The Most Expensive Photographs Ever Sold

Mural-sized, 1938 photograph by Ansel Adams, “Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park,” Sells for $722,500

Photo/Sotheby’s, Ansel Adams

Depending on where you live and sell your art you may be experiencing a slow-down in sales or an increase in volume of art sold. If you happen to be having a slow year,  I think these articles discussing the state of global art market will help you see that the art market is on the mend. Here are three sites about the art business, I have bookmarked and try to visit on a regular basis. …Read more

Learn How Top Artists Are Making Money Selling Canvas Editions

Canvas artworks are anything but traditional. See how artists are using canvas artworks to meet this years hot home décor trend.

Enlarge and print a single image or split up one image into panels for a more graphic effect. Embellish with paint or foil to create a truly unique artwork—the creative possibilities are endless when printing to canvas!

I’m not surprised to see the popularity of canvas growing. Since 1999 we have printed thousands of canvas editions and reproductions for artists. Obviously canvas is the preferred choice for artists reproducing from painted works for creating likeness to the original. However, over the last decade, canvas has gained the attention of photo-based artists (in particular landscape and abstract) and portrait photographers, who are attracted to the texture the natural material brings to their imagery. …Read more

10 Small Things That Will Make Something Big Happen

It’s the small actions that we can do every day—that in the end—make BIG things happen

Do you set big goals, make huge plans and create endless to-do lists, all in the name of keeping busy. It’s quite possible you have “become busy, planning to be busy”. Does this make sense? Is all this busy-ness really being productive?

If there is any hope of making money in your art success and building your art career you need stop hiding behind your lists and take action!

Don’t be too hard on yourself. Planning and list building are important, but when we “make” plans, without completing plans on our list, things can get a bit overwhelming and no action is being taken.

If you’re like me, you to look for “life” distractions (family, home, TV and web surfing—even grocery shopping . . . which happened to me recently when I found myself “volunteering” to go grocery shopping to avoid staying in my studio and getting work things done. …Read more

Bigger is Better: Mural-size Artworks are Magnificent

4 Good Reasons Why You Should Create Over-size Artworks

It was over twenty years ago, I visited The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) and cast my eyes on the famous artwork by Georges Seurat’s, “A Sunday on La Grande Jatte“. This original painting at 81 3/4″ x 121 1/4″ (approx. 6′x10′ft) is viewed by thousands of gallery guests each day who are drawn to its magnificent size and  true-to-life scale.

You may not have noticed, but this artwork also receives more attention in art books (usually a cover image), it is also a best-seller on art poster sites and it is often featured in art guides and historical texts. Is it that special? It may be the largest impressionist painting created during this period, perhaps Georges Seurat was onto something?

The Art Institute of Chicago boasts having one of the largest collections of impressionist art, so there was lots to see that day. However, it is this artwork that remains fresh in my mind so many years later. Could a mural-size artwork really create a longer-lasting impression? If its bigger will it be more popular? ….I’m thinking…possibly…”yes”. …Read more

Bring Qualified Art Buyers to Your Website: Learn About Search Engine Optimization

7 Helpful tips for applying keywords to your art images

Artist’s invest large sums of money and time every year to build, host and maintain a website (or blog) only to discover no one is visiting or buying…. Why is that? The answer: Art buyers can’t find them. And the visitors that do arrive are window shopping.

Attracting attention to your art and bringing qualified buyers to your website requires more than great art and a smart looking design. Up until recently it cost hundreds (maybe thousands) of dollars to have an expert apply something called “Search Engine Optimization” to your website. …Read more

Great Reads for Artists from Around the Web

As much as I love to research and write blog posts for the Fidelis, I also enjoy reading other posts from a number of different websites around the blogosphere. Entrepreneurs, artists and creative thinkers are posting incredibly inspirational articles every day—so its a bit hard to keep up— hopefully I can help you out by sharing some of the great posts I’ve read lately.

It’s always interesting reading about another blogger, how they got started, what inspires them. Here’s a great interview with Chris Guillebeau: Balanced People Don’t Change the World at www.the99percent.com. Given that artists are anything “but” ordinary, I think you will be entertained by Chris and his take on life.  Since we started building our Fidelis community I have been a fan of Chris Guillebeau at his own blog The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris raises questions about how we define success: Is it about money? Is it about personal fulfillment? Is it about doing good in the world? I think many of us ask ourselves these very questions as we pursue our life dream. Chris lives what he writes, and boy does he live life to the fullest! …Read more

Why You Should Invest in High Quality Scans of Your Original Art

Don’t overlook the importance of photographing and archiving your artwork—big opportunities may be right around the corner.

Your images are your business assets. Even though you might not need it today, having high quality digital files of your artwork is a smart business decision. Big money making opportunities have been lost to artists who have poor quality or low-resolution digital scans/photographs of their artwork. …Read more

6 Killer Ways to Get Your Art Noticed On the Internet

You don’t need to lots of money to start creating an audience for your artwork.  We’ve made a list of six killer ways to attract attention to your artwork and build your brand. I guarantee they are well worth your efforts. And the good news—most of them are FREE!—but they will cost you some time and advance preparation. …Read more

Learn How to Price Your Art

Helpful Tips to Make Your Job Easier

If you are planning an exhibition (assuming your goal is to sell your art) you will need to put some serious thought into your “pricing strategy”. There are no official rules on how to price your art, however, here are some helpful strategies for developing a price structure. …Read more

How to Promote Your Art Using Facebook

21st Century Art Marketers have Facebook Pages

You may already be using Facebook or you have likely heard about it. But did you know that over 200,000,000+ people log onto Facebook each day?  Of the 400,000,000+ people who are Facebook users, each user has over 60 pages they are connected. FB users share their favourite Pages with their friends, who share with their friends, etc. etc.  News spreads fast inside these networks. Wouldn’t it be great if Facebook users were spreading the news about your art?

If you’re not promoting your art using Facebook, you are missing out on the best opportunity to build a loyal following of your art. “Facebook’s not for me” you say? —Come’on, it’s free, easy and it’s proven effective. Need some more convincing. . . . ? …Read more