As I wrote in my previous post about taxes and reality, 2021 was not a great year for the art business.
Now, I'm not going to get into a philosophical discussion as to whether artists (should) create purely for art's sake, I'm simply going to confess that yes, I do love the creative process, and yes, I also unashamed about the fact that I want to sell art!
To some extent, I approach my art like I pretty much would approach any kind of profession — be that part time or full time — in the sense that I may be enjoying what I'm doing, but I'm not running a charity!
Sales and Gimmicks
One of the things I have learned along the way — sad as it may be — is that it's considerably easier to sell art if you have a ”gimmick” of some kind.
Historically, the majority of the Alchemy Atones I have sold over the past decade have been sold as a result of attending various outside shows, arts and crafts fairs, festivals and conferences. But it's not enough to just simply set up as a vendor, display the wares, and then expect to make the sales simply on the basis of "here's my art!"
Venue Specific Gimmickry!
For example, when we go to UFO and paranormal conferences, one of the strongest selling points is my waxing philosophical that the patterns that go on the stones are basically "channeled information;" inspiration that I get from "unseen energy" out in the universe somewhere.
Smaller "Spiral stone"
When we go to so called ”green festivals” — also popular venues for us — the strongest selling point is that we refer to the art as ”Stoner Stones,” and talk about how you can get lost inside the patterns in a really trippy way.
When we go to Labyrinth Gatherings, we shift the focus once again, this time using the term “Labyrinth Stones” to characterize the nature of the art as being a reflection of ancient geometry used as far back as Neolithic times.
Of course they are the exact same painted stones, we're simply changing the way we describe them to suit the focus of the venue.
Does doing so constitute "selling out," from an artistic perspective?
In essence, these sorts of ”gimmicks” help us get people to relate to what they are looking at. If you can't relate to what you are looking at, it's unlikely you'd actually pay money for it.
Gimmicks vs. Online Sales
Anyway, the greatest challenge we continue to face is the fact online sales really have not been very good.
And so, we've been trying to brainstorm some kind of gimmick that specifically will help online sales.
As part of that, I spent some of this morning looking through my old "ideas folder" — some of which goes back a decade or more — to see if there is anything there that we might be able to use.
One of the ideas we were tossing around some 5-6 years ago, was building some sort of collaboration or cooperation between my wife's nonprofit organization and the Stones, referring to the whole thing as a Global Peace Project, or possibly the Universal Peace Project.
Of course there's nothing really new there; lots of people have had art and other projects as a motivator for "peace," but we pretty much have to figure out something.
At this time, it's mostly just brainstorming... and moreover, taking the approach that we don't really want to throw $100's (that we don't have) at advertising.
For now, I'm mostly using this as a bit of a "whiteboard" to help track the development of ideas!
Thanks for stopping by! Do you leave me a comment if you feel so inspired — interaction and engagement are always welcome!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal
Alchemy Stones web site and blog
Regardless, your upvotes and comments are always appreciated!
Thank you for supporting independent art!
2022.03.04 AS-TXT-088/054