We were lucky to catch up with David Palmer recently and have shared our conversation below.

David, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

What I love about making a living as an artist is that it involves such a wide range of skills and activities.

Creating the artwork itself, of course, is the core of it, and that never gets boring. I’m constantly learning and growing as I follow my curiosity, exploring new imagery and ways of creating it. But there’s also a business side to art, and a social aspect, and those are as important in making a living as the artwork itself.

Some artists don’t like dealing with business issues, or meeting people, or talking about their work. And that’s fine. There are galleries out there who can do those things for us (although not as well as we can). But I consider myself lucky, because I enjoy all aspects of this work, and there’s something very gratifying about learning to do it well. There’s also an incredible amount of freedom that comes with being an independent artist.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My paintings combine the vocabulary of Pop Art with a classical sensibility. They are inspired by dreams, childhood memories, nature and contemporary culture. Their surfaces are distressed, revealing patches of underlying color, reminiscent of aging frescoes and peeling billboards. When I start a painting, I don’t know what it’s going to look like when it’s finished. I like to discover the image as I work on it. I start with an idea, but at some point the painting takes on a life of its own, and it leads me to a place I couldn’t have predicted. It’s like having a conversation, or taking a walk in a new neighborhood.

My work has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the US, and appears in numerous public and private collections. I’m the recipient of a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, an Artist’s Grant from the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, and a residency at 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica. I’ve also created digital effects for over a dozen feature films, including The Polar Express, Spider-Man 3, and the first Harry Potter movie.

There was never a point in my life when I decided to become an artist. It’s just something I’ve always done. I’m self-taught, but I also have a Masters degree in Art from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I always thought the way to build an art career was to show my paintings in galleries. But after years of doing that, and a string of supposedly successful solo shows, I still wasn’t making a living at it. I had a day job creating digital effects for big Hollywood movies (do you remember the three-headed dog in the Harry Potter films?). That was how I supported myself and paid for my studio and art supplies. But when my last film job ended, with more and more projects being outsourced to other countries, I decided to try something else.

I was aware of the outdoor art fairs I’d seen everywhere, but I never really took them seriously. I just assumed they were filled with low end tourist art. But a friend of mine said she was thinking of showing at a local art fair, and I went to check it out. There was plenty of the usual derivative stuff I’d expected to see, but I was also surprised to discover a number of really serious artists, whose work was every bit as good as I’d see in any gallery. And in talking with them, I found that they were making a very good living from doing these shows.

My first art fair was the Beverly Hills Art Show. It’s held twice a year, in May and October, and is half an hour from where I live. Once I applied, and was accepted, to the May show, I had to quickly figure out how to display my work! There’s a lot of equipment you need for an outdoor show, and I didn’t know anything about it. In March there was a big national art fair in La Quinta (in the Palm Springs area), and I drove out to visit and see how the artists set up their booths. Based on what I learned there, and advice from fellow artists here in Los Angeles, I ordered a canopy from a company in Florida, and display walls from a company in Dallas, and practiced setting them up in my back yard before I had to do it for real.

The day before the show I rented a UHaul van, and brought my paintings and display supplies to Beverly Hills. The setup went surprisingly smoothly (all that practice paid off!), and though I didn’t sell any paintings at my first art fair, I did sell a whole bunch of prints – enough to pay all the expenses and make a small profit. A good start!

Fast forward nine years. So far this year I’ve been to art fairs in La Quinta, Houston, Dallas, Kansas City, Greenville SC, Philadelphia and Chicago. Next month I’m going to Park City. I don’t show prints anymore (you can order them online), just paintings – some as large as eight feet. And I have a much bigger market for my work than I ever had when I was showing in galleries. I transport my paintings and booth in a big van (like the Amazon drivers have), and am getting to see the country. I’m now making a better living than I was at my day jobs. And I’m much happier.

One of my favorite things about this lifestyle – something I couldn’t have anticipated – is the wonderful community of fellow artists I’ve met out on the road. Many have become close friends. We see each other at the shows, get together for meals, support each other and share information. I feel like I’ve found my tribe.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

For me, social media is just one piece of a broader approach to building an audience, which includes in-person shows, a website, and a mailing list of subscribers who get my “occasional newsletter” three or four times a year. The pieces all feed each other.

At art fairs, I have signs posted with my Instagram handle, and encourage visitors to take and share photos of my work. I gather email addresses for the newsletter, and give out cards with an art image, bio, artist statement and contact info (including website, email and Instagram). My website has artwork and information about me, a schedule of shows, a signup form for the newsletter, and links to my social media accounts. On social media I share brand new work and works in progress, videos of my painting process, video updates from art fairs, and images of what’s inspiring me. I also announce upcoming shows, and have links to my website, show schedule, and a newsletter signup. You get the idea.

A few months ago at an art fair in Houston, a guy came into my booth, looked around and asked “did you bring Wilson?”. My dog makes frequent appearances on my Instagram feed, and apparently has a pretty big fan base of his own. He also stars in some of my paintings. My advice to everyone, whether you care about social media or not, is to get a dog :-)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://davidpalmerstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/davidpalmerstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Palmer-Studio/201369952781
• Other: Newsletter signup: https://davidpalmerstudio.com/subscribe.html