Wednesday morning, 8:15AM, I'm in my car, heading east to see my dentist. My Bluetooth and radio are fighting which one is going to play. I press "radio" once, once more and then again and again. The phone Bluetooth fights back.
Finally, blinded by the morning sun, I arrive at the dentist's clinic without even hearing one song from start to end. My dentist is happy. "keep on like this, everything will be OK".
On the table outside my gallery, I left a painting with a new wet signature, so it will dry up by the time the buyer comes to pick it up.
7:45 AM. The dog has already sniffed every corner of the porch, before I manage to make my way up the stairs. Before I even open the computer, turn on the lights and the kettle, there enterns a woman. Her eyes still getting used to the morning light, but she happily announces: "I came to see paintings".
I turn on the light, point at the walls of the gallery and continue my morning routine: trash bins, lights, kettle and moving easels around . "I love portraits", she says. I tell her that there are some on the walls and some in the smaller room of the gallery.
She starts taking paintings off the walls and looking at them closely. "How much is this one?", she asks. I tell her that I offered it for $500 to the grandmother of the child in the painting.
"I love it a lot, but it's too expensive for me", she replies.
"I have something from a demonstration I did a few years ago", I try. "Yes. take it off, I want to see it too. And this one, when is this from?".
"This is from my studying years in New York", I say.
"And this one?", she asks.
"This one too".
"I think I'll go to the mini market next door and think about it some more". She takes a small step back and then returns.
"You know, I realy loved the first one I saw", she says. "How much would it be for an early bird like me?", she asks.
"I'm not a dealer, you know. I give the same price at any time of the day".
"But you'll allow a few payments, right?". We agreed on three.
At mid-day she returned to pick up the signed painting. The signature is still a bit wet so I cannot wrap it up in a fancy paper and box. She says she might come back the morning after because she might feel like more paintings.
She might...
And this is how you sell paintings.
Portrait painting demonstrations, oil on canvas
