Casting the Net Wider - guest blog by Richard Wilde

Richard Wilde is founder of Artybuzz.com, an online artists community that allows anyone to exhibit, sell and buy great artwork.

Artists are very creative people, and in tough economic times it is worth thinking a little bit more creatively about where your work is sold, and how else it can be sold.

When times are hard and sales are down, it would be silly to just sit around and hope for the best, so why not think about casting the net wider, and trying to sell your art in different ways and different places.

There are many ways to make money from your art, including licensing it for sale on other products. I personally set up a murals wallpaper company recently at www.muralswallpaper.co.uk,  that allows artists and photographers to sell their work as huge wall murals. I licence the work from artists for reproduction, and pay them £5 per sq metre of the sold, which means some good money can be earned on large jobs.
Another great way of licensing you work is to have it reproduced on products and have either an image you have created or a pattern/collage of your work which forms and cool and quirky unique product. This can be done on a large scale but also a small scale as well. It’s also a fantastic way to improve your brand as an artist and get your work noticed in circles that may not normally find you.

So think about other sales avenues and how you can get your artwork noticed in other areas, and this will help you get through these tough times and will also improve your brand, scope and popularity as an artist!
– Richard Wilde

Artist and illustrator Mary Engelbreit graciously offers advice on her website to artists who are interested in licensing their work to other parties. Click here to see her tips for artists.

Have you had success licensing your work? I would love to hear about it!

Montclair Arts Day

"They came. They smiled. They were photographed. More than 100 artists from many disciplines gathered at the Montclair High School amphitheater on Wednesday, May 19 for a special photograph in celebration of Arts Day in Montclair. The Township Council declared May 19, 2010 as Arts Day to recognize “the many contributions that Montclair artists and those employed in the creative economy have made to the world and to Montclair in particular.” It was a great day -- for the arts -- in Montclair." Read More on the DestinationMontclair website

Here is the photo of all the artists who could make it at 4pm on a weekday. It was great to meet so many other artists, writers and musicians, and it was great to be at the inaugural event:

Photo by Andy Foster at Gallery 51

Creative projects for preserving photos and other keepsakes

I am giving a presentation at the Montclair Public Library with book artist Elaine Gongora about creative ways to preserve memories and mark special events (June 2 at 1:30 pm). I have posted some resources and ideas for making creative keepsakes here.