Artists Eat Too

Football players make a fortune. So do baseball players, hockey players, and tennis players, and boxers and wrestlers and even boring golfers. They get megabucks to play games that people -- that means you --watch. After the game is over, you have nothing. There is no "thing" you take home with you. You saw the game and that's that. Yet you, and millions of other people, think nothing about paying for the privilege of "watching." Apparently the skill of the players is so thrilling that it's worth paying just to see it.

Now let's talk about art. People hang pictures on the walls of their homes to make them look pretty. For the more sophisticated among us, art means more than just decoration. They find paintings and drawings enriching in ways that defy description. But for some reason, most people are unwilling to pay for art in the same way they will pay for watching a sporting event. 

As an artist, I spend a lot on paints, canvas, brushes and other materials related to making a professional final product. Yet people, friends included, think nothing of asking if they can have one free of charge. I have only one friend who has consistently offered to pay for my work, which I have happily granted her at a reduced rate. (Thank you Jay!) Otherwise people say how much they love my paintings and could I have that one please?

I recently spoke to another artist friend who is busy making a painting, at no cost, for one of her friends who told her, "I don't have any of your paintings!" It's a large one, so the canvas will likely cost between $25 and $40. And the oil paints, her current chosen medium,  could really add up: some small tubes of oil paint go for $15 or $20, with larger ones reaching $40.

Imagine calling up your doctor or dentist friend and asking them to "take a look at this problem I'm having" for free. Even your girlfriend who cuts hair or does nails for a living will charge you. So what about us artists? We eat too, you know.