People recognize my work from a social media account I run on vibes alone
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.
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The 400-follower thing is real though. People remember the work that has a clear hook, not necessarily the one you put the most into. Your barn paintings have an identity someone can hold onto and describe to a friend. The piece you poured weeks into probably has more going on and that's harder to carry out of a booth.
I get the sting though. I've sold more small studies I barely remember making than pieces I actually wrestled with. Your kid called it like they see it though. Mine would say the same about half my stuff. Kids are brutal that way.
the hook thing is so true and honestly a little humbling. i had a piece sell that was like a quick warmup study, maybe 20 minutes, and the one i spent two months layering and agonizing over got one comment and it was my mom saying "interesting." people want something they can name, not something they have to figure out.
also the kid thing. kids have zero stake in your feelings, they just say the truest thing in the room. my niece told me one of my pieces looked like a sock someone lost. it kind of did.