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You hang in there and don't beat yourself up. Your work is wonderful and following your bliss (I feel) is a good thing long term. Like many here have said, the economic downturn has caused many (Rich and Poor) to be more conservative with spending. As an artist myself, I have always kept day jobs that would allow me to have income whether commissions were hot or cold. I have been fortunate to have steady tech contract work as a remote web designer while pursuing my art.

¡Genial! ❤❤❤

Pay to play is an old scam that has been going on in the music industry for years. A club will force a band who wants to play there to buy tickets, which they then have to sell to try to recoup their money. A lessor scam is a venue will pay the band nothing claiming they will benefit from the exposure. I don't know why artists are the only group that is expected to work for free. I guess the one advantage of not being good enough to sell my art is I don't have to deal with a bunch of assholes trying to rip me off.

I’ve found in person events to be so much more fulfilling, better connections, better overall! You never know who you’re going to meet or how that relationship can develop. ❤

I can visit your art studio I'm from SF

Looking ar your website my favorite is "Wildcat Canyon" and "Afternoon in Potrero." Being there thru your signature are two paintings I can sit with for awhile

You're showing a tremendous amount of bravery by sharing your feelings of failure with others this way. That is to be commended. Note that I said "feelings of failure" and not "failure". A lot of things have to go right for a piece to sell. Chief among them are dependent on the state of the buyer. 1. Recognition of value of the piece. 2. Willingness to part with money for the work. 3. State of the buyer and their context. Some of that can be mitigated/controlled, but not all of it. You said a lot of great things in your video, and most of them were those that showed your understanding that these were emotions that needed to be handled/understood so you could get back to work. I think a lot of the time, we get hung up on what we need to be if we want our dreams to come true, so we look around for ways to adjust ourselves to fit what the world asks of us. Here's the controversial part. Buckle in. Adjusting to the world is a kind of death. If we orient ourselves to the world to please it, we will produce work and represent ourselves in a way that is commensurate with their expectations. Nothing controversial there, right? Think clearly about what that means. If the world fully expects to see the silverware laid out in a specific way, they will notice and react when the silverware is not laid out in accordance with expectations. The negativity bias you recognized in yourself is also present in the audience. Now, you may think: "Ah! Then I will set the table carefully next time, and this will ensure a sale, for I have found the error and fixed it!" This is "dying the death". Your loyalty is to the idea. The idea is prime, and must be adhered to, loved and cared for, regardless of how the world may view it. Love it the way you would love yourself, born into the world, vulnerable, screaming, and crying, begging for nourishment. Do you see the reversal here? The world will say: "Your idea is nice, but chop off its legs so that it will fit in my parlor." The mother that chops off their child's legs so that it can sit in a rich person's parlor unattended to is not taking care of their child. They are taking care of their wallet. You are an artist. This is obvious to me. I wouldn't spend this time otherwise. You have ideas. Your IDEAS make you rich, just as a mother's children make her rich. Nourish them and give them the capacity to go out into the world and do the work they need to do. Money may come into the picture at some point, but if this the ultimate goal, you will die the death at the canvas, and die the death again at the sale. The world will grind you down and force you to lay the silverware in the "proper" way, satisfied in its victory, but completely unaware of the foundation of its dedication to adherence to protocols that have very little to do with an understanding of what the heck we're doing here or what any of this is all about. Now I have revealed my bias, which you may reject. If so, okay. Maybe we are just different kinds of artists. I wish you all the best.

