3Door4G - I have been thinking about doing a facebook page, maybe I will do that.
Poopshovel - Thanks for your thoughts, your questions about the pedigree of the artists highlights one of my prime concerns. You're not mis-navigating the site, there IS no mention of the artists, no bios, no flowery quote on their motivations and thoughts on their subject. The prints are intentionally 'signed' with a logo instead of a signature. My hope was that the logo/brand would take the place of a signature, the signal to a potential customer that this is one of 'those' prints. I cannot sell the prints for less (and they cost much less than comparable prints of similar content and quality), and I know that I really like them, and I hope that would be enough.
I liken the process to aftermarket parts where the design is executed by fabricators, or other such skilled but nameless tradesmen, where the customer has no idea who actually welded up their header or designed their cylinder head port. And in this I do have direct experience that shows (to my horror) that a customer will spend more money for a lesser part because of the brand name, and in so doing pass up a better part at a better price. Though this may be for the most part true, I cannot accept that it MUST ALWAYS be true. For these prints at these prices I was hoping that the value would be in the prints themselves, not the 'reknown' of the artist.
There are several places selling racing/motorsport/car art where the 'artists' are entirely fictitiuous, and exist no where outside of the website where their bios are placed for the sake of 'pedigree'. Clearly this is effective, because in reality how could a customer verify that any of it is true? But I cannot in good conscience do this, and so I choose to leave it at the simple truth, the paintings are original and a direct result of my (Motorsport Studio) vision for what the art should be, and the prints make them affordable. Is that not enough if the price and product are right? Or perhaps it is all the more reason to give the gallery a try, so people could see the actual full size prints, which are much more compelling than a small picture on a screen?
Ross D - I had a commercial tenant for many years prior and there is some real work associated with that as well. Also there are 2 vacant storefronts adjoining mine so prospective tenants have alot of leverage for pricing and terms. And my shop is underneath so with machine tools and general wrenching the better the rent I could negotiate with a tenant the less likely it would be that I could work in the shop whenever I chose. But it may be the better choice in the end.
Holy crap, nice work! There are so many details in these prints that they look like the real thing.
