In 2005, while I was planning the Art 4 People Festival and selling almost exclusively on eBay, I was in touch with a fellow artist who encouraged me to check out a site dedicated to selling fine art called Boundless Gallery. At this point, I was taking my work seriously, but I wasn't sure others would at a higher set price. I was willing to let people decide my paintings' worth by bidding on eBay. I put Boundless Gallery on a "maybe someday" list and put it out of my mind. A year later I found Etsy and fell in love and I've been quite happy there for two years.
At some point this year I started to think about expanding outside of Etsy because let's face it - there are a LOT more artists there than when I started and I found my most consistent sales were for art up to $100, rarely over. I looked around the web for other art sites. Every search I did from "abstract painting" to "contemporary art" to "buy modern art" Boundless Gallery would pop up in searches. I looked into it again and felt really drawn to it thinking YES, now is a good time to take the plunge. When I showed Rob the site he got REALLY excited about it. He, like others in my orbit, have been so encouraging for me to keep raising the bar higher and higher - from my price range to scale to where I share my work. My whole summer plan was to clear my Etsy shop and include only my best of the best but that was a plan that had many holes in it. It just wasn't the right fit for Etsy. Still, the desire to raise the bar persisted, so I decided to give Boundless Gallery a go.
My site on Boundless is not even one day old, but I have begun with my Fall 2008 Series and you can see my site at www.JessicaTorrant.boundlessgallery.com.
As for Etsy, I've not only removed my higher end items, I've also removed my prints because as popular as they could be, it just doesn't sit well with me in the spirit of handmade that makes Etsy so special. (I may start selling my prints on eBay eventually, but for now I'm taking a break). I'll be honing in on affordable originals for my Etsy shop and I've got lots of smaller canvases to work on in the coming days.
Come visit me on Boundless Gallery and let me know what you think!
2 comments:
I'm definitely going to check out that site. First impression of the site - not such great-looking layout, but I only just went there. Etsy is a great venue in many ways but the low prices just break my heart sometimes. When you see original art sold at $6..?! What IS that? And the need to lower prices, it's like people pulling each other down AND you want to be "nice" since it's mostly other crafters/artists that are buying...
♥ visit me at www.afiori.com ♥
I agree about prints on Etsy... that has always troubled me. But, it's what seems to sell the most as far art goes. Kudos!
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