Selling watercolours

full-time-mum

Not sure if this is the right thread, but my friend's BF paints watercolours, in particular flowers but also people's houses.

He has just been made redundant and my friend and I were discussing how he could make money from his hobby. We looked at ebay but don't think it would work.

He is considering make limited edition prints as well and has done some tentative costings which would be based on 100 copies.

Anyone got any suggestions or advice?

If he is prepared to take a risk, I think that maybe school craft fayres etc might be a good starting point or possibly getting a market stall in a shopping centre (no idea of cost though).
It has also been suggested that he advertise as a floral illustrator.

Clive_Woody

He could get in touch with any local art dealers, show them some of his work and see if they would be interested in stocking a couple of items of his work to see if there is any interest.

Regarding the houses, if there are any nice old quaint little villages near you with houses that might look good in a painting it might be worth him putting a few fliers through their doors offering his services, maybe even knock on the doors and show them his work and see if they want a painting of their house (make sure he gets a deposit up front in case they change their mind when they see final picture). A lot of companies occupy big old houses, he might like to contact some of these to see if they would like a painting done to have in their reception area.

The flower angle is a bit more difficult, he could perhaps go to flower shows with some of his work and see if the folk there might like paintings done of their flowers. Again some business (companies, doctors, dentists, florists, etc...) like to display art in their place of work, contact them and see if they would be interested in his work.

Being practical I would imagine making money from art takes time and may never happen, so he would be well advised to seek alternative employment until this takes off.

Debt_Free_Chick

full-time-mum wrote:

Anyone got any suggestions or advice?

Have a look at Art - an online gallery for selling originals & prints.

peterg1965

What about local art galleries, the ones you find on the hight street, and art exhibitions and, as someone has said local craft fares. You may have to travel around the country to promote the pictures but there is definately a market out there, especially for LE prints. What about commissioning pictures on request? Especially for other people houses, I am sure there would be a mrket for this. Flyers would be a good idea and a follow up with a showing of a portfolio of pictures to interested parties.

1jim

has he thought about setting up a website to promote his work? local dealers/art galleries may be interested,
local coffee/tea shops may put these up on the wall for a comission
our local hospital has a gallery that people display their art work and can sell from this
hope this helps
jim