An artist's feed is the one account where the pictures are already good and it still doesn't sell. You are not losing people because the work is weak. You are losing them because a photograph of a painting, posted alone, answers none of the four questions a buyer has: how big is it, what does it cost, is it still available, and how do I get it on my wall.
Carousels fix that without turning the feed into a shop. Slide one is the image, and slides two to six are the size, the process, the price logic, and the way to buy. The work still leads. The information follows it instead of being crammed into a caption nobody reads past line two.
The ideas below are built around what actually happens in a working practice: pricing formulas, gallery commission, commission deposits, edition sizes, open call rejections, and the six-month wait before an oil can be varnished. Each gives you the first slide, the sequence, and a caption starter.
What actually performs for artists
Putting the price and the dimensions in the carousel, not just the caption. A collector will not DM to ask a question you could have answered on slide three, and most of them never do.
Process posts that include the stage where the painting was bad. The ugly week is the proof that a person made it, and it is the single most reposted thing on an artist's account.
Work in situ on a collector's wall. Scale is the thing photographs destroy, and a painting above a real sofa communicates size faster than any measurement.
Explaining money openly — gallery commission, materials, why direct doesn't mean cheaper. Buyers who understand the price stop negotiating and start choosing.
Naming the medium, surface, and subject in the first slide. "Oil on linen, west coast, February light" reaches people searching those words in a way that "new work" never will.
29 Instagram post ideas for artists
Every idea below includes the first slide, the full slide sequence, and a caption starter. Swipe each preview to read the slides.
1.The pricing formula, shown
Educational
First slide
“How a $1,200 painting gets to $1,200”
1/6
How a $1,200 painting gets to $1,200
Swipe →
2/6
Size: 40 by 30 inches. That's the starting number.
3/6
My rate is $1 per square inch. 1,200 exactly.
4/6
Materials alone are about $140. Linen, lead primer, professional oils.
5/6
A gallery takes 40 to 50% of whatever's left.
6/6
It isn't a feeling. It's arithmetic, and it's the same for everyone.
Caption starter
The question I get most and the one artists are strangest about answering. Here's the actual formula. If you want the number for a specific size, send me the dimensions and I'll work it out.
Why it works: Publishing the method behind the price removes the suspicion that art pricing is arbitrary, which is what stops most first-time buyers.
That pays for the wall, the lighting, the mailing list, the openings.
4/6
If I undercut them, they stop showing me. Fairly.
5/6
So the price is fixed. Studio, gallery, fair, website.
6/6
What you get direct is a conversation, not a deal.
Caption starter
Every artist gets the "what's your best price if I come to the studio" message. The honest answer is that there isn't one, and here's why that's a good sign rather than a bad one.
Why it works: It heads off the discount conversation before it starts and signals that the artist has a functioning gallery relationship.
“Every painting looks like this for the first week”
1/6
Every painting looks like this for the first week
Swipe →
2/6
Raw umber wash, no color, everything brown and ugly.
3/6
The drawing gets fixed at this stage or never.
4/6
Day four: first color in. Still nothing anyone would buy.
5/6
Day nine: it finally looks like the thing in my head.
6/6
The finished piece is the last tenth of the work.
Caption starter
Nobody posts the underpainting because it looks like a mistake. It's actually the week that decides whether the painting works at all. Swipe to the end for where this one got to.
Why it works: Showing the unglamorous stage makes the finished work read as made rather than manufactured, which is what a collector is paying for.
“From first message to hanging: how a commission runs”
1/6
From first message to hanging: how a commission runs
Swipe →
2/6
A call first. Size, room, light, budget, deadline. Twenty minutes.
3/6
A 50% deposit books the slot on the studio calendar.
4/6
You approve a sketch. Last chance to change direction.
5/6
Two progress photos, then silence until it's finished.
6/6
Balance on approval, then framed, crated and delivered.
Caption starter
People don't commission because they don't know what they're agreeing to. This is the whole process, including the point where you can still say no. Message me if you've got a wall and a date.
