Artists are known for being disorganized messes.  Our studios are overflowing with brushes, scraps of paper, piles of erasers, and odds and ends we have picked up with the intention of using ‘some time’ in our work.  In order to make a living through our work, however, we must have one organized place, a sacred spot of alphabetization and numbers where our inventories rest.

      Inventories are boring to make.  Let’s get that out there right away.  Unless you are one of those rare people who like razing a stack of flashcards, this will not be the most enjoyable part of your creative life.  If you manage to get through it though, you certainly won’t regret it.  In fact, you’ll even thank yourself several times over, especially right before a large show.

      Let’s start with a general inventory first.  When you sell originals of your work, this is the most important thing.  After all, what happens if you sell the same work twice?  Do you do a Solomon and offer to cut the painting in half?  Or do you try to pawn another work off on the second buyer and hope they’ll forgive you?  Having an up-to-date inventory eliminates all of the worry and makes tax time so much easier!

      My ‘original’ inventory is as simple as a Word file.  For each work I include:

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  • A small picture of the work (after all, who can remember all of their work just by the titles?)
  • The title
  • Size
  • Media
  • Date of completion
  • Price

      See, wasn’t that easy?  It’s also a good idea to have a hard copy of your inventory.  Computers have been known to die or spontaneously eat files.  Bethany Dirksen, an oil painter and wonderful blogger, had a great idea to make a flash card of each painting created and place them into separate boxes appropriately labeled ‘Not Sold,’ ‘Sold,’ and, ‘On Display’.  Just be sure to include all of the information you put in your computer inventory on the back of the card. 

recipe box by gifts and talents

(http://www.etsy.com/shop/GiftsAndTalents)

      Bethany’s other amazing idea is to put your inventory on Google Documents!  If you have a Gmail account, you simply upload the document to Google Documents.  This way the information can be accessed by any computer via the internet.  Only people who have your Gmail password can get to the document so you don’t have to worry about your inventory falling into the wrong hands.  Anyone can sign up for this free program at http://www.docs.google.com.

 (http://www.etsy.com/shop/makeshoplive)

      Now there is no excuse for you not to make a complete inventory of your work.  Whether you’re a computer genius, or can talk your children into making flashcards for you, there is an easy (although not necessarily fun) way to complete this important step for your fine art business.

      Bethany Dirksen’s work can be found at http://www.etsy.com/shop/dirksendabbles.  Her blog, which covers her paintings and tons of other helpful tips for fine artists can be found online at http://dirksendabbles.blogspot.com/.