Behind the Scenes: The Business of Being an Artist

There is so much more to being a professional artist than making the art itself. One important part of my business—and something I do on a regular, cyclical basis—is having my finished paintings professionally documented.

For the past five years, I’ve worked with Gabriola Island photographer Stephanie Artuso, who specializes in art documentation and visual storytelling for artists and small businesses.

Stephanie recently returned to my studio to photograph six months’ worth of new work from my series Where We Meet. We scheduled the session following the inaugural exhibition of the series with sculptor Ocean Mussack.

Stephanie creates exceptionally detailed, high-resolution TIFF and JPEG files of my paintings. These professional images allow me to accurately represent the colour, texture and detail of each piece when sharing my work with art advisors, galleries, dealers, licensors and collectors.

Now that the paintings have been photographed, I can move into the next stage: organizing the files, updating my archives and portfolio, and sharing the work with the various art advisors, galleries and licensors I partner with.

It’s all part of the journey of being a professional artist—and I love these different aspects of the business, especially when they involve collaborating with wonderful people.

Stephanie is an artist and photographer whose work is shaped by observation, sentiment and a deep curiosity about the people and stories she documents. She has contributed photography to FOLKLIFE Magazine since 2020, helping shape the publication’s warm and human visual storytelling. Her work spans art documentation, artist and small-business branding, portraiture, families and weddings.

Beyond the exceptional quality of her photography, Stephanie is simply a fantastic collaborator and a pleasure to have in my studio. I couldn’t recommend her highly enough.

Connect with Stephanie

Website: sartuso.com
Instagram: @s_artuso
Email: sartusophotography@gmail.com