How much would my oil paintings sell for?

Art is extremely difficult to price. Take into account the cost of your materials, the hours put into your work, think about an “hourly” wage that you feel is acceptable… that can help to come up with a rough price.

Can’t I upload a picture to this question? It would be easier than me telling you how much I’d rate my level of talent hehe

@Nad92 no, but you can host a picture on a photo hosting site and add it with the link in a comment.

If your paintings are very good, which I assume they are (based one what you’ve said), then you can possibly lean toward the higher price range still using the formula I mentioned above. Pricing art isn’t an exact science, there are a lot of factors that go into it, not just how “good” it is.

Something is only, ever, worth what someone else is willing to pay for it at any given time.
The solid gold Cadillac theory.
Debut artists need to price their work very reasonably to start, have a big enough portfolio to set up a showing of their works, secure gallery space and pay gallery commissions.
This is IF you are SERIOUS.

If you are not that ambitious then perhaps your market will be limited to friends, family, and Craigslist. haha
Just don’t harbor any grandiose fantasies that someone is going to pay you 10k for a painting by an unknown artist. The odds of that are about the same as being struck by lightening while simultaneously being attacked by a Mountain Lion.
That takes YEARS of work and exposure and promotion for most artists.

I write and of course, I think my work is quite good, but, so far, no publisher is offering me any book deals. lol

What you THINK, doesn’t count in the land of creative competition.

Most painters use both a palette knife and brushes. Either one will not make you a good, bad or mediocre painter.

What’s your subject matter?
How large are your canvasses?
What medium? Oil, acrylic egg tempura, watercolor?

Here is an oil painting, about 5” x 7” that is being sold in a New York City gallery for $950. The artist has been studying, painting, refining and showing for 40 years. This show in a very high end gallery has been hard earned by my friend.

If you want us to take a look, upload your pic to imgur.com and give us the link.

You could try selling stuff on etsy.

I’ve bought things from artists as far away as the UK off that site. They set the prices themselves, so you could ask a reasonable amount, and if no one takes it after a while mark it down.

You could pay a dealer to appraise your paintings for you.

PS. The gallery where my friend is exhibiting takes its 20% cut…for catalog, display cases, reception and publicity.

Your skill level, or what ever you think your skill level is, is irrelevant. What you need to figure out is who is your target market.

There are plenty of bad artists that make a pretty good living selling awful paintings at beach fairs and farmers markets.

There are plenty of great artists (for whom art is their entire life, not just a hobby that they picked up) who can’t even make a living and therefore must take on other jobs to pay the bills.

There are plenty of artists, who in their own time were overlooked, but now their work hangs in the most important museums in the world.

Also, art is in the eye of the beholder. Some people think Jackson Pollock was a genius, other people think he ruined perfectly good canvas with drips and splats.

A few of my friends are full time artists. They all have their own websites, but they also network and have agents. You most likely would need an agent to get a show in a gallery.

If you really want to be successful, you need to be extremely prolific, and be good. Not just one or the other.

You should also look into craft fairs, street fairs and farmers markets. They all sell artwork.

You should also research art competitions, big and small. You tend to get more recognition if you manage to get yourself into a juried show. The more the better, and that way you build your portfolio and your reputation.

Another friend, got a windfall when he got a contract for creating the artwork in one of the new hospitals in our city. Not sure how you would go about that, but you most likely would have to have an agent and a body of work. Same thing for hotels.

So the pricing is completely subjective and subject to where and to whom you are selling.

Most of the locally owned (not franchises like Starbucks or Peete’s) have local artists showing and selling their paintings, some for a few hundred dollars a piece. Even my local post office has paintings for sale.

And of course, there are always commissions which can be acquired through your own networking, or with the assistance of an agent.

Good luck with your art work : ) Hope you can post something for us to see!

So, where are the paintings?

I don’t know if this story is true but it would be woth giving it a try. A friend of mine told me a story about an artist who was having trouble selling his paintings. The very low prices he was charging were: $10, $15, $25. Someone said that his prices were too low and suggested that he add a zero to each price. That’s what he did and then he started selling his paintings. It is a psychological thing I guess. People would rather have a $250 or a $2500 painting than a $25 painting.

Why not experiment and see what works.

Good luck!

You definitely want to price based off time spent, cost of your materials, and the size of your painting to start off a base price. Then I would believe things like popularity and demand would eventually increase the value of your paintings. I like to see the work of artists just starting out. Hopefully you’re willing to show us.

haha I just might add that extra zero
I went to an art dealer and he said hed give me 25Jds for an A3 sized portrait! Im thinking of starting a local page on facebook and start selling my work there. this way i would get much more money for my work.

i uploaded my drawings: http://nadine92.imgur.com/
the babys face (still requires a lot of work) and the red building ones were done with oil paints. canvas size is 60 by 80 cm.

the statue was done with water colours. It too requires a lot of work.

Thank you. You do have a gift.

24 Jordanian dinars translates into $35.00, if I am doing the conversion correctly. What’s a loaf of bread cost at your local market. That will give us an idea of the buying power of the Jd.

W/hat size is A3?

Will the dealer buy your works? Will he commission some portraits? You might have better luck with a real local gallery rather than on Facebook. What about Etsy.com?

I’m no critic, but I like what I like, and I like the work you put up on your site. If I had money and I knew you, and I understood what you were trying to do, I’d buy something.

Your art looks great to me. I would guess you could price it in the $250—$2500 range depending on the size of the canvas and the medium of the piece. You do have talent, I hope you continue to refine your skills. I’m not an art appraiser, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Thank you so much! You guys made my day! Or rather entire year.

And 25 jds could buy an okey top from h&m lol 1$=.70JD’s
But it’s true 25 jds does really buy anything!i spend a lot of time and effort and my parents money on my paintings hehe, but yeah you’re prolly right; but art in Jordan isn’t really appreciated, and if it were it wouldn’t be appreciated enough to actually spend good money on it. The best case is if it were as a birthday present for a loved one.

The dealer I talked with, said he’d provide me with the drawing canvas but the paints would be on me.

I just opened on the website you gave me but I still haven’t browsed through it. Will do in a min.

And Okey when u do get the money and do get to know me “holla at me” lol

And wow 250!thats really good! My plan is when I’m married and pop a couple of babies I don’t want to be away from them so I will seriously work on my art and sell my paintings as an extra income for the house.

I like them, as well. Especially the second one. Keep it up. :)

They are all spectacular. The one with the woman is my favorite. It’s something I would buy for sure lol. I hope someone there in Jordan can appreciate it.

I love the pregnant Egyptian it’s magnificent and I’d buy it, also the baby is remarkable you could do commission portraits of babies and children.