My last four shows have not been as profitable as I would like. I am new to the art show world, and I am trying just about every show that I think may be a possibility in my area. I live in Texas, and have decided to stay in my state for the first few years to get my feet wet, and figure out which shows work best for me. My fall shows are all new to me, and each have been within at least a four hour drive.
What is interesting for me, is that for my past four shows, if it were not for men surprising their wives for either a Birthday or Christmas, I would not have made profit. These have all been large paintings, and one commission, that have been purchased as a surprise gift. The wives perused the booth first, and then a few minutes later, here come the husbands ready to buy, and practically whispering just like the knock-off rolex dealer with a trenchcoat on a major city corner. I love to be a part of this, and I have decided that romance is not dead after all (slight nudge in my husband's direction, bless his unromantic heart...). It made my day, literally and figuratively.
It does make me wonder though, if this is a common occurance, or if people are waiting to make large purchases for special occasions instead of outright buying something that they like. Since I am still new to this business, I am wondering if this is common?
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By the way Connie, my art is glass. That's OK! :)
Must be something in the water in Texas. That is a lovely story, Kimberly. Good for those guys.
What a lovely image, Alison. You are right, it is a perfect piece for a transitional time.
Your story, Pat, is the best! Wouldn't you have loved to be there when the wife got her surprise? She was probably doubly thrilled to have a pair of your new paintings. Now I've read Warren's comments. Such ice stories.
You make a good point, Brian. People do buy for gifts without the receiver seeing the work, but that is much more risky. Hopefully people shopping together at shows are listening to each other's wishes and can make some good choices. I'd say you are right that fine craft is usually a safer purchase than a painting. Although if you have "themed" work, say you paint elephants and the friend collects elephants, not so risky. Whereas, abstract is going to be a little harder.
Hi Vivian. All of my surprise buyers were men, too. I actually met up with a man in Dallas in June to drop off a painting for his wife's Birthday that they saw at a show in April.
I am a little nervous about the commission piece, but she did see a similar painting that I had already sold and she wanted, and she told her husband that she would have bought it, but wished it was in a different color and slightly larger. So, hopefully she is getting what she wanted.
Brian - again, we sell jewelry so our experience may be different, but we often sell pieces as gifts that the haven't been seen by the gift receiver. Another trend includes repeat customers who remember that their family/friend likes our work and buys them something they don't already have or customers who have bought from us and had friends / family admire the piece they bought.
So it seems like a lot of people do purchase art as a gift after the person saw and took interest in the work. But I bet it's much more rare for someone to buy art as a gift without that person seeing it before.
A couple years ago I had a wife, husband and daugther (who had purchased several pieces from me prior to this show) come into my booth. The wife fell in love with a large piece and said she would return the next day for it. Later that day, the husband came in with the daughter and purchased the piece for his wife as a surprise gift. Well wouldn't you know, the wife with her daughter shows up the next day to purchase the piece and is quite upset that the piece has been sold. Of course I can't tell her because it is a surprise. The daughter doesn't say anything because it's a surprise. So the wife picks out another large piece as a second choice and purchases it. I made off like a bandit selling two large pieces to the same family. :)
Brian I am a painter as well. I don't do prints. It suprises me that people are willing to give suprise gifts for such an importance piece in a persons life. It stresses me out a bit, what if the receiver is not $1k happy? Usually it is a couple though, and like I said the women is doing the buying, and as long as the women is happy then all is well IME.
I am new to the Art Show world as well...on my 1st show I had a Mother buy her son (as a surprise for his new apt) one of my matted 11x14 photographs from Sedona, AZ
that he was ooohing and ahhing over.....next I'm hoping it is one of my BIG $$ pieces!
Best of luck at your shows!
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