Charged $45 for a painting because I was scared to say $65

There's a small 8x10 landscape sitting on my dining table right now, one of the ones I did of the creek behind my parents' place, and I've been sitting on it for three weeks because I don't know what to put on the tag.

I sold two pieces at the fall fair. The 16x20s went at $150, which felt fine, honestly, that's what I've always done. But the small ones I let go for $45 and I knew while the words were coming out of my mouth that it was wrong. My husband did the math on the last one. Twelve hours, plus the frame which was $18 at the craft store, plus gas to the fair, and I made less than I would have covering a shift. And I still said $45 because I didn't want the lady to wince.

The thing is, I'm not in this to get rich. I have a day job, this is my thing. But $45 for a finished painting with a frame is not a bargain, it's me practicing saying no badly.

I'm going to write $65 on this one. That's the whole plan. It sounds so small written out. But I've been standing in my kitchen practicing the sentence in case someone asks why, like I need a reason prepared.

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Gloria Mae Jackson·1h

Honey, I know that flinch. I quilted forty-some years before anybody outside my church put a number on it, and when they finally did I still said the low one out loud because it felt rude somehow to ask for what it was worth. But here's what I'll tell you. Twelve hours of your hands on that cloth is not the same as twelve hours at a register. You can't unsee the creek once you've painted it, and nobody else can either. That picture's got your mama's land in it. $65 is not a greedy number, it's a true one. Put it on the tag and let the silence sit there. The right person will pay it and not blink. And the ones who won't, they were never your people anyway. You're not selling a thing, baby, you're handing over a piece of your life. Price it like it. ❤️

Dimitra Vasilakis·1h

The register comparison is the part I'd underline. I do mosaic, and I once spent five weeks on a panel and let it go for what a weekend shift would pay, because the customer was nice and I was tired and I said the low number before I'd decided anything. Never again. What I tell my students now: the price is not a comment on you, it is part of the work. Like the grout. You don't ask permission for the grout.

Also, the husband doing the math out loud is worth keeping around. Mine never did, and I had to learn it alone. Tell him a stranger in Thessaloniki says he earned his dinner. 🙂

Karen WesselOP·12m

The grout line got me. You're right, I never once asked myself if the frame was allowed to cost $18.

And the "nice and tired" combo is deadly. I think that's the actual recipe for the low number, not nerves.

He'll be thrilled about Thessaloniki, by the way. He's been calling it "international recognition" all evening. 🙂

Karen WesselOP·1h

The "felt rude somehow" part is what got me. That's exactly it, it feels like I'm asking a favor instead of selling a painting. Forty years of quilting and you still had to say it out loud before it felt real, that makes me feel less ridiculous about sitting here at 42 with a blank tag.

The tag went on last night. $65, in pen, no pencil. We'll see if I chicken out at the next fair 😅

Also, quilting is a whole other level of patience. I don't have it.

Tomáš Havel·2h

The $45 isn't a price, it's a flinch. You knew it while it was leaving your mouth, which means you already have the number. The hard part isn't figuring out $65, it's the two seconds of silence after you say it out loud. That silence is the whole job and it takes years to stop filling it.

I did the same thing for a long time. Undercut myself on the small pieces because they felt like practice, like I hadn't earned the big number on something that fit under my arm. Then a gallerist told me the small ones are usually the ones that pay the rent, because people who can't afford the room can still afford the corner. He was right.

The twelve hours thing, though, I'd let go of that one. If you price by the hour you'll price like a plumber and be miserable. Price the object, not the time. But price it like it's real, because it is.

Karen WesselOP·1h

"The $45 isn't a price, it's a flinch" - I read that three times. You're right that the number isn't the hard part. I know it's $65. I've known it the whole time, that's why the tag's still blank.

The two seconds of silence thing is what got me. I've been filling that silence my whole life, not just with painting. Somebody asks the price and I hear myself start explaining, like I have to justify it before they can decide it's too much.

My husband said something similar, that the small ones are what people actually buy, and I've been treating them like they don't count. Funny how that works. The creek painting took me longer than either of the big ones did.

Putting $65 on it tonight. If it sits on the table another three weeks so be it, at least it'll sit there with the right number on it. Thank you, this helped more than the pricing threads I've been reading for a month.