Making and selling art is a tough slog. Beyond the time and effort involved, the costs are much higher than people realize. 

I doubt that most artists have a clear sense of how much they are actually spending to pursue their vocation. I tend to avoid doing so because I just don’t want to know. 

Between art supplies, transport, framing, it adds up very quickly. You also spend money on things like websites, business cards, invitations and other promotional items. Every time I go into an art store I am amazed by how much everything costs. Renting studio space, as many artists do, is a whole other world of financial pain.

Artists typically spend a lot of time making each piece of work. Most of us spent the requisite time and cash for formal studies, so there’s that. We’ve also spent years learning, developing, and practising our trade. All of that time and experimentation is critical to our overall development as artists. Lots of time, money and trips to the art store.

The majority of an artist’s production over the course of their career will likely never be sold. Also, brick and mortar galleries typically take a 50% commission. The 50% that’s left over for the artist gets eaten up pretty quickly by the expenses already mentioned. Even online galleries take 35%. 

Making art actually costs us money so we do other stuff to subsidize it. Geez, did I say this was a business? – L/C

As an artist, social media creates a whole new set of pressures and anxieties.

I’m not really sure what to do in order to post effectively. Am I supposed to hashtag a bunch of keywords as part of the post? Am I supposed to follow a whole bunch of people and then unfollow them as soon as they follow me? That seems to happen a lot in the often insidious world of followers, and likes. People can be so awful and disingenuous on social media. It makes me crazy.

The pressure comes from an expectation that you have to promote yourself and specifically your art on social channels like Twitter and Instagram and that you have to constantly grow your audience. Your following has to be big and constantly getting bigger. Size matters.

The anxiety comes when I post something and then compulsively feel the need to constantly check to see how many likes and or retweets the post has gotten. So far my social media savvy has proven to be underwhelming. But like I said, as an artist, I am made to feel that this is a necessary avenue of pursuit and something that needs to be mastered. Ahhhhh!!!!!! – L/C

IG: @loosecanine

T: @hummygoo

Pulling silk screens takes way more effort than I remember. I haven’t done it for a very long time and I suppose I was hampered a little from my recovering, but still injured, shoulder. Anyway, it was a fun and very satisfying endeavour.

The motivation was partly (read mostly) financial. I am participating in this thing called the Tour Des Arts this coming July. I am a newby (read terrified) to the whole experience and thought I had better have something that was more affordable (read easier purchase decision) than just paintings. Art is typically an impulse decision and it’s easier to talk oneself out of a big-ticket item than it is a small one.

My assistant (read wife) and I pulled two different editions within a week. The first one had a few more mishaps than the second so it is smaller in total number – 60 versus 70. We pulled a 3 colour eagle image first and then a 2 colour house cat. Just have to photograph them properly and get them on the site.

I have a feeling that we’ll do some more print editions soon. – L/C

As much as I enjoy his work, my favourite thing about him is that he is the ultimate outsider. The artworld seems to really want to appropriate him but he remains a true independent. He is a disrupter.

The artworld got busy trying to intellectualize his shredder stunt at the Sotheby’s auction house as performance art. I prefer to think that he did it because it he thought it would be funny. I think he was making fun at the expense of the high-brow, hoity-toity fine art establishment. And it was really funny.

Ironically, it likely doubled the value of the piece which had been sold only a moment earlier for the sum of £1m (including buyer’s premium). After all, the stunt made news and history and will, no doubt, eventually be displayed in an enclosed glass display case in a museum. – L/C