Expert: DJ Murphy - 10/23/2006

Question
I am a university student, studying physics. I have a job on campus so it will not be available to me when I go back home during the holidays. Therefore over the summer holiday of about 2 and a half months I will need to find a job and save up a little money for the next year. However the only jobs open to me along that line are those in shops etc and I hate working full time in those sorts of places. I won't need to earn a lot of money, just enough to get me through the holidays whilst living at my parents and give me a couple of hundred pounds left over for the next university year. I am able to paint with oils and acrylics on canvas and have painted a few paintings already. I have my own room at home set aside for painting. However, I have had no training other the an A at GCSE on Fine Art and what I have read, but I know a lot about artists and art movements and am very passionate about art. I have been offered £60 once for one of my paintings.
Do you think that it is at all viable that over the summer holiday I might be able to paint and sell paintings to earn a bit of money for myself instead? I could paint in the christmas and easter holidays as well (each a month long) to build up a collection ready for the summer. If so, how would I go about setting up a place to sell them? I live near a shopping centre in which a few people often set up art stools, do you know if that's a good idea? Being an artist is not a long term goal, but it is a talent of mine and I really enjoy it so if I could make use of it then I would like to. I just have no idea if I could, if it would be financially viable, and how to go about doing it. Please help?

Answer
Hello {England!}

That is a 64 pound question [it use to be a 64 dollar question in the U.S.]

What you might try is meeting with the mgr. of the shopping center....and see if they would allow you to have a kiosk [small booth] in the mall or shopping center for a period of time to see if there is a market for your art work.  You could entice them with the idea that you would be painting "plein aire".....actually painting a work while people walk by and shop.  Perhaps it is unique and quirky enough to catch the interest of the shopping center manager....after all they are always looking for ways to promote the centers.  Tell him/her that you will donate part of your sales to a local charity [pick one that has a lot of appeal]....

Good luck....

djmurphy
galleryONEmain.com