Where are the wealthy people??
 

Hi fellow portraitists,

I live very far away from any cities. Wyoming, on a cattle ranch. The nearest large town is 45 miles from here, population around 20,000. We have two towns closer that are 1,000 pop. We have Rapid City SD at 320,000 which is 1 1/2 hours away. Any thoughts on how to make a living as a portrait artist in such an area?

I get an average of 6 to 10 commissions a year, but I think if my prices went up they would go down. I am consistently involved in a craft show in Gillette every year, and get most of my business from that.

I have my own Epson wide format printer and have made some prints, framed them and sold them in local businesses. Oh, by the way, that printer has come in handy to create and sell copies to portrait customers of their commissioned portraits.

Any input would be helpful. I have thought it would be great to have a portrait gallery somewhere finding commissions for me in an area where people know the value of art. My part of the world isn't very artsy.

Karen Barton www.karenbarton.com

You do very nice work. The best thing I can suggest to you is that you get yourself and your work to a big city a few times a year for some very focused marketing activities. The portrait clients are often in the same places as the Mercedes dealerships. If there are a few of those in the city you go to, you're in the right region.

Thanks for the tip Michele. I suppose some "city research" is in order. Do I approach galleries? Set up on a street corner? Sign up for craft shows? I'm pretty lost. My mom lives in Spokane WA. and we are 6 hours from Denver. My sister lives in Phoenix and my other sis lives in Portland, so I know I could stay with them for awhile if I knew what to do when I got there.

Also, I don't own very much in the way of originals that I could show. I would probably have to borrow stuff from previous clients. I did that in a gallery in Gillette once, but I'm not sure how long I could deprive these people of their treasures again.

If anyone has some guidance for me in the area of "what to do when I go the the city", please chime in. Karen

Check out the threads on this forum under Marketing. There's a wealth of ideas there.