How to Price Your Art and Why Art Is Play | Laurie Smithwick
How to price your art comes down to two simple formulas, the square inch method and the linear inch method, plus an honest gut check about how the number feels. If you have ever guessed $50 or $100 for a painting because you had no idea what else to say, you are not alone. Most artists undervalue their work, and that guessing game makes it nearly impossible to build a steady living as an artist.
Holly Hughes, TEDx speaker and host of The Holly Hughes Podcast, sits down with Charlotte artist Laurie Smithwick, a Parsons-trained graphic designer turned painter, photographer, and fellow TEDx speaker. Laurie walks through her art pricing formula with real numbers, shares what four years of open studios at the VAPA Center taught her about which pieces sell, and explains why she believes there is no such thing as a good artist or a bad artist, because art is about process, not product. Together they talk about stepping away from the screen to make something with your hands, the 12-year-old typewriter moment that launched a 20-year design career, and how the phrase flatten the curve turned into Laurie's Balance and Portals series. If you have ever told yourself you are not a real artist, this conversation gives you permission to play.
What you'll learn in this episode:
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How to price your art using the square inch method and the linear inch method, and why Laurie Smithwick keeps both formulas in her pocket before trusting her gut.
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Why the square inch method works better for small paintings and the linear inch method works better for large ones, with real examples for 12 by 12 and 3 by 3 inch canvases.
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Why Laurie believes there is no such thing as a good or bad artist, and how adding intention to playful experiments turns process into finished art.
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What step away from the screen and make something means, and how a monthly hands-only project helped Laurie notice that graphic design was no longer feeding her creativity.
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What four years of open studios at the VAPA Center in Charlotte revealed about the difference between pieces fellow artists love and pieces walk-in buyers want to take home.
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How Laurie turned unpredictable monotype prints into repeatable paintings, and why repeatable work matters when you price your art for a consistent living as an artist.
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How drawing the same curve during the early days of COVID became Laurie's Balance series and her tiny Portals paintings, and why artists often create from compulsion.
We talk about:
00:00 Meet Laurie Smithwick, Charlotte artist and designer
01:20 Growing up in a home that championed creativity
05:36 How a typewriter at 12 started a design career
09:40 Learning graphic design before computers took over
13:22 Step away from the screen and make something
20:29 Is there such a thing as a bad artist
25:48 Why the real work of art is play
35:05 How to price your art without guessing
36:08 Square inch vs linear inch art pricing formulas
39:38 What open studios reveal about which art sells
46:49 How flatten the curve became the Portals series
51:52 What would Laurie's warning label say
If you are looking for a way to actively journal to reveal and heal the thoughts, emotions, and truth you've been hiding your whole life, check out my guided journal, Heal to Real here: https://linktr.ee/hollyhughesintuitive
Connect with Laurie Smithwick
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Website: https://lauriesmithwick.com
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauriesmithwick
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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lauriesmithwick
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Studio: VAPA Center, North Tryon Street, Charlotte. Open studios every first Saturday, night market every second Saturday: https://vapacenter.com/open-studios
Connect with Holly
