To organize your artwork, start with one record per piece, kept in one place you trust. Not a spreadsheet on the laptop, photos on the phone and prices in your head. Once every piece has its record, finding, sharing and selling get easy. This guide covers what to record for each artwork, a numbering scheme that lasts, how to sort and share your work, and a routine that keeps it all current.
Why one catalog beats a spreadsheet and a camera roll
Every week, the same questions come in. Is it still available? What size is it? What did it sell for, and to whom? Where is it now: in the studio, at the gallery, at a fair? When the answers are spread over a spreadsheet, a notebook, your camera roll and your memory, each one costs a search, and some get lost.
One catalog gives every piece a single record. You answer a gallery in a minute, send a collector the right selection, and know what you have before an open studio. There's a reason beyond sales, too: a standard description of a work helps recover it if it is ever lost or stolen.
What to record for every artwork
Start from what museums record. Object ID is the international documentation standard for identifying and recording cultural objects. It names nine categories: type of object, materials and techniques, measurements, inscriptions and markings, distinguishing features, title, subject, date or period, and maker. You are the maker, so for your own work that leaves eight:
- The title, and the type of work: painting, print, drawing, photograph
- Materials and techniques: oil on canvas, monotype, giclée print on cotton rag
- Measurements: height, width and depth, with the unit
- The date, even if it's only the year, or "circa"
- The subject, in a few words
- Inscriptions and markings: your signature and where it is, anything written on the back
- Distinguishing features: a deep frame, a torn edge, a repaired corner
Then add what a working artist needs:
- An inventory number (see below)
- The price, and whether it shows publicly
- The status: available, reserved, on loan or sold
- The location: the studio, storage, or the gallery that has it
- The buyer and the date, once it sells
- What it cost to make and how long it took, if you track that
- A private note for the rest: who asked about it, where it was shown
Object ID's procedure has four steps: photograph the object, identify the categories above, write a short description, and keep the documentation in a secure place. That last step is the one a phone's photo gallery skips.
For a deeper guide, the Joan Mitchell Foundation's Career Documentation for the Visual Artist covers creating an artwork inventory. It's free as a PDF, an e-book or an audiobook.
Give every piece a number
Titles repeat. Many artists have more than one "Untitled", and a series can share a name. So give every piece a number that never changes. A simple scheme works best: the year, then a running number, like 2026-014. Add a letter where you need one, such as 2026-014-P3 for the third print of an edition. Write the number on the back of the work and in its record, and never reuse one, even after a piece is sold.
Photograph it once, properly
The photo is how you, a gallery or a buyer recognize the piece, so take it before the work leaves the studio. Shoot it straight on, evenly lit, with the whole work in the frame, then the back with your signature and any labels. One good photo now saves a scramble when someone asks for an image.
Sort it into folders that match how you work
Folders should follow the question you ask most. Some artists sort by series, some by year, some by medium, and anyone who takes commissions often sorts by client. Pick one main order and keep to it; tags and search handle the rest.
Organize your artwork in Canvy
Canvy's Artwork Manager is built for this: one private catalog, whether that's twenty artworks or two thousand.
- Upload: photograph a painting, even at an angle or in its frame, and Canvy's AI finds the artwork and crops it straight. Add a whole batch of photos at once, and check each crop.
- The record: each artwork holds its medium, dimensions, creation date, price and availability, from for sale to sold, plus tags, purchase links and private notes. It also keeps an inventory number, the time spent and the cost.
- A head start: Canvy can suggest a title, description and tags, so you begin with a draft instead of a blank form.
- Folders: by series, year, medium or client, and folders inside folders as the library grows. Select several artworks to move them together, or start a new folder from the selection.
- Search: find any piece by its title.
- Every shape: round and cut-out artworks, not just rectangles.
- Every device: the same library on your computer, iPad, iPhone and Android phone. Add a piece in the studio, and it's there when you open the app at a fair.
The library is private: only you can see it. You choose whether an artwork's price shows, and you can hide its dimensions when you sell prints. Because Room Mockups, your Portfolio Website, collections and QR code labels use the same library, details included, you describe each piece once. Change a title or a price, and your website, collections and QR code pages show it right away.
Share only what you choose
A gallery, a client or a show usually needs part of your work, not all of it. In Canvy, a collection is a hand-picked set of artworks with its own link, at the top of your library. It stays offline until you switch it on, and you can switch it off again at any time. On Pro, you can add a password so only the people you invite can open it. Visitors can contact you by email, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger or Telegram.
Keep it current
A catalog only helps if you trust it. Three habits keep it that way:
- Add each piece when it's finished, with its photo, number and details, before it leaves the studio.
- Change the status the day something sells, ships or goes on loan, and add the buyer.
- Once a season, walk the studio and storage with the catalog open, and fix whatever doesn't match.
A checklist to start this week
The first hour
- Choose your numbering scheme and write it down
- Add your ten most recent pieces, with photos and full details
- Make folders in the order you'll use: series, year, medium or client
The first week
- Add everything that's for sale, then everything on loan or at a gallery
- Record what you know about sold work: buyer, date and price
- Photograph the backs and signatures you missed
Every month
- Update statuses and locations
- Check that every new piece has a number and a photo
Questions artists ask
Isn't a spreadsheet enough?
For a few dozen pieces, it can be. It gets harder when the photos live somewhere else, when you need to share a selection, or when you want the same details on your website.
Who can see my catalog?
Only you. Your library is private, and a collection stays offline until you switch it on.
Can I get my images back out?
Yes. You can download the original image of any artwork at any time.
Is it free?
Canvy Free holds up to 100 artworks, one collection and 10 QR codes, and Plus and Pro hold more; pricing has the details.
If you're choosing other tools for your practice, our earlier roundup of free software tools for artists covers drawing and editing apps.
Want your whole body of work in one place? Start your catalog in Artwork Manager. Canvy is free to start.
