February | 2022 | Skyrme Gallery

I used to sign and date my paintings and keep a photographic record of the image but, other than such a simple action, I kept no other details. My first sale, an oil painting, was decades ago but I never felt the need to keep formal records until 2019.

I had an Etsy store that I maintained until the end of 2019 but closed it down as a result of moving to Brazil at the start of the pandemic – exporting items from Brazil has attendant bureaucracy so I now have a separate Etsy store aimed only at the Brazilian market.

In support of the Etsy store I used to record items using SKUs. It then occurred to me that I should apply such a record to keep track of my paintings. I began this October 2019.

What is an SKU

A Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) is merely a record-keeping system that can be applied to any inventory eg household goods, car fleets etc. I have two: one for non-painting items sold on Etsy and the second for my paintings and fine-art photographs.

I keep the record digitally using One Note (free software from Microsoft) as I use One Note for other uses, including my agenda, on a daily basis. I can also access or update One Note from any device and even while travelling.

The key elements of my register are:

SKU reference number *
Title of the artwork
Date of completion

* My SKU format is ASG-00001, where ASG refers to my painting / photography (Alan Skyrme Gallery) and the number run from 1 to (theoretically!) 99,999.

In addition I also record a series of details that buyers may like to have:

Medium
Support
Size

Finally I keep information that I like to track

Sale price
Reference number of the photograph of the artwork
Support pictures
If prints are available (I have a few paintings that are for sale as prints, or only as prints)
Sales channel ie Etsy, Saatchi or direct / commisioned
Social media posting
Status (sold, reserved etc)

Regarding One Note

I am not sponsored by anyone, but just love this software. I used it years ago when I ran a consulting unit with small teams around the world dealing with operations in dozens of countries. it was possible to have several team members work on a report concurrently. Ideal.

Since then I have used it for my own personal projects, maintaining a diary, keeping notes, tracking my paintings and other items for sale, household inventory, planning trips etc

I have run courses on using One Note so if anyone has a question about the software I should be able to answer it.

Wrinkled Hornbill *(Rhabdotorrhinus corrugatus)*

A busy month that has flown by.

My register of completed work indicates that I produced 48 paintings during the month, though that level of productivity is due mainly to a focus of lots of small bird head portraits. I tend not to worry about the number of paintings I produce, my main objective is to enjoy the art.

Two of my paintings in January were of birds created in acrylics using a palette knife on 30 cm x 40 cm canvas, the others were painted in watercolour, though 6 of these incorporated the use of Indian ink.

All but 8 of the 46 watercolours were, like the Hornbill above, approximately A6 in size (15 cm x 10.5 cm or 15 cm x 12 cm). As ever, the majority of subjects were birds or bird heads though I did a few landscapes and florals.