the mountains.

Contracts Can Be Essential

Consignment shops and galleries can be a great way to launch your arts and crafts career. You can reduce the stress on both sides, by having a clear agreement with each shop owner.

Start with a standard contract, and modify it to suit your needs.

Here are some sample contracts, online:

Sample Artist-Gallery Consignment Agreement, from Michael Dunn

Sample Consignment Agreement for Artists, from Mark Henson

Consignment Agreement Contract – free sample

Some “worst case” advice, from attorney Richard Stim: Consigning Your Arts and Crafts

Learn More at Your Public Library

It’s smart to consult books about consignment art sales and artist-gallery consignment contracts.  Here are a couple worth asking for at your public library.

Business and Legal Forms for Crafts

Legal Guide for the Visual Artist

If you want to meet other artists and talk with them about local resources and outlets for your own art, here’s one great approach:  Join art associations and clubs, and — here’s the important part — go to their annual meetings.

Unlike some corporate annual meetings, art associations’ meetings can be very sociable and fun.  Frequently, the associations’ important issues are discussed and voted on, board members are elected, and then everyone stays to chat.

Often, refreshments are served. (Volunteer to help the refreshment committee, for extra networking opportunities.)

Invariably, everyone discusses his or her art career.  Here’s the most important thing that you can do: Listen!

You’re there to learn from others, and — given a chance — they will tell share valuable information.  They’ll talk about where they’re showing their art.  They’ll talk about the gallery or shop or fair that was a bad experience.  They may say where they found a great deal on frames, canvases, bulk orders for batting or fabric… and so on.

Oh, it’s fine to ask questions about how you can get into a specific gallery or shop.  You can inquire about a store or show that you’re not sure about.

Start by listening to everything others say.  Don’t interrupt with your questions or comments.  Let them talk.  Agree when your experiences have been similar.

Then, when they’ve said everything that they wanted to, ask a few — just a few — of your own questions.

You can form many wonderful, genuine friendships at these kinds of meetings.

In conversations like these, I’ve learned about other, useful groups.  I’ve connected with other artists working with similar media to mine, and we’ve put together orders to buy our supplies in wholesale volume.  That cut my production expenses by nearly 50%.  I’ve met members who were opening their own shops or galleries, and were looking for consigned artwork to sell.

Attending meetings has been incredibly beneficial.

Many art associations and groups hold their big, annual meeting around May or June.  Others schedule them near the end of the calendar year.

Those meetings are one way to meet a large number of active artists, and find ways that you can help each other.

And, in some groups, the annual meeting is when members sign up for major upcoming shows or other opportunities.

Join local art groups, no matter how humble or lofty.  Go to their meetings, especially the annual meeting.

You’ll learn a lot and share what you know with others.  Meetings are usually a wonderful, relaxed opportunity to meet other artists and network with them.