What I Know Now About Art Festivals

This past weekend I was in an art festival, The Queeny Art Fair.  It's run twice each year by the local art organization, Greater St. Louis Artists Association.  I'm a juried member.  This was my fifth art fair and I'm learning a lot.  This time I was able to borrow a professional booth from my artist friend Jean McMullen. Thanks, Jean!

I think this made a huge difference in presenting my work to the public.  I did learn, however, to make better tags next time.  I printed short blurbs about each piece (with the price) and taped it to the panel.  The tape didn't stick very well, so I spent a lot of time putting them back up.  Next time I'll attach the tags with velcro (duh).  I loved this set up and wouldn't change a thing.

Talking to clients - I'm learning about that, too.  I feel much more comfortable selling myself and my work, now.  However, there were a few times I think I could have closed the deal, but I let the client walk away.

Talking to the juror - The juror was very nice and professional.  She only spent a few moments in my booth and asked me to describe my work (in a sentence or two).  Next time I'll have my "elevator speech" ready!  I don't think I did a terrible job but I can do much better and it may make the difference in winning an award (I didn't).

I'm looking forward to the next art festival!  What have you learned?

What Are Your Favorite Things From 2011?

 I want to wish all of my blog readers a happy holiday season!  Thanks for your support this past year.  I've been thinking about what I loved about 2011.  So much happened to me this year.  My art career jumped to the next level - I entered art shows, sold paintings, juried into two art organizations, joined an art gallery.  I worked really hard to raise the bar.  My bar.  Anyway, there are other things I just loved about this past year.  For my 60th birthday, my kids surprised me with a present.  We don't give one another presents, so this was a huge surprise.  I got an Ipad.  Wow, do I love it!  I lug it around the house, surf stupid sites constantly, check my  Etsy shop way too many times.  Last night I crawled into bed and watched a terrible movie on Netflix.  It's great!  I put a ton of apps on it that I don't really use, like Kindle.  I haven't downloaded any books, but I do like to browse through them to see what's new.  I read the book blurbs and reviews.  Which leads me to tell you about a book I loved this past year by Stephanie Kallos, Broken For You.  What a fantastic story, kind of quirky, lots of levels and metaphors.  It was a juicy book for our book club.  We talked for an hour about the main character, an older woman who lives in a mansion in Seattle.  She has a huge collection of porcelain and meets a younger woman who ends up living in her mansion.  Both women are guarding dark secrets and look for redemption.  Sounds way too serious, but it's also funny and sweet.  Talking about sweet, I love looking at Foodgawker on my Ipad.  I'm addicted!  People post their gorgeous food photos, mostly from food blogs.  I had no idea there's a whole world out there of food blogs!  I'm not a real foodie, but these photos and blogs are amazing.  Well, there you have it, some of my favorite things from 2011.  I'm looking forward to writing more blog posts, creating more art and getting to know more of you.