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Clint there are a couple "your" that should be "you're", I'll let you find them. ;-)


I've got a long way to go...

Oh Clint - Thank you for this post!!! I've been completely derailed and doing a very poor job of both marketing and improving.
It is the best advice I've read in the last couple of years.
Now to start seriously measuring my art.
Again
Thank you!

Good social media marketing is not enough without great art.

Thank you for the good advice. It confirms my thinking, but I tend to mistrust myself, and think I'm just influenced by the fact that I don't want to do it.

I couldn't agree more. Working social media is sometimes fun and distracting, while sitting in front of my easel every day is HARD WORK!! ð??? ð??¨

Perfect timing. Lately I have been getting inundated with advise on all things marketing online. Just reading through it keeps me away from the easel and makes me anxious that "I'm not doing it right". But I Am doing it right, just focusing on making the best paintings I can, every day. One of the blessings for me in having an FASO website is that so much of the online hassle is (beautifully) taken care of. Thanks!!

Clint..
Gosh darn it... I put the wrong letter. I meant to put the word "Part"...gosh the difference one wrong letter can make...changes the whole sentence and thought.

Well said Clint..Most of us "older" artists went by the criteria of getting our Art better and usually the rest took care of itself and I think that works best still...but more now I see artists spending more time on their promotion..and it sadly seems that it works for many in getting attention and sales.Would love to give some examples, and will not do so in this format. I think the Internet enables this kind of approach...and it is useful. Unfortunately the squeaky wheel often gets the grease!!

Two years ago a family crisis meant a big change in my studio time...necessity forced me to "settle" for just trying to improve my art and set aside all the other marketing efforts. I so appreciate now how far I want to go to reach my own standards...the standard of hanging next to artists I admire without "hanging my head." Thank you for the affirmation with your post.

Très bien les conseils de FASO Poster nos tableaux c'est bien, mais franchement ne vend pas! Si vous pouvez nous donner plus de conseils sur le marketing et comment réussir en tant que artiste avec ou sans les FB
Very good advice from FASO Post our pictures is good, but frankly does not sell! If you can give us more advice on marketing and how to succeed as an artist with or without FB

I think the issue of "measuring your mastery" is so very subjective. While I agree, the number of twitter followers or facebook LIKES isn't a good measure, the question comes down to whether subjective perceptions of an artist's creations can truly be measured for "Mastery" in any OBJECTIVE way.

What are you trying to measure? How masterfully you utilize brushwork, design, composition, format, value, color, and the myriad of other factors that go into art?

If you were able to measure those things, does that necessarily equate to success with customers or in the market place?

I agree completely that one should absolutely strive for mastery. However, given the subjectivity of this, and the different perceptions of artists and afficianados, I'm not sure that this is "measureable".

I have a B.S. in Business Management. I've been educated on TQM and Drucker's principles. I think they are a cornerstone and should be applied in some fashion to what we do as artists. We are making one of a kind products, versus running assembly lines. (most of us anyway. Thomas Kincade would clearly be a mass-producer).

We absolutely need to focus on making GREAT quality products. The best we can.

I'm just not sure that we can put a "measure" on mastery or progress. I'd be interested in having you put forth a specific measure and the metrics used in measuring mastery. Perhaps you can articulate something specific we could all utilize.

Personally, i"m obsessed with working deliberately on improving my painting skills and results (the paintings) to move towards quality and more masterful paintings. I wish there was a measure of progress. Some might say sales. But I would argue that there's some pretty bad art out there with some great sales. And there's some absollutely fantastic art out there that gets no attention.

I'm just not convinced you can apply Drucker's principles of TQM in any scientific way to what we do. But I'm open to ideas on this. Because I do believe it is better to be able to set a metric and measure and manage results.

Poor sales doesn't mean you don't have mastery. Great sales doesn't mean you have mastery.

How do you really measure mastery?

Clint,

I am with you. Mastering, or at least, steadily progressing towards excellence in one's art is the key, to me. Yes, a lot of junky art is selling well out there, but I cannot believe it will sustain itself over the long haul. True excellence will eventually find its audience, I am convinced.