Hi everyone!
It’s been a few weeks since I last made a post. In that time, I painted and sold all 12 Montana Mini Paintings, flew back to Austin, and have started working on commissions again.
I wanted to share my success story regarding the minis, especially if there are any other artists out there reading this and looking for a new way to drive some sales.
The idea sprouted from a few different seeds:
I’ve seen a lot of artists on Instagram doing 30 mini paintings in 30 days. I think that challenge is pretty awesome, but I was not going to be in Montana for 30 more days AND that is a huge commitment, so I figured I would start with 12.
I brought 12 panels with me because they’re easy to travel with and small, so I thought it would be a great way to utilize materials I already had
I’d read a book called Daily Painting by Carole Marine and wanted to try my hand at doing some smaller works that could be completed in a day.
I had a really wonderful time painting all 12 of these paintings. Having a collection to help focus my subject matter was a nice tool as I began to build the collection around small, meaningful moments that were happening all around me.
I loved choosing my subject every morning and having a completed painting (sometimes two) by the end of the day. It was a really lovely way to work, especially since I was able to paint all 12 paintings outside. Some in plein air, some just from a reference photo that I took on my phone.
I knew I wanted to sell all 12 paintings at once to test out the new e-commerce feature on my website, so I chose a day and time for the “drop” of the series. I tried to create some buzz online by doing some marketing and trying to encourage folks to sign up for my email list.
The whole project was conceptualized, created, marketed, and sold in the span of about 2 weeks. It was fast and fun and more successful than I thought it would be. I didn’t think that all 12 paintings would sell out as fast as they did.
All 12 paintings are still drying in Montana and will be sent to me for signing and shipping in a few weeks. Of course, I made this information available in a “know before you buy” info section of the website. I built the page on an unlinked page on my website’s backend so browsers could only access it through a secure link. Once the sale was “live”, I linked the sale page to my website so people could easily find it.
These paintings are shipping all over the country and I am so excited to see them in their new homes. I am also eager to do this exercise again, but this time focus on my favorite scenes around Austin. I will announce that collection before I begin, so stay tuned for my next mini series in the next few months.
Take a peek below to see the Montana Mini Series in its entirety. I do have some select prints from this series available for sale if you see something you like.
6”X”6 OIL ON LINEN PANEL