We All Start Somewhere: The $45 Shadowbox Lesson

Nov 30

When I first started in the fine arts I was blending maps, illustration, and photography to create a new kind of landscape work centered on place. At the time, I didn’t realize I had created something distinct, customizable, and valuable.

I put the work into IKEA shadowbox frames and priced it at $45.

I came from a culture of selling lots of small, inexpensive items. I simply didn’t know how to price this new work as art. I didn’t yet understand what I had made.

I’ve always appreciated a hard-learned lesson. Life has a way of forcing clarity when you’re slow to claim it yourself. For me, that push came through a large commission from the City of Lake Oswego and invitations to high-end art shows where collectors routinely told me that anything under $100 wasn’t worth considering.

It took time to accept that pricing isn’t just about what feels comfortable. It’s about meeting real demand. Once I adjusted, everything changed.

Owning the Value

Today, my average sale is around $950, with pieces ranging from $165 to $4500. At a strong art show, I can sell upwards of $12,000 in a day. I’ve won awards, been juried into competitive shows, and offered prime showcase placements across dozens of events.

The art and the customers believed in the work long before I did.

That wasn’t a failure. It was simply a blind spot. When you’re inside your own work, it can be hard to see its full value clearly.

Seeing What You Can’t

This is exactly how I help others now.

I’m able to see the strength, clarity, and uniqueness in someone’s work that they may be too close to recognize yet. I help identify what’s already working, where the value actually lives, and what needs refinement, not reinvention.

Often, the problem isn’t a lack of talent. It’s underpricing, overexplaining, or not yet owning what makes the work distinct.

If you want a clearer view of where you shine and how to position your work with confidence, I offer a focused 15-minute conversation to take a look together.

Lets connect to talk about your work.

Ryan