Congratulations, Alex! I subscribe to this but each issue gets put on my pile of "stuff to read" and it usually takes me about 4 months to get to it. I'll go look at it right away!

[QUOTE=Michele Rushworth]it usually takes me about 4 months to get to it.QUOTE]

I know just what you mean. When I first subscribed to art magazines I rushed to read them, but now I am so busy it takes me a while to get to them. That's what we get for being busy :) !

Thanks, Michele.

Let me mention too your lovely full page ad in the January issue of American Art Collector (page 118). I was happy to see it as a refreshing and sensitive portrayal and take pleasure that I'm in communication with that accomplished artist.

May your email basket fill up with communications from exceedingly fat and very hot collectors!

Wow, thanks, Bill! I'm glad to "know" you also--maybe one of these days we will meet in person. And thanks also for those uplifting words about my ad. It is, after all, only an ad that I put there myself. But one of my friends who is a talented designer (she also did my website) designed it and I think she did a great job. It will be interesting to see what happens as a result of the ad. My e-mail and phone aren't jammed with messages from potential clients/collectors yet, and I haven't asked the galleries whether they've gotten any response. So we'll see. But I really appreciate the good wishes!

I believe, (without any scientific evidence to base it on) that the effect of advertising is cumulative. If you were to run a large ad each month in the same periodical for four months in a row, you'd begin to be noticed. If someone were to suddenly notice your ad in month four, they'd then go back and check your previous ads too.

Selling art is an investment one way or another. A gallery can consign your work and take a large percentage of the sale price, or you can invest in advertising and put the cut the gallery would otherwise get in that investment. Either way, we know it's never a sure thing.

An artist is a very fortunate person indeed if everything she paints finds instant favor with the buying public. I think of that blessing as part of the talent mix that makes up Art Talent. If you have that gift, it is more valuable than a good eye.

Bill, I think each of the things you brought up would lead to a really good discussion. First, about running the ad several months in a row--I had a similar gut feeling but not enough cash. For now I'm going to have to settle for twice a year at the most, and hope that people notice. It's tricky having the gallery names in the ad since I don't sell portraits through galleries. But I'm not happy with the fragmented approach--there are collectors who buy my landscapes and don't even know I do portraits. They may not care. And vice-versa.

I always thought talent went together with a good eye, but now you've got me thinking. Gosh, it would be nice to gain instant favor--but then it might lead to laziness. I think we just have to say what we are driven to say, and hone our skills, and hope that someone else out there likes what we are saying and the way we say it.

Yesterday I read this quote from Emily Dickinson, not Angie, Emily.

"Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent."

Not a sensation that I'm familiar with.

It doesn't quite sound like something Angie would say!

I think you know what you're doing Alexandra. One this is a given. People won't buy anything we do if it is forced. We must paint what we want.

Thanks for your vote of confidence.

YES!