Today is Memorial Day so let me say from my heart "thank you" for all the service men and women who have given their lives and those who are now serving. Thanks for using your gift of service for which me and my family have been protected.
This is a day of recuperation for Guiteau and me. We are staying in Decatur an extra day since we don't have to be in Philadelphia until Thursday afternoon. We had planned to stay until Wednesday morning but have changed plans to visit Guiteau's Mom in New Jersey. She has been staying in New Jersey since April and this is a great opportunity to see her and Guiteau's brother Peter. Guiteau's Mom lives in Port au Prince, Haiti but revisits every 6 months to keep her green card active.
To summarize the Decatur Arts Festival, it was a cliffhanger. By that I mean that we really didn't make the sales we had hoped for until the very last couple of hours. Guiteau won third place overall in the juried competition which means he is automatically reinvited for next year's show and he received $100 prize money. We received so many enthusiastic comments about his work that we were sure this was going to be a fabulous show. However, we made only one sale on Saturday and Sunday nothing happened until late in the day. The results ended up very favorably with total sales slightly more than our average. Thanks to God for being right on time.
Today we are going to the art supply store to pick up some paints and pastel pencils that we forgot to bring with us. Our next painting time will be in Buffalo after the Rittenhouse art show. Some of the larger pieces we sold were from Guiteau's new collection of primitives. That was exciting since we think these are a great direction for his work.
It is about 8:30 this morning. Guiteau is still asleep and obviously I am not. He definitely does more physical work taking the booth down and lifting the very heavy artwork. We were grateful we found a willing worker to help us load out from the show. His name is Jeff and he was one of the best hard working young men we have met.
So long for now. Probably won't post until Philadelphia. God bless you all.
Monday, May 28, 2007
Friday, May 25, 2007
Decatur Arts Festival
We arrived in Decatur, Ga last night and were pleasantly surprised to find out we were about a block from the show site. It took us awhile to find the general area of the show as the map is kind of vague. Fortunately I brought a local Decatur map that was more specific.
Our hotel through Priceline was the Holiday Inn full service hotel. Fortunately we found parking in the back of the hotel for our truck. That is always a challenge.
Guiteau is the only exhibitor this weekend so it will be interesting to see how we do. We are out of very large handmade paper because of our great success last weekend. With 5 more shows to do before we get home it is going to be challenging. I can paint (and have) in the hotels but Guiteau's handmade paper collages needed to be done in the studio. After Omaha we will be focused on his work for a few weeks to get ready for Ann Arbor and the 4 other shows.
We are getting ready to walk over to the show site to see if they have marked our space yet. We got a double space so we would be able to hang all around the panels and show more work. That will benefit our neighbors too but that is fine. I hope by the time we get there the spaces will get marked and we can figure out where we will be able to park our truck for setup. These are challenges for each show and we will get it done one way or another.
It is about 11:30 am est so it is time to get moving. After we find our space we will go to the local grocery store and pick up some microwave dinners so our hotel bill doesn't get too high from room service.
Will post in a couple of days..
Our hotel through Priceline was the Holiday Inn full service hotel. Fortunately we found parking in the back of the hotel for our truck. That is always a challenge.
Guiteau is the only exhibitor this weekend so it will be interesting to see how we do. We are out of very large handmade paper because of our great success last weekend. With 5 more shows to do before we get home it is going to be challenging. I can paint (and have) in the hotels but Guiteau's handmade paper collages needed to be done in the studio. After Omaha we will be focused on his work for a few weeks to get ready for Ann Arbor and the 4 other shows.
We are getting ready to walk over to the show site to see if they have marked our space yet. We got a double space so we would be able to hang all around the panels and show more work. That will benefit our neighbors too but that is fine. I hope by the time we get there the spaces will get marked and we can figure out where we will be able to park our truck for setup. These are challenges for each show and we will get it done one way or another.
It is about 11:30 am est so it is time to get moving. After we find our space we will go to the local grocery store and pick up some microwave dinners so our hotel bill doesn't get too high from room service.
Will post in a couple of days..
Monday, May 21, 2007
Broad Ripple Art Fair
Well the show is over and today we are just resting in our hotel. We will stay in Indianapolis until Thursday so I can continue to paint.
