how to assemble an art booth.

Today I set up my art display to take a new booth shot to apply for an upcoming art fair.  Since it was only my second time setting up the Craft Hut canopy I bought earlier this year, it was a little hard remembering how it all went together.  I found these instructions on Craft Hut's website, but because a couple things are different about my canopy, part of the instructions were a little confusing.  But we figured it out. :)  (Also, I just found these instructions online and they're even better than the ones I found before.) 

I thought I'd take photos of the process just for fun and also for future reference. 

Boxes of my paintings, waiting to go out into the booth.

The kids & I had assembled the canopy last night (no pics of that part) in our back yard, and this is how it looked at 6:00 this morning when I went out to finish getting it ready for the photo.

Close up of the center support bar, with the adjusting screw things.  Took me a while to remember that those adjusted the width of the center bar.

With the side walls zipped on at the top.

Inside shot before zipping the sides together.

All zipped together with the legs extended.

Note to self: this is how high to go on the legs. :)

A photo showing how the support poles go.

With my Propanels propped up and ready to attach to each other.

Ready for my paintings.

The reason I was up at 6:00 this morning putting my display together is that I had a fellow artist coming over at 7:45 with her Canon to photograph my new booth shot.  It was just the best time to get it done with both our schedules.

The following photos are from her camera as she was adjusting settings.  I'm sure you'll notice the difference in quality...

And here's my new booth shot.  :)

This whole process is making me really look forward to being in some art fairs soon.  Yay! :)

progress of a painting.

I thought it might be fun to post the progression of a painting from start to finish.  Here's my latest piece, inspired by our recent trip to our place on the shore of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan.

It's been a long time since I've updated my website with my most recent paintings.  Look for more updates soon...

Amelia :)

overkill perhaps?

I started this little painting on Tuesday, and as I went through the house yesterday morning it struck me how tiny it looked on my easel.

So tiny!

 

I was having the hardest time getting the mug to look right, it was frustrating me so much.  Then I remembered something I'd read online a week or so ago from another artist.  This person said that sometimes when they're working on a painting, if they turn it and the reference photo upside down, that somehow it makes them see the shapes in the image, rather than what they *think* they are seeing.  

It was amazing how the mug improved once I did that.  Much better.  :)

"love the moment" 6" x 6" original arylic. $54

studio tour.

Today, I thought I'd take you on a virtual tour of my studio space.  

Well... truth be told, this is actually a tour of the downstairs of our home, since that's where I do my work.  Our family spends a lot of time in this space, since I homeschool our kids and do a lot of cooking (and obviously painting) here.  And, at the moment, I'm sitting on the sofa on the left, typing on the laptop which you can just barely see in the corner over there in the photo below.

I really like seeing photos of other artists' studios, and sometimes it's fun to dream about having a whole room dedicated to studio space.  But then I think that having a separate studio wouldn't work with the way life looks for us, with four kids still at home, doing school and life here together.  

So... this works perfectly for us, and I am thankful for a family who doesn't mind my art overtaking our life and home.  And a husband who is my biggest fan ever.  :)

Here is our living room/dining area.  It has become quite the gallery lately.  Oh yes, and let's not forget our faithful pooch, Zoe.  She follows me everywhere.

Our piano, otherwise known as the holder of small completed works and canvases waiting to be used.

And here, we actually move into the area we could call my studio.  The kitchen.  Which most of the time has an easel with a painting in various stages of progress on it.

And here are my palettes on the kitchen island.  I am very thankful for that island, both for its intended purpose of food preparation and for its handy location, where it serves as my table while I paint.

Here's a closer shot of two recently completed paintings, waiting to have wire put on the backs for hanging.

Thanks for joining me on this tour of our space.  I hope you enjoyed it! :)

working.

It's been a while since I popped in here... hello! :)

These past few months since my art fair, I've been doing school with the kids, painting, doing lots of reading on marketing my art, and making a few contacts here & there in regard to displaying my art.  It's the off season for art fairs here in the Phoenix area, which is a good time to create more work.  The kids & I will finish up our homeschool year in a few weeks, and I look forward to more hours in the day to devote to painting during summer break.

I have some new paintings to show for my work lately.  If you click on the "acrylic paintings" tab over there to the right, you can see them.  The newest pieces are at the top.

In the meantime, since the kids & I do our week's school work in four days, Friday is my painting day.  So, back to the studio (aka: the kitchen) and my easel I go....

my first art fair, in retrospect.

Three weeks ago today was the start of my first juried art fair, the Surprise Fine Art & Wine Festival, put on by Thunderbird Artists.

The back of the Suburban, all loaded up, right before we went & set up at the art fair.

My son Jesse, in the space behind my booth, helping attach the tent weight.

First day shot of my booth, with my son Joshua sitting in the chair reading a book just outside my booth.

