Marketing & Social·Karen Wessel·1d

The craziest part about selling at local art fairs isn't the selling, it's the people who come up to your booth and say they've seen your work online. Every single time I'm caught off guard. I've got maybe 400 followers and post whenever I remember to, yet twice this summer someone walked up and said "oh you're the one who does those fall barn paintings" like I'm a celebrity. Meanwhile the piece I actually poured weeks into and thought would finally be "the one" has sat in my living room unsold for six months. My 8 year old said it looks like a sad house. Not wrong honestly. Trying to just accept that the internet works in ways I'll never fully understand and keep painting what I like. The barns sell because people want a barn on their wall, not because they're my best work. Feels like it should bother me more than it does.

Wins·Karen Wessel·2d

Someone at my daughter's soccer game asked if I could paint her parents' old farmhouse from a photo, before they sell it. I almost said no. I don't usually do buildings, all those straight lines are brutal, and commissions make me nervous because you can't just walk away when it's not working. But I said yes and I'm so glad I did. The photo was from the 80s, kind of faded, and there was this one big maple in the front yard that's gone now. I spent three evenings on that tree alone because it deserved to be the star of the painting. Dropped it off yesterday and the daughter cried when she opened it. Her mom hugged me and I could tell she was holding it together. I charged $250 which I thought was too much and honestly now I think it wasn't enough. First time a painting actually paid for a full tank of gas plus groceries. Maybe I should take more of these on even if the straight lines scare me.

Studio Life·Karen Wessel·3d

The only wall in my house with decent natural light is the hallway between the kitchen and the bedrooms. So that's where my easel lives. I get maybe 45 minutes of good light in the late afternoon before it shifts and everything I'm mixing starts to look wrong. I've gotten weirdly good at working fast in that window. Lay down the big shapes first, save the fine detail for the evening under the overhead light even if the colors are off, because I know from experience they'll read fine by morning. The kids step over the drop cloth like it's always been there. My husband hung a towel over the window on the bathroom door once and I nearly cried with gratitude. I tell myself someday I'll have a real studio but honestly I'd probably just end up painting in a different hallway.

Studio Life·Karen Wessel·4d

Painted a still life tonight at the kitchen table after the kids went down. Same table we ate spaghetti at two hours earlier. I wiped it down, laid out the drop cloth, and there's still a smear of tomato sauce on the corner of my reference photo that I just decided to live with. I used to feel bad about not having a real studio space. Read all these posts about people's dedicated rooms with north light and proper easels and I'd get all wistful. But honestly the kitchen table works. The light is awful. The cat walks across my palette at least twice a session. My 8 year old stuck a drawing of a dinosaur to the easel I can't even use because there's no room for it. But it's the only uninterrupted hour I get and I'll take it. Finished a decent little pear study tonight, better than my last one. That's the whole win. Packed it up and now I'm eating leftover spaghetti over the sink like a civilized person. Who else is painting on a dining room table or a folding tray or wherever they can grab space?

Marketing & Social·Karen Wessel·5d

I bought a decent printer last year thinking prints would be my side income. Got the good archival paper, color calibrated everything, spent way too many evenings fighting with it. Sold maybe six prints total, and two of those were to my mother in law. Meanwhile the original paintings sit in my booth at fairs and people keep asking about those instead. The overthinking it took me a full year to figure out: people buy the thing in front of them, they don't buy the reproduction of it. So I stopped pushing prints entirely and just started starting more originals at lower price points. Smaller 8x10s I can finish in two sittings now sell faster than anything I've ever made prints of. Sold nine of those in the last two months at the local craft market alone. Wish somebody had told me that a year and about 300 dollars in ink ago.

Studio Life·Karen Wessel·1w

I started timing my evening sessions and now I won't paint unless I've got at least a full 20 minutes, no exceptions. Sounds obvious but for years I'd sit down with like 12 minutes before I had to get the kids' lunches ready or whatever, and I'd just fight the whole time trying to warm up and make it count. Total waste. Now if I can't do 20 I don't even uncap the tubes, I just go to bed earlier and try again tomorrow. The difference in what comes out of those short focused blocks vs the frantic squeezed ones is night and day. Eleven year old asked what my superpower was and I said knowing when NOT to paint. She was not impressed.

