What should you paint - response

This was a response to the article on What should you paint, from the art league president.

I think you can chase every subject in the list and still not
sell. All of us should paint the subjects we have a genuine interest
in. Marketing is more about location. For example, a painter of ships/
boats on a lake or ocean would sell better in a gallery near a marina
or in a city on the coast. For sure, these same pictures can sell
inland but they have a much better chance of selling where people who
live near water and/or actually own a boat. If your name is well
known, you can sell your ships on the ocean, anywhere, even in
Lincoln, Nebraska.

I think another thing also to consider is the fact that there are
literally thousands of artists who are pretty good artists and there
are many exceptional artists. Both groups are selling and some in
both groups are doing well. The main reason all the artists in either
group can't sell well is due to what I call "market dilution". There
is simply too many artists; too much competition. While this is good
in some ways, it is what keeps each of us from selling well enough to
make a good living off of it.

Certainly there are exceptional artists who stand out from the crowd
and cannot be placed in either group. In order for them to do well,
they have to be noticed by a gallery and/or agent who loves their
work and is willing to invest money advertising and pushing their
work. This sort of thing doesn't happen often. But it happens.

Regarding prints. Digital (Giclee) or Litho will always sell well,
because the price is right for most of the population. So if you can
afford to make prints and your work looks good as a print, by all
means get into it. Sure, we would all like to be selling the $1000
originals, but when they aren't, those $75 prints can fill the void
fast.

Let's face it, lots of folks in the Central Ohio market, who will buy
art consider whether or not the painting goes with the colors in the
sofa. With that pathetic thought in your mind, abstracts are almost a
sure thing.

John A. Daniels