How to Make a Living as a Plein Air Artist
Plein air is an art style that means “in the open air” in French. Plein air artists spend much of their time outdoors creating their art. The artist must learn to work quickly in order to capture light in its ever-changing form. Collectors of plein air art enjoy its immediacy and connection to the natural world. The plein air artist who makes a living as an artist must also be a businessperson. This means that in addition to making art, she must spend her time making contacts with possible collectors and marketing her work.
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Things You'll Need
- Paint supplies Mailing lists Art booth Marketing materials Computer with Internet access
Instructions
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Paint regularly. To make a living as a plein air artist, you need to keep up your skills, and you need to have an abundance of pieces to sell. The plein air artist has an advantage over many artists. A plethora of subject matter exists for him in the natural world to capture on canvas and sell.
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Develop a mailing list and send out postcards and newsletters. This includes both an e-mail and a traditional list. Regular communications to your collectors keeps them apprised of showings of your art, new pieces, news events related to your art, museum acquisitions and other related information. It also puts a human face on you and encourages dialogue. Additionally, it’s a way to sell directly to your collectors; you can alert them of sales of your art taking place in galleries, on your Web site and online on sites such as eBay.
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Put together a booth and do the arts-and-crafts-fair circuit. The beauty of these types of venues is that people who come to them are serious about buying art. Not only does it give your art exposure, it also presents you with an opportunity to develop your mailing lists.
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Make connections with galleries and museums. These professional art organizations help you get your art shown and sold. They also have connections with art publications who will cover your art when you have a show there.
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Teach a class. Many artists teach in order to supplement their income. The organizations for which they teach include colleges and community education programs. While this option will give you an extra income stream, there’s another hidden benefit. People who teach often become better known in the community. This could lead to new collectors of your work.
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Develop marketing materials. As a working artist, you should have a Web site, blog, brochures, business cards and an artist’s resume. You should develop these items early on in your career and update them often. You’ll give them out to new collectors, art gallery owners, museum curators, members of the press and art agents.
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Get grants and fellowships. Many fine artists receive arts and humanities grants, which helps them pay for expenses and gives them positions such as artist-in-residence. These give you money on which to live and more exposure.
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Write articles for art publications. Sometimes you receive little or no money for these, but they establish you as an expert and help collectors of plein air art find you.
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Sell on eBay and Etsy. Don’t overlook these markets. Auction sites put you in touch with art dealers and collectors looking for plein air artists.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit The artist image by Galaiko Sergey from Fotolia.com
