Art Festival Booth

Moonlit Rhapsody 30 x 40" oil studio piece (sold)

In honor of tonight's full moon I am posting a piece from my moon series, Moonlit Rhapsody.

Today's topic is the Art Show Booth. I have two set ups. The typical 10x10 EZ-UP canopy with grey carpeted ProPanel walls. This is really nice, however I will say that I have NEVER set this up alone, and even with my husband's help it has NEVER set up in 30 seconds as EZ-UP claims it can be. My panels are light weight, basically carpeted covered styrafoam with steel support and legs. But because of my small size and their large size I can only carry one at a time and have a hard time seeing over around them as I walk. My husbands comes and helps me set up and comes back at show's end to help tear down.

I have another set up seen photographed in this blog (look under Pacific Fine Arts archive) It consists of masonite panels that are 2' x 4' and 1' x 4'. They are in a manageable size I can carry. They notch into each other to create 2 6' tall 4' wide square kiosks. They are extremely durable. Wind proof. I set a market umbrella inside each one and weight it nicely. If it rains the umbrella affords some protection while I run for my plastics box which is basically plastic file box that I carry clear plastic and all my clamps in. I by 9' x 12' clear plastic. I cut 3 4' wide strips out of each plastic sheet. So the final cut size is 4' wide x 9' long. These are plastic drop cloths found in the paint aisle at the hardware store. Use a sturdy mil that is at least 2 or 3 mil. You don't want the cheapest one that feels like saran wrap. These sheets are folded nicely into my plastic box and at the ready for rain. Have enough small 3" clamps to put 2 clamps at the top of the kiosk and at the bottom. Drape the extra length down into the center of the kiosk, or cut it off before hand.

My masonite kiosks were used for every show until I could afford Pro Panels which are costly for a beginner. I still use my kiosks for sidewalk shows that do not have a 10x10' space.

What ever your set up, make sure your booth has a nice flow for traffic. If it is too crowded people will peek in but the will NOT enter. If one patron has to be in close contact with another, no way they will not go in. People need their personal space.

Some booths are set up with out thought. It appears as what should be their main entrance is blocked off. Your patrons should not have to search for the way in. If they have to, they will move on to the booth next door instead.

I have seen other booths that have an outside wall that is front and center to the public, and it is blank. Nothing on it. All of their work is on the inside of their booth. Use this "Prime Real Estate!" Put your best piece here front and center for all to see. Show off your best work and make the public want to come on over to your booth to see more! If you are a sculpture, glass or ceramic, artist and have all your work inside the booth on pedestals or shelves then make a nice sign for your outside wall. Possibly with a nice photo of your work. Kinkos and like places can make a large poster size enlargement for you and even mount it on foam board. Put your name really large on this sign to draw attention.

What ever you do, avoid a "flea market" type atmosphere. Keep things neat and orderly. This is your gallery for the weekend. Keep the clutter out of your booth. Use floor length tablecloths so you can use under the table as hidden storage. Avoid "Sale" signs, Half Off this weekend only type of signs. I will approach people and say to them, I am offering discount this weekend only. Other artists I know will have a stack of flyers on my table that list various paintings with their prices and then have a second column with the discounted prices.

Do be certain that every piece of art has a label with the title of the work and the price. Some people will not ask the price. They actually are quite shy or they are afraid that they will be embarrassed if it is too high and they can't afford it. My husband will walk away before he will break down and ask a stranger how much something costs.

When manning your booth, pay attention to who enters. Do not eat or smoke in your booth. If I am reading, I put my reading material aside when someone enters. I smile and pay attention to them. Make it clear that they know this is your booth. A patron should never have to walk around and ask people, "Are you the artist." If you do speak, speak only of your art. Not the weather, their dog, their outfit. You may only have 30 seconds with this person before they leave, don't waste that very valuable time.

Some artists have cut their shows way down due to the current economy. You do however have to realize, if you don't do at least a few shows, people will forget who you are. You HAVE to keep your name and image out there.

If you are reading and this and have more questions than I have answered, please feel free to comment and ask, or e-mail me. Most of all get out there and have fun!

Art Fair Business

Danville's Mountain 24x36" oil (sold)

Hi there, it is cold here in Northern CA, so I am posting one of my summer pieces to warm me up! Hills are very green right now, but will start turning gold as soon as the rains stop sometime around April. By July they are golden.

Art fairs, Street Shows, any outdoor art show start up after April. Some sooner, but as a painter I don't venture out before the end of April. Even then I may get rained of once or twice. You MUST have your clear plastic and clamps to cover your work. Professionals do not go running home when it rains. And if you did, you may not be invited back to the show.

