I’m Now A Professional Painter

As a painter, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to try and become successful as an artist.  I have spent years of my life just trying to get people to look at my artwork, let alone buy it, and the disappointment can be really difficult to deal with.  Originally, I took the traditional route of taking my art to different galleries and art shows in hopes that someone would end up buying it, but I regularly wound up extremely disappointed.  The fact of the matter is that few people want to buy art from an unknown artist, and if they do, they are not going to pay a whole lot of money for it.  You need someone who really loves the work you do in order to make a sale, but even they are unlikely to pay you much unless they believe that the art will become more expensive down the line.

Frustrated, I decided that I would try to grow Instagram followers in order to get more eyes on the paintings that I had done.  Sure, posting digital photos of my paintings on the internet does not really give people a great idea of how they look in person, but it sure is better than nothing.  I figured if I could grow Instagram followers and get enough people to actually look at the paintings that I had done, I would at least have a better shot at selling a painting here or there.  Little did I know that I would end up being so successful that I would be able to quit my day job and work on my art full time.

It all started relatively slowly, as I noticed that more and more people were liking my paintings.  Over time, however, my followers began to grow dramatically, and the likes began to come roaring in.  Finally, one person commented on one of my posts asking if I had ever tried to sell my art before.  We had a relatively long conversation in which I explained to them how much I had struggled trying to sell my paintings, and they told me that it was a shame, as I had a whole lot of talent and should not have had to work a regular job.  Long story short, this person eventually offered to buy the painting in the photograph, and that was the beginning of my professional art career.

It seems as though once you get over that hump, everything begins to go a whole lot smoother.  Once I made that first sale, more and more people began asking to buy my artwork.  I am now able to ask for relatively high prices for each piece that I do, and I would never have expected that.  I have even had a couple of art shows ask to purchase my art so that they could resell it.  I make pretty good money as a painter now, and that was something I’d never expected to happen.