I came across an artist who said that her art is her therapy. She spoke about how it helped her solve her problems and feel better about herself and her life

I’m going to tell you why this approach is the wrong one to take if you want to sell your art: because there’s no room for your clients in this story. Therapy is personal. It’s usually private. Each person’s experience with it is different

Your clients, & future clients, are looking for art they can connect to. They want to see themselves in the art and express themselves through owning that art. When you make the stories about your art all about you, you leave them no room to do so

I totally get that art is personal. I’m not telling you to stop feeling your art deeply or feeling better through making it. Not at all

What I am saying is the artist’s journey with their art is one that your clients won’t ever have. They will have their own journeys with your art. When you’re selling make sure you use words that let them in

Now, let’s do a comparison as an example. Imagine a painting with flying goats & other weirdness in it.

1. -I once had a dream about flying goats that came & healed me from my trauma. The blue represents my view of the sky & the fish are my dinner. This painting brought me so much joy to bring to life.
2. – Have you ever had that moment where it felt like you could just jump high enough to leave the ground? Leaping through the clouds & seeing incredible wonders, it’s enough to make your heart sing, am I right? I think we should all experience “flying goat” moments like this one!

Notice the difference? One invites in, one excludes. Remember that people who are buying art are looking for connection to a piece. Art buying is always emotional and it’s important to create the space for that connection to happen.

Take a look at how you write about your art and see if it’s full of “I, I, I” and “me, me, me” or does it use words that invite others in? Don’t be hard o yourself, every artist goes through the me me me stage, but it’s important to get through it quickly so you can create a community around your work, one that is dying to buy your art because they see themselves in it.