How to Get Started Selling Your Art by Carole Katchen

This book first encourages you to become an artist by doing exercises which help you dream, then set goals and make the commitment. Next you create a support structure consisting of people, space, time and money.

There's a section on preparing to selling your art by pricing to sell, pricing consistently and presenting your art along with taking care of business with inventory, book keeping and sales tax. Also it's very important to keep track of dates and where your art is.

She discusses tools for selling your art such as a mailing list, newsletters, business cards, stationary, photos of your pictures, career summary, artist's statement, resumes, brochures and portfolio. Also Publicity via local papers, press releases, art reviews, local & national art magazines, paid advertising, prints and posters.

She discusses various selling venues, your own show at your home or studio, group show (co-op, membership, juried and art contests), art fairs & festivals and galleries.

(c) 1996
ISBN 0-89134-685-6

Living by your Brush Alone by Edna Wagner Piersol

She strongly believes that creating pictures must be the focal point of an artist's life, not a part-time job. She believes that you bring on demand by producing and displaying your work.

When first starting out you must build your credentials by establishing and meeting goals. You need to define your market, determine your worth, build a selling personality, record accomplishments, build sales, create your own publicity and promotion pieces.

You need to figure out how many paintings sold at your highest price will meet your living expenses. You must be disciplined in both production and selling. It helps to organize your work hours with a weekly schedule, scheduled solitude, and home studio space. Keep a running record of ideas that will produce income.

She warms up with blind squiggles and discusses knowing when your painting is finished by using four quarter method, warm/cool dominance, three values (light, medium, dark), and where does the lightest light meet the darkest dark.

She discusses creating a successful image with a resume and other techniques.

She describes various selling venues; outdoor sales & local shows, juried art exhibitions, galleries & museums, alternative spaces.

As an artist you are a business person so need to be aware of copyright laws, pricing (never lower, stay consistent), book-keeping, pay yourself (cash flow savings account, paintings sold on no interest time payments), benefits (health, retirement), taxes (accountant), banking, barter

(c) 1989
ISBN: 0-89134-294-X

Oil Pastel for the Serious Beginner by John Elliot

He starts out describing the various types of oil pastels (Holbein, Sennelier, Cray-Pas) that are available and the materials (paper, cloth, matboard, rigid substrates, aluminum foil) that oil pastels can be applied to. Then he discusses other useful materials; cutting tools to sharpen pastels and to scrape painting, erasers and clean up supplies.

He has separate chapters on how to use oil pastels for still lifes, location work (e.g. landscapes) and portraits. When on location he packs his oil pastels in the cooler to keep them from melting in the sun. He also uses an ice block to change the temperature of the pastel which changes its hardness and how it applies.

Then he has a whole section on oil pastel used with other media such as water soluble oil paint, standard oil paint, acrylic, watercolor, gouche and collage.

isbn: 0-8230-3311-2

Put More Cash in Your Pocket by Loral Langemeier

This book gives a well thought out process to help you identify, evaluate then use your skills and hobbies to generate extra cash relatively quickly.

First you identify how much you need to make per month, week & day. Then you use skills that you already have to create a business idea. You evaluate the business idea to see if it's viable and meets your goals. She discusses advertising, publicity and promotion. Then gives a quick run down on book keeping.

isbn: 978-0-06-176325-0

Adventures of a Bystander Memoirs by Peter F. Drucker

This is a collection of essays/ short stories where you can see an over all picture of how his beliefs were shaped along with following his experiences. He writes about significant people not only in his life but also historical figures and his view about them. It is helpful to have some business, economic and history background when reading this book.

isbn: 0-06-01656-0

Cash In A Flash, Fast Money in Slow Times

by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen.

This book is a continuation of The One Minute Millionaire. The right side continues the story of a theoretical woman's journey and the left side helps you logically work on changing yourself.

Basically the premise of the book is that you have to change your inside in order to change your outside environment to achieve wealth. You have to believe you can do it before you do it. Therefore this book gives you some tools to do this.

ISBN: 978-0-307-45330-3

The One Minute Millionaire, The Enlightened Way to Wealth

by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert G. Allen.

This book is written so you can make both sides of your brain happy. On the left pages it explains the whys and how to's. On the right side it tells a story of a theoretical woman's journey.

The first part of the title is a bit misleading if you think that it will only take you one minute to become a millionaire. However, I think it means that one minute at a time you change yourself with the help of your team as you and your team members work towards wealth. Once you achieve your wealth goal, then it is your turn as an enlightened millionaire to help others learn to achieve wealth.

Their website is http://www.oneminutemillionaire.com/sitemap.asp

ISBN: 0-609-60949-1