Two more sleeps...

The title says it all. 'Beyond Words' opens on Monday night and I think I'm ready, a little flighty but ready. Despite losing the studio keys and creating a minor tornado in the looking... I really think I'm sorted now.

I feel like a media slut (thanks Sarah so true!) this week - the PR arm is working overtime and the show publicity is being seen in the best possible places. I've done some online Q&A's - fun 'cause they make you think (what would YOU make with a stick, a piece of fabric and a piece of string?) and make you dream (if you had a million dollars to spend on your art what would YOU do?)

After the framing, eyeleting, DVD making and projecting, catering and bar service have each been sorted, there remains the ever sodding burden of pricing.

I've not met any artists who don't put themselves and their doubts to the test on this one. It's not easy. I've asked a number of people what they think and I've been reading up on it this afternoon.

One site here says ..."Any insights, enlightenments, sufferings, or inner pain you experience while creating art are your own business. Don't bill collectors for it. People in all professions have intense emotional experiences just like you, but you rarely see the prices of milk, plumbing, clothes, or other goods or services fluctuate wildly as a result."
Nice.

Or this lovely image from another site: " In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back, while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are "limbs" therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression "Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg."

Great -that'd make my drawings priceless - they're all limbs and hands!

Here's another option - not much better, but funny. San Francisco painter/printmaker Abigail Linfert joked, "Sometimes I think I should do what professors reportedly do with term papers-throw them down some stairs. The ones at the top would be most expensive and the ones at the bottom would be cheapest."
Actually the rest of the advice on this site's not bad.

I tend to go with size, comparable work by comparably experienced artists (which relies on you knowing a few) and a theory of value to me.
What I call 'Jesse's offer'. It goes 'if I gave you $100 would you give me that painting or will you keep it? - Ok If I give you $150 etc ...' It works in combo with the size method (especially when you add framing costs into the mix too).

Bob's advice was to price affordably and build slowly and steadily throughout your career. He's done that, and now I can't afford one of his lovely paintings!

In the end after all that - I go with a hunch, I mean in your gut you DO know. You certainly know when you're being untrue.

Well, off to the wholesaler to buy scrummy food for the opening now.