“Selfish interest” or how to properly evaluate your paintings?

There are several ways to rate your painting:

1. Put the amount that is needed to buy something / pay for something. This option should be dismissed immediately, because the artistic value of the picture you created cannot depend on the price of the handbag you like or on the cost of paying for a semester of study, for example, in Oxford.
2. Set the price too low. A common mistake novice artists is modesty. Thoughts “Well, I’m still unknown, how can I put a high price?…” will not lead to anything good. Yes, the world is not without good people, but let’s look at things realistically: hardly any collector will write to you and persuade you to sell your painting to him for more than the price you indicated.
3. The third option, in my opinion, is the most correct and fair. Accordingly, I adhere to this principle when “pricing” my paintings. I believe that it is worth evaluating the created picture, based on how much mental strength (I’m not even talking about technical execution now) you invested in writing it. I think every artist will understand me, because a painting is not just strokes of brush or markers, not just movements of mouse on a computer screen. A picture is, first of all, an idea that is born somewhere in the depths of the artist’s heart. He bears this idea, sometimes not for one day, and sometimes for more than one month. And only then, with careful steps, afraid to frighten off inspiration, he begins to embody the planned image. That is why you can’t look at the prices of competitors (this is generally a harmful practice, because every artist, like every painting, is unique), but you just need to remember the whole process of creating your masterpiece and do not be shy to put its real value. And always remember: the impulses of your soul are priceless!