Great show for both of us. We had beautiful weather, great crowds and most importantly, great sales. The setup for the show went very smoothly and we were able to park right next to our booth. The same with takedown. Saturday started out with a bang and we both made a very good sale early; however, the rest of the day the interest was given but sales in Guiteau's booth never increased. I made a few more sales and we were satisfied with the end result between the 2 booths. Sunday was slower getting started and although there seemed to be interest in our booths, I was the only one that made a couple of sales in the afternoon. But, after 3:30 Guiteau had 2 fabulous sales. One customer bought a very large dimensional collage for $2000 and another bought 3 good size artwork for $3,300. So in the last hour and a half he surpassed my 2 day sales. I always say you never know how the sales of a show will be until the very last hour. Since our artwork is not an impulse item, it takes awhile for collectors to make the decision to buy. We would love to do the show again next year but the artist survey indicated they were going to Zapplication. That was disappointing but we can't change it. We will keep our fingers crossed.
Next week we will only be doing Guiteau's booth in Decatur, Ga and I will give a report on that show next.
May God keep you safe in your travels, on the highway and bless you richly.
Great show for both of us. We had beautiful weather, great crowds and most importantly, great sales. The setup for the show went very smoothly and we were able to park right next to our booth. The same with takedown. Saturday started out with a bang and we both made a very good sale early; however, the rest of the day the interest was given but sales in Guiteau's booth never increased. I made a few more sales and we were satisfied with the end result between the 2 booths. Sunday was slower getting started and although there seemed to be interest in our booths, I was the only one that made a couple of sales in the afternoon. But, after 3:30 Guiteau had 2 fabulous sales. One customer bought a very large dimensional collage for $2000 and another bought 3 good size artwork for $3,300. So in the last hour and a half he surpassed my 2 day sales. I always say you never know how the sales of a show will be until the very last hour. Since our artwork is not an impulse item, it takes awhile for collectors to make the decision to buy. We would love to do the show again next year but the artist survey indicated they were going to Zapplication. That was disappointing but we can't change it. We will keep our fingers crossed.
Next week we will only be doing Guiteau's booth in Decatur, Ga and I will give a report on that show next.
May God keep you safe in your travels, on the highway and bless you richly.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Painting Today
Yesterday was spent filling out show applications which are now due for the fall and winter season. Time sure goes by fast. We are already getting applications for 2008. We also paid a LOT of credit card bills. Fortunately we had a good OKC show so we can pay most of them off.
Today and tomorrow I will be painting all day. It is almost 3:00 am and I have been painting in the hotel room since about 10:00 am. I began these paintings in Birmingham and will try to get some painted in the next few weeks. These are mostly small originals which I am very low in my inventory. My inventory was involuntarily depleted last weekend after someone grabbed 3 of my original 18x24 matted paintings. I haven't had any paintings stolen in about 5 years so I was in shock.... I forgive them but I hope they get no rest until they regret having taken something that didn't belong to them.
I spend so much time on these small original paintings that I think I should give them up. My husband Guiteau says I should just raise the prices so I won't feel like I am selling them too low for the amount of labor I put into them. Maybe I will when I get to Philadelphia.
Goodnite to anyone reading this and God bless you.
Today and tomorrow I will be painting all day. It is almost 3:00 am and I have been painting in the hotel room since about 10:00 am. I began these paintings in Birmingham and will try to get some painted in the next few weeks. These are mostly small originals which I am very low in my inventory. My inventory was involuntarily depleted last weekend after someone grabbed 3 of my original 18x24 matted paintings. I haven't had any paintings stolen in about 5 years so I was in shock.... I forgive them but I hope they get no rest until they regret having taken something that didn't belong to them.
I spend so much time on these small original paintings that I think I should give them up. My husband Guiteau says I should just raise the prices so I won't feel like I am selling them too low for the amount of labor I put into them. Maybe I will when I get to Philadelphia.
Goodnite to anyone reading this and God bless you.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Indianapolis
Yesterday we arrived in Indiana preparing for the Broad Ripple Art Fair. We have a very nice large hotel room complete with kitchen. This will make it easy to spend time on some new paintings for upcoming shows. The hotel we got on a Hotwire.com special price under $50 per night. Between Priceline.com and Hotwire.com, we have good hotel rates to keep expenses down (to make up for rising diesel prices). Our biggest expenses will be in Philadelphia and Virginia Beach. We consider the Virginia Beach Boardwalk show as part show, part vacation, so the hotel price is considered in that light. Our room overlooks the booth tied to the railings on the beach and allows us to dolly our artwork nearby.
Last weekend was in Birmingham, MI and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The crowds were enjoying the weather and strolling the art show. I can't say it was a great show sales wise. Some artists had an excellent show -- one glass, one 3d mixed media and I am sure the "imported" clay flowers sold very well. Unfortunately the shows don't realize that importers are starting to enter the fine art shows and are getting accepted (even under Zapplications).
