Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Paint Outs Criteria For Professional Painters

This post is for those of us who make our living painting. I have put together a fairly strict critera for making decisions about whether I will do paint outs around the south. If you are starting out as a painter or just doing paint outs for the fun and socialization, this would not apply for you. There are dozens of paint outs now and we are constantly getting invitations to do them. This may not be your cup of tea, but I think if enough of us insisted on these amenities, we would have better sales and would not be taken advantage of.




My List



The paint outs are invitational only.

The promotors provide lodging and at least one meal per day to artists as well as cold bottled water and soft drinks each day.

Artists are not charged anything to participate but the promoter receives 40-50% commission on retail sales. There are no auctions. The paintings are sold at retail prices only at patron parties.

A wet room is provided for the duration with sales incouraged throughout the duration of the paint out.

There is paid advertising in style magazines and art sections of regional papers.posters, and invitation mail outs to art patrons for the exhibition.


Most of these events are aligned with a charity organization and most of them have a lot of corporate sponsorship to offset advertising and other costs. The artists do not have to foot the bill.

No awards are given as the emphasis is on sales and networking with potential patrons.

There is a web site set up to show the artists information and incourage patrons to read about the event and see daily paintings.

Stand up signs are given to artists which they take to painting locations to show patrons where they are painting.

A booklet is made which has the artist bios and paintings, which are given out to patrons.



This is the minimum compensation that a professional artist should expect for these events.

Linda Blondheim

3 comments:

Virginia Larrea said...

Thanks for letting us know and keep us informed

Linda Blondheim said...

Thank you Virginia. I think if artists will start demanding fair treatment by promoters, things will improve. Our skills should not be given away so lightly. They need us more than we need them.
Love,
Linda

Lori McNamara said...

Thanks Linda, this is wonderful! Too many of us have been used with no compensation.