Why it works: Commission inquiries stall on uncertainty, so publishing the process converts the people who have been circling for months.
“Yes, I take commissions. Here's what I won't paint.”
1/6
Yes, I take commissions. Here's what I won't paint.
Swipe →
2/6
Not a copy of another living artist's work. Ever.
3/6
Not a rush job. Oils need drying weeks nobody can skip.
4/6
Not something outside what I actually do well.
5/6
Portraits from a blurry phone photo rarely end well.
6/6
Everything else: send me the wall and the room.
Caption starter
Saying no to the wrong commission is how the right ones stay good. These are the four I turn down. If yours isn't on the list, tell me the size you're working with.
Why it works: Stating limits publicly filters the inquiries that waste studio time and makes the artist read as a professional rather than a service.
A print is a reproduction. It carries no provenance.
3/6
Collectors buy originals for the surface, the edges, the hand.
4/6
Print buyers were never original buyers. Different budget, different want.
5/6
What does devalue work: fake limited editions.
6/6
If it's numbered, the file should be retired at the last number.
Caption starter
This gets repeated in every artist forum and it's been wrong the whole time. Prints reach the people who can't spend four figures yet. Some of them can in ten years.
Why it works: It gives the artist permission to sell prints without guilt while positioning the originals as a genuinely separate class of object.
“Three things that quietly ruin paintings in houses”
1/6
Three things that quietly ruin paintings in houses
Swipe →
2/6
Direct sun. Six months of it will shift the reds.
3/6
Above a radiator or a working fireplace. Heat cracks everything.
4/6
Bathrooms and kitchens. The humidity swing does the rest.
5/6
Dust it with a dry sable brush. Never a cloth, never a spray.
6/6
Hang it where you'd be comfortable sitting all day.
Caption starter
If you own any original work, this is the whole maintenance list. It takes about a minute a year. Tell me where yours is hanging and I'll tell you if it's fine.
Why it works: Care advice reaches people who already own art, which is exactly the audience most likely to buy again.
Week one: composition working, color completely dead.
3/6
Week two: scraped back the whole left half.
4/6
Week three: the color was the problem, not the drawing.
5/6
Week four: repainted warm, and it finally sat down.
6/6
Every finished painting has a week two nobody sees.
Caption starter
Four stages of the same canvas, same light, four weeks apart. The version I nearly threw out is slide three. It's now the one people ask about most.
Why it works: A before-and-after that includes a genuine failure is far more credible than a clean progression and invites comments rather than compliments.
“What you're actually buying when you buy a print”
1/6
What you're actually buying when you buy a print
Swipe →
2/6
Giclée: pigment ink on 300gsm cotton rag. Decades of lightfastness.
3/6
Print-on-demand: dye ink on wood pulp. Fades in a sunroom.
4/6
Limited edition means the file is retired at the last number.
5/6
Signed and numbered in pencil, edition size included.
6/6
Ask any seller which of those two they're selling you.
Caption starter
There's an enormous difference between two things both called a print, and the listing rarely tells you which one you're getting. Ask about the paper and the ink before you buy anything.
Why it works: Educating buyers on print quality raises the perceived value of properly made editions, including the artist's own.
“Packing a $2,000 painting takes longer than you'd think”
1/6
Packing a $2,000 painting takes longer than you'd think
Swipe →
2/6
Glassine over the surface. Never bubble wrap against paint.
3/6
Corner protectors, then foam board front and back.
4/6
Double-walled box, two inches of clearance on every side.
5/6
Insured, tracked, signed for. No exceptions on originals.
6/6
Ninety minutes you never see, and shouldn't have to.
Caption starter
The bit between "sold" and "arrived" that nobody thinks about. If you're buying original work from anyone, ask how they pack and whether it's insured in transit.
Why it works: Buying art online carries a fear of damage, and showing the packing process removes it more effectively than any reassurance in a caption.
“Original art starts cheaper than most people think”
1/6
Original art starts cheaper than most people think
Swipe →
2/6
Small studies on paper: $80 to $150 here.
3/6
A drawing is an original. So is a monotype.
