Category Archives: Art Business

The new DaVinci ‘Dartana’ Brush

Rader Garage Rods

I am happy to finally introduce the brush that I was able to develop with the DaVinci company in the last few months. It is a new watercolor brush.

These are pictures of the prototype. Notice the amazing tip on this brush. It is a fully synthetic white bristle with a super elastic and stiff point. Perfect for details that require ‘drawing’ action with a brush. The tip is similar to a dart, hence the name ‘Dartana’.
It is also capable to create very thin lines similar to a rigger brush, however, with much more control.

I have been working with this brush for a month now and I think it is close to perfect to what I was looking for. We did have a few changes since the first sample but it is all ironed out now.

I will be offering this brush for sale through my website as well as in workshops. It will most likely be in the $10 to $15 range. I won’t know for sure until it’s actually in production which should happen this or next month. Measurements of the brush head are 5mm thickness and 22mm long.

I am very proud that I am able to work with DaVinci and have my name on their awesome brushes. This is a great addition to the wash brushes Series 224 that are also available in my workshops.

Social media – not what it once was!

Some sold paintings with water. East coast, West coast.

A timely post after discovering this article online. People should know what’s going on and
spread the word about it! I hope you all re-post this!

When I first signed up for Facebook in 2009 (and reluctantly too) I quickly realized that it
could be a great tool as an artist to get my name and work out there. Several of my peers where already on before me and it did good things for them. That was when all of your posts were actually seen by all of your ‘friends’ and their ‘friends’ as well. With time, you could build an ever-growing audience.

That changed a while ago, around the time when the ‘fan pages’ became ‘business pages’
and the advent of paid ads. Facebook made insidious changes to the way posts are seen
on the feed. They switched to an algorithm-based feed, where certain posts are prioritized. In a nutshell: if you pay them money, you’ll have better reach.

It is the same on Instagram now which is, unfortunately, owned by the same people!
You can very well see what this creates: it becomes a numbers game. A world of fake ‘likes’
and ‘followers’ where quality will be sacrificed for quantity. People and companies will do anything to bring their numbers up. It is no longer about the art! People are looking at your social media numbers before they even look at your art!

Another interesting site is here: This page lets you check Facebook pages to find out, by country, where the ‘likes’ / ‘followers’ are based. If a page has a high percentage of likes from India, those are usually bought and most likely not ‘real’ followers.

Interesting times! I am not saying it’s all bad. As artists we absolutely have to be on there and maintain a certain presence. But it is now a far cry from what an app like Instagram was initially created for: A place for art and artists to support each other.

One thing is for sure: they’re not getting any of my money! I’d rather connect to people in the real art world. When it comes to advertising, I think there are better avenues to spend your money than on social media.

The cost of fine art and why there are no prices on my website

Every now and then I am getting an email from someone who is interest in buying a painting. While I think that’s very nice, I will have to explain a few things since most lay people do not know much about art or the art market.

Purchasing original fine art is not cheap. Most collectors constantly watch for up and coming artists and purchase their work early as it gets higher and higher once an artist is established and working with high end galleries. Original art means there’s only one unique painting and usually no reproductions unless otherwise noted. So why is art expensive?

Great question! The price of art is closely related to the reputation of an artist. The work of a nationally known artist will fetch a higher price than the work of someone in a local art association. Dead people’s work is much higher simply because they no longer produce new art. Unfortunately, the price of art has nothing to do with ‘how good’ the work is. There are artists who are great self marketers and despite being poor painters, they are selling at high prices. Anything can be art. The word ‘art’ is not protected or even well defined, just like the word ‘natural’ in the food industry. But I digress…

I thought it would be a good idea to break down costs so everybody can easily understand why paintings cost what they cost. On a side note, there are artists out there who overestimate their value, but also some that underestimate their worth. It can go both ways.

Anyone who works with galleries (like myself) is not underselling their galleries. That would be very unwise but I know some people do it regardless. What that means is to sell a painting directly for much cheaper than what it would sell in the gallery. If the gallery gets wind of it, they won’t be happy and in all likelihood drop the artist.

Galleries do work for us. They promote us and give us space so we can properly showcase our art. Where else can you go see art? The only other place is a museum or sometimes when an artist has an open studio sale.

