8 Steps For After a Painting is Finished
So you’ve poured your blood, sweat and tears into your artwork and have pronounced it DONE! Now What? It seems like a simple question with a simple answer, but is it really? Maybe it’s just me, but in the beginning I never gave this any thought and I didn’t really even think of it as being part of the process. I mean, wasn’t it all about making art. That part was hard enough and I was ready to relax. Nay nay, there is more, way more and I learned this the hard way. Here are a few lessons I learned from mistakes:
Bringing a freshly finished piece to an art fair and selling it. Not a bad thing, except I never took a picture of it. Yes, I’ve done this more than once.
Posting a new piece on IG and expecting someone to buy it without including a few words about what makes the art unique or why did I paint it
Selling art without including information about how to contact me, the artist
Selling art that I forgot to sign
Here is my checklist that I use after I call a painting done:
Sign it
Seal it - I use Liquitex polymer varnish or Krylon Gallery Series UV Archival spray
Name it - I use a Sharpie to write the name of the painting and my signature on the back
Wire it - Don’t sell a painting that isn’t ready to hang
Photograph - I take a photo of the front, back and side
Artwork Archive - Enter the artwork into my inventory system
Website - Enter the artwork on my website
Create a Certificate of Authenticity - I just started adding this step and it is very easy to do with Artwork Archive
Did I miss anything? Please let me know if you do something you don’t see here, it might save me in the future!