4/6
Framing an $80 study properly costs about the same again.
5/6
Payment over three months, at no extra cost, above $400.
6/6
Ask me what sits under your number. There's usually something.
Caption starter
"I could never afford original art" is the most common thing said to me at shows, usually by someone standing next to a $95 drawing. Tell me your budget and I'll tell you honestly what's in it.
Why it works: It converts the large group of followers who admire the work but have silently ruled themselves out of buying.
“Fifty prints. Three sizes. Live Thursday at 7pm.”
1/6
Fifty prints. Three sizes. Live Thursday at 7pm.
Swipe →
2/6
12x16 at $45, 18x24 at $75, 24x36 at $120. Unframed.
3/6
Hahnemühle rag, pigment ink, signed and numbered in pencil.
4/6
Edition of fifty across all sizes, then the file is retired.
5/6
US shipping included. Rolled in a tube, never folded.
6/6
Waitlist opens a day early. Comment to be added.
Caption starter
New edition on Thursday evening. Three sizes, fifty in total, and once they're gone the file goes in a drawer. Comment below and I'll add you to the early list.
Why it works: A named date, a fixed edition and three price points give a promotional post the scarcity and clarity that open-ended shop links lack.
“The commission cut-off for December is October 5”
1/6
The commission cut-off for December is October 5
Swipe →
2/6
Oils need three weeks to dry before they can travel.
3/6
Framing takes two weeks at this time of year. Always.
4/6
Then shipping, which nobody should trust in December.
5/6
After October 5 I can still do works on paper.
6/6
Two commission slots left before the date closes.
Caption starter
Every year someone messages in late November wanting an oil painting by Christmas, and every year I have to explain drying time. Here's the deadline, well in advance this time.
Why it works: A hard deadline creates urgency using a real physical constraint rather than a manufactured sale, so it doesn't cheapen the work.
“Six to ten weeks, and here's where the time goes”
1/6
Six to ten weeks, and here's where the time goes
Swipe →
2/6
Week one: reference, sketches, your approval.
3/6
Weeks two to five: painting in layers, with drying between.
4/6
Weeks six to eight: it hangs here while I look at it.
5/6
The looking week isn't padding. It's where mistakes get caught.
6/6
Framing and delivery add two weeks. Plan for ten.
Caption starter
Timelines are the second question every time, so here's the honest breakdown including the week where it looks like nothing is happening. Message me if you've got a date to work back from.
Why it works: Breaking a long lead time into visible stages makes it feel considered rather than slow, which prevents the inquiry going elsewhere.
Selection is a room of people with a theme in mind.
6/6
It isn't a verdict on the work. Took me years to learn.
Caption starter
The part of an art career that never appears on a feed. Eleven applications, nine noes, and the two yeses that made the year. Posting it in case another artist needed to see the ratio.
Why it works: Honest career arithmetic earns saves and shares from the peer audience that recommends artists to galleries and curators.
“Why your new oil painting can't be varnished yet”
1/6
Why your new oil painting can't be varnished yet
Swipe →
2/6
Oil doesn't dry. It oxidizes, from the surface down.
3/6
Touch dry in a week. Cured in six to twelve months.
4/6
Varnish early and you seal solvent in. It will bloom.
5/6
I varnish at six months, free, if you ship it back.
6/6
Or I'll send the varnish and written instructions.
Caption starter
If you bought an oil from me this year, this is your reminder. Six months from the delivery date, send it back or I'll send you the varnish. Either way it's covered.
Why it works: An aftercare promise gives the artist a legitimate reason to contact past buyers again, six months after the sale.
Working title has been "the green one" for five weeks.
3/6
Titles matter. They follow a painting for its whole life.
4/6
It's 36 by 28 inches, painted from a January morning.
5/6
Best suggestion gets used, credited, and a print of it.
6/6
Comments open. Be less literal than I've been.
Caption starter
Genuinely stuck. Thirty-six by twenty-eight, oil on linen, painted from one morning in January. Put your title in the comments and the one I use gets a signed print.
