Long time no post....

[Spit]

Hello folks, it's been a while!

I couldn't face talking about things when the business went belly up, things got seriously bad here, but now I'm (hopefully) on the up again. Only one problem - I've been seduced by the dark side and decided to have a crack at being a full time artist. Jobs round here are impossible to find, so I might as well give it a go!

Anyways you can see what I'm up to in my blog, http://classicbikeart.blogspot.com/ . Have just finished one painting and there's a couple of others if you go to the online shop. It'll take a long while to build up enough of a portfolio, but in the current climate its the only thing left for me to do!

[JohnMcafee]

Great to hear from you, Steve.

Those superb bike images deserve to sell well.

[mikeysaling]

great bike pics - best of luck to you !

[Graysalchemy]

Great Pictures

How are they selling? are you having any success as yet? It is always difficult for an artist to break through but you are obviously a very talented artist .

Good Luck with the venture

[Spit]

Sold a couple of prints, but the site has only been up for a few weeks, so early days yet. The main problem for me is getting enough paintings together to sell - they take 3-4 weeks to paint. Still in 6 months or so the site will look a bit fuller, as long as I don't starve by then

Hi John, hope all is well with you. Just read the sad news about Mike... I was intending on going to him when I ran out of stock. He was one of life's really good blokes.

[Not your average framer]

Hi Steve,

It's really nice to see you posting again, but I'm sorry to hear about your business difficulties. I hope you are not too discouraged, to give framing another go. Atfer all, many very successful people have attributed their final success to what they had learnt from earlier failures and hard knocks.

I'm on my fourth self employed business and this one was originally the outcome of not being able to find a normal employed job. Almost everything in my workshop is secondhand and bought over quite a long time due to the tightness of available funds, but I'm still here. Do you still dare to dreams of what can be? I hope so!

My I wish you every success in the future and I hope you get the right breaks with your new business,
All the best,
Mark

[prospero]

Hi Steve.

[Jonny2morsos]

Have you tried sending a print to a classic motorbike magazine for them to review?

It will cost you a print but could get you some free advertising.

One of the big magazine publishers has offices near here and I have framed a fair number of car prints that they have been sent.

[Spit]

Pete

Mark: The most annoying thing is that the recession kicked in here just as I'd finally broken the earning more than I was paying out barrier. The other annoying thing was nobody told me I could claim working tax credits.... I thought (wrongly) that it was just for normally employed people with kids . An extra £400 a month would have made all the difference, in fact I'd probably still be going now! I would have thought my accountant would have suggested it at least. I've put in a claim this time, gawd knows how long it will take to process though.

Maybe one day I'll get back into framing but it'll need a big lucky break moneywise, and I think this time I'd move somewhere busier for a quicker start to profitability. If only I could go back in time and change one or two things...

J2M: Good idea, and I think the next 2 paintings are the ones to do it with. I'll be doing 2 very expensive bikes, Brough Superior SS80 & SS100. One went at auction not too long back for well over £200k, so if the owners can pay that much for a bike, I can charge a good sum for paintings & prints. That's the sort of market I'll be targeting now.

[Roboframer]

Nice to see you here again Steve.

With a talent like that it's just got to be a case of finding a door (why is one of your motorbike paintings on a Super Mario Cart backdrop though ) I started off with a dream of selling my calligraphy for a living, and if I was, Oh, I don't know, about a quarter as good at that as you are at painting, maybe I could have!

How about ltd edn print publishers like Washington Green, Demontfort, Buckingham etc? They've got to always be on the lookout for new talent.

One of our customers' son is/was a Washington Green artist; she told me that he got 9% of each print run, which I thought sounded like a ripoff - but.... I don't know if that would be up front or on sales, or on the trade price or their costs, but assuming up front and their costs, and on a low edition of 250 costing me £89 per print (and assuming their cost being based on half of that), that's just over £1000 per painting plus the original.

Hope you find your opening, you certainly deserve to.

[Jonny2morsos]

There is a market for automotive art e.g. F1 & Moto GP but in these cases it is short lived for instance a customer of mine produced some really good images of Nigel Mansell in his William F1 car but now of course it is a case of Nigel Who?

Even his later images of David Coulthard and Michael Schumacher (+ cars) have stuck and have not much hope of selling now so I think your classic bikes should do well as the images are pretty much timeless.

Talking to my customer mentioned above I asked him last week how he comes by his sales and what comes in directly over the internet and his response was that he has had to make a name for himself and that is what people search for on the web. If I was to google "classic bike images" or picture/prints etc. I would get thousands of matches. On the other hand if I was to google "your name + art" it would lead me directly to you.

Potential customers need to know you by name so get on down to classic bike shows and promote your work.

It is like getting a girlfriend .... if you want to meet girls go to places where girls go.

My wife is has just started producing limited edition prints but needs to get the message across to gain sales so she will be getting a copy of this too.

Good luck with your prints and originals you have the talent.

[Spit]

If you type classic bike/motorcycle art/paintings (use whichever combo as you wish) into google I seem to appear on the first page I've been working on the SEO side of things... Not bad for a website that's only been open a month!

[Jonny2morsos]

Just to give you some feedback. I only got you on the first page when I typed in the word "paintings" along with "classic motorcycle".

If I typed this in "classic bike/motorcycle art/paintings" you came up as number one.

When I type in "Pre-Raphaelites" I get all seven members of The Brotherhood but if I type in an individual name I get the artist I am looking for.

I am beginning to take the social networking thing seriously now as I think there may be good business in there somewhere but it needs to be on a business only basis so no teenage offspring allowed access!

[Not your average framer]

The other annoying thing was nobody told me I could claim working tax credits....

I've made several earlier posts on this forum at different times telling those who are starting up about working tax credits. Not only that, but if you qualify for receiving working tax credits, this can trigger your qualification to claim council tax and/or housing benefits. Lots of small businesses rely upon these benefits.

Also if this is still correct, then I you were paying tax during the three months before applying for the working tax credit, then you may qualify to to have your entitlement back dated by three months. This can amount to a very useful lump sum when starting a business!