Art-on-Products...and thoughts re

I keep going back 'n forth re the idea of placing my art & photography on the growing number of 'home decor' items now being offered on Fine Art America. My main reason for joining the site in the 1st place, and dumping all of my other on-line shops, was FAA's reputation for selling only 'fine art prints', not the myriad merchandise options up for grabs on [so] many other POD sites. What a breath of fresh 'artistic' air, I thought...and I've been an active member ever since. Unfortunately, things started to change on FAA...and I understand why ~ you need to stay current & keep up with the stiff competition out there. Who can blame anyone for that? It's the name of the game.

With the thousands of members already uploading thousands of images a day, and the legions joining as we 'speak', each with the [same] hope of selling their work and wanting a little attention, it's getting even more difficult to get seen, much less appreciated. Unless you are famous, lucky enough to be a BIG seller by bringing in buyers or in the right place at the right time, you hardly garner a glance. We hear it time & again, 'If you build it, they will come' or 'If you love what you do enough, success will follow'. Hmm, it does happen! So, we keep creating our beautiful art & taking amazing pictures that we can't wait to upload ~ things people 'ooh' & 'ah' over all the time. We promote the heck out of it and, sometimes, when all else fails, we do things we wouldn't 'normally' dream of in order to keep pursuing our dream of making a living from our lovely works-of-art ~ we, gulp, put our art on 'wearable~tote-able~throw-able~usable~everyday' products!

A lot of us work hard to promote our work...and we each think we're 'special'! As our favorite site heads into this 'more is more' direction a lot of members feel 'less & less' able to find a place in the FAA sun, even when we've done all we know to do to promote, promote, promote and be active. With all the new products, and the old, there is always the question of QUALITY, which is a big issue! I would not be so reluctant, probably, to join the bandwagon in a bigger way, IF I knew the quality was e-x-c-e-l-l-e-n-t, and consistently so! Being a seamstress, I am very aware of the details of garment construction & finish work, which are essential when including home decor products for $ale, in my opinion. I'd hoped that would be the case...and, I'm guessing, most members & collectors feel the same way. There's also the question of pricing ~ how much will consumers want to pay for these items? IF the quality is superb, I can see charging more since we're offering original [for the most part] art & photography. But, who is going to pay an arm & a leg for a tote, say, that's marginally-constructed when you can buy a better, well-made, double-stitched & longer-lasting product at the local market? Something to ponder.

After some 'bah, humbug' moments, well, make that days & weeks, and some less-than-enthusiastic conversations with others, I inhaled deeply & took a 'leap of faith' and placed some of my work on a selection of products. I created & hosted myriad contests in order to showcase member's works-on-products [still do!], assuming they were worthy & worth my efforts. I also purchased several items to check for quality. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed with my order, which was really frustrating...and sad. It wasn't just the poor construction, but the clarity of the images appearing on the fabric choices. Not thrilled to say the least. In fact, I went through all my images & removed every one from every product!

Then, I began to read the community discussion threads more regularly and kept seeing conflicting reports ~ some said, and are saying, that they are happy with the products, while others say just the opposite. I noticed, too, that those with righteous complaints were/are being shushed or pooh-poohed, which bothered me. It also made me wonder if some members, maybe those selling in the upper brackets, were receiving better-made or higher-quality products & prints, while those of us average Joe's or Jo's were getting the less-than-stellar version[s]? Consistency is SO important...and not for just the top dogs! It does seem, perhaps, that those selling well often have several on-line shops/venues ~ here, there & everywhere, instead of concentrating only on FAA, which I thought was preferred. I do remember when membership just on FAA was being touted as optimal...and to be rewarded?

So, yeh, offering art & photography on products ~ it remains a dilemma for me. That is even more true for artists than primarily photographers, I think, because, if not done well, it really can 'cheapen our work', as 'they' say. When compared to cyber marketplace sites offering similar merchandise, is it simply enough to match their quality...or is it worthwhile to exceed it? I am on board with the latter...which can only happen if 'we' actually offer a BETTER product. Why is it, I wonder, that great quality is not the rule, but rather the exception these days?

We ALL want to make money with our art & photography; that's a given. And, I continue to wrestle with the 'why not' and 'the more the merrier' part. In that vein, I have re-added a selection of my images to certain products & sizes of, once more. I will simply cross my fingers & pray that whoever might purchase something from my gallery will be happy, or happy enough, to keep & enjoy what they receive. Not every one has higher standards when it comes to these kind of things, I get it, but it would be nice, once in a while, to have your expectations met...and/or exceeded, instead of having to accept the status quo. I have dragged my feet in promoting my gallery & the site, but am going to be more pro-active in doing so, as it is my ONLY venue. Onward I go. Wish me luck!

{Logo image: 'Aria', an original acrylic painting, seen here on a round beach towel. Scroll through my 'Images' to see more.}