You're showing a tremendous amount of bravery by sharing your feelings of failure with others this way. That is to be commended. Note that I said "feelings of failure" and not "failure". A lot of things have to go right for a piece to sell. Chief among them are dependent on the state of the buyer. 1. Recognition of value of the piece. 2. Willingness to part with money for the work. 3. State of the buyer and their context. Some of that can be mitigated/controlled, but not all of it. You said a lot of great things in your video, and most of them were those that showed your understanding that these were emotions that needed to be handled/understood so you could get back to work. I think a lot of the time, we get hung up on what we need to be if we want our dreams to come true, so we look around for ways to adjust ourselves to fit what the world asks of us. Here's the controversial part. Buckle in. Adjusting to the world is a kind of death. If we orient ourselves to the world to please it, we will produce work and represent ourselves in a way that is commensurate with their expectations. Nothing controversial there, right? Think clearly about what that means. If the world fully expects to see the silverware laid out in a specific way, they will notice and react when the silverware is not laid out in accordance with expectations. The negativity bias you recognized in yourself is also present in the audience. Now, you may think: "Ah! Then I will set the table carefully next time, and this will ensure a sale, for I have found the error and fixed it!" This is "dying the death". Your loyalty is to the idea. The idea is prime, and must be adhered to, loved and cared for, regardless of how the world may view it. Love it the way you would love yourself, born into the world, vulnerable, screaming, and crying, begging for nourishment. Do you see the reversal here? The world will say: "Your idea is nice, but chop off its legs so that it will fit in my parlor." The mother that chops off their child's legs so that it can sit in a rich person's parlor unattended to is not taking care of their child. They are taking care of their wallet. You are an artist. This is obvious to me. I wouldn't spend this time otherwise. You have ideas. Your IDEAS make you rich, just as a mother's children make her rich. Nourish them and give them the capacity to go out into the world and do the work they need to do. Money may come into the picture at some point, but if this the ultimate goal, you will die the death at the canvas, and die the death again at the sale. The world will grind you down and force you to lay the silverware in the "proper" way, satisfied in its victory, but completely unaware of the foundation of its dedication to adherence to protocols that have very little to do with an understanding of what the heck we're doing here or what any of this is all about. Now I have revealed my bias, which you may reject. If so, okay. Maybe we are just different kinds of artists. I wish you all the best.

I absolutely love your work, Christina. I'm sure I'm not the only one. I think SF is a bit far from my home in Aus, otherwise I'd be coming to your solo exhibition! Keep up your brave choice to be a full time artist, because you are quite awesome! x Nell

I like your lines , do u have a video about how can an artist improve his lines?

Some nice work! well done Christina !

Your art is beautiful. I found "Rafi was here" ytbe channel to be very informative about this very topic.

The artist needs a partner who takes care of the selling, gets a significant part of the profit, of course - but that motivates the seller.

same.

No need to fret. The art market as it used to be known is finished. Galleries, Etsy, Instagram, agents, etc., are all things of the past. AI is here to stay and we are all culpable. No more art, no more music. The only thing left for people to do is to become janitors and burger flippers. The only upside is that now we all can take nice long walks offa short piers with so much time on our hands...🤐

Lol....the fierce and ruthless competition for money. Artists, scammers, RUclipsrs, twitchers, instagram, whatever,all in the same waste fields.

Thank you for being so vulnerable about this topic! I feel it matters in all different parts of life too, to appreciate what got you to where you are and not focusing on what you haven't reached yet. I am still a amateur artist, but I am a lot farther in my skills than I was when I first took an interest in drawing and painting. It's good to change perspective to appreciate the good things.

Hey, Christina. You're an amazing and inspiring artist with a unique style. One variable with how you feel is that you come from a very structured and technical career in economics. Even your analysis of what you're going through is structured and technical. You know all the variable and ups/downs and have prepared adequately. You'll get more comfortable in this new life and I know you'll succeed.

They filmed the ending of Harold and Maude there

went to your website and loved your work

I hope it survives and doesn't become like insta

Great piece!

Sorry if you answered these questions elsewhere. If you were self taught, how many years had you been painting before you did a solo show? How did you select your theme, was it more from the gallery side or your vision? Did you write in a proposal?

Happy that things picked up! I couldn’t stop looking at the sweater you’re wearing, I love the floral pattern and the color combination, does it also have hoodie?

I was able to live an Artists life and I was in a smaller town and NOT in the bay area! I did go through periods of working for small design firms but I did the majority of my earnings VIA Freelancing. There are so many more ways artists are earning income. I believe it is important to be online and having a website with merchandise, paintings even prints always on sale. Income does go up and down saving money when times are good and plentiful. I believe you will come out the other side and I encourage you to keep going and just never giving up!

soooo what im hearing is i should maybe have not made my art website during a recession if i wanted to make a little extra side cash in prints.... .... .... as long as i make the website cost i guess :/

Thank you for this video really helpful because sometimes we feel so alone and thinking everyone else is doing better at selling their work.