Rants & Vents·Karen Wessel·1w

Walked in yesterday to find my 8 year old with my two best brushes soaking in the kitchen sink, "helping me clean up." She'd used dish soap. The good ones, the ones I actually save for details and don't let anyone touch. They're not ruined-ruined but the ferrules are loose on both and one's already shedding. I know she meant well. I know she was trying to be nice. I also know I said, not even that long ago, please don't touch my brushes. And she looked so proud of herself when she showed me. I got angry, then I felt terrible for getting angry, then I spent half an hour trying to salvage them with a bit of superglue around the metal, which probably made it worse. They're sitting on my desk now and I can't bring myself to throw them out even though I have spares. Anyway if you have a kid who's also "helpful" with your supplies, solidarity. And maybe keep your good stuff somewhere they can't reach. I thought I had. Apparently not. 😅

Artwork Feedback·Karen Wessel·1w

I spent Sunday afternoon rearranging the same three pears and a teapot for the fourth time this month. Moved the light, tried a different angle, even set up one of those little viewfinder cards. And it still came out flat. Not wrong exactly, just... there. Like a photo taken straight on, no depth, no life. I know all the rules. Foreground, middle ground, background. Overlap things. Put something in front of the teapot. But when I actually set it up and paint, I keep lining everything up in a row like I'm arranging it for a lineup. It's like my eye just defaults to the neatest arrangement and I have to fight it the whole time. I'm wondering if this is more about how I see the setup than my brushwork, because the actual painting itself seems fine when I look at it as marks. Anyone else run into this? Where the composition is the wall, not the painting? I'm going to try moving the pears off the table line this week and see what happens.

Artwork Feedback·Karen Wessel·1w

Every landscape I do ends up with at least one patch of green that looks like swamp sludge. I've been blaming cheap paint, but I was mixing ultramarine with yellow and just adding more yellow when it got ugly, like I could shovel my way out of it. Tonight I actually tried mixing in a touch of the burnt sienna I use for everything else and it just... worked. The green sits better and reads as distance instead of mossy soup. Twenty years of painting and I still do dumb things out of habit until someone says the obvious thing out loud. Anyway, try a pinch of your brown before you buy another tube of green. Wish someone had told me that in 2019.

General·Karen Wessel·1w

Tried plein air for the first time last Sunday. Picked a little spot by the creek, got all set up, and the wind just wrecked me. My easel tipped over twice, a leaf landed wet side down right in the middle of my sky, and I packed it up after about forty minutes with maybe ten minutes of actual painting done. But here's the thing. I got more done in those ten minutes than I do in a whole afternoon of painting from photos. The light on the water was doing something I've never been able to fake in the studio. I've been chasing that same look for weeks from reference photos and it's always flat. Now I'm looking at those little wind-proof clamps for the canvas and a heavier easel, and I keep checking the forecast for a calm day. I think this is my new thing. Just wish I'd tried it before I turned forty.

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·2w

I've only ever approached galleries by emailing first, and honestly most of them never even reply. A friend of mine who does pottery swears by just walking in with a few pieces and asking to talk to whoever does the buying. That sounds terrifying to me but she's landed two shows that way. Have any of you just walked in somewhere cold? Did it go well or did you get the brush-off? I feel like I've been hiding behind email forever and maybe that's why nothing sticks.

Studio Life·Karen Wessel·2w

So I ran out of gesso mid-priming a canvas tonight and instead of just going to bed like a normal person I read about making your own with rabbit skin glue and whiting. Which obviously I'm not doing because the thought of rendering animal glue in my kitchen makes me a little queasy AND my 8 year old would absolutely try to eat it. But I did mix some acrylic medium with plaster of Paris to see what happens and now there's a weird little test square drying on cardboard that I'll report back on like it matters. It probably won't be anything, but honestly the kitchen-table science is half the fun of this hobby. I've ruined two good wooden spoons and my husband has stopped asking questions. Anyone else ever actually bothered with homemade grounds or do we all just buy the tub?

