Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • Watercolour
  • TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    I’m learning watercolour. I’m enjoying it at the moment.
    Assuming I become good enough, what are the practicalities of selling paintings?
    I’m thinking for pocket money really – I doubt I’d be good enough to live of it.
    I await the wisdom of the STW Hive Mind.
    –Twirlip

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    Find out if there is an open exhibition near you. Frame a couple, submit them, see if they get accepted, put a price that covers materials and something for your time and keep your fingers crossed.

    Here’s one of mine. Watercolour is a versatile medium.

    And one of my sister’s

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    Try local art and craft shows. See what other shows on in your area, I sell lots at dog shows and get lots of commisions at those kind of events. Watercolour is my favorate painting medium, I hope you continue to enjoy it.

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    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    And present anything you want to sell well, clients can be fussy with frames so often I mount and clear wrap work and not frame it. I get bulk mounts from http://www.merlinmounts.co.uk and get a local framers to cut special ones.

    iDave
    Free Member

    sell online, start a blog, tweet, network, hang around galleries. don’t dismiss your work as crap, others may love it and buy it.

    good example is a good friend in ireland who has been going for just over a year now and is selling online and through exhibitions.

    I did this last year when I was bored. Keep meaning to give it a proper go….

    Kevevs
    Free Member

    make sure you are using proper artist quality paints, even if you give your paintings to someone. Even your parents. Otherwise certain cheap pigments fade quicker than others, so your paintings look really rubbish a couple of years down the line when you go round someones house and see ’em pride of place in the living room. Nightmare.

    I did 1 or 2 w/c paintings a day on my summer hols off Uni when I was 19 or 20 (years ago) and sold them to a gallery in Betws Y coed for £20-30 each, which they framed and sold for £90-120 each. Wonder what became of them? I keep meaning to get back into painting.

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    I would say it depends how proficient you are as to weather you buy artists quality paints. Student quality these days lasts just as long, it will certainly outlive you. Artists mix better and look more vibrant, but can be a bit too expensive to use as a practice paint. Invest in good brushes instead.

    Kevevs
    Free Member

    “Student quality these days lasts just as long, it will certainly outlive you” Did you read that in a book? That’s what they said in 1993! The daler rowney/windsor student quality stuff from then looks pish now. The artists quality stuff still looks fresh. Maybe things have changed.

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    Ha ha no, but I do teach watercolour & do ok as an artist. Synthetic pigments have moved on as has the bonding compounds between them.

    GEDA
    Free Member

    Copy the best artists you can. Not people that just copy from photos I mean. Please don’t paint peoples dogs. Can’t be bothered to look for other examples but here are some. Picasso said the best artist steal.

    Grew up loving Turner

    Lars Lerin is someone I like.

    akira
    Full Member


    Gouache for me, need to actually get around to doing some more.

    TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    Thanks for the advice.
    Given tonight’s effort it’ll be a while until I try and sell anything. Still, on on 🙂

    TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    I’ve got a Collins 30 minute guide to landscapes by Paul Talbot Greaves. I was always put off watercolour by the wishy-washy stuff that I could easily identify as watercolour. I like the stuff in his book as it looks more like drawing with paint.
    Anyone got any other recommendations?
    I’ve always been ok at drawing but avoided paint because it was difficult.
    I love some of the pictures on this thread! Who knew STW was so creative 🙂

    TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    I’m having some trouble learning all the colour names. That probably sounds daft!
    The only painting I’ve really done was wargaming figures when I was a teenager. All the paints I had then had names like ‘Goblin Green’ and ‘Blood Red’.
    I had to google ‘burnt sienna’ to see what it was because I had no idea!
    Proper embarrassing 🙂

    seven
    Free Member

    I love some of the pictures on this thread! Who knew STW was so creative

    Anyone who has looked at the photo Thread perhaps 🙄

    Kevevs
    Free Member

    from what I remember, all you need, it’s been a while…
    Cadmium red (yellowy red)
    Cadmium yellow (reddy yellow)
    Lemon yellow (greeny yellow)
    yellow ochre
    alizarin crimson (bluey red)
    Ultramarine blue (reddy blue)
    cadmium/prussian blue (yellowy blue)
    Burnt umber
    burnt sienna
    zinc white.

    You can mix an approximation of any colour or tone you see using them given practice and understanding. get some books out, they are really helpful when you get started. forget the warhammer pots, and forget about making colours “lighter” or “dakjer” using black and white. go to basics with colour charts, mixing colours, you can make grey by mixing yellow and blue, orange from yellow and red, black from ultramarine and burnt umber, etc. It’s not about the names of the colours, but their properties. Burnt sienna is a really red brown for instance, so call it reddy-brown! burnt umber is a dirty bluey-black brown. I could go on all day…..

    correct me if I’m wrong catflees!

    I’d suggest going to a painting forum, this one’s full of engineers and IT specialists!

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    Yeah exactly. Learn the colour wheel, don’t try and mix terquoise type colours as it’s hard to keep the integrity of the pigment and it looks too muddy. Buy a terquoise instead. If you have White don’t use it, use the White of your paper. Learn to mix opposite colours rather than use black to darken a colour, for example to darken a red add a bit of green, that process is the key to making your work vibrant. Don’t get too hung up on learning the names if your paints.

    To clarify my earlier point about dog shows, I sell lots of work at these events (not always dogs) and was suggesting looking leftfield for avenues to sell work through. Galleries etc… Are highly contested and can be off putting and intimidating sometimes. Nothing wrong with painting dogs either if that was your thing, watercolour isn’t just about still life and landscapes. Have fun.

    TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    Not mad keen on animal painting. At the moment I’m happy with grass and trees. I suppose I could try bikes.
    I’ve got a white in my paint set but no black. I’ve not used the white since first trying it as it didn’t seem to do much that thinning the wash didn’t do better.
    Any painting forum recommendations?
    Or book recommendations?

    user-removed
    Free Member

    To answer the first q about selling, iDave has the answers. Social media is a necessary evil if you’re an unknown entering the market. Hype the work up.

    I’d also recommend producing dinky little paintings, beautifully framed and finding a local cafe, bistro, deli type place willing to display them for a cut of the sale price (usually 50% of the sale tag). Have a theme for each exhibition so they hang together nicely – if the painting looks good on a cafe wall, customers will be able to envisage it hanging in their living room.

    Some nice work above ^^

    Kevevs
    Free Member

    twirlip, are you enjoying your results? do they make you happy. That’s a result in itself. forget about marketing them, forget about money. just enjoy your efforts for what they are.

    Kevevs
    Free Member

    it’s lovely that mountainbikers can paint pretty pictures 🙂 Good job catflees is a teacher and knows what he’s talking about.

    Spongebob
    Free Member

    what are the practicalities of selling paintings

    U paint em and sell em!

    roper
    Free Member

    It sounds like you are on the right tracks and there is some very good advice above.
    Try not to give yourself too many rules or restrictions what you do, while you find your feet. Try not to be too precious over a pice as it could take away some experimentation or playing. Do work from photos, that can be a very convenient way to practice, and help you understand how you see what you are looking at. Also paint everything,including dogs, cats,and anything else that might take your fancy.
    Good luck.

    mcmoonter
    Free Member

    These are watercolours by Andrew Wyeth. If I were to recommend you look at any artists technique, I’d suggest you start here first.

    Margin-Walker
    Free Member

    I’d probably just worry about painting for the sake of it and enjoying it. If you are painting with a view to sell then it just feels different. Cant think of anything I’ve sold that I have really enjoyed doing.

    You’ll quickly pick up colour names and techniques, wouldnt worry about that.

    Enjoy and good luck

    TwirlipoftheMists
    Full Member

    I am doing it for fun.
    I was wondering what the chances were of generating a bit of pocket money for bike bits out of my new hobby.

    I have a sketch of a bit of Cannock in the fog that I’m quite pleased with that I plan to cover in paint tonight.

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