As the author stepped in to help grow the career of his wife, celebrated plein air painter Kathie Odom, he took his cues from the artist herself. Along the way, they identified five art marketing secrets to success.
By Buddy Odom
As the spouse of an artist, I have maintained an up close and personal view of the creative life Kathie has led for the past 15 years. Her venture into oil painting could have easily become a late-in-life pressure-release valve, an empty-nest replacement, or simply permission to play.
But a painting sold. Then another. Friends and family became uber-curious about the pochade box standing in the living room. She won two awards in her first plein air event. A website was born. A gallery sent an invitation. We placed a magazine ad. Something was happening.
In 2013 we decided (well, she decided as I cheered her on) to throw Kathie into anything and everything related to oil painting, specifically plein air. We put her out there in every way imaginable — local news inquiries, online competitions, an e-newsletter, and regional shows.
As a result, Kathie’s little art world took notice and called for more. Soon we discovered that her energy to create was losing steam. As the need to paint prolifically intensified, time behind the easel kept slip-sliding away.
So I jumped in to help.
To this day I’m not sure if I made things better by developing a business and marketing structure or hurt things by pulling the rug out from underneath the quiet pleasure she took in painting en plein air, only to replace it with plans, goals, and objectives.
Don’t worry. She and I are good. Especially because I haven’t made it about me. Come to think of it, we have attempted to not make it about her, either. It is about the art, and letting it speak. Together Kathie and I are custodians of beauty. Of imagination. Of the Good. Which is a privilege, not a business.
One Foot In Front of the Other
So how did her career take off? Did she trust her talent and hard work or count on luck randomly knocking at the door? Did she implement a 10-year trajectory to follow or roll some cosmic dice by investing in advertisements? Was there a method to the madness or madness to the method?
The plain truth is this … we made it up as we went along. Guessing, researching, seeking input, wondering, thinking hard, apologizing, experimenting, and yes, praying. Our clear intent was to develop an art career for Kathie, for her to become a professional artist. So together, years ago, we began putting one foot in front of the other while always remembering that it is her work, her name, and her career. I helped.
We have learned so much about ourselves. For starters, how we relate with one another has become front and center in our marriage. How we navigate the waters of bringing an unassuming and quiet woman into the spotlight was and still is a challenge without end. But mostly what I learned is this: a career is made like a painting is painted, and Kathie was the one to lead the way.
Five Non-Negotiables of Art Marketing
Before I break down our five non-negotiables of art marketing for you, let me first say that, much like the evolution of one of Kathie’s paintings, the road we traveled rose up before us as we found the courage to move forward.
It went something like this:
Begin with an idea.
Are you drawn to it? If not, toss it.
If so, do you have the right tools?
Sleep on it.
Take your time.
Are you still drawn to the idea? If not, toss it.
Consider the time it will take.
Are you up for it? Take a deep breath.
Take a step in. Step back to see what it looks like.
Take heart. See what it looks like.
Then take another step in.
Rinse.
Repeat.
Create your marketing like you create a painting. Each is a work of art.
Only in retrospect do I see what I didn’t see then: Kathie knew the way. It would have been a lot quicker (although I personally needed the long way around the barn) if I had taken notes on her approach to the easel. With these five non-negotiables, may I be the first to shove you into the long way of making art of your marketing. You may just enjoy what you find.
Among the five, this first one is hands-down the most important.
1. Be Genuine
There are no limited-edition prints of you. Your personhood is uniquely and wonderfully made, so why not celebrate it by being the original you that is you? That doesn’t mean to champion being different as much as it means asking, who am I? And how can I live most fully alive as me? Consider it a lifelong journey I am inviting you to take, but remember this, you may be, no, you will be surprised by the beautiful remnants the one-of-a-kind you can leave behind.
I’ve watched Kathie hang onto Kathie throughout her art career. Whether chatting with another artist or standing in front of a blank canvas, if something ever felt false or unwise or silly or like she was taking a shortcut, she quickly turned away from it to be legit. Being true to who she is also shows up in her art as a fresh and personal calligraphy.
The author Brennen Manning once wrote, “Be who you is, cuz if you ain’t who you is, you is who you ain’t.” Paint like you. Market like you.
2. Get Better
Getting better at her craft is what Kathie has done from the beginning, and getting better is a major decision we make on a regular basis in regard to getting her art out there.
Early on, all sales profits were fed back into the kitty for better supplies, better learning opportunities, better photo images of her work, better advice, better lighting, and better frames, which resulted in better exposure. Kathie urges all her students to get better at their drawing skills with the words, “If you think you can paint without knowing how to draw, well, good luck with that!”
Each of us have numerous art- and marketing-related advantages that we could improve, but the best way to get better is to…
3. Get Help
There are some big-hearted artists teaching magic out there in workshops. There are some willing painters worth trusting to critique your work. There are friends and family members who, because they are so intrigued with your artistry, would love for you to bounce marketing ideas off them over a bagel and coffee (which you will buy). There are social media wizards (most of them younger than you and me) who can run your website dashboard, snap great photos of your work, keep your Instagram up to date, and pack a box or two. There are computer gurus who can set up an Excel spreadsheet for you in five minutes. There are nieces, nephews, grandkids, and young next-door neighbors looking to make a few bucks on the side by addressing envelopes.
Plus, they all need art in their lives, don’t they? And you can make that happen by letting them help you. (By the way, you can pay these folks with a good painting you have stacked in the closet.)
4. Plant Sequoias
Do something regularly over a long period of time that will mature down the road, maybe even long after you are gone.
Fifteen years ago, Kathie laid oil paints on a canvas for the first time. Since then she has (as of this moment) named, painted, and catalogued 1,293 paintings. The piece she paints today will look quite different from those first ones, but she put a seed in the ground and she’s still going. She’s still growing.
Ten years ago, Kathie and I began sending monthly e-newsletters to anyone who would take them. We asked friends, and they said yes. We made the newsletter available to website visitors with a signup tab. We asked the question, which gallery would Kathie want to be in, and then wrote to ask if they would like to be added to her database. And to this day, we invite anyone who shows interest in her art to receive her newsletter.
To no one’s surprise, her following grew and is larger today than yesterday. Fellow artists and potential collectors are able to see newly released paintings, read about workshops Kathie is teaching, consider attending her events and shows, and stay apprised of all her travels. It is a dynamite connection tool, a tree I suggest you plant. Today.
Finally, the non-negotiable that shades the first four like a canopy and is present throughout Kathie’s paintings, marketing, and indeed, her life, is…
5. Be Generous
Generosity begets itself. What goes out comes back a hundredfold. If you have a painting technique or marketing insight that you are keeping secret, our world will be less when you leave us one day. But if you pass it on, a mighty tree grows, yielding fruit without measure.
The author Annie Dillard says it this way about her own craft: “One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now. The impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These things fill from behind, from beneath, like well water. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.”
What a generosity Kathie has given to me with an invitation to come into her world of art, one jam-packed with beauty, color, light, and the most wondrous people I have ever known — artists. You can do that favor for others as well, giving folks like me the chance to say, “I’m the richest man on the face of this earth.”
Connect with Kathie Odom at kathieodom.com, and Buddy Odom at buddyodomart.com.
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Story prepared for the web by Cherie Dawn Haas, Editor of Plein Air Today
