5 Ways to Support Your Artist Friends When You Have Little Money

So, you have little to no money, but you have a struggling artist friend and you want to help? 

No worries! 

There are plenty of things you can do! 

Here's 5. 

 

 

1. Share!

Whether you can afford your friend's art or not, letting people know about their work is one of the most important things you can do. Facebook, Twitter, any social media, and especially word of mouth. Maybe you know somebody that knows somebody. We love that.

2. Prints

Is there an original you absolutely love, but just can't afford your friend's price point? The price point is there for a reason, and you want your artist friend to get their fair price. Why not ask for a print? Maybe it can be smaller than the original too, but you can support them and get in on the action yourself!!

3. Subscribe

Maybe you're not completely into art yourself, but our subscriber numbers can get us really excited, and is a simple way to know what's going on in our artsy brains. Don't forget to share it if you do find it fascinating!

4. Attend and Bring a Friend

If you really want to support your artistic friend, put your miles where your mouth is and attend gallery and show openings- and bring people with you! We want to pay attention to you, but may be closing a sale. And your friend might like to share our art too.

 

 5. Commissions and Trades

Maybe you can arrange to do their dishes or trade something like car maintenance to give them more time to do the arting. Or, if they are willing to negotiate, commission smaller pieces from them.

En Plein Air Painting At Kalamazoo Farmer's Market

 It was a little busier than I thought when I got there at 8:30. I stayed for two hours.

 Thanks to Scobey's Produce for letting me steal a spot to paint in. I did this little 8"x10" for them as a thank you gift.

Here I'm letting some palettes dry before I pack up, and getting the WIP dried up too.

Here's a view of my spot. I didn't end up using this canvas though. Not yet anyway.

Entering Art Prize a Possibility

This is just here to be pretty.

I've been thinking about entering Art Prize this year. I had an idea for something to go on or hang from a type of room divider, like a stained glass mosaic made with resin, but each piece being a part of a photo-essay or something.

Asking "Why?" When You Make Art: When To Use It, When Not To.

Asking "Why?" can be very dangerous.

This question has changed the world, for whenever someone asks "why?" about a tradition taken for granted, a whole system of values brought to awareness for debate.

Asking "why?" can strengthen you because you examine what you believe and can defend it. But there is another side to the question "why?" that can get you stuck.

I like to think of the question "why?" like glue. It can hold you together or get you stuck.


When you have a tendency towards depression or are otherwise discouraged in your art, asking "why?" might get you stuck.

You may find it brings out purposelessness and pointlessness to your pieces. Don't ask why someone needs X. Not yet. Don't ask why we place colored mud on walls and make a living from it.
 One of the reasons for this could be because you are judging your art for the market that exists now, not for the people who actually need it. No one needs an invention until after it had been invented, and then they realized how much we needed it all along. So it is with art, and marketing to the future buyers and purposes that don't seem to exist at this very moment. But art has other purposes too.

Sometimes when I ask "why" I get very discouraged because I want to help the poor, feed the hungry, or cure cancer and here I've been pushing colored mud around on a canvas. "When I could be doing something constructive."  How do you deal with that?


Here are some ideas on asking "why?" in ways that will help make your art stronger and not get you stuck.

• Ask "why?" about the process, not about the product.
• People buy art for all sorts of reasons, and the story behind it is one of them. 
• You are the one spending your life's time making art, have a purpose to your life! 
• Have reasons for the processes and techniques you use and your art will be much stronger.
• Figure out why first before you decide on the how or the what.
• The rest falls into place, and all your work is aimed towards the purpose and message you want to create with your art.