JoAnne Sharman had just set up her tent with paintings at the Keuka Arts Festival in Penn Yan, New York, when a woman glanced at her diptych, a two-piece painting. Sharman painted coral on it to make people feel as if they are looking down at the sea.

“Let me think about it,” the woman said. “Are you here tomorrow?”

“Don’t let it be the painting you almost bought,” Sharman said. “Be happy, spend the money, and you will always love it.”

And the woman bought that art for her office.

Sharman said she sells her art by overcoming objections, a sales skill she used to teach others when she was a store manager at the Corning Museum of Glass .

It means not taking “no” for an answer too quickly, and being confident in one’s artwork and talking with customers to make them feel comfortable ask

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