I am having trouble pricing my original colored pencils artwork.  If I have them professionally framed they are beyond the affordable prices for my town. So how do I show artwork that is not framed to potential customers? Due to them not being framed I find it hard to put a price on them as I usually gage my prices according to the price I paid for my frames.  Does one charge by the hours one spends on the artwork?

Hard one to answer for me but Red Bubbler's seem to be doing well,  
but Red Bubble Print the print's from your original... 20% mark up is the norm
from what I can tell. Some as low as 10%
 
But originals well that's another one, they are expensive, framed or not.
So it's time v cost effectiveness. Perhpas some place out there can do
a job lot of frames cheeper that way reducing the costs, I know you  
can buy a lot of frames from ebay at extremly reasonable prices for bulk.
 
Our local town has some fantastic art they range from £100 up to thousands,
depending on the size, I have seen some oil paintings at £200 for A2 sizes  
that would be *figures rougly* $400 ish ish.
 
Are there any local artists that are in the area and you can match?
 
Pencil drawings at my local place for A4 range from £20 UP unframed in those
nice cardeboard white and cream border card, they look lovely and they all
come with plastic wrapping, they always look professional. Again those  
cardboard thingie frames are available on ebay and other such places for
bulk, also photographers use them a lot to frame their work to sell. I actually
like this way better as you can choose your own frames at your leasure.
 
While in Holland on holliday I purchased two original street art... water colour
pictures again with the nice card frames, they cost me 15 Euros each cheep
but holand has a lot of top compeeting artists in one area. So that one may be
a bit missleading, you have to do the figures etc if you intend to start small, then
expand to other counties etc.
 
Not much help but perhaps an idea sparker  
 
Hugs Moonie

Hey that is awesome advice I received from you kind people. I really appreciate it.

Hi,
 
I always have a hard time doing this. Especially since I paint in different mediums and different sizes. I have sold many paintings over the years but I know my prices are low compared with what I see out there. I try to have a figure that I would be happy with and stick with that (without giving it away). i also make cards of my work and prints. Red Bubble and also I have just discovered Fine Art America which does a lovely job. I wish there was an exact formula to follow but there is not. I have learned to frame myself as having everything professionally framed is too costly. However I do sometimes pick special pieces to have professionally framed. Best Of Luck!!!!

I too have tons of paintings but never really tired to sell them in the art world. I have mostly gifted people with them. I have however used some of them on the fronts of some of my cards. I think that trying to sell prints of your work would be an easier way to make a sell in these times. I, myself, have purchased prints of others works at local art and hobby stores at very reasonable prices. I like this idea for the customer and artist as well. As an artist, who has put many hours into a painting sometimes has a very hard time parting with paintings that I favor or that turn out fairly well. By selling prints I get to keep "my babies" and share them with others at the same time. As to where to sell prints well that takes some research. Hope this was helpful and best of luck.

It's not my idea, Naty.  I got it from a very famous artist.  I do the same thing when I price a giclee print... by the square inch.  It makes the pricing consistent and fair from piece to piece.  All of my commission work is done that way and I haven't had anyone turn me down yet.  Best of luck with the selling of them.  I always keep a giclee print of the original and also have it scanned onto a disc in a high resolution.  I retain the rights to the artwork.  I have 3 pieces that are not for sale, but all the rest are either sold or for sale.

Selling original art is like selling your kids. I really don't like the idea of selling original art unless there's an enormous profit involved; once they're sold, they're gone from your life forever. If you want to make money, and you think the market you want to sell to can't afford originals, then prints would be your best option. They would also be easy to sell online.