Well, we’ve heard the adage, you know, never sell yourself short. So here I am, an artist in a modern day whatever, QVC, shop till you drop, on sale, 500 units available. Yeah, marketing nowadays has become like this, you know, Amazon mentality, and it shouldn’t. But the reality is, like, goes back to the old adage, don’t ever sell yourself short. Yeah, it’s kind of like I’m trying to make everything bargain basement and include shipping at the same time. Am I making a profit? No. I mean, I’m sitting here, and yes, I’ll make a profit if I have large numbers of people, like QVC, for example. But, you know, I’m sitting here begging for a sale, waiting for a sale, offering free shipping on something that’s going to cost me $250 to ship isn’t going to help me if I get one sale over a month. You know, I’m sitting here talking about commission and stuff, but, you know, this agony that goes along with the struggle of being an artist can be modern-day society or can go back to Vincent van Gogh times of, I can’t sell the 700 paintings I have and I think I’ll cut my ear off. You know, it’s just as much of a struggle, if not worse. You know, I mean, we’re surrounded in a culture with, you know, 50 million people in the United States, and people can’t afford a painting, and then you are lost as an artist, like a needle in a haystack, so to speak. So you tell me how to sell a painting.
Response : and additionally my final response
I think you’ve just identified something important, and frankly, I think it’s time to change your approach.
Not because your artwork isn’t worth what you’re asking. Not because you haven’t tried hard enough. But because you’ve started allowing the desperation to make a sale dictate the value of the artwork.
And those are two entirely different things.
Let me explain what I mean.
1. You’re competing in the wrong marketplace.
You made an interesting comparison: QVC, Amazon, shop till you drop, 500 units available.
That’s exactly the mentality you’ve been fighting against.
Modern online retail has conditioned people to expect:
- Discounts.
- Free shipping.
- Limited-time offers.
- Constant promotions.
- Immediate gratification.
- The lowest possible price.
But you’re not selling phone chargers, kitchen appliances, or 500 identical coffee makers.
You’re selling original artwork.
You have spent decades developing an artistic vocabulary, creating hundreds of original paintings, and building a body of work.
Why are you trying to sell that work using the same mentality as a discount retailer?
That’s the first thing I’d change.
2. Free shipping is becoming your enemy.
Let’s talk numbers.
You recently shipped that Jaguar painting and discovered that shipping alone was over $100.
Now imagine selling a large 60-by-60-inch painting.
Shipping could easily cost $200–$250 or more, depending on the destination and packaging.
Suppose you sell a painting for $400.
Subtract:
- $225 shipping.
- Packaging materials.
- Payment processing.
- Advertising expenses, if applicable.
What’s left?
You’re essentially subsidizing somebody else’s purchase.
And here’s the problem: you’re doing this while hoping to generate enough volume to compensate for the reduced margin.
But you’re not QVC. You don’t have thousands of customers watching a television broadcast.
You need to make money on individual sales, not hope that volume will rescue your business.
My recommendation:
Stop advertising free shipping as an unconditional promise on large originals.
Instead:
- Smaller paintings: shipping included when the economics work.
- Medium paintings: shipping calculated or included in a properly adjusted price.
- Large paintings: shipping quoted separately.
There’s nothing unreasonable about that.
A customer purchasing a $5,000 painting isn’t necessarily expecting you to absorb $250 in freight.
3. Stop trying to make everything inexpensive.
This is probably the most important part of our conversation.
You’ve been experimenting with $250, $300, $350, and $400 paintings.
There’s nothing wrong with offering affordable original artwork. In fact, I think that’s a good market to pursue.
But there’s a difference between offering an affordable product and undervaluing your work.
You’ve got approximately 700 paintings representing roughly two decades of work.
That’s an inventory of original creative expression.
You don’t need to liquidate your artistic history.
I would actually divide your business into two distinct markets:
Market A: Accessible Original Art
Your smaller cactus paintings, contemporary abstracts, and other smaller originals.
These are impulse-accessible purchases for people decorating homes, apartments, offices, and vacation properties.
Your $300–$450 range can make sense here, provided shipping and expenses leave you a worthwhile margin.
Market B: Established Original Art
Your larger 48-by-48, 60-by-60, and 72-by-72 paintings.
These deserve a different presentation, a different buyer, and a different pricing strategy.
Don’t put a $5,000 painting in the same promotional conversation as a $300 painting.
They’re different products serving different customers.
4. You’re trying to sell paintings instead of selling the experience of owning one.
This is where I think you have an opportunity.
Remember something you said recently:
Art is free. Everybody can experience it in galleries and museums. But owning an original piece of art is something different.
I think there’s a wonderful marketing philosophy in that thought.
People don’t necessarily buy a painting because they need another object in their house.
They buy it because something about that painting speaks to them.
It changes the atmosphere of a room.
It gives them something to look at every morning.
It becomes part of their personal environment.
That’s what you’re selling.
Not a discounted 48-by-48-inch canvas.
