Butterfly Option Strategy

I sit in the bay window where I usually work, but it’s a grey autumn day, the light is very poor, and I wonder whether the strategy artists use to price their work is completely wrong?I expect that most artists undertaking commissioned work have a similar experience to mine: demand is highly seasonal. The lead up to Christmas is a busy period. January is typically dead, as potential clients are either recovering from empty wallets, or the “Sales” compete with us for any money left to spend. February picks up a little, and work increases until August, when the majority of Brits go on holiday, and have little disposable income. Come October, we are back into the pre-Christmas present buying time of year.The stop-start nature of a seasonally influenced workload can be extremely frustrating. It’s like waiting for a bus; nothing for ages, then three come along.Unfortunately, the autumn is the time of year when the days shorten, and the quality and duration of light diminishes – exactly the time when we need to put in longer days. Conversely, in the peak of summer almost every waking hour presents good light to work by, but our clients are too busy or distracted to consider buying artwork.The holiday trade has a unique approach to pricing. The cost is demand led, and a holiday in peak periods can cost very much more than out of season. It strikes me that artists should adopt a pricing structure similar to the holiday trade, and charge differing fees according to the peaks and troughs of seasonal variations.Winter daylight hours are short, so it takes longer to complete artwork. Output levels possible in a single summer day often take two winter days to equal. Coupled with the usual “in time for Christmas” deadlines, we may even need to turn away jobs at this time of year: work we would appreciate greatly at times when business is slack. It would make sense to charge more during this period.Who knows, maybe savvy customers would take advantage of lower January fees? They certainly flock to the “sales”.On long summer days, the artist can get more done, and cope with extra work. We could perhaps charge a little less in these sunny times?A real benefit to the artist would be realised if our work could be spread more equitably over the whole year. From the customer’s perspective, a seasonal pricing strategy could offer more flexible options, and might even encourage new clients to take the plunge into commissioning something when prices are lowest?The only remaining question is: who is brave enough to try it? I like the idea of doing something that could make my busy periods less frantic, and my troughs a little fuller, while simultaneously trawling for more customers via a wider range of prices.

Portraits by John Burton