This page is not “about me” but it’s really about you.
I created Artists Who THRIVE to teach artists how to sell art.
Do you want to sell your art without selling out?
You are in the right place.
Here’s my story. -Ann Rea
ONCE UPON A TIME….
a talented young girl pursued her dream of being a famous artist by attending a very prestigious and expensive art school.
For five years she learned how to make art …but not how to money from it.
Then her student loan bill arrived.
Quickly she realized that she needed to make more money, much more than she needed to make more art.
EVERY DAY…
… she commuted to a grey-base colored corporate cubicle.
But this artless existence drove her into a deeper depression and anxiety that she could not numb.
Too often she would sit with two work mates bitching about the relentless office politics.
BUT ONE DAY….
….she remembered. Both had just entered into remission from Stage IV breast cancer.
So she stopped and asked them,“If you had a magic wand and you could do anything, and be assured of success, what would you do?”
One said, “I don’t know.”
The other said, “I’d be an interior designer. But I’m too afraid.”
Are you afraid living what life you have left to the fullest more than you are of surviving cancer?
BECAUSE OF THAT…
…she stopped bitching and she starting painting again.
She sought the counsel of a very famous artist named Wayne Thiebaud, whose paintings were selling for about $1M.
He said, “You know, you should pursue painting full time.”
“But how will I make money?” She asked.
“Oh, I don’t know, I’m not a businessman.” He replied.
“The IRS sure thinks you’re businessman.” She thought.
Wayne Thiebaud’s glowing letter of recommendation moved art galleries to crack open their doors.
But sometimes they paid her, sometimes they didn’t.
So although the galleries didn’t allow it, she starting selling her paintings herself.
She studied marketing so she could sell more art and her grey-base colored corporate cubicle imprisoned her less and less.
UNTIL FINALLY….
… she just couldn’t take one more two-hour commute and 12-hour day working for another “team leader” whose nickname was “Snotty Scotty.”
So she decided to turn her dream of being a full time artist into her reality.
In 2005, she moved to the beach in San Francisco and she wrote a plan to sell over $100K in one year.
This unknown artist exceeded her goal and Fortune Magazine quoted her.
“If there is something you really want to do, do it now.” -Ann Rea, Artist & CEO of Ann Rea, Inc.
Ann Rea created Artists Who THRIVE based on her inspired business approach, featured on HGTV and the Good Life Project, in Fortune, and The Wine Enthusiast magazines, profiled in the book Career Renegade and soon to be featured in The Wall Street Journal.
Rea’s artistic talent is commended by American art icon, Wayne Thiebaud, and she has a growing list of collectors across North America and Europe.
Don’t struggle alone. Get HELP!