Home Parties

[Mary Sparrow]

A woman in SC recently inquired about a portrait.
She wants to have a home show for me. She recently did this for a jewelry maker and said the woman made a fortune.

She served wine/beer and appetizers. She also had the smart idea to have this on the night of a sporting event and told the wives to bring their husbands and the football game would be on. She said this proved to be a brilliant idea, b/c it became like a party. The women picked out what they wanted and while the men were engrossed in their game getting them to say "yes dear" was much easier than them going home and asking..LOL

Her daughter goes to a prominent private school, and the group she would be inviting over would be prime targets.

I feel I would be foolish to pass this up. So my question is, since I have never done anything like this. Just how many samples do I need to provide? Does EVERYTHING have to be framed? or can some be framed and some just matted?(framing is so expensive) What other things do I need to provide? business cards etc?

She is providing the bev./food. So what will I provide for her? a percentage off her portrait? How much.

Any thoughts?

[Michele Rushworth]

Take a look at this thread about unveiling parties:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...4030#post24030

Though that party was held after the host and hostess had their painting, I made arrangements with them beforehand to give them a discount for holding the unveiling party for me.

(I also very much wanted to do a full length composition for this pose and they initially felt they didn't want to pay for the difference between that and a three-quarter. The discount helped them get the full length portrait and helped me get a portfolio sample with the composition I felt looked best.)

I discounted 12% of the full length double price. Since the unveiling party I have signed a contract for another double portrait for a woman I met at the unveiling party, and other commissions may still come of it down the road.

I think such a high discount only make sense if the attendees will be a group of potential clients that you would not be likely to meet otherwise, and if they are the right group of people, which it sounds like your party would be.

Here's what I had out on display: seven framed paintings, my portfolio book out on a table, business cards and a guest book. I had a friend of mine go around and ask people to put their name and address in the guest book and chat with them to assess their level of interest.

Every experienced professional portrait artist I've talked to tells me that commissions come from word of mouth in this business. Any "advertising" that builds on relationships (like parties) is money well spent, in my opinion.

As far as framing, presentation is everything. Do whatever you can to show your samples off at their absolute best. As they say in any business, it takes money to make money. Investing in nice looking frames for your samples is well worthwhile. Spending fifty or a hundred dollars on a frame can make the difference between having a portrait sample look like it's worth a few hundred dollars or looking like it's worth a few thousand dollars. Once the samples are framed they'll look good anywhere you show them in the future. Working in standard sizes allows you to re-use the frames for future samples or as "presentation frames" when you deliver a portrait to a client.

Check out JFM frames: http://www.jfmenterprises.net/ Their quality is good and their prices are great. Peggy Baumgaertner and Karin Wells buy their frames there, as do I. You need to have a state tax number that authorizes you to buy at their wholesale prices, but that's something you should do anyway.

[Mary Sparrow]

Since your post, I have struck a deal with a local framer, she gives me the wholesale price (with my tax id number), and it has worked to my advantage because she wanted two portraits done of her grandchildren but couldn't afford it, so she is letting me run a tab to apply toward's her portraits!

As for the oils, I already have several quality frames in my studio, so that was never an issue. Framing Pastels is a whole different ballgame, that I am finding very annoying!

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Mary,

I was wondering if your friend had the party for you and how it went? Was it a comfortable setting? Did you get a lot of questions about your work? Were your paintings and pastels hung on the walls? I would love to hear more about the whole experience.

Joan

[Mary Sparrow]

Joan,
No, I haven't done it yet. And it is all my own fault. I actually have four separate people in four large towns with great connections that are continually reminding me..."when you're ready, let me know". I think I'm a chicken!

I keep saying, just another month or so and I will have work ready I am really proud of, and somehow that hasn't happened yet.

Fortunately I have a nice little backlog of commissions to do, so I suppose when that well runs dry I will be more motivated. Somebody smack me! I know better than to turn good opportunities away.

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Mary,

That's great that you've got a backlog of commissions! Chances are that if you have a backlog now then you'll always have a backlog, don't you think?

I wonder if you even need to do a party? Would your commissions be somehow better if you did have a party? Do you want to get commissions in a bigger town? If that's the case, then I suppose it would take a leap of faith to slow down on your 'local' commissions and go for it in a bigger town!

Good luck with it all. From reading your posts, it seems like you want to have the party. I would love someone to have a party for me so maybe I'm just projecting!

Joan

[Mary Sparrow]

I don't know, sometimes I have plenty of work and sometimes it is very slow. But then, I never advertise and it is all completely word of mouth.

I need to go up on prices, but I do not have the nerve to do it. So I feel like by hitting the larger markets, that I would be able to up the prices and start fresh without feeling like I need to explain myself.