Some Facts and Figures

I've been a professional artist for over decade now. I've taught myself as much about the business end of art as I could over these past ten years. I probably know more about marketing and promotion than ninety percent of the population, and I continue to educate myself every day. I have developed a theory as I have gone through life. I call it the "One Percent Theory". This theory states that in any given population sample one percent of the people will like my artwork and have the money to buy it. According to my theory, my current city of Paducah Ky has 257 people that fit this criteria. Our county has 658 of these discriminating art lovers. If you move up to the entire state of Kentucky this number grows to 40,417. The entire United States is home to 3,070,065 people wealthy enough to send me a few dollars for a painting. Supposing that my Internet presence has put my name out there like I planned for it to, there are 6,890,124 people that could, and would, buy at least one painting. Seems like I should have it made. However, it's right about here that my problem arises. I'm not really sure how to get my artwork in front of these people. If I could figure out a way to do that my life would be so much easier. In fact, if I could crack that nut, I could sell the info to other artists. Naw, if I had that information I would give it away. Based on my figures I'd have well over three hundred million dollars in art sales (based on a low end value of my paintings). With a bank account like that there's no need to be greedy.

Another Year Older...

As my birthday approaches (this Friday) and 2010 comes to an end I thought I might put some of my random thoughts on the internet for posterity's sake. You might view these as the rantings of a lunatic, and maybe I can't argue, but I hope they'll give you something to think about and maybe a few laughs.

• I don't see how anyone who has kids can get anything done. Kids are great and all, but they sure do take a lot of time and effort to raise them right.
• I can't see how anyone who lives in a 'unique fixer upper' can stay on top of the house repairs. And if you happen to have children too, well, you probably have about fifteen minutes a week for yourself.
• The bigger the government agency, the more likely they are to be pain in the ass.
• Cable and satellite television are great, but they are often more trouble than they're worth.
• The only thing you can control is your attitude, unless you're a pilot, then you can also control your altitude.
• You should concentrate on your strengths and try to get someone else to take care of your weaknesses, preferably for free.
• If you can wait tables and tend bar you will always be able to find work. If you can also cook then you're in better demand.
• An artist who uses a lot of big fancy words when discussing his work probably isn't much of an artist.
• People will buy anything if they think it will make them cool.
• Don't look back, something might be gaining on you.
• Do not play, don't give the game away.
• Have fun everyday.
• Enjoy the company of your friends and family, they won't be around forever and neither will you. Enjoy alone time too.
• Almost everyone has a blog, but I'll wager ninety percent of them haven't been updated in the past six months.
• I like country music, but most of what passes for country these days isn't what I'd call country. It sounds a lot like '70's pop music.
• I also enjoy pro wrestling, but what they call wrestling now is more like a soap opera than wrestling. I wish it were like it was back in the days of the territories

I could probably go on for a while longer, but I really need to get busy. I'm a dad who lives in a fixer-upper, I don't have time to rant and rave all day. Now, when I was a kid...