I appreciate my customers every single day as they allow me to do what I do. I’ve been selling my photographs and art via stock agencies for commercial buyers and direct to collectors for about four years now and I appreciate that these sales have made it possible for me to concentrate fully on my artwork. http://edward-fielding.artistwebsites.com/index.html
I appreciate the designers and book publishers who choose my artwork to grace the covers of books around the world. I appreciate the greeting card companies who licence my work and put it on the card store shelves. Beyond monetary rewards this brings my work to the public and it brings me a lot of joy to think that some crazy idea I had like dressing up my dog in a clown outfit is appreciated by someone enough to purchase a card and share that image with someone else. From my home studio to the designer to the printer, to the store, to the stock boy, to the buyer, to the checkout lady to the recipient – that idea I had touches a lot of people along the way.
I appreciate the kindred spirits who purchase my artwork and hang it in their homes. I fully understand that buying art is a luxury. Its often a long way down the list of things to buy for the household, it comes after groceries, after the cable bill and these days long after all of the Apple product upgrades. To consider someone took the time to find my work among all of the thousands of options out there online, to seek out something different, something unique, something created by an individual artist and not something selected by a buyer in a mass market chain store, imported from China.
That exchange of one’s hard earned money for something created by my hands means that as an artist not only am I enabled to spend money on gas, equipment and time to create more images but also it gives me the encouragement to continue to create.
Selling direct to customers online, the artist rarely makes a connection with the buyer. We work in a kind of void not knowing how our work resonates with the public at large.
Often sales are the only way we get any feedback. Sometimes the feedback is predictable – we think we know when we have a winner on our hands but often I find that the buyers of my art completely surprise me. Something that I intended for the book cover market falls flat there but sells to someone for their home or office. I’m just happy to make that connection with someone out there who feels the same way for a particular subject or feeling that I’m trying to convey with the piece whether it be humor or something more mysterious.
At this point I’ve sold over 600 images via my account on Pixels.com. Very few of these images sell more than once although a few have sold maybe five times. This means I’m connecting a with lot of different people with a lot of different types of images. I appreciate that a certain mood or time or place or memory makes that connection. Since all work is personal it reinforces the idea that humans share certain values and emotions.
I also appreciate the type of customer who purchases affordable prints. Art should be enjoyed, not treated as an investment opportunity. People purchasing prints and canvas without any limited edition nonsense are purchasing artwork that they like and want to display in their home or office as an extension of their personality. I appreciate the opportunity to be part of that communication.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!