2023 Income Pie

Taxes prompted me to review my numbers for last year. I’m so grateful when other artists offer transparency in how they make their creative businesses work – so I’m sharing my breakdown for last year in case it is of interest. 

2023 income 🥧✨ Each slice of the pie brings different levels of joy / risk / reward / stress / profit / creativity. Variety is the spice of life though, right? I think it is fun to keep exploring these different ways of reaching others with my work. Here is a little more info on the different income streams:

Murals 57% – I did three large scale outdoor murals last year. Big art, big(ger) budgets, physically taxing and can be stressful. Oh, and often weather dependant. But, with all that comes big rewards and artwork that lives in public spaces with lots of eyes!

Freelance Design 26% – The yin to the mural yang. Or yang to yin? I don't know. It's mostly a desk job that pays hourly and offers a level of stability. It is nice to do project work for fun clients and it helps me pay the bills and navigate the peaks and valleys of my art practice.

In Person Markets 9% – I did a lot more in person markets last year and was surprised at this number. At these events I sell mostly gift items (like what is available in my shop) and I've been able to connect with lots of new local customers and other small businesses as well. I have also sold some original artwork at these markets.

Online Sales 5% – Getting online orders and shipping happy packages is fun! I'm grateful to be able to share my artwork with others near and far in this outlet.

Wholesale 1% – This was new for me last year and I'm hoping to do more of this in 2024. Yay for me, the lovely local bookstore, Black Rock Books just added my postcard sets to her gifty offerings for Independent Bookstore Week this weekend.

Gallery sales 1% – Sold a few paintings through Hunt Gallery!

Art commissions 1% – Something that I enjoy, but don't do too often. I was able to work with Catbird Consulting to create a custom piece of artwork that celebrated WNY. Prints of the piece were than given as client gifts to the people she worked with last year. Such a sweet and thoughtful gift!