I vowed to never write another art marketing book. Like so many self-pledges this one lasted only a few months. I keep getting emails seeking additional information. About a dozen times a month I get an email encouraging me to become a paid art consultant. They mostly say, “Why don’t you set up a phone consulting service? You could charge $100 to $150 and hour. If you ever do please sign me up.” Some will ask, “How much would you charge to look at my Website? What is your fee to make suggestions on how to improve my art?” This message is repeated over and over in one form or another each month. As flattering as the thought is that people would pay to listen to my advice I have never been tempted to extract money from a group of people who work below the poverty line. Most artists earn less than the minimum wage and yet these so called art experts are willing to extract money my Nation of Artist.
I selected the title Messages of Effusion because the word effusion means to an unrestrained outpouring of expression. I have so much encouragement and information built up inside me; I cannot contain the words in my heart. I must share with my fellow travelers the hidden secrets of our industry and shoo each of you along as a mother her does her chicks in the direction of success. I’ll readily admit my passion to see other artists succeed. My joy comes when one of you let me know how much reading the material I labor to write has changed your life. Money cannot buy the emotions I feel when I learn of a success story.
These stories need not be earth shaking. I recall a young Japanese artist who was struggling to decide on how to sign her work. Her last name was a tongue twister and about two yards long. In reading Mystery it occurred to her to work under the name Twing. Her friends called her Twing, and her boss knew her as Twing. She emailed and asked if I thought she could use Twing.com as her URL. She said she learned in Mystery that she could use her common name on the front and sign the back of the painting using her two-yard long name. It was a small victory in my mind but Mount Rushmore to her. She had struggled for several years on know what name to work under. Her victory was my victory.
For several years I earned a living as a consultant to the home-building industry with clients from coast to coast. Unlike artists builders for the most part have money. It never caused me any unrest to be paid handsomely by them but I would never be able to sleep knowing I was making some fellow traveler max out their credit card to ask me questions.
This book is a combination of pep talks and small tidbits of advice. All of the answers are in response to questions I have been asked. I have found if one artist has a question then many artist have the same one that is nagging away at them.
I end up being an un paid art consultant to dozens of artists who come to me for advice. They email me images, bio’s to read, business cards to check out and questions that I thought everyone knew the answer to. I respond all emails and frankly some days I’m up at 4 am in order to be able to have time to write longer answers. The reward is I am forced to work through some problems that I can share with others. Now you are getting the benefit from my efforts of pulling the covers off the mysteries and making the answers available in print form.
Some of the material is an expansion from the other books. Things I felt needed more attention. Some is reworked and told from a different point of view. Much of this is to lift your spirits and to tell you that it is possible to earn a nice living making and selling your art. In the past two years I have scores of success stories from those who have followed the Jack White marketing plan. In this book I share some of those successes with you. Like all successful coaches I am a cheerleader when you follow my advice and succeed. I scream and yell when you stray or falter. When you have doubts I refuse to allow such negative thoughts jump into your brain. This book will be a source you will return to when the days get gray and your career is stalled. When it has been raining for days and you need a shot of light. I decided to title my fourth art book, Messages of Effusion because I know how discouraging failure after failure can be. We all have failed. The sin is not falling down.
Whiteism: Failure comes when we don’t get back up and try again.
Mildred came to us seeking advice after another artist suggested she purchase my books. She was reluctant to buy them because she had read others and saw no results. I told her that was her choice but if she did and was not 100% happy we would refund her money and she could keep the books. Mildred was depressed a lot. She had lost a daughter a few years earlier when the child was five. Her work was all over the board. Mildred painted with watercolor and was making very large tropical pieces. After reading Mystery of Making IT (my first book) she switched mediums and took the challenge to try oils. Then she started making smaller pieces. Mildred changed her outlook and started to realize her daughter would want her to be successful. Her success would be homage to her deceased daughter.
Three small changes made a world of difference in Mildred’s art career.
Painting in oils because they are easier to sell and most people think they are getting more when they buy oils than watercolor. Framing is more gallery friendly. No glass breakage and oils can be framed in a traditional frame. Canvas is cheap and oils can be corrected much easier than watercolor.
