Pricing has been interesting and difficult. I started off making my own price list with a delicate balance of making enough money to justify a) the hours of work and b) to cover framing costs, and not charging so much that I look too arrogant for a completely unknown name, working in a medium that I know is not everyone's cup of tea. I then asked a few friends to come and do a pricing exercise without letting them see my list or know how much frames cost, or the time I'd taken on them (thank you to those who did it for your honesty, not so sure about the one who valued one picture at less than the cost of the frame, but hey it's all subjective and we are still good friends! Lucky I didn't have PMT that day...). People's ideas varied by over £100 in some instances. Some prices have changed slightly as a result. It shows that it's all in the eye of the beholder; let's hope some love affairs start in the Dairy over the next week.
As I am sitting here typing, I am messing about with working very hard on an Arts Week playlist on my ipod. It is quite a good challenge: some background music that will drown out the silence so that potential punters feel comfortable, a good variety of things that will not alienate older people or sound too stuffy for younger ones. Classical music is good of course but not too much of the sadder stuff (it has been pointed out that some of my very favourite classical music is the stuff that always crops up in films about the Holocaust). I am considering some of Brian Eno's Music For Airports, some Spanish guitar; I have included some other things in there to make it a bit more upbeat: a couple of Buena Vista Social Club songs, Paolo Conte's 'S Wonderful, one or two things from the soundtrack to Amelie, and I am toying with a little bit of REM and Paloma Faith but these might get deleted before too long. Anything with too much of a beat is falling by the wayside. I felt duty bound to include a tongue-in-cheek "Cavatina" as anyone British of a certain age will recognise it from Tony Hart's Gallery. But I wonder if there has ever been any research done on what sort of music makes people want to get their money out and buy some art? Any suggestions are more than welcome.
If anyone out there is thinking that I am being callous by neglecting the school's Great Fire of London project and concentrating on my own fripperies, I haven't forgotten it and will be returning to Pudding Lane once Arts Week is nearing its end. I think we are now going along the lines of a couple of smaller pictures that I will make in school so that the children can see the process and help where possible. Watch this space!
Post script: 2 days later I have woken up with bizarrely a different Tony Hart tune in my head. It turns out after a bit of googling that it is The Noveltones with Left Bank Two...
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