Be Schizophrenic - Finding a painting style

Be Schizophrenic

I am from Indiana, in my area, a lot of people vacation in the Smoky Mountains. I used to hear about a Smokey Mountain painter named Jim Grey. Once, on a trip down there, I happened upon his Studio. His whole Gallery was filled with Smokey Mountain, Watercolor paintings. Then to my amazement, I found this separate room with Nautical paintings. Coastal scenes, boats and such. I was shocked! There was a sign that said "Jim Grey, National Society of Marine Painters". Here is an example of an artist painting different bodies of work for different markets. In the Smokies he's painting watercolors. On the West coast he's painting Nautical Oil Paintings. Painting different work for different markets, will also help you stay fresh and energized. In Picasso's lifetime, he did Landscape Realism, portraits, pencil scetches, collage,cubism and painted on mass produced pottery. If you have seen my work on the internet, you have seen mostly landscapes. When I do art shows outside of the Midwest and in larger cities I take abstracts. It would be pointless to try to sell a Midwestern landscapes in Houston.

Here is one of my abstracts!

Be a Mad Scientist - Finding Your Niche

Be a Mad Scientist. Be willing to experiment. Do you really want to paint the same thing in the same way your whole life. Some artist do, and are successful. I am not made that way. To me the great joy in painting is Discovery. A new way to paint a familiar scene. If you never experiment, you are not likely to learn anything that you don't already know. Making mistakes is how you grow as an artist. It is part of the process. Don't be afraid to fail.

--

--

People have told me, "I can only paint a scene once and I am bored with it." That's because they are only painting what they see. If they paint it again, it will look the same as the first one, because they are only painting what they see. You should be interpreting what you see. Don't paint a scene the way it looks, paint it the way you want it to look. Try different colors than you normally use. Paint it in summer,winter, overcast, hot, hazy. With a Knife, with a different color under painting. Try mixing your colors on the canvas or paper instead of on the palette, the possibilities are endless. You will learn in the process.

Be A bird of a different color - Your niche or painting style

One way that you can beat the competition is to have a speciality. If every other landscape painter has a variety of landscapes and you do also, it could make it harder for you to compete. If you however, have a speciality, it could give you a competitive advantage. Let's say you specialize in Skyscapes. This doesn't mean that everything has to be a skyscape. But if 1/3 of your exhibit is Skyscapes and they are grouped together, people will start to get the ideas that you are the sky painter. Because you have a lot of sky paintings, you are more likely to sell one, because you are giving the customer more options. As opposed to the other artist who only have 1 or 2 skyscapes. Some people have particular interest, and by doing this you are targeting those people.

--

--

"Cloud Movements"

Original acrylic landscape painting on canvas

18x36

Since we were talking about Skyscapes. here is one of mine

Painting - Finding your Niche

Niche and Style

--

--

Lets say you enter an Juried art Fair. You have traditional landscapes. You have just started doing shows. When you get there, there a lot of other artist who are doing traditional landscapes. Maybe their skill level or the presentation of their work is better than yours. They are better at dealing with customers,(not timid) they have been doing it for a while. The people who come to the show have seen these artist at the show for many years, so they have more credibility than you do. How do you compete with these established artist?

-

-

In any market, at any one time, there is a limited number of people who will buy art.

Many of these people have already bought from some of these artist, they have relationships, so to speak. If these more established artist are selling 16x20 paintings for $250, do you think it is realistic for you to sell paintings for the same price? It's just a question.

--

--

This is where finding your niche comes into play.

I will expound further on this in my next post.

Finding a Niche – Your Painting Style

"Boldly Exclaiming"

original acrylic modern landscape painting
8×10
$68 in My Yessy Store

--

--
Style, this is a broader term than you might imagine. Find a niche. I’m sure you have heard this term. They are one and the same. It does you no good to have a style that nobody wants. You can approach this in two different ways. As a beginning artist you have 2 choices. Either you paint whatever you want and then try to find a market for it. Or you experiment with different things, until you find something that starts to sell,then you run with it. This depends a lot on the skill level that you have. Are you a trained artist, or are you self taught? If you are a trained artist and have a body of work, maybe you can approach some Galleries right off the bat. If you are self taught, maybe not yet. The internet is a good place to experiment with selling your art. Juried art shows are also a good place to start, I will talk about art show at a later date.

--

Remember the term, finding your niche. You wouldn’t need to find your niche, if what you are already doing is your niche, now would you! I think experimenting with different styles of art is the way to go. Maybe you experiment with impressionist knife paintings, and find you have a knack for it. You will never discover that if you never try it. You may find that you really like a style that you didn’t think you would like. You may find a style in the process that is uniquely you.