Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark blog had a great post of the most wanted paintings on the web, a study done about 15 years ago. The study had different results for different countries, but apparently for the USA, if you are painting medium-large historic-appearing landscapes of wild animals near a lake, you are good to go.
If you usually painted small still-lifes, would you completely change your subject in order to make more sales or appeal to a larger audience?
I guess all artists and writers have to come to terms with that, if they want to make a living in their chosen field. Then we learn the art of compromise….
2/18 ~ It appears this topic is several places across the artistic web this week – here is another very good post by Armand Cabrera on the definition of artistic integrity.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Jo // Feb 20, 2010 at 10:07 am
I think we do wrestle with these choices. Here in central Texas bluebonnet paintings are always popular, but you hear many artists say, “I will never lower myself to paint bluebonnets.” Luckily for me, I love bluebonnets, too, and have always been able to sell bluebonnet paintings. Would I do them if I didn’t love them? Hmmmm. Maybe I would be one of the anti-bluebonnet artists, too.
2 Regina // Feb 20, 2010 at 2:18 pm
I would paint bluebonnets if I could and certainly applaud anyone who can incorporate them into a painting!
If we successfully paint something outside of our comfort zone, AND it happens to be a more marketable image, then that is good. I think most artists would eventually get bored painting the same basic image over and over, don’t you?
But I refuse to do butterflies…
3 Karen Hargett // Feb 27, 2010 at 5:59 pm
I’d paint bluebonnets too – I wished I could settle on one thing to paint – I’ve been told it’s not good to paint everything. What is an artist to do? I know paint whatever you want! BTW I have something for you. Stop by my blog and pick it up! If you don’t choose to accept it, I understand.
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