Things One Does At the Early Art and Craft Shows

If you are a seasoned art/craft show exhibitor, you know of what I speak in the next few sentences. You get to your show, check out you spaces assigned, figure out how to work around the others also figuring out how to work around you, watch the sky, or listen to the weather scanner, or ask anyone who had access to the tv weather forecast the nite before to see if there are any winds to worry about.

This particular weekend, we also were faced with the first outcroppings of giant Northern Wisconsin Mosquitoes. They were vicious. Sigh.

Well, tents are up, neighbors greeted and we are ready for customers. Where are the customers? Oh! A few stragglers, oh, they are only other exhibitors scoping out their competition, or shopping from their favorite artists. Sigh. Right about now, it would be time for that first cup of java. Hmmmm, thinking about it. But, alas, not to be. I have just been put on a restricted diet, which does not include caffeine of any kind.........Sigh.

Nothing happening yet. Hmmmmmm, I will go and see if "so and so" is here today. I'll be back to check on the sales in a little while. We have a family, you know. A "work" family. Some we see almost every show, some we see a couple of times the season. We can't wait to catch up on what has happened in the months since we last parted.

There are signs you know. Signs of a good show or a bad show. This is where we start reminiscing. (sp?) We share some funny antedotes to keep hope alive. Oh, remember when people were waiting for us to arrive and we couldn't get our tubs out fast enough, and they didn't wait for us to hang our pictures, but began going through them before we got them on the panels? Remember when there were two people wanting the same picture, and waiting for each other to make a decision? Remember when there were lines in the checkout, and some people carried two or three pictures at the same time? Sigh.

 Those signs were from the good old days. The days when the art shows were not infiltrated with "buy and sell" merchandise. When the people who attended them could be sure they were purchasing from the artist who made them. It has corrupted now. Very few of us remain who truly still do our own work.  It is maddening, but times they are a'changing.......soon, I fear, the art/craft roadshow will go the wayside of malls, which were once incredibly popular.....

The other signs we watch for are the food lines, the women's bathroom lines and the bags being carried around of purchases. When you don't have to stand in line for either of the two a fore-mentioned things, it is not a good show. If people are not carrying bags, you are entertainment.  Sigh. 

We talk about all these things, each and every time we are having a slow show. We also talk about "why". Why are there not people? If there are people, why are they not buying? It's the weather, the economy, the advertising, the promoters, of course, never, ever  our product.

Well, this weekend, it was the weather (it was too nice), the economy (people just looking), the fact that there is still school in the lower states for kids--so no vacationers, yet. There were no lines for the women's bathroom. I suspect there was lots of corn on the cob left as I saw no food lines. There was parking available----this is truly a bad sign.Perhaps the worse, is when I saw exhibitors playing scrabble........oh, that's a slow show....

Well, here are my husband's wonderful bird and toadhouses he makes. He did sell some of these this weekend, I was happy about that. They certainly are pretty and different.

We enjoyed seeing our friends again after a long hiatus of winter. Some of the shows are really all about getting to be with certain people, or visiting with them for a short time. Thinking of you Nancy and Joanse, and praying that you will get some healing real soon, and we will get together again, then. Love you both.

Barb's Crazy Quilt Project

 I have made Barb wait almost a half a year for this. I sometimes have to think about it a long time before it comes together, however, I think this frame made this piece really special. The middle crazy quilt is raised from the other background about an inch or so. It gives it depth and motion. Barb gave me a box of things that she collected and said, "Here ya go, do what you think." She left little pinned on notes to some of the fabrics telling me they were from grandma's wedding dress, or her wedding dress, or her daughter's wedding. There were matchbook type things from a Fond du Lac Laundry, that contained little sticks to apply to nylon to stop it from running--I wonder, nylons?....there were the needlebooks, and she gave me three buttons, But a piece this big needs more than three, so I picked out of my vintage stash to add. The little chicken fabric was from her graduation dress. There was one photo, of which I included of her daughter's wedding party along with the lace. I hope to give it to her this weekend. See you next week!!
added this:

New Postmark Art for Spring

 These are the new postmark pieces I made recently. I am excited to take something different to the show this weekend. I will be in Minocqua on Saturday and Sunday, and then I will be in St. Germain on Monday.

Hopefully the weather will be much better this time, as last weekend we got rained out. Rain is never helpful for good sales.
These new pieces include hand drawn illustrations and some calligraphy. They will be about 15 dollars each. Email me if you see something you like. See you after the show.

Flavor for Mixed Media

I think I found my soulmate in art.

Yesterday, I found this new publication at Michael's. I have lots of tutorials, and instruction/recipe type books for collage, but this artist, Mary Beth Shaw actually stole my heart with her musings.
"A feast of Techniques for texture, color and layers" the subtitle says.

Mary Beth talks very much about the similarities of art and food. The introduction page starts:Art and Food  "Two of life's most sensory pleasures and certainly two of my favorite things."

I have told people lately, that if I hadn't discovered art, I probably would be an accomplished cook.  I didn't realize the connection, until I read Mary Beth's descriptions of the similarities, ie, creating art and cooking. Collecting. Gathering. Combining. Tasting. Visual. We often refer to visual stimuli as "eye candy". 

Mary Beth's book turns out to be a series of recipes, both food and mediums for art. She walks you through various projects, introducing you to various artists along the way. I loved her description of using everything in some way, and having a hard time throwing stuff away. It has been driving me crazy. Mary Beth tells of being accused of collecting trash off the street, as she saw it for her next collage.....lol.

Right now, I can barely move around in my studio, because what once went in three rooms is now in one. I have shared as much as I could, and taken some things to resale places, but I still have stacks and stacks of things to collage. My family thinks I am over the top with it, but they don't know that everything has a reason.

Let's hope this summer season warrants collecting it all. I am looking forward to sharing some of my projects and their processes with you. Hope you come back and see me.

Welcome to my New Blog

Yes, its me. I have decided to try Blogger this year. I have been over at Typepad since 2007. I like what I see when I visit blogs from this provider. I don't have a lot of time to post, but I wanted to get set up as soon as I could. I will be back with some exciting adventures, soon.