Buyers' Information Page

Buying for Investment or Pleasure
Part 2

Kim Dommer, Ph.D. DD

Personal Inventory Toward Achievement

In my early years as an artist, I had people who bought my work under the belief that I would become "famous" some day. The first few times this happened, I rebutted with the debate that there are many great artists out there and even more good artists, and though I would love to rise to those ranks I felt my chances were astronomical. The buyers bought anyway, sticking to their beliefs.

As this continued to happen, I decided to look for what they were seeing in my work that could possibly be giving them that impression. So I took a personal inventory of my work and critiqued each piece.

I looked at the elements of my compositional design and the principles of arrangement. I learned my depth perception was not fully represented in my work and, with the help of my eye doctor, I corrected that.

Then I realized my worst weakness was emphasis. I was trying to put too much into one piece and my principles of arrangement were off to get that full emphasis effect, so I began to correct that.

Then when I was rejected to show at a major metropolitan museum one year, I learned that my technique was not consistent to the medium I was using. I had started off as a watercolor painter when I was too poor to afford oils; when I switched to oils, I was unconsciously using many watercolor techniques, thinning my oils to do so. There was a lack of the thick, heavy texture standard to oil technique in my work. So I began to correct that, and the next year the museum accepted my work.

An Educated Eye

As an investing buyer, this tool of educating yourself in the technical aspects of compositional design, principles of arrangement, and the techniques of a medium could give you the educated eye now necessary to gauge the development of artists in relation to where they are in their careers. It is, in fact, what jurors seek in the works they judge.

Now with that educated eye, looking at more than one piece of work from the artist, perhaps newer and older works, you the investing buyer can more clearly gauge the development of the artist, whether he or she is learned or self-taught. Combine this with the track record of the artist's career thus far and you will have a better gauge in determining the best investment.

But what other qualities are needed to ensure this artist will continue to appreciate in value? For many artists reach only so far in their careers, then that's it. Let me go back to the example from my own artist's career.

Aspiring to Greatness

The type of personal inventory and critique that resulted from my buyers' statements pushed me and my work to the next level

People still buy my work with their same belief. And I still stick to mine. But I still strive for greatness, critiquing every piece that leaves the easel, knowing how I will do things differently next time.

I guess I partially strive for and aspire toward greatness because I do not wish to let down those who had invested in me, supported me, and believed in me when I didn't or couldn't believe in myself. But mainly it is because I find art a challenge, and I like a good challenge. I like pushing myself to the limits of my talent and beyond those limits of yesterday. I love to create — I eat, sleep, and breathe art. There is a drive that is beyond me and brings me to that beyond.

I don't know about you, but for me that is the artist who won't quit. That is the artist that will keep trying despite the odds. That is the artist who won't let down the investor. Fredric Church, one of my favorite landscape painters, developed crippling arthritis in his later years, so he taught himself to paint left-handed and continued to paint until he died. With a drive like that, there is an artist with the shot at greatness, the shot at success.

So talk to the artists, read their biographies and artist statements, and look at their aspirations and drive and see how it lines up with their talent, technical knowledge, and track record. See if the public recognition, response, acceptance, and awards are there as a result of their labors.

Now you can make the best informed investment decision.