As I was saying in the last post – yes Art or Creativity is a partnership- however it is also a relationship.  How are you building your relationship with your fans – because that’s what the buyers of your Creative works are? Stop for a moment and really think about the people who buy your creative pieces whether they are paintings, digital prints, photos, sculpture or whatever. Really understand that they are your fans and not just clients.  In fact with a little work on that relationship they can become raving fans.

Turn Viewers Into Fans

And what do fans want – how can you build that relationship? – Here are some ideas

• be interested
• be interesting
• fans want to know about you – after all they have let you into their lives – there is a piece of you hanging on their living room wall
• as artists we need to appreciate the fact that in embracing our work, others open their hearts to us.

Fellow artists and those who aren’t or don’t think they are but would like to be – Yes it is true  art is a business. And being a business it requires products i.e. ‘art works’ to be sold.   So many of us would rather just get on with creating and leave the ‘S’ word  to some one else – if only we knew who that might be.

Well, it could  be anybody but me that is!  Like many of you out there, I too wasted years trying to get away from the fact that if it is going to be – you know what,  it really is up to me!  I finally decided that really all it needs is a little re-framing of ones perception.

So yes creativity is a business AND  it is also a PARTNERSHIP.  How is that you might ask?

For an art work or creative piece to achieve completion it requires someone to appreciate it or at least interact with it.  (Ideally someone apart from its creator!)  It requires an audience.  For most creatives there is a definite buzz to be had when someone gets to see your work and have a reaction to it – which means it has touched them in some way.

This is a partnership often neglected on the part of the artist – they send their paintings off to the gallery, perhaps thinking the partnership part is only with the gallery and then that’s that. End of story……. where are the dollars??  And I have to confess I have been as guilty as the next person of that.  It took me a long time to understand that art is a partnership……………