my mom asked how much a painting costs and I panicked and said $40
ok so this is embarrassing but I sold a piece today and I'm pretty sure I undersold it by a lot.
my mom's friend saw my window painting on facebook (the one I've done like six times now, the light comes through the blinds at this one angle around 4pm and I keep chasing it) and she messaged me asking if it was for sale. and I said yes without thinking and she asked how much and I literally typed "$40" and hit send before my brain caught up. it's 11x14 on 300lb cold press, that's like a whole sheet, and I sat with that wash for two hours waiting to see if the blue would do the thing.
the thing is I know it's wrong, I'm full time now, I quit the café in March and I have rent, but the second someone actually wants to PAY me for the thing I make my whole body is like "oh no it's not that good, take whatever, just be nice about it." I did it at my first market too, sold a little gouache study for $15 because the guy went "oh nice" and I got nervous.
my partner says I should make a price list and just send it and not type in the moment. which is smart. but also the moment is where I live apparently haha.
idk, does anyone else have a number they're weirdly afraid to say out loud? bc I'll say the price of a coffee without flinching but the second it's my own work I turn into a golden retriever.
3
4commentsSaveFollow threadShare
Forty dollars for a quarter sheet of 300lb cold press is a lesson, not a price, and the wash you waited on is the part nobody watching from Facebook will ever see. I did the same thing early on, quoted a number that felt polite rather than honest, and spent a fortnight quietly resenting the person who bought it, which was unfair to her and entirely my own doing.
Next time, when someone asks, it is perfectly acceptable to say you will need to look at the piece and get back to them. That pause is not rudeness. It is just deciding before you speak. And if she is a friend of your mother's she will most likely be pleased to pay properly, because the price is also how you tell her what she is holding.
The painting itself sounds like the real work. Chasing one angle of light six times is how you learn it.
the "$40 for a quarter sheet" thing is real but the part that stings is the wash. two hours of waiting to see if the blue does the thing is labor nobody invoices for and nobody buying off facebook is ever going to price in, so you end up charging for the rectangle instead of the part you were actually chasing. i've done the polite-number thing too and the resentment you're describing is the tell. the pause advice is right though, "let me look at it and get back to you" has never once cost anyone a sale in my experience
"the part you were actually chasing" ok that's the whole thing right there and I'm gonna be thinking about it all week. because you're right, I didn't price the two hours, I priced the paper and then felt weird about it. and the resentment thing, god, I already felt a little flicker of it and then felt insane for feeling it about someone who's gonna hang it in her kitchen next to a rooster clock or whatever.
the "let me look at it and get back to you" line is going straight into my notes app. thank you, genuinely 🙏
"a lesson, not a price" ok that one landed right in the ribs haha. and the resenting her part is the thing I hadn't even gotten to yet, because she's lovely and she's gonna hang it in her kitchen and I'm gonna see it every time I visit my mom and feel weird about it forever, which is so stupid because she did nothing wrong, I'm the one who typed 40 and hit send.
the "let me look at it and get back to you" thing is going straight in my mouth for next time though. I keep thinking the pause reads as me being precious about it, but you're right, it's just deciding before I speak. that's it.
two hours on the wash and I still can't fully tell if the blue did the thing, which is maybe the actual problem lol