First off, I sold one painting.  A smallish one, making back 1/4 of my booth fee, so overall we ended up losing money.  But.  Artists I'd talked to at a different art fair before mine said not to let the first art fair discourage me, that I'd have to keep at it for a while before I'd really have a good feel for it.  So, I am taking that to heart as I look back on it all. :) 

And this art fair was a new one, not known to art collectors yet.  And this part of the Valley isn't known for art yet as much as other parts are, and a lot of the other artists who've been doing art fairs for a long time didn't sell much, either.  So, it wasn't just me.

A second day shot, after some rearranging of art & my set-up.

The third day was rather cloudy, with off & on rain.  Pretty slow.

A look down our row on the third day of the art fair.

It was still a good learning experience.   I talked a lot with my artist neighbors, many of whom have been at this for a long time.  It was helpful to sort of pick their brains a bit and get ideas on what other art fairs to try for next.  I also learned things like when you set up on grass, condensation happens during the night, but that if you put a tarp on the ground overnight, it keeps the condensation from happening.  Another artist told me this after he saw me taking my art down each evening and setting back up in the morning. 
After the first night, one of my paintings had drips of water on it that had come down from the roof of my canopy. (yikes!)

Two of the booths across from me.

The third day was pretty chilly, so I was thankful I had brought along my jeans. :)

In trying to sum the weekend up, I think perhaps copying my Facebook status update from that first night works best...

Just got home from my first day at my first juried art fair. Learned a lot of things. A south-facing booth is not the nicest for the artist, since you have to look into the sun all day long (but then again, people don't have to squint to look into your booth). Oh, and sunblock is a good idea... I have a really nice red farmers "tan" on my arms. Heard a lot of "I have a granddaughter named Amelia", "nice, beautiful, good, etc. work", "oh, do you have horses?", "oh, the loaves & fishes". And the funniest thing was when a lady turned sideways and my giant horse eye caught her off guard. She actually jumped! Talked to all my artist neighbors, one who gave me good ideas of art fairs in the Valley, one who told me I needed to talk more to people to try & sell my art, and one who I discovered is also an NMU grad. :) A very good first day indeed, and I am wiped out. Head hurts, body aches, super hungry and ready to crash. But I'm good. :)

One of the things artists at the Carefree show had told me two weeks before my art fair was to look past this first art fair and keep applying for other ones.  So I have my eye on one in Tucson in April, perhaps one in Prescott in May, and one in Flagstaff over Labor Day weekend.  Then there are the ones back here in the Valley starting up this fall.  So we shall see what happens. :)

working on a new booth shot.

11.23.12

My booth shot as of this week.

Earlier this week, I decided it was time to haul out the canopy and Propanels and work on getting together a new booth shot for applying to art fairs.  I've been reading a lot on the Art Fair Insiders forum about how to make your booth shot better.  I've learned a lot from the artists on that forum and enjoyed trying this week to implement what I've learned.

Here are a few observations...

• Juries like to see a unified body of work in the booth shot.  I need to continue working on this, but I have noticed some similarities in my work as I went through this process this week.  So that was kind of fun for me. :)
• I need to keep painting.  More work will help a lot with getting a great booth shot together.
• I have come a long way since that first attempt at a booth shot (see below).
• Setting up in the backyard really helped me to see my work as a whole and to evaluate where I am.  I think doing this every few months to re-evaluate would be a good idea... kind of a way to see if I'm really ready for venturing out into juried art fairs.

So, just for kicks, I thought I'd post my first booth shot. 

My booth shot as of July 2011.

I can't help but think it's no wonder the jurors didn't accept me.  Although I didn't see it at the time, this booth shot makes it obvious that I needed more time to work on building up a body of work.  (I still think that now, after adding more pieces and weeding out some that aren't so great.)  I'm glad, though, that I tried, because it got me started on the journey.

I still have so far to go...

en plein air.

4.10.12

A couple Saturdays ago, our town had an "En Plein Air" painting contest.  The rules were simple: come get your canvas stamped in the morning, go anywhere within the city limits and paint outside, come back at 3:30 for the judging.

I had been wanting to do a painting of some of the fig leaves in our back yard, so I got my canvas stamped and came back home to paint outside.  It was nice having our kids & dog coming in and out of the house while I was working... kind of what I'm used to when I paint inside.

It was quite a learning experience for me, having done 99.99% of my painting indoors.  First off, painting outside on a blazing-hot day; second, forcing myself to finish a painting in one day; and last but not least, the competition part.

Here are some photos of the process...

Canvas stamped, ready to start working.

You can't see it because the sun bleached it out of the photo, but the fig leaves are sketched out & I'm ready to lay down some paint.

After I got the background painted.

We set up my canopy to shade me from the sun.

The leaves I was painting are just to the right of my easel there.

Progress.

My daughter took this shot without me even knowing... guess I was a bit focused!

Getting close to the end.

Back at the park, setting up our easels for the judging.

The painting that won the "flora/fauna" category is just to the upper right... it was of brightly colored abstract flowers.  It was a very different style than my painting, and I liked it.

It was a good learning experience, and I'm glad I participated.  It's amazing how quickly acrylic paints dry when you're in direct sun!  :)