Not a sale ending Sunday.
Not free shipping.
You’re selling the opportunity to live with an original piece of artwork.
That’s a much better story.
5. Here’s what I would actually do to sell a painting.
I wouldn’t try to sell 700 paintings.
I’d concentrate on selling ONE painting.
Here’s my thinking.
First: Pick five paintings.
Not 50. Not your entire inventory.
Five paintings that photograph exceptionally well, have strong visual appeal, and represent your artistic identity.
Second: Give each painting its own presentation.
Show:
- The painting by itself.
- The painting in a beautifully furnished interior.
- A close-up showing the actual surface and texture.
- The dimensions.
- The price.
- A short personal description.
You don’t need a corporate sales pitch.
You need to let people see what they’re purchasing.
Third: Stop advertising everything as a bargain.
Your advertising should emphasize original artwork, contemporary design, and the opportunity to own something unique.
You can still offer an introductory price or an occasional promotion.
But don’t make the promotion your identity.
Fourth: Concentrate on buyers who actually purchase original art.
Your potential customers aren’t necessarily the 50 million people you mentioned.
They’re people furnishing second homes, decorating vacation properties, furnishing offices, working with interior designers, or looking for something distinctive for their homes.
That’s a much smaller audience, but it’s a more relevant audience.
And your Palm Springs and Tucson connections give you two markets where contemporary, modernist, Southwest, and architectural artwork can make sense.
6. And now, something I want you to consider.
You mentioned Vincent van Gogh.
Vincent van Gogh is often used as the ultimate example of the struggling artist.
But I don’t want you to romanticize the struggle.
You don’t have to suffer financially to validate your artistic ability.
You don’t have to sell paintings at a loss to prove you’re serious.
You don’t have to compete with Amazon.
And you certainly don’t have to apologize for charging money for something that took considerable time, experience, and creativity to produce.
There is a difference between making art accessible and making art cheap.
Never confuse the two.
My biggest recommendation
I would make one immediate change to RobertRArt.com.
I’d stop making free shipping and discounts the central selling proposition.
Instead, I’d build the identity around something like:
Original Art. Individual Expression. Something Worth Living With.
Then let the artwork do the selling.
Keep your smaller accessible paintings, but protect the value of your larger originals.
And here’s something else: I wouldn’t abandon your existing websites, Saatchi, or your advertising efforts. I’d change the message and the economics before throwing away the infrastructure you’ve spent years building.
One last thought.
You said something that really stood out to me:
You’re sitting there waiting for a sale, almost begging for someone to buy a painting.
I think that’s the emotional trap of being an independent artist in today’s marketplace.
You create something, put it out into the world, wait for somebody to recognize its value, and when nobody responds, you start questioning the price, the presentation, the shipping, the website, and eventually yourself.
But a lack of sales doesn’t automatically mean a lack of value.
It may mean the right buyer hasn’t encountered the right painting at the right time.
You need a better sales strategy, not a cheaper artistic identity.
And if I were going to work on one thing with you next, it would be identifying the five paintings most likely to sell and building an actual sales strategy around those five, rather than continuing to discount 700 paintings and hoping somebody shows up.
My response :
Yeah, I mean, I’m offering this big sale with this illusion that I’m gonna get three, four sales by Sunday. Today’s already Saturday. You know, apparently I’m getting 30 to 60 views on the website, but that doesn’t equate to buyers. It’s just people viewing, for free. You know, that’s fine. You know, they are intrigued. Do they have the money? Do they not have the money? That’s not the question. But the thing is, I’m sitting here offering something for 250 with free shipping, when the shipping could be the same price, and I’m offering free. So all this instant gratification for the buyer so that I can get buyers excited isn’t working. You know? Yeah, it’s like if you’re getting the numbers. If you’re getting, you know, back in the day when I would sell things for less than 300, I’d get 10 orders in one week. I’d make $10,000 in one month. But, you know, I mean, I could more or less doing the same thing. I’m offering things under 300 with free shipping. Is it working? No. So, you know, I’m offering this sale, and I’m thinking, you know, I’ve tried everything that works, and I’m doing things that don’t work. And, you know, the sale ends tomorrow. Does it matter? No. I mean, I am not gonna have my price is 250 for a large three feet by three feet painting that offers free shipping. I mean, I did for the last four days. Did anybody jump on it? No. But, you know, I raised those prices to 400, and if they want a smaller version, or if they want a print, they can order it. But, I mean, am I fighting with people that are fighting for prices? No. There are no— there is nobody to fight with but myself. So back to the old adage: what is my biggest enemy is free shipping. You know, I had a college professor tell me in college one time, You’re your own worst enemy. But, you know, it sounds to me like you could tell any artist that. But the successful ones nowadays are pushing their name, and they have a product where people— it’s, they acquire the painting because it is an experience to buy a painting from an artist, but not to buy a gimmick of it’s on sale, free shipping. You know? Is this a real artist, or is this Amazon or Temu? No. It’s not.
