How many paintings do you think you have in your studio? If you are like my students you probably have quite a few tucked away. Some of your paintings you probably really like and those are probably in a different pile from the ones that you felt weren't as good. You may even have put a frame on the ones you thought were worthy. Now I have to ask
you, are you willing to sell and let go of your good paintings? many beginners won't sell their best work because they want to keep them and feel a close attachment to their best work.
This is okay to do for a little bit of time but sooner or later you need to let your babies go.
Letting go of your best is something my mentor Irving Shapiro had told us was good for an artist to do. He said after a while you need to let go of your paintings because it makes room for
your growth as an artist and makes room for all those best paintings that are yet to be created. The paintings you feel are your best right now, in a year or two will probably not be as good as the ones you are yet to create because of the growth you will have achieved as an artist if you keep on creating new paintings.
If you feel a need to hold on to your best pieces there are ways to have your cake and eat it too. Get them professionally scanned or photographed so you
can have them stored digitally forever. You can then use those files to get prints made, along with having them printed on most anything. Refer back to my
December 2016 newsletter GIFTS for all the things you can have your painting printed on.
Most
importantly, If you never sell any of your best work, original or prints, how is anybody ever going to see and own your best pieces. Then there is the storing of all your best, in time you will have way too many paintings to store. let go and sell them. Selling them, of course, is another newsletters that I will have to write. But before I write that newsletter start by selling at shows, exhibitions, and Etsy.
Let go and sell your best, the new owners will take real
good care of your baby. Most new owners will gladly let you come and visit your babies new home!
David