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·2w

I've never actually gotten into a gallery (local fairs are my whole scene), but I've had a few conversations at open studio weekends and one owner told me my work was "nice, like something you'd see in a dentist's office." I just laughed and moved on because what else do you do. But it stuck with me for a week. 😅 What's the least professional thing you've let slide in a gallery conversation? Looking back, would you have handled it differently or was smiling and moving along the right call?

General·Karen Wessel·2w

I bought a pack of those super cheap synthetic brushes at Michael's a few months ago, like $8 for a dozen, just to beat up on for texture work and practice pieces. And now I reach for them almost every time over the nice ones my husband got me for Christmas. They're not even good brushes. The ferrule is wobbly and one of them is already shedding. But they're the exact right stiffness for how I actually paint, and I'm not scared to mess them up. That's the thing. The nice ones sit in the jar and I keep talking myself out of using them because what if I ruin them. Meanwhile the $8 ones are doing all the real work. I think I need to just give the good ones to a purpose. Use them on a piece I actually care about and stop treating them like they're museum pieces. Anyone else have brushes they are weirdly protective of and never use? Or am I just hoarding nice art supplies like everybody does.

Pricing·Karen Wessel·2w

I finally did it. After two years selling 8x10 prints at the local fairs for $45, I bumped them to $60 a couple weeks ago. I'd been telling myself the whole time that $45 was fine "because it's just a hobby," but then I actually did the math on one of them. Framing costs me $14, the print itself $8, and I spent close to six hours on the painting. That was $3.75 an hour. For a mom who paints in the cracks of her day, that's basically working for free. So I raised it. And three of my regulars who've bought from me at every single fair just walked right past my booth without stopping. Didn't even say hi. I get it, $60 is a jump and everyone's feeling it lately, but it stings more than I expected. Part of me wants to put a sign up saying "here's the breakdown, here's what I actually make on this" just so they see I'm not being greedy. The three new people who bought at $60 didn't blink. So maybe the regulars were never going to keep coming anyway, and I just didn't notice because the price was so low it was easy for them. Anyway. Holding at $60. It's still less than minimum wage when you count the hours. But it's honest now, and that's something.

Marketing & Social·Karen Wessel·2w

I did a craft fair a couple weekends ago and made $64 total, but $40 of it came from two people I stopped being "the seller" with and just talked to like a normal human. One was a woman who asked a technical question about how I get the sky so smooth in acrylics, which turned into a 15 minute conversation about gesso and soft brushes, and she bought two small prints before she left. The other was a guy who told me his mom used to paint and we just stood there talking about her for a while. He bought one. I'm not saying this is some genius insight. But I spent the other five hours half-smiling at people and getting ignored, and the money came out of the two actual conversations. Kind of makes me wonder how much of my online posting is the equivalent of that half-smile at strangers. All these process reels and behind the scenes stuff I do, and it's the one-to-one stuff that actually moves anything. Anyway, back to my day job tomorrow. The fair was fun but I came home with more unsold inventory than I know what to do with lol.

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·3w

I've never approached a gallery, honestly. I've only ever done local art fairs and a couple of small cafe shows. I keep telling myself I'll send some work out but I don't even know where to start, and part of me is scared of being laughed at with my little landscapes lol. I'd love to hear how your first one actually happened. Did you walk in cold? Send an email with photos? Get invited somehow? And how long had you been painting before you tried? I'll take all the stories as encouragement to finally do it. My plan was to email a small local gallery with three images and see what happens, but I've been sitting on that draft for two months 🙃

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·3w

I once walked into a small local gallery to drop off some pieces for a group show and the owner spent the whole time on her phone, barely looked at my work, and handed me a contract that had a line about them taking 50% plus a "handling fee." I signed it anyway because I was just happy to be in a gallery at all. It went about as well as you'd expect. Anyone else had that gut feeling early on and ignored it? Or did you actually walk away? Curious what the red flag was that finally made you say no thanks.

