Anne deMille Flood's Tacoma Drawings

I was walking through the Thursday Market on my way to a meeting at Moroccan Treasures when I spied a number of familiar pictures at one of the booths. It was Anne deMille Flood and she had her many color pencil drawings of Tacoma and the vicinity on display. I have always loved her drawings and I stopped to chat.

A couple points of interest in the conversation. Let me know if you agree or not. I asked her if she used much technology in the sales and distribution of her work. She said that she has a web site and uses paypal for ecommerce support, but for the most part, the web site serves its purpose mostly as an online brochure for her goods. In fact, when looking through the web site later on, I noticed that the bigger pieces and the framework could be purchased only after a phone or mail contact, whereas the smaller ones and the gift pieces like mugs could be purchased online. She mentioned that most people like to view the art up close and real before a buy.

On another note we talked about how artists make their livings. It is truly an accretive process. You can sell an item or two at first, but to gain the ongoing flow of revenue necessary to live off of it takes time. Like so many businesses, it is word of mouth, marketing, brand and repeat customers that create a healthy ongoing concern. The same goes for creative writers and book authors. It isn’t the first sale that makes the art your vocation, but a steady build of customers and volume of work to purchase from. That’s why series authors need that third book in mind before the first one is published.

After having stopped to look at her pieces so many times in the past, I finally picked up a couple, one of the University of Washington, Tacoma and the other of the Glass Museum as seen through the history museum arch. I was going to hang them in my office but my wife likes them so they may end up in one of the rooms in our house instead.

As for Anne, once she finished up with her booth at the market, she was heading up to Everett I believe, to finish out what to her was going to be a 14 hour day.