Now is when you need to be selecting your shows and applying. Entering art shows can be and art form in itself deciding which one to enter. Take good photos of your work to send in with your applications.

Time to rethink what shows worked for you and what shows didn't. Maybe a show didn't bring in the revenue you wanted. But think about the show, how was the networking? Did you hand out a lot of cards or flyers? Did a lot of interested patrons sign your mailing list? Was there high quality art surrounding you? Has that particular show done well in the past? Do not be too quick to write off a show. Times are hard right now, I do believe it will pick up. Look at the show as an opportunity to network, and to exchange ideas with other artists. Quite often a zero $ show can actually be your best show!

Are you new to shows? Artists need to make several appearances at a show before they really are up and running with the sales. The public needs to know that you are stable. That you really do do this for a living and are not "fly by night." I have realized that people want to buy your art. Then they want to come to your booth at the next show and tell people, I bought one of her originals. Or they want to talk to me about their purchase, tell me all the complements they have received on it. They want to tell me where they hung it. Your collectors become family and they like to come visit you whenever you are in town.

Time to pour my cup of coffee and start pouring over my applications.

Next post: Rethinking your booth at the show.

Priming Canvas

El Capitan Meadow 18x24" oil

Above is an example of a painting in progress that shows the prime color that I use under my painting. I prime with acrylic paint and I use 1 part yellow, 1 part red, and 3 parts white. I tend to mix up a batch in an old butter tub and prime 10 to 20 canvases at a time. There is nothing worse for me than to have that urge to paint and to not have a primed canvas ready. You can oil paint on top of acrylic but never paint with acrylic on top of an oil painting. It will not stick and it will peel off.

I like to prime my canvas with a warm color. If I am painting outdoors it keeps the white canvas from blinding me. But I use this color under all my paintings as I feel like it really warms up the painting as it comes through some of the colors. I often paint late at night in my studio. I am not sure if it my lack of sleep or if the lighting is not good enough, but when I view my late evening's work the next morning I can see small what I call holes of white peeking through all over the canvas. I to tend to paint thin. I suppose if I really globbed on the paint like an impressionist I would not have this problem. But now the prime color shows through and I actually like the effect. Rarely do I ever go in and touch up those "holes" anymore.

Try this mix, or come up a shade of your own. I like using acrylic as it keeps me away from the thin wash of turpentine or thinner and color. Any opportunity to avoid exposure to and use less solvent is a plus health wise.

Rainy Monday

Spring Blooms 9x12" oil on canvas (sold) plein aire piece

Today we are getting dumped on in the SF Bay Area. It is really raining here. A good day to stay in the studio! The above painting is what our local landscape will look like in about another 2 months. It is very green right now, but the wildflowers are not in bloom yet. Spring Blooms is a view of Mt. Diablo in Contra Costa County, CA. from the Walnut Creek area.

I am going to sort through my brushes today. I never throw a brush away. When it gets worn, it just gets delegated to a new container to be used for a different purpose, (ie blending, scraping, etc). Well, at the moment I am counting 11 containers of brushes on my paint table that sits to the left of my easel. And as I reached for one, a moth flew out of it! When moths take up residence in your brush container, you know they haven't been used in a while..... Like I said, maybe it's time to get rid of a few.

Then I will move on to priming some canvases and cutting some boards. I want to glue canvas on to board to use for outdoor plein aire painting.

Winter days like this is a wonderful time to do all these tasks and get some studio painting done. Time to put the coffee on, I have some work to do......

Whoa, where have I been?

American Canyon 4" X 8" oil on canvas

Well, I certainly have not been very good at posting lately. Saying I suck at it would be putting it mildly. Life has its way of getting in the way most certainly.

It is a delicate balance of Art and life. Keeping dinner on the table, the garden in check, bills paid, and new art on the easel. I could sit and post that I cleaned up the garden today after our recent storms and turned two compost piles, incorporating many bags of free coffee grounds from Starbucks which promptly raised the temperature of both piles. But I know you don't care about that.......... where's the new painting? is what your thinking!

Since we had a high of 42° yesterday I painted in the studio. This little photo was done earlier than that as it was dry and ready to be photographed. I painted it from a watercolor sketch I made on location in American Canyon, Utah. Going through your field book to find something to paint is a great thing to do on a cold gloomy day when you don't want to go outside. My moleskine book is full of future paintings. And small paintings are fun and quick to paint and can be priced very reasonably for shows which helps in this economy.