← OG Academy · Grow your audience · 5 min read
Open studio days and local exposure
Your next collector probably lives within twenty kilometres of your studio and has no idea you exist.
People buy what they have stood in front of
Scale, texture and presence do not survive a screen. Someone who has seen the surface of your painting in daylight needs far less convincing.
An open studio afternoon two or three times a year is usually the highest-converting thing an artist can do.
Make it easy to walk in
Fixed hours, a clear sign, coffee, and prices visible next to the work. Nothing makes visitors leave faster than not knowing whether they are allowed to ask what something costs.
Have a way to take payment on the spot: a payment link on your phone, or a QR code next to each work.
Look beyond the studio
Cafés, libraries, dental practices, small hotels, town halls, community centres. Many have blank walls and no budget for art, and are delighted by a rotating show with your name and a QR code beside it.
Agree the practical points in writing: how long, who hangs it, who insures it, whether they take a percentage of any sale.
Tell your local press
Regional papers and neighbourhood magazines are always short of stories and love a local maker. Send three sentences, one good photo and your website.
It costs nothing and often reaches exactly the people who can walk to your door.
In short
Two or three open afternoons a year with fixed hours and visible prices, a way to pay on the spot, a sign-up list at the door, and local walls that need art.