If you have a hankering to quit your day job and actually pay the bills by selling your artwork, you might consider doing Art Festivals. Many fine artists and fine crafters make a living at outdoor art shows. You have to start by being a good artist and creating art or fine crafts (jewelry, pottery, etc.) that communicate to the public.

At first glance the art show circuit may look like an idyllic life for an artist – traveling from festival to festival, public appreciating and buying your artwork, supporting yourself and family as an artist while seeing new cities and areas. The modern gypsy life.

But that is just at first glance. Sure, it is extremely rewarding to know your paintings hang in someone’s living room or office, and they actually paid you money for it. You can make enough money to cover the expense of art materials and the shows themselves, travel expenses and pay the bills. But traveling and setting up a booth and tearing it down is just plain hard work. Not to mention being outdoors in all kinds of weather and trying to save your art from the elements. You also have to juggle the travel and shows so that you have time in between to actually paint or throw pots or whatever your medium is.

In this series of articles we will explore how to get started without spending a fortune on displays and show fees, and how to find some shows to enter to see if you really do want to follow this route.

The best way to get started is to apprentice yourself to an artist who is already doing shows, and learn everything you can from him or her, going to shows, helping do the set up and take down and selling, and getting a feel for what the business is like. And make no mistake, it is a business. You must keep records and pay sales tax and get proper licenses, etc.

In case you don’t have an artist friend, go to some outdoor art festivals and meet artists who are successful. Observe everything about the show. Find out what sells and what doesn’t. Observe. Talk. Are you the kind of person who is willing to stay in a booth outside in all kinds of weather for 2-4 days? Artists are usually friendly types, and when they find out you are just beginning, they are more than willing to talk. Ask lots of questions. Maybe you will find someone you can apprentice with.

When you observe what is selling and how much is selling, you will be able to determine what you have to produce to make it worthwhile for you to do art shows. A few years ago it wasn’t unusual for people to buy paintings for $1,000 or more. Since the recession, that doesn’t happen very often. You need to have items for sale for $20 or less – small prints, or jewelry, etc. Can you produce such an item and in the quantity needed to sell enough to make up for that $1,000 painting that now rarely sells? Observe the public that attends art shows – are they the kinds of people who buy your art?

Get more familiarity with art shows by reading about them. Www.zapplication.org has hundreds of shows listed – you can apply for these shows online, and by visiting the site, you can get an idea of how to apply to shows and the costs of fees. There are also some magazines that cater to art show artists, such as Where It’s At, Art Show Source Book and Sunshine Artist.

These things are your first step – get the feel of what it’s like to do art shows. The next step will be to choose an art show near where you live, apply and get accepted and thereby launch your career. But we will explore that in a future article.

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