Are Competitions Worth It?

Some artists enter competitions on a regular basis. If you read their resumes, you see the awards they have won. If you are a gallery owner, this might matter to you.

 

If you are Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts (or Bag-of-Bagels or Box-of-Oranges or Sack-of-Tacos – don’t mean to discriminate here) who says, “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like”, then a list like that probably doesn’t mean much.

Jane Box-of-Oranges and Joe Six-pack tend to be my best customers. These are regular people living here in Quaintsville, Tulare County, who just like art they can relate to. The galleries around here are usually non-profit, and not patronized by folks who are aware of or impressed by art competitions.

As a business owner whose product is art, I have to carefully consider the costs of these types of events. If there is a competition that fits my style of work and the $$ aren’t upside down (entry fees, shipping, driving compared to winning and selling), it seems like a reasonable risk to take. The Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts annual show/competition/sale in Madera has been good to me in the past.

It is both juried (“Shall we let this painting in?”) and judged (“Give that one a First Place!”). The arrangement is not by medium but by subject matter. They have categories that I find fabulous for creative entries. It has been 4 years since I last entered, and maybe some day I’ll tell you about the last time. Meanwhile, you can see 4 paintings in progress for Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts, or as I, Jana Box-of-Oranges call it, “the ag art show”.

Do art competitions influence you to buy art from the winners?

How Many Hours a Day Do You Paint?

An old friend asked me this last week. We only see each other once a year or so, so we aren’t close. I think he thinks that art is my hobby that I sort of fit in around my life. When I told him what all I do, he was very surprised. This means a couple of things: we really don’t know each other very well, and I’m not getting the word out very effectively that I am a full time professional artist.

Marketing, you say? Nope. I’m too busy working right now.

Check out this list from the other day:

  1. I posted to my blog. While in the house on the puter, the phone rang. My neighbor/friend works at a local motel. She was calling to say some people from New York were stopping by the studio in 10 minutes.
  2. Raced to the studio (after brushing my hair – sort of forgot to do that or figured it didn’t matter). The New Yorkers were a no-show.
  3. While in the studio I put together a bank deposit and read the mail.
  4. The mail included a Call For Entries form for an Ag Art Show. It has been 4 years since I last entered, and the rules have changed. It seems worth considering again.
  5. Went through my photos and compared them to the categories of the Ag Art Show. Calculated the cost. (entry fees, mailing or driving 200 miles round trip to deliver the pieces, returning to Madera to see the show, returning again to retrieve any unsold pieces) Got some good ideas, decided to do the show.
  6. Painted three 4×4″ oil paintings.
  7. Remembered I was supposed to go to the Sierra Lodge to get another bear to paint. This one had to be delivered to my studio and I was supposed to show them the way, so I walked/jogged over.
  8. Upon returning with the bear delivery guy, I painted a fourth 4×4″ oil painting.
  9. Chose the sizes for each of the paintings to enter into Madera, added them to my inventory list, put the wires on the back.
  10. Remembered the bank deposit, trotted to the house for my keys, remembered the keys were hanging in the studio door, trotted back to the studio to lock up and then back to the house to lock it, and then drove to the bank. Figured I might as well hit the Post Office and the grocery store while I was out. Tried not to run in the aisles. Tried not to make eye contact with anyone who might want to have a lengthy conversation.
  11. Returned home to photograph some completed work and some works in progress.
  12. Began working on the (in)famous Paint-My-Parents oil painting commission.
  13. Wrote 3 more blog posts in my head while painting.
  14. Suddenly it was almost dark, so I had to photograph Paint-My-Parents, close up the workshop, and go home.
  15. Wrote those blog posts on the computer before I forgot them while something that could sort of pass for dinner was burning on the stove.

Apparently, I’m too busy to paint or do marketing. (the kind that gets the word out about business, not the kind that puts groceries in the frig so I can burn them for dinner while I work on the puter.)

Preparing canvases for 5 paintings for the Ag Art Show

Random Comments About the Business of Art

This list of comments was started just after Mother’s Day weekend, when I was recovering from the Redbud Festival. Now that I read them after a snowy Memorial Day weekend, I’m slightly climatically confused. Just sayin’ (which is the popular vernacular that means “I talk to hear the sound of my own opinions”)

  • It is hard to do weekend festivals and really hard to do shows when it is hot and REALLY hard to do shows with low attendance. But I’m merely commenting, not complaining.
  •  Kodak’s online gallery is going away and I have to learn how to use Shutterfly. I’m trying to keep this in perspective, but am really in a state of semi-despair. All the of books, cards, calendars, and other cool photographic projects I’ve made will be gone. GONE! I can recreate cards in Shutterfly, but they don’t put any info on the back. Shall I order anyway and use a rubber stamp?? That is kind of tacky. I might have to do it that way. Perhaps that is fitting for a Regionalist from Quaintsville.
  • When an artist does a show, there are more benefits than the immediate sales. Here is a list: new friends, new customers, potential commissions, potential new drawing students, seeing old friends, meeting other artists, sales that happen after people go home, new blog readers.
  • A long time ago, I did a variety of shows. Had to do them all to learn which ones worked. Redbud Festival has been here the longest and is now the most enjoyable and best organized. They have generous booth sizes, good food, good music, and are kind to their exhibitors.  (Even when it is hot.)
  • Doing shows in the heat and then painting 30×40″ commissions with an unaccustomed style of Loosiosity is most exhausting. But I’m merely commenting, not complaining.

