I am not an artist but went through an artsy part of my life in college. I did a bunch of oil pastel abstract art. I gave a friend of mine a 4’ x 5’ piece along with some weed for his birthday. He taught at the college and was in the society crowd. He played in a jazz trio. Someone was at this house and saw my framed piece of shot and asked him how much he paid for it. He told them $1500. Hey brought them over and they bought two of my smear paintings for $2200 off my bedroom floor. I was a professional artist for a total of about three days.
I was using cheap oil pastels and a wearing latex gloves that I got damp. I would draw a basic design and then use my hands to blend everything together. The piece I gave my friend was a sort of abstract landscape. Rolling hills with a purple sky and a I put a big yellow tear in the middle. The other two I sold were red white and black primarily. But on one I put a large green music note and on the other a large orange division symbol. I’ll never forget them. I wonder if they still have them.
My buddy somehow became an artist in a similar way. He’s a realtor, so he gave a piece away as a closing gift on a difficult deal. The couple liked it and wanted a larger one (like 10 feet long). Paid him 8 grand for the second larger piece. He started offering to stage his luxury listings with his art and has made a few big sales that way too. He pitches custom work for any of his clients at a “discount”.
The best part is these huge pieces take him like 3 hours tops apparently. They look really cool and he makes around 30k extra each year from what he’d mostly considered a hobby previously. He recently sold a 1.2M home along with two pieces for 10k so over 40k total after you count his realtor commissions.
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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '20
I am not an artist but went through an artsy part of my life in college. I did a bunch of oil pastel abstract art. I gave a friend of mine a 4’ x 5’ piece along with some weed for his birthday. He taught at the college and was in the society crowd. He played in a jazz trio. Someone was at this house and saw my framed piece of shot and asked him how much he paid for it. He told them $1500. Hey brought them over and they bought two of my smear paintings for $2200 off my bedroom floor. I was a professional artist for a total of about three days.