This is a big pet peeve of mine, but I don't think I can complain unless I print out the imported websites and mail it to the various show directors. I am not sure how to handle this without causing a major issue. I believe if I can print out the various websites that are selling these items to wholesalers and are not created by the exhibiting artist, then the problem will become theirs to investigate.
I love the Birmingham area and hope the sales will enable us to try once again.
Last weekend was in Birmingham, MI and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The crowds were enjoying the weather and strolling the art show. I can't say it was a great show sales wise. Some artists had an excellent show -- one glass, one 3d mixed media and I am sure the "imported" clay flowers sold very well. Unfortunately the shows don't realize that importers are starting to enter the fine art shows and are getting accepted (even under Zapplications).
This is a big pet peeve of mine, but I don't think I can complain unless I print out the imported websites and mail it to the various show directors. I am not sure how to handle this without causing a major issue. I believe if I can print out the various websites that are selling these items to wholesalers and are not created by the exhibiting artist, then the problem will become theirs to investigate.
I love the Birmingham area and hope the sales will enable us to try once again.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Birmingham Fine Art Fair
This morning started with lots of enthusiasm and sunshine. After a couple of small sales the crowds thinned out and most artists experienced a pretty slow afternoon. A resident of Birmingham indicated the economy in the area and surrounding townships have really experienced a poor economy with problems pending for the large auto makers. However, our experience in the area is that Sunday usually generates in sales from many of those who seemed just to browse on Sunday. My artist husband Guiteau had a couple of larger sales so between us we are getting to our goals. Tomorrow will tell the tale.
I did an interview with a videographer this morning and I was so happy that they were shooting it with my sunglasses on. They may use part of this or my artwork for their public relations attempts to attract conferences to the area. This is without doubt a beautiful area of the country so I don't think they have to sell it too hard. It is breathtaking to see the beautiful trees and local mass floral plantings. I need to take some photos...maybe tomorrow.
I will post next week and let the results be known about how the Birmingham show did.
I did an interview with a videographer this morning and I was so happy that they were shooting it with my sunglasses on. They may use part of this or my artwork for their public relations attempts to attract conferences to the area. This is without doubt a beautiful area of the country so I don't think they have to sell it too hard. It is breathtaking to see the beautiful trees and local mass floral plantings. I need to take some photos...maybe tomorrow.
I will post next week and let the results be known about how the Birmingham show did.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
On the Road again
It has been almost a month since posting even though we have been back on the road since the first weekend of May.
This weekend we will be in Birmingham, MI for a Mother's Day weekend art festival. It looks like we will have beautiful weather this year....we won't talk about last year's weather during this event. Not a pretty picture.
Last weekend we were in the Dallas, Texas area at the Cottonwood Art Festival. We set up early on Thursday night in the middle of rain and mud but it was worth it to not have to dolly our artwork a long distance. The weathermen fortunately were wrong for the prediction of high winds, tornado watches and pretty scary weather. We had a little drizzly rain for a short time on Saturday and beautiful weather on Sunday. We used the boy scouts Troop 1001 for loading out and they were fantastic. This is a very hard show normally for setting up and taking down but we were blessed this year. We were finished before 8pm on Sunday and the boys did all the hard dollying. Also, an extra blessing was great sales.
Next week we will be heading off to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Broad Ripple Art Festival. We will both have booths at this event. It is our first time to exhibit at this show so we are excited. We have done other Indianapolis shows and have gotten a good response.
I will be blogging again next week to I can keep up to date and not have to write about 3 or 4 shows at a time.
Take care, drive safely and may God richly bless you.
This weekend we will be in Birmingham, MI for a Mother's Day weekend art festival. It looks like we will have beautiful weather this year....we won't talk about last year's weather during this event. Not a pretty picture.
Last weekend we were in the Dallas, Texas area at the Cottonwood Art Festival. We set up early on Thursday night in the middle of rain and mud but it was worth it to not have to dolly our artwork a long distance. The weathermen fortunately were wrong for the prediction of high winds, tornado watches and pretty scary weather. We had a little drizzly rain for a short time on Saturday and beautiful weather on Sunday. We used the boy scouts Troop 1001 for loading out and they were fantastic. This is a very hard show normally for setting up and taking down but we were blessed this year. We were finished before 8pm on Sunday and the boys did all the hard dollying. Also, an extra blessing was great sales.
Next week we will be heading off to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Broad Ripple Art Festival. We will both have booths at this event. It is our first time to exhibit at this show so we are excited. We have done other Indianapolis shows and have gotten a good response.
I will be blogging again next week to I can keep up to date and not have to write about 3 or 4 shows at a time.
Take care, drive safely and may God richly bless you.
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