Years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that her family, who are all artists, have family studio rules.  I thought this was a good idea to implement for myself. Here are my basic rules. Let me know what additional rules you may have below. 

1. No work is started without a signed contract.  Even if they are a friend, and I know them well. 

2. 50% deposit is required at beginning of work, even if they are a friend and I know them.

3. Contract states exactly what is expected, and any big changes create a change order (and additional money).

4. Anyone who wastes my time with phantom shows/events that fall through at the last minute does not get a second chance.

5. All work left anywhere has at minimum a consignment sheet, with agreed to price and sales fees stated, signed by the owner before the artwork is left. 

6. Any work left on consignment is NOT an original piece of work. It is always a giclee or a print. 

7. All consigned work must be easily driven to at least once a month.

   The reason for the last two: I had a business fold on me when I was recovering from a car accident, and I never received ORIGINAL paintings back from them – one of them ended up in a thrift store and someone bought it and gave it back to me. But one of my best pieces – never returned to me and is lost.

   The woman who owned the business was incredibly sweet, had a lot of integrity, and prior to my accident I was there doing sidewalk shows a couple times a year. I have no idea what happened, but my original art was lost to me.  I had another business during that time – farther away –  also fold. But they had at least stacked my art up for me in a warehouse I was able to pick up. However, the state of my art when I got it back was NOT good. And they argued a lot about paying me for what was missing. However – I had my documentation which they had signed, and they did eventually write me a check for the missing pieces.

   These two experiences are why I will now only consign prints, and only do so in locations that are easily accessible to me that I can check on regularly.

   Any time I bump into a new situation that I don’t want to have repeat – I add it to my studio rules. (And honestly I now do this for the home as well. For example my husband and I have a rule when traveling – if either of us has an intuitive hit that something is not right about where we are staying – we leave. No questions – the rule is “Always pay attention to and honor your intuition.”)