I think your work is wonderful. I don't paint but I do buy when I can. Times are very uncertain for lots of us and I haven't bought an original piece since 2019. So don't blame yourself at all, you are very talented and I hope your sales pick up soon

I can relate and am deep into my second decade at this, largely under the radar in rural locatons, and have never had a time where I felt the momentum was consistently building and I could breathe easy, it tends to be peaks and troughs. One thing though, solo art shows can be problematic, I've done several and as a single person living below the poverty line I find the vacuum in sales created by holding back most of my new work for a few months as I build up a body of work can be damaging, my followers might be waiting with great anticipation for the big reveal, and there's a possibility that the sales from the show won't ultimatly justify the lean times preceeding it. And that's not even talking about the gallery's cut and the rising cost of living and other factors outside our control that can put a stop to sales such as, where I live, wildfires most summers that kill the tourist trade. And they think we must be happy all the time because we are doing what we love! But anyway, I hope you thrive!

Thanks for being honest. I make candles and a lot, a lot of YouTuble posts in the candle world talk about how wonderful it is and how much money they make, etc. When in fact I know it's not like that. I guess we need to keep on keeping on. Best of luck.

Great inside, and honest truth we need more of real on social media, your work it’s amazing… we all go through cicles, and we learn the most of the low ones…. Keep it up!

ur art works are incredible. it shall pass. ❤️

Being in touch, and letting emotions happen, is so important. Never let the negative emotions win. Whatever it takes. Meditation, talking to others, crying, playing a video game or watching a show. Have a conversation with the emotion. Don’t ignore them. They’ll knock harder.

You are smart, hard working and VERY talented! I have no doubt that in spite of the transient ups and downs you have a successful art career ahead of you!

This is exactly what I've been experiencing in my small business as well this year so far. I keep telling myself it's just a bad year that I need to get through 🙃

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Welcome to full-time artist reality. 5 years in and no sales for periods is normal. The only thing I can say is to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. If you are looking for comfort in this game, it is best to pack it up now. Just paint, fear comes up, paint, bank account goes down get a side job and paint, avoid the epic and just paint.

❤❤❤

Uh maybe you are not a good painter try prostitution

“You’re not marketing enough/ well enough”-is what people usually tell me when i’m in a similar situation

People compliment my art but I don't make a living from it. My art isn't in the high price range. Perhaps is the economy. Perhaps people are going for AI images instead?

my thinking is the highlights you were trying to add were not going to stand out cause they were all warm colors, looked like a warm yelllow and a cadmium red? to make a cool orange youd need like a lemon yellow mixed with a cool red like quinacranom magenta, magenta, alizarin can do it but the others will give the punch you are looking for in a highlight and especially on top of warmer colors like you have.

Hang in there. Your work is incredible. And your videos are very helpful to other artists. Thanks so much!

Have you considered adding more "noise" / visual information to your paintings?

I can relate so much. I feel like I’m doing my best work, but the sales have been excruciatingly slow for the past few months. I used to sell so much better when my work was a lot crappier. Go figure. I can see i am getting better at painting, I’m much happier with the work, my prices are the same as ever (=affordable), so I can’t make sense of this change! Your work is very very competent! 🙌

Your work is awesome. Don’t give up. Just cut back. The economy is scary for folks.

power of the mind, you said that it can not continue, so let it be. The negativity mindset will burn your savings, because you plan it. positivity will do the success, positive emotions prevail success.

I’m surprised- your work is so beautiful. Don’t give up, it’s yay a learning curve, also the economy isn’t the best.

Your style is similar to Edward Hopper. If you narrowed your focus and made it your own, but focused on that strength. I think you’d have a really great career . Good luck

Thank you for sharing your experience. Self-employment is like this. Sometimes you get a windfall and other times you get trickles or nothing at all. As long as you keep going, opportunities will continue to come in. Also, thank you for acknowledging some of the advantages you have as person without children to support and having a supportive family. That makes a difference. Each artist has to know what their circumstances are and work with what they have.