Something to Think About...

Far too often I hear friends who are fellow artists tell me how people try to haggle with them over the price of their artwork. I can not stress how annoyed this makes me! (Them too!!) When you are buying a piece of art, most of the time, you are buying a hand made, one of a kind piece. Sure, prints, replicas, posters, etc. can be made, but you are the only person in the world who will ever own the original copy. Furthermore, you are not just buying the piece, you are buying the supplies needed and time spent to create it. It wasn't made on a machine, or printed off a computer. Someone sat down & spent hours, days, months, maybe even years working on it. Do you not think their time is worth something? If you are a fellow artist and you've experienced this then you probably know what I am talking about. If you are not, then I ask you this, would you walk into Wal-Mart or Target, go up to the cashier and try to bargain with them over the price of something? Would you go to the drive through at McDonald's and say "I want a cheeseburger, fries and a Coke, but I feel I should only have to pay $2 for it!" Probably not. So then why do people think it's OK to do this to artists (or anyone who offers their services for that matter)?