Social media or the internet in general is not a good place since you can’t trust what you’re seeing. How would you know what you’re getting unless you are personally familiar with the artists work? I’d be very careful as there are artists who ‘doctor’ their paintings in photoshop software to ‘enhance’ the look of it. Besides, most people would have to see what impact a painting has and that can only be done in real life.

Furthermore, reputable fine art galleries have mailing lists of collectors that many artists can just dream about. Most artists have mailing lists with other artists on them. (who want to paint like them)

The price of a painting has several factors included.

1.The percentage the gallery takes (between 40 and even 70% in San Francisco) Yes, they take that much! Nowadays, 50% is pretty common.

2.The time and years spent on art education, i.e. going to art academy or other schools, taking workshops or whatever other formal training there was where considerable money was spent as a long term investment. (Comparable to what a lawyer charges you just to see you and their rate is much higher)

3.Costs of materials. Not that much but it has to go in

4.Cost of framing. No, the gallery usually does not frame our pictures. We do.

5.Cost of shipping to gallery. Unless we can drop off our work, we have to factor in shipping costs. I work with a gallery in North Carolina and live in California. UPS has just raised their rates again by almost 20% for my type of shipping.

Lastly, at the end of the year we have to pay taxes. Every painting will be taxed with federal tax.

Here’s an example: Let’s say the painting costs $1800 in a gallery (not too high, not too low, pretty average price)

50% for the gallery: $900 = $900
Time spent for education: $100 = $800
Art materials: $40 to $50= $750
Framing costs: $150 to $200= $550
Shipping costs: $50= $500
Tax: $25= $475

So, on a painting priced $1800, the artist might get approx. $475. If the gallery percentage is higher, it’s of course less. (Note: these are approximations, some may be higher or lower)

So, why are there no prices on my website?

The reason I am not putting prices is simple and my personal choice: I don’t want anybody to know who just visits my site. If someone is really interested in buying, they will go through the ‘trouble’ of sending me an email. Some artists come to my blog and website basically just to get information. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I have control over what information about my art should be public and what shouldn’t be. Another good reason is as stated above, the artwork will become more valuable as the reputation of the artist grows. We sell lower when we are first starting out. It’s just like in any other professional field, i.e. musicians, athletes etc.

This should help clear some of the confusion. Many artists offer payment plans. We are well aware that not many people have money piled up at home. Life itself is expensive enough.

Would I ever sell directly? Yes, I would but only unframed works and with all the above considerations. For pricing, please email me at eberdotfrankatgmaildotcom

New website live!

My website is all new and updated! It’s also responsive, that means it works on smart phones as well. I can now upload pictures myself and finally keep it current. Web design by Indus3ous.com. Have a look, if you like: http://www.frankeber.com

I will continue to post paintings and painting tips here on my blog and, reluctantly, on facebook also. I generally detest anything social media and I think it’s insidious how they exploit this thing that was once good!
Just to give you an idea: An art page that doesn’t pay them money (like mine) won’t get the posts seen by many people. Even if the number of page followers is high, the algorithms they’re using make it sure that posts are not distributed widely. Same goes for posting itself: if you spend less time on there it works against you! The less you post, the less traffic will be directed to your page.
All the pages, the ‘suggestions’ you see popping up on the right side of your stream are basically paid advertisements.

As artists we have no choice but to be on there for the obvious exposure. Although it is debatable what inherent value there is in connecting to all these other artists who basically do the same thing as me. Same goes for this or any other blog, of course. In the end it might be good for filling workshops and that’s about it!
Thanks for reading my general rant!

 

 

Daniel Smith, Seattle WA

Just back from a workshop and demo gig at the headquarters of this great company!
DS make high quality pigments and were the first to develop Quinacridones, now copied by just about every pigment manufacturer out there. They were also the first to come up with the dot card idea. It was only a small step to develop dot cards for individual artists as we see them today. Dot cards are being copied now as well.
I am happy to say I was the first artist who had his own dot card back in 2011. Since every artists palette changes over time, I have a brand new card now with about five or six new colors.

I make the card available to workshop participants only as it doesn’t make much logistic sense to send it out. I don’t want to charge for it and I don’t want to incur shipping charges either. If you’re curious about DS colors in general, they sell a dot card with a good color selection for five bucks here: http://www.danielsmith.com/Item–i-001-900-501-LIST

I am very grateful to be a featured DS artist and my heartfelt thanks goes to Katherine and John, as well as Joe, Thom and everyone else at the store who took care of me last weekend!