Marketing & Social·Karen Wessel·3w

So I had this small still life sitting at a local craft fair in July, priced at $15 because I kept underselling myself and it was small. Nobody touched it all day. Then on a lark I bumped it to $40 and put it back out at the next fair two weeks later. Gone in the first hour, and two people asked about it after it was gone. I don't know what to make of that. The size and the work didn't change, just the sticker. Everyone talks about pricing psychology like it's a secret, but honestly it feels a little gross to me that the same painting is "worth" more because I asked for more. Then again, I've also got a bin of $15 paintings that don't sell, so maybe I've been telling people they're cheap and they believed me. Anyone else seen this? I'm genuinely not sure if I should just reprice everything I'm sitting on or if I'm reading too much into one sale.

Studio Life·Karen Wessel·3w

I now have four clip-on lights aimed at my little painting corner because the overhead light in the basement is somehow both too dim and too harsh. My husband walked by and asked if I was doing surgery. But honestly the one I keep going back to is this cheap $12 daylight LED clip lamp from Michaels that's like six years old and held on with a rubber band. It's not the best color rendering, the arm droops, but it's the one that's actually aimed where I need it. The expensive ones are too fussy. I keep telling myself I'll set up a proper lighting rig when I clear out the other half of the basement. That was the plan in 2021. The other half of the basement now has a treadmill with clothes on it and a full set of my kids' old art supplies from when they still wanted to paint with me. Anyway. Tell me I'm not the only one painting under a nest of clip lamps. Or better yet, tell me your actual setup so I can feel properly inadequate.

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·3w

I still remember my first small gallery show. It wasn't a big deal by anyone's standards but it felt huge to me, and I didn't even ask for it. A woman from a local coffee shop gallery saw my stuff at a craft fair and emailed me out of nowhere. I almost deleted it thinking it was spam 😅 My gut says I'd still be waiting if I'd had to pitch myself. I've never been good at selling my own work. Did you ask for your first show, or did someone open a door for you? And for those who pitched, what did you actually say? I'm still terrible at it and could use the help.

Wins·Karen Wessel·3w

I found out this week I've been cleaning my brushes wrong for about twenty years. Wet palettes, mediums, all that I figured out eventually, but brushes? Soaking them tip-down in a jar of water overnight "to keep them soft." My brushes have been splitting and splaying and I just thought that's what happened to brushes eventually. A friend at the Tuesday workshop watched me put mine away and just went... no. Told me to wipe them, rinse, shape the tip with a little soap, lay them flat. I was so embarrassed and so relieved at the same time. Did a whole painting session tonight and my round brush held its point the entire time, no split hairs driving me insane. I'm 42. That's probably 20 years of fighting my brushes for no reason. How is that not demoralizing, except that it's also kind of thrilling to know there's probably a dozen more dumb things I've been doing that long that I just never thought to question? What else am I missing. Someone tell me your version of this so I feel less alone 😅

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·4w

I keep reading that you're supposed to build relationships, email first, get on their radar. But I've never once had the nerve to actually walk into a gallery with my portfolio and just ask. I've sold at local fairs for years and people keep saying I should approach the galleries in town, but the thought of it makes me want to crawl in a hole. So who here has actually done it? Walked in cold, no email, no connection, and just asked? How did it go? I need to know if it's as terrifying as I've built it up to be in my head, or if gallery owners are actually just normal people who don't mind someone asking.

Pricing·Karen Wessel·4w

I've been selling small landscape pieces at the local fair circuit for about three years now at $80 a pop. People seem happy to pay it, I get regulars who come back every summer, and I told myself raising it would scare people off. This week I actually did the math for the first time. A 9x12 landscape uses maybe $6 of paint, but I burn through way more than I sell because I'm still learning and repaint constantly. Then the canvas, the frame, the booth fee split, gas to the fair. The last piece I sold, after everything, I made about $11 an hour. And that's the GOOD one, not the ones sitting in my studio because the sky came out wrong. Worst part is my friends think $80 is a splurge already. Going to $95 feels like a big ask in my head. I know it's not, but here we are. Anyone else frozen at a price you set years ago because raising it feels like you're being greedy?

General·Karen Wessel·4w

Forgot my wet palette in the car last night. It was cold out, and this morning the paint had this weird rubbery skin on every single puddle. Not dried, exactly, just... bouncy. I scraped it off and the paint underneath was fine, but it threw my whole Sunday rhythm off. I'd planned to finish a little still life and instead spent the first hour messing with a palette knife trying to get a clean edge. Anyway. Note to self: carry the palette in the house with the groceries, Karen. It was sitting right next to the milk I also left out. Two for two. Anyone else have a "where did I lose the painting time this week" story? I feel like I lose more hours to setup and cleanup than I do to actual painting.

