Saturday 3 May 2014

BIRD CARVING PURCHASES

As we are all well aware we've all been through the worst recession in a very long time, we're told that a recovery is in full swing and things are back to where we started pre-recession in 2008. As an artist who relies mainly on making sales I take this with the proverbial "pinch of  salt"? My work is, I know, a luxury item, and at the top end of the art spectrum, but even then I can assure everyone that based on an hourly rate that I probably work on, or possibly below, the minimum national hourly rate of pay. The important thing to me is not to make shed loads of money (won't happen till I die!) but to provide a piece of fine art, something that buyers can appreciate owning and looking at on a day to day basis and enjoying, as much as I enjoy creating them. Over the past 18 months working as a professional carver I've lost count of the enquiries regarding purchasing a piece of my work, and apart from sales made and commissions ordered I know that it's not so much the price of my work but finding a lump sum of money to purchase and lay out the cost in one payment, and of course I totally understand the dilemma. The most used quote I can use from potential customers is "I totally understand the price for the amount of work and love that's goes into your work but...." and so the story goes! 
To try and help potential customers, I am quite willing to offer, you the customer, the opportunity to purchase a piece of work and split the total cost over a monthly or weekly payment option, eg. if you have a special occasion looming, birthday, anniversary, retirement etc in August this year why not split the cost over a 3 month period? I, as an artist, am still selling goods like any other business and know exactly what a help it is to have the opportunity to buy goods without having to find a lump sum of cash. Due to some recent enquiries I felt the need to make people aware of this option and let everyone know that this opportunity is available, with a lot of followers on Twitter and friends on Facebook this is the only way I can give a full account of this offer, and I'd also like to say thanks to all the people that closely follow and make superb comments about my work, especially my "work in progress" posts! 

Many thanks Terry