SELLING ART (Internationally)

Here's my journey of selling art to international market. I wanted to share my experience and tips on selling art. My intention was never to sell artwork without proper study. I always thought I was never good enough to sell artwork.

One fine day, an ex-colleague from the United States purchased an original oil painting from me. That's when I thought it's time to open a Etsy shop. Casey had purchased a new home and wanted a original artwork for her home in Boston.

She messaged me on Instagram and asked me if she could buy the piece. I said sure, but I have never had sold an item internationally. So I was unaware of shipping cost and delivery time. I figured out my way and the painting finally reached her. She was thrilled to finally have the painting reached her home.

I was so excited to have made my first International sale. I realised its time to sell my art professionally. I opened a shop on Etsy. I read up a few articles on how to correctly setup shop on Etsy platform and of course how to market the products properly.

Forget sales, I had no views for the first few months, but I never gave up. I was updating listings and kept going. And finally one day...

My first International sale on Etsy, "The Fearless" to a UK-based customer. I was jumping in Joy. I was so happy to have made my another sale.

Soon orders started coming in, I was so thrilled to had Clasrissa, my 2nd client on Etsy. She wanted custom order for sister's birthday. She reached out to me after seeing the same image on the right (the brown girl). This was my first international commissioned piece for a UK-based customer(16x24 inches on stretched Canvas, yet to be framed and shipped).

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I received the full amount to my PayPal account. This is where I realized these are ppl who really value handmade items. They value custom portraits that are one-of-a-kind and they are willing to pay a huge sum to get a commission piece done. I took a whole of 6 days to complete, and I was thrilled to hear from my customer that they really loved this piece. She had commissioned this for her sister and she was super thrilled and now waiting for this piece to reach their home soon.

I am really glad I came across this person who really made me feel “being an artist is a real profession”, I hope things change in India where ppl think art is a hobby and all supplies they purchase come for free/dead cheap. We buy the best supplies available in the market to get the desired results.

Selling your art Internationally is the best way to make money. So keep honing your skills and one day, your art will go places :)