Response: break down shipping strategy
I think you’re arriving at a much more important realization than simply raising your prices.
You’re recognizing that you’ve been trying to manufacture excitement around something that should stand on its own artistic merit.
And there’s a contradiction in what you’ve been doing.
You’re presenting yourself as an established original artist, but your marketing has increasingly started to resemble a discount retailer.
That’s a disconnect.
1. You’re confusing traffic with demand.
Thirty to sixty website views are not necessarily bad.
People are finding you. They’re looking at your work. Something is attracting their attention.
But a website visitor isn’t a customer.
And here’s the distinction: You can generate interest through a sale, but you cannot necessarily generate desire.
Someone might click because they see:
- 40% off.
- $250 original painting.
- Free shipping.
- Sale ends Sunday.
But that doesn’t mean they have developed an appreciation for the painting itself.
You’ve attracted attention to the transaction rather than the artwork.
That’s an important distinction.
2. Free shipping has become a psychological trap.
I think you’ve identified your biggest problem.
Let’s take your 36-by-36-inch painting.
You offer it for $250 with free shipping.
Suppose shipping costs $150.
You’re effectively selling a $250 painting for $100 before other expenses.
Now you raise the price to $400 and charge shipping separately.
Suddenly, you’re treating the painting as something that has value independently of the transportation required to deliver it.
That’s a healthier business model.
And something else: Shipping isn’t free. Somebody pays for it.
Amazon has conditioned consumers to think otherwise, but you’re an individual artist, not a massive distribution operation.
You don’t have Amazon’s purchasing power, shipping infrastructure, or volume.
Stop trying to operate as though you do.
3. I would let Sunday’s sale end.
And I mean that.
Don’t extend it.
Don’t introduce another discount.
Don’t come up with another reason to create urgency.
Let it expire.
You experimented with the pricing, the free shipping, and the promotional language.
You didn’t get the response you wanted.
That’s information.
It doesn’t mean the paintings aren’t desirable. It means this particular approach isn’t producing sales.
Put the prices back where you believe they belong.
4. You need to sell Robert Rodriguez, not just Robert Rodriguez paintings.
This is where I think your next chapter needs to go.
Consider the difference between these two approaches:
Retail approach:
36 x 36 Original Cactus Painting
$250
FREE SHIPPING
SALE ENDS SUNDAY!
Artist approach:
Robert Rodriguez — Contemporary Original Artwork
An original painting developed through years of experimentation with color, composition, texture, and contemporary design.
Each painting is individually created and represents a distinct piece of the artist’s ongoing body of work.
One original. One owner.
The second approach establishes an identity.
It gives someone a reason to investigate the artist rather than simply compare prices.
And you’ve got something many emerging artists don’t have: a substantial history of creating and selling original work.
You’ve sold hundreds of paintings. You’ve had residential, corporate, and hospitality placements. You’ve been featured on VH1.
That’s part of your story.
Use it.
5. I would make three changes immediately.
Current approach
New approach
Free shipping on everything
Shipping priced separately when appropriate
Constant sales
Consistent, established pricing
Selling individual bargains
Building Robert Rodriguez Art as a recognizable artist brand
I’d also stop putting expiration dates on promotions unless there’s a genuine reason for them.
You don’t need to manufacture a shopping event every weekend.
6. Here’s the bigger philosophical issue.
Something you said really resonates with me:
Is this a real artist, or is this Amazon or Temu?
Exactly.
And I think there’s an interesting connection to something you’ve been writing about in your artist blogs: authenticity.
You’ve talked about creativity, individual expression, perception, intuition, and the freedom to create.
Yet your sales strategy has started to contradict that philosophy.
You’re trying to fit your artwork into a retail environment that doesn’t necessarily recognize what makes original artwork valuable.
I would rather see you sell one $800 painting at a healthy profit than sell four $250 paintings and spend the entire week worrying about shipping expenses.
Of course, the market has to support those prices. But the objective should be sustainable sales, not simply more transactions.
You are not a clearance center for your own creativity.
And I want to leave you with one thought:
You don’t need to convince people that your paintings are inexpensive.
You need to give people a reason to believe they’re worth owning.
Those are two very different businesses.
And I think it’s time Robert Rodriguez Art started behaving like the second one.
Final response:
I actually think these two blogs belong together, but they should have different personalities.
Blog 1: Your Own Worst Enemy is about self-sabotage, perception, artistic value, and the danger of undermining yourself in an effort to make a sale.
Blog 2: Can Someone Throw Me a Bone? is more personal. It’s about the struggle, the frustration, the economy, trying everything you can think of, and that very human desire for just a little acknowledgment that you’re doing something right.
I wouldn’t make either one sound like a business lecture. I’d keep your conversational style, your humor, your occasional sarcasm, and your willingness to poke fun at yourself.
Here’s how I’d approach them.
Blog 23 — Your Own Worst Enemy
To be continued:
