Painted Jay Publishing header image
Painted Jay Publishing header image
Painted Jay Publishing header image

About Painted Jay Publishing, LLC

Mission

Founded in 2003 by Alexandria Levin, Painted Jay Publishing, LLC is an artist-run small publishing company, producing books for artists and other creative people. The original goal of Painted Jay Publishing was to help change and improve things for all artists, no matter the definition, filling in the gaps that currently exist in available information; business, knowledge of the art world, education, and creative processes. That goal still exists, but has shifted somewhat to include writing about how it is to be an artist, from a firsthand perspective.

Origins

Painted Jay Publishing came into being during the transition between living in New Mexico and settling into Pennsylvania, when the founder found herself without a painting studio for nearly a year. Since the written word had been put on hold for many years before that, this became the ideal time to dedicate to writing. See the quote on this page in the green block. A friend had suggested that I write an article on the topic of pricing artwork, for artists. The article quickly evolved into being a whole book. Once I started writing, I could not stop, as there was so much to write about.

Founder

Alexandria Levin is an experienced artist, writer, teacher, designer, and web developer. At Painted Jay Publishing, she is the sole author, designer, producer, and publisher... Everything, but the printer.

Growth

The first two books published by Painted Jay Publishing were completed in 2003, Pricing Your Artwork with Confidence and Creatively Unblocking Creative Blocks. Both volumes have since been updated and revised, and then published as ebooks during the spring of 2014. Creatively Unblocking Creative Blocks was renamed, Drawing Out the Muses. Both revised books are also available in print. In 2018, Songs in Search of a Tune was compiled and published. More books are now in the planning stages.

Recent projects

“Once upon a time, in 1998, I had two small paintings in an exhibition. I was asked to price the pieces low, so that they would sell, and sell they did. But when I received my percentage, it seemed as though I didn’t earn anything at all from this double sale. And so, after 17 years of being an exhibiting artist, I finally did some math to find out what it really cost me to produce any one painting. The unhappy ending? Not only did I not make any profit, but it cost me $500. out of pocket to sell those two paintings.

"We have been told to count the hours spent creating the artwork, and to add up the cost of our materials, at most, but that's not enough. This issue has flummoxed artists, coast to coast, for as long as I can remember. It should be taught in art school, among other business topics.”

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