Painting smaller things. Most people don’t have huge blank walls. Many only have one or two spots for large showstoppers. When she started doing smaller oils on canvas we began to see a huge change in our sales. We still sell about the same amount of large pieces; however with the added sales of the small pieces it’s difficult to keep up with the demand.
Attitude. Attitude is essential. If you think you cannot make it then your prophecy will be fulfilled. Attitude is everything.
I also wanted to share one of the many emails that I have received for the many, many artists I’m in contact with. This one validates my position that “art is sold” as well as any I’ve received.
Jack. Well I have just returned from the Loveland Colorado Sculpture Invitational Show. I did great. I sold 5 bronzes. I know it was 90% thanks to your writings. The sculptors on both sides of me and in the 3 booths across from me did not make a single sale. I saw everything you said not to do in a booth being done by sculptors who made zero sales. Cell phones, sitting low, friends in the booths, doing everything I have read you mention. I tried to sell and did. The work around me in the other booths was as good and better than mine. I re-read some of your instructions just before the show and it paid big time, again! "Thank You Again" Your friend, Jim www.jamesmarsico.com
This book is designed to keep your attitude on a positive plane.
Will this be my last art book? I hope so. I want to get back to my murder mysteries. I’m tired of getting up before our birds and going to sleep when the coyotes start to serenade the moon. Does it answer all the of the questions the other three book don’t address? It covers a lot of new ground and it does rework some of the old material. There can never be enough books to answer all your questions? What I try to do is give you the tools to figure out some of the answers yourself. I know if I can find the success trail on my own with the instructions you will get from my four books you will be head and hands above where I started.
Unlike the other three books this one is not a continuous story. In other words you don’t have to start at the front and work your way to the back like you did in the other three books. You can skip around because this is the bible of encouragement with information sprinkled in like I did Mildred’s story in this introduction.
Whiteism: How are you going to know you have arrived unless you know where you are going?
If you have not read my first book The Mystery Of Making It then stop and get it before you proceed much farther in this book. All four are like a set of history books. To understand the history of America you need to start with volume one and proceed to volume four. Without reading the earlier books this one will not have the same meaning. You need the others to understand where I’m coming from. You cannot read book three of The Lord of Ring and fully grasp the story line.
Just after I completed this introduction Pat Jeffers an artist from Las Vegas, New Mexico emailed me the following story. It summarizes my thinking and my goals in writing this fourth book. This book is like the broken pot in the following story. I have seen the flowers growing from the seeds we watered in my first three editions and this book will be the food to make those artist careers grow and bloom. Pat, thank you for sharing this neat story and allowing me to pass on to many, many others in the decades to come.
A water bearer in China had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full
portion of water.
At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots of water to his house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of what perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes to leak out all the way back to your house.
The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
Some might call me a crackpot; however, I don’t think that is all bad in the light of this moving story, do you? Actually most don’t say I’m nuts they say I’m a little full of my own importance. Or he thinks he is the answer man. Loud mouthed Texan, full of hot air, until they gamble and try my teachings and then a new respect seems to emerge. Some float around the word genius. This is why I wrote Chapter Twenty Three. I wanted to debunk the idea I’m a genius. Flip to Chapter Twenty Three if you happen to be one who believes I think my breath doesn’t smell in the morning.
Unlike the other three books this one has no general theme. In fact you might want to skip to the back and read the chapter on questions and answers. This was written in response to the emails and letters I received after I contacted all of those of you who had read two or more of my books. I asked you to tell me what I didn’t cover in the books you had read. To be honest this was the biggest challenge I faced because some of your brilliant questions made me dig deeper and push harder than I was expecting. Thank you for taking your valuable time to help me share with our Nation of Artists the answers to your powerful, some times whimsical, but always interesting questions.
If you are getting ready to invest in Advertising, read Chapter Four before you do. This book is like the new twenty-five screen movies. Walk to the window and pick what you want to see. Go to the chapter that jumps out at your. Effusions is more than a how to, it’s a reason for doing book.
Whiteism: I wish you success and more than that, I wish you health and happiness. Because if you have those two you are successful.