My Painting Database

How I keep track of my paintings

Screenshot of my database (LibreOffice Base)

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A professional painter—or even a hobbyist, who wants to keep track of things—needs a computerized system to record paintings and sales. Sure, you can keep a paper ledger for all of that, but a digital version makes it much easier at year-end to prepare taxes and reports and to create mailings. Although there are several systems you can purchase, I’ve been using a simple database and spreadsheet for many years.

Although I once used Microsoft Office’s Access and Excel, these days I find it more economical to use LibreOffice, which is free. (I’m glad I’ve moved away from Microsoft Office, but I stand on false moral high ground; rather like a meat-eater who has turned vegetarian with the mistaken idea that it is better for the environment. Windows is still my operating system.) Of the different LibreOffice modules, I use only two for record-keeping, Base and Calc.