Marketing & Social·Karen Wessel·4w

Set up at a local fair this past Saturday and made a dumb mistake. I hung my favorite little still life right at the front of the booth, eye level, where everyone turns the corner. It sold before 10am. Great, right? Except the next 31 paintings just sat there for the rest of the day. The piece that would have pulled people deeper into the booth was gone before the crowd even showed up. I did the math on the way home. Sold one $65 piece and maybe 4 greetings cards. Meanwhile the booth next to me, a jewelry maker, had her whole display set up so there was no single focal point, and she was busy all afternoon. I think I keep treating this like a gallery wall when it's really a storefront. People browse the front, something catches them, they step in, they stay. Next fair I'm putting the good stuff in the middle and keeping the doorway bits simple. Anyone else hit this? Or am I overthinking crowds that mostly want a free mint?

Wins·Karen Wessel·4w

I've talked for months about wanting to do a series of rooms in my house, just as a personal project, and I kept putting off the kitchen. Too familiar, I told myself. Too boring. Nothing to say about a place I stand in three times a day. Finally sat down with it last week and I think I get now why I avoided it. It's the hardest subject I've ever painted and I've done a whole summer of plein air. Familiar means you know every wrong angle, every shadow that doesn't sit right. You can't fudge it because you can feel when it's off. The mug tree was the thing that nearly broke me. Those little wooden branches crisscrossing. I must have repainted it four times. Eventually I stopped trying to paint each branch and just painted the light falling through them and you know what, the branches showed up on their own. I haven't been this nervous to show a piece to my husband since I first started painting again. He looked at it for a long time and just said "that's our kitchen." That was it. That was the whole review. Now I'm scared to do the kids' bathroom.

Rants & Vents·Karen Wessel·4w

Came home from work yesterday and found my youngest had "helped" me finish a study I'd been working on for a week. Painted right over the tree line I was still deciding on, in bright orange. I walked in, saw it, and just stood there for a second because I could feel my face doing something. She was so proud. She'd waited all day to show me. I did count to ten and I did not lose it, so I guess that's growth. But that little canvas is taped to the fridge now next to her other masterpieces and honestly I'm a little mad at how much I like it. The orange might actually be right. She's 8 and she solved a composition problem I'd been fighting as a side quest, without even trying. Anyway the study is ruined and I'm framing it for the kitchen. Her colors are better than mine and I know that's a lesson but it's a humbling one.

Wins·Karen Wessel·1mo

I finally did it. I packed up my little travel easel and drove out to the lake this morning before the kids woke up, and painted the same view I've been chickening out on since June. The light on the water kept changing every fifteen minutes and I nearly gave up twice, but I just kept blocking in and repainting until something stuck. It's not my best work. But it's the first plein air thing I've actually seen through to the end instead of coming home with a muddy mess and a headache. I've been doing that since my workshop in April and I thought maybe outdoor painting just wasn't for me. Anyway. It's propped up in the kitchen drying and I keep walking past it feeling weirdly proud. If you've been avoiding trying something new for months, just pack the bag and go. The worst case is you come home with a muddy mess and a headache, which is where you already are.

Gallery Outreach·Karen Wessel·1mo

I've been painting seriously for about seven years now and I've still never had a real gallery show. I do the local art fairs, sell a couple pieces a year, and honestly that's been fine for me. But I'm starting to wonder if I'm leaving something on the table by never even trying. For those of you who've done it, how did your first gallery show actually happen? Did you cold email, know someone, have a friend who knew a friend? And be honest, was it worth the effort? I hear so many stories about commissions taken, work sitting unsold for months, weird contract stuff. Sometimes it sounds like a dream and sometimes it sounds like a part-time job nobody pays you for. My sister keeps telling me I should just start emailing small local galleries with photos of my work. She makes it sound so easy. I keep thinking they're going to see my stuff and wonder why I wasted their time. Tell me I'm wrong, or tell me your story. I want to hear the real ones, good and bad.