Well, it’s been a while! I’ve just come out of ‘maternity leave’ with my daughter. A period of several months where my online shop has been closed, I haven’t written a blog post or sent a newsletter, I haven’t posted on my art focused Instagram account or Facebook page and the only tweets I’ve written are ‘good morning’ ones or the occasional ‘from the archive’ with old work attached. It’s felt very strange to not have my business running in the background of family life but has also felt extremely freeing. I’ve still been thinking about art and my work, I don’t think an artists mind ever really takes a break, but not having to do all the admin that being a self employed artist encompasses, well that has been great.
My daughter is a few days shy of eight months old now and I’ve been so excited to return to work, I’m so lucky that I can fit being an artist around being a parent. Although it doesn’t pay all that much it does give me something to focus on besides being a mother and helps me to feel a little bit like myself pre-children.
While being on ‘maternity leave’ I’ve had some thoughts about my work, more specifically the money side of things, how much I value my work and how much I charge for it. Last year I was invited to take part in an exhibition at a gallery on the outskirts of the Forest of Dean, I agreed with the knowledge that the exhibition wouldn’t be until autumn 2023 so I’d have enough time to make a new body of work for it. One of the discussions that I had with the gallery owner was about pricing. The gallery owner was concerned at my low pricing and urged me to rethink how much I charge, encouraging me to charge more. Words that rung in my head were “it is essential that you don’t let your own feelings around price hold you back - far better to sell less but at prices that pay you properly for your time, skill and training”.
For the past several years I’ve been charging between £120-150 for my detailed woodland drawings, works that although small take a lot of time to make. From the research trips to woodlands (including annual visits to the Forest of Dean, my favourite subject) to take photographs, to paper prepping, to the actual drawing; composing, mark making. The years of trial and error, the money and time spent on two art degrees. £150 for a drawing which once framed I would usually charge £200 for doesn’t pay me very much at all for my time, skill and experience. If a £200 framed drawing is sold at a gallery with a standard 40% commission rate then I’d make £120 - take off approximately £50 for the frame and I take home £70. £70 for a piece that I put so much of my time and effort in to. It’s quite heartbreaking really.
I always worried about charging more, and it probably all has something to do with lack of confidence and my background - raised by a single parent on a low income, from a working class family. It feels uncomfortable for me to command big prices for my work, drumming up feelings of ‘who do I think I am’ and ‘your work isn’t good enough to merit that kind of money’. But it’s got to the point where I’d rather price my work higher and only make the odd sale but feel happy with the price than price low, perhaps sell more but feel like I’m underselling myself and undervaluing my work. Although I do make my living from selling my work I’m going to explore other revenue streams in order to take the pressure off of selling originals and the temptation to lower my prices whenever I hit a sales drought.
It feels very vulnerable to write out my thoughts here, and my worry is that people think I’m being greedy or asking too much. I have to put my own self doubt to the side and have a little faith, faith that there are still people out there willing to pay the right price for my work, faith in my abilities and myself.
With this in mind I have chosen to increase the prices on my original work going forward. I will still be offering high quality giclée prints of selected drawings at affordable prices as it is important to me that prints remain within reach of the majority.
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