Little Brown Church© 2012, oil on board, 4×6″, private collection

Any comments (not complaints) you’d like to add?

Redbud Festival in the Olden Days

This past Redbud Festival in Three Rivers got me reminiscing. (I love that song by the Little River Band. I love the Little River Band.)

The very first one I ever participated in was in 1987. I shared a space with my friend Katie. She sold silk-screened tee shirts with a Redbud logo of her design. Her boyfriend had just broken up with her, and she had to keep leaving our space to cry. (That ex-boyfriend visited my booth this year – we have remained great friends, but sad to say I’ve lost touch with Katie.)

I took no photos. I traded one drawing for our rent, and another for a pottery lamp. (George, can I please PLEASE have that drawing back? I’ll give you 2 lamps for it!!)

The next time I participated was in 1990. The show was still at Ardfarkle’s, the former restaurant at the Three Rivers Golf Course. I took a photo of some hairy good-looking guy sitting in my booth.

I think I sold some things. I also learned that shows are often about making contacts more than making sales. I definitely learned to NEVER put pencil drawings framed under glass in direct sun. Now I only do outdoor shows if I am in shade. Those pop-up tents weren’t invented back then, or perhaps they were just too expensive. That hairy good-looking guy built me an awning, which worked when the sun was at the exact right angle.

Things remain constant in my life, with small changes:

I’m still drawing (and now painting) the same subjects: The Kaweah Post Office, Farewell Gap, cabins, the Oak Grove Bridge, and even the old Mineral King Store. I borrowed that round table so much that my Mom finally gave it to me. (It is now used for propping up easels while I paint.) And that (somewhat less) hairy guy still picks wild iris to enhance my booth each year I participate in the Redbud Festival.

Is your life consistent? or is it just me?

Very truly yours,

The Consistent (Central) California Artist

Redbud Festival Report, Day Two

The Redbud Festival was well attended on Sunday. Those organizers do a swell job, and there were some high quality exhibitors with great merchandise. I only saw things briefly as I raced to and fro on quick errands.

This is some of the hilarity shared at the Arts Alliance Booth, those amazing volunteers who put this event together.

There was very good music both days. This group might be called “Nick and Keith”, or perhaps it is called “The Remnants”. Whatever they decide to be called, they are great!

Here are a few more stories of encounters with people during the show.

 

3. Two brothers were leaning against the stage, looking at my booth. Together they made a beeline straight for the Kaweah Post Office VI, pointed and said, “We’ll take that one.”  I am not equipped to take credit cards at shows, so they collaborated together beautifully to come up with the cash to buy it for their Mom.

4. Farmer Eric and I had a nice visit while his locally famous mom chatted with a potter. Didn’t take long for us to find people in common. It is my guess I’ll be hearing from him about oil paintings of oranges when his kitchen remodel is completed.

5. The funniest thing was a young woman who stopped and stared at me. I stared back. She said, “Why do I know you?” I asked her name, and when she said it was Judith, I said, “I know that, but why do I know that?” We worked it out – she was a sandwich maker at a place where I used to stop almost weekly back when I went to Exeter 3 days a week! She was delightful back then, and just as delightful now. We acted as if we’d won a prize when we figured it out!

I sold work, saw old friends, made new ones, enjoyed some wonderful music, and it was very hot.

The end.

Redbud Report, Day One

Redbud, the arts and crafts festival in Three Rivers, not the flower, was a 2 day event over the past weekend. It was hot. I’m not complaining, just stating a fact.

Because this is a local event, it is a blend of meeting new folks and reconnecting with old friends. Here is a list of encounters that come to mind:

1.  Derek, an oil painter who chooses subjects similar to mine.

2. My former drawing student and friend (they almost always shift to the friend category) stopped by with her husband and 2 little girls. No, medium girls! I drew Chloe as a toddler and could see a bit of a resemblance in her almost 10 year old self! Kept getting her mixed up with her 8 year old sister . . . stupid old artist that I must have seemed to them!

 

My booth now has fabric covers over the screens, the art is spaced out, and each piece has a label. This is how it looked at the beginning of the show.

2012 Redbud Festival

The Redbud Festival will be Saturday and Sunday, May 12-13 at the Lions Roping Arena in Three Rivers. Saturday is 10-5, Sunday is 10-4.

Redbud Festival is named after this flowering tree which grows wild in Three Rivers. It blooms in March, so the name of the Festival doesn’t correspond with nature. However, it does coincide with Mother’s Day, so here is something to do with your Mom this year.

My space looked like this 2 years ago. (I didn’t participate last year because all my work was in the Tulare Historical Museum for a solo show.) It will look different this year.

As I continue to read art marketing sites and blogs and to interact with other artists, I continue to make changes to the way I display my work.

The changes won’t be huge, but the hope is that my work will look better.

If my work looks better, you will stay in my booth longer. If you stay in my booth longer, you will study the work more. If you study the work more, you will get attached to something. If you get attached to something, you will want to buy it. If you want to buy it, I will sell it to you.

Oh great. Now you will be afraid to come see my booth at the Redbud Festival because you will get sold! No, I won’t sell to you unless you want me to. I don’t know how to “hard-sell” stuff, much less my own art. If I did, I’d, ummm. . .  no, I love my life. It would be the same as it is now!

There will be a new painting of the Kaweah Post Office, 2 of fields of California poppies, a Sequoia painting in a new shape, and maybe, just maybe a new painting of the