You're in a gallery, and an artwork catches your eye.

The more you look the more you like it. Your mind moves it from room to room in your home, to just the right spot.

Done. You want it.

What comes next is no surprise to the veteran art buyer, but might be to the novice.

Dread settles into your stomach as you creep toward the wall tag or price sheet.

How much?

You have no idea. It's not a car or TV that would offer an educated guess.

Your painting could cost $75. It could cost $575. It could cost $10,000.

And when the number is revealed, there's not a buyer in the world who doesn't wonder, "How did they come up with that?"

Wonder on. Art pricing is mysterious and, like religion and politics, it's a touchy topic artists aren't thrilled to talk about.

"It's difficult," says Albuquerque painter and sculptor Augustine Romero. "There's an art to surviving as an artist. It's a fluid thing."

For many artists, price is an agonizing decision. Do you keep the art affordable to move it into the marketplace? Do you keep it pricey to establish value? When do you move from low to high? And can you move from high to low?

For buyers, the questions are simpler: Am I paying too much? Will the artwork increase, or at least hold, in value? Can I haggle over the price?

Start low

There are principles behind the pricing of art.

"Many things go into pricing," says veteran Santa Fe multimedia artist Sally Anderson. "Background, education, how long you've been working, how many galleries you're in, the level of those galleries, how many museum shows you've had, how much art you've sold.

"Ultimately, it's the level of your experience and the level of the people you show with that dictates where you might price your work. The higher the level, the bigger the price."

It's generally agreed that new artists should start low - under $500 per piece - because prices can always go up but should never go down.

"Begin at an affordable price so the work is disseminated and slowly finds a market," Anderson says. "Don't let prices eliminate the possibility of people coming in and buying your work."

Joe Forrest Sackett of Albuquerque, new to the fine art world, held prices in the $200-$500 range at a recent show in Albuquerque, and he sold several pieces.

"I've been a collector, and I've always appreciated the artist who can provide quality work at affordable prices," he says. "I wanted my stuff to sell. But I also want to be able to make some money. We'll see how it goes."

Romero strives for affordability because, "I want to get my art out there."

"I feel that if you're an artist who hasn't created a name, it's important to get your work into shows and collections. That's where people see it. Nobody sees work stored in the garage," says Romero, whose work ranges from $250 for smaller pieces to more than $1,000 for large installations.

"As time goes by, you make a body of work. You move around. You can damage pieces you don't sell. You've got to let go of it. The way I do it is, if somebody is interested in my work, I work with them on a fair price."

Suzanne Sbarge, an established artist and executive director and curator at the 516 Arts gallery Downtown, says a new artist should look at others working in the same genre to get a ballpark idea of pricing. She agrees that starting prices should be on the low side and says emerging artists should consider alternative venues such as restaurants and juried shows to get their art before the public.

Santiago Perez, who is represented in galleries nationwide and whose work recently was shown at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, started small a decade ago, showing in restaurants.

"My plan was based on business principles," he says. "I made a lot of small pieces that I sold in restaurants for a few hundred dollars. That led to bigger things."

His pieces now command thousands of dollars.

Albuquerque collage and digital-photo artist Kim Arthun says the emerging artist walks a fine line.

"I tell young artists, `Don't price yourself out of your own market.' But I also say to be honest with yourself. Get what you deserve for a piece. It's not good to undervalue. Be true to yourself."

Building a following

Eventually, the marketplace takes over.

"After you start selling, you can start raising your prices, a little at a time," Sbarge says.

Anderson says it's all about supply and demand.

"If the artwork is selling at a certain price, and the artist has trouble keeping up with demand, a price hike is warranted," she says.

Anderson says it's not a decision taken lightly.

"It has to be based on real reasons within the marketplace, not just because you feel like it," she says.

Price hikes should be linked to solid gains in sales or milestones such as museum shows, says Anderson, whose pieces, depending on size, range from $5,000 to $15,000.

Artists recommend increases of 5 percent to 10 percent a year if work is moving. Slow and steady is best, because there's no going back, they say.

"If buyers have followed you and purchased your work, the last thing you want to do is lower your price," Anderson says.

Size matters

Once an artist gets a foothold in the marketplace, a consistent pricing structure evolves, generally linked to the size of the work.

"Work is priced by the size of the piece, to reflect the greater amount of labor and materials," Anderson says.

For example, all Anderson's paintings that are 4 feet by 2 feet have the same price tag, regardless of the time spent on each or whether she thinks one is better than another. The price per square inch goes up as the artist's experience and sales increase.

"You stick to the structure," Sbarge says.

Arthun says artists can't price by time invested in a piece.

"Art is an intellectual process; a huge amount of time goes into thought," he says. "I'm almost always thinking about art. I probably have 10 great ideas for every one that goes to canvas. You see one piece; what you don't see is me lying in bed at 2 in the morning with my mind racing."

The gallery world

While many buyers are wary of galleries, it's a fact of life that most art sales are handled through them and that most artists want to be represented by one. It's a sign of success.

When an artist is picked up by a gallery, the gallery becomes involved in pricing.

"At that point, you have to have a consistent structure," says Anderson, a longtime owner of galleries in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos. "You can't undercut other galleries that show your work."

If an artist is new to the gallery world, Anderson says, the gallery will decide by looking at the work and at the background of the artist where it fits in pricewise.

"There's a collaborative discussion between the artist and the gallery as to where it should be priced," she says.

The decision to be represented by a gallery will raise the price of an artist's work. Most galleries do a 50-50 split with the artist as a commission.

"It's great to be in a gallery," Sbarge says. "The work will get seen and sold. It seems like a lot to give up 50 percent, but the gallery provides the venue."

Anderson says many buyers think they'll get a better deal if they buy directly from the artist.

"That's not always true," she says. "If an artist is selling her own stuff, she's doing the marketing, the calls, showing the work, dealing with customers - many of the things a gallery does. The price may not be that much lower."

And once represented by a gallery, it's unethical for an artist to undercut the gallery price by privately selling wholesale to a buyer.

"I refer them to the gallery," Sbarge says. "That's the proper thing to do."

It's OK to haggle

Haggling over price is uncomfortable, but it's done.

"Artists have a personal feeling about their work," Anderson says. "People who come in and want to negotiate the price down are in danger of offending the artist. It's a tricky kind of communication. Sometimes it's easier to negotiate with a gallery. It's like making sausage - the artist doesn't know exactly what went on."

Most galleries will give a 10 percent discount with little resistance, a price cut that is split with the artist.

"Right after 9/11, the art market dipped," Anderson says. "People could go in and insist on a discount. That has stayed in place."

The discount can go as high as 15 percent for individuals and 20 percent for designers, dealers, serious collectors and people buying more than one piece.

"Discounts are abhorrent to most galleries and artists but are a necessity of being in the business," Anderson says. "It's part of the game."

A good eye

The bottom line is that art is priced at what the market is willing to pay.

For superstars whose work flies off gallery walls, prices soar. Other artists may not find that kind of market success, but can make a living selling art in the more affordable range.

That gives buyers a range of options. If you have a good eye, you could find a young, emerging artist whose prices are low and likely to go up. You could stumble on an established, respected artist whose prices have not gone through the stratosphere. Or you could go for a hot-seller, pay more and hope for a big jump in value.

Regardless, experts recommend checking into the background of an artist to determine whether sales and experience warrant a particular price.

But even that piece of advice has its detractors.

Says Arthun, "If you buy what you like, you'll never be disappointed."