Why it works: Asking for something the artist actually needs produces real comments rather than emoji, and every commenter sees the work twice.
Four of those buyers had followed here for over a year.
4/6
None of them had met me before that evening.
5/6
Instagram didn't sell the paintings. It warmed the room.
6/6
Three are still available. Ask me which.
Caption starter
Thank you to everyone who came on Thursday. Eleven sold, three left, and a genuine lesson about how much of this happens here before it happens in a gallery.
Why it works: Sales evidence with a specific count creates social proof and quietly tells the remaining audience the work is competitive.
The studio is open by appointment, Thursdays and Fridays.
3/6
No obligation, no pitch, no minimum spend.
4/6
Scale is the thing photographs always get wrong.
5/6
Bring your wall dimensions and a photo of the room.
6/6
Message me a Thursday and I'll put the kettle on.
Caption starter
People assume a studio visit is a commitment, and it isn't. Come and look, ask what things cost, then leave. Message me a Thursday or Friday that works.
Why it works: Removing the implied obligation of a studio visit converts followers who want to buy but fear the pressure of a private appointment.
I need about $4,000 through the stand to break even.
5/6
Which is why prices don't drop on the last afternoon.
6/6
Stand 42, Thursday to Sunday. Come and say hello.
Caption starter
Posting the numbers because the last-day haggling is relentless and nobody knows what a stand costs. Stand 42 all weekend if you want to see the new work in person.
Why it works: Transparent cost breakdowns pre-empt price negotiation at the fair and double as a location announcement.
I take twelve a year. More than that and the work suffers.
3/6
Six are finished, two are booked for fall.
4/6
Sizes from 20 by 16 up to 60 by 48.
5/6
A deposit holds the slot. The conversation can start now.
6/6
DM me your wall size and I'll say what fits.
Caption starter
Four left before the calendar closes for the year. If you've been thinking about it since spring, send me the dimensions of the wall and we can talk about what works.
Why it works: A capped annual number makes scarcity credible and frames the artist's time as the limited resource rather than the object.
Never trim it. The deckle edge is part of the object.
3/6
Float mount on acid-free board, hinged with Japanese tissue.
4/6
No tape touching the paper. Ever. It yellows through.
5/6
UV glazing if it faces daylight at any point.
6/6
Budget roughly the price of the print for the frame.
Caption starter
A $200 print in a $15 frame will be brown at the edges in a decade. This is what to ask your framer for. Send me a photo if you want a second opinion before you commit.
Why it works: Framing advice protects the work's long-term condition and positions the artist as an adviser rather than only a seller.
“Every original leaves here with a piece of paper”
1/6
Every original leaves here with a piece of paper
Swipe →
2/6
Title, year, medium, exact dimensions, signed by me.
3/6
A photograph of the work and its catalog number.
4/6
I keep the duplicate. Numbered, dated, permanent.
5/6
Provenance is what makes a resale possible in twenty years.
6/6
Ask for one from anyone selling you an original.
Caption starter
Provenance sounds like something only auction houses worry about. It matters at every price. If you own something of mine without paperwork, message me and I'll issue it.
Why it works: Documentation signals that the artist treats the work as an asset, which reassures buyers spending four figures for the first time.
“One collector has bought seven paintings since 2019”
1/6
One collector has bought seven paintings since 2019
Swipe →
2/6
The first was a $120 study on paper.
3/6
The seventh is the largest canvas I've made.
4/6
They have never once asked for a discount.
5/6
They ask what I'm working on before it's finished.
6/6
That's what a collecting relationship actually looks like.
Caption starter
Most people who own a lot of my work started with something small. That's not a sales technique, it's just how it goes. Start where you're comfortable.
Why it works: Showing the path from a small first purchase to a major one gives new buyers a low-risk entry point and a picture of the long game.
Three posts a week works: one finished piece with dimensions and price, one process or studio post, and one educational or promotional carousel. Photograph work in daylight in one session and batch the writing the same afternoon.
Hashtags for artists
Mix these with location tags for your own area. Put them in the first comment so the caption stays readable.