I find artists to watch at random:
... by following a striking image on the front page.
... because they have a very nicely drawn icon (and it turns out they drew it themselves) which was seen while browsing comments on art.
... by following favorites of artists I'm already watching.

and decide to watch if I am interested and impressed by at least half of what I see on the first page of their gallery. If you're on my watch list, and I see you at Califur, I'll probably buy prints from you.

I'll be favoriting art I either own the original of, or would like to own. (I need to go through galleries and find all of them I can that I already own.) So if I've favorited something of yours, it can be taken as an open offer to buy. or if I see it in the art show at Califur, I'd be placing bids.

[I'm not going to other cons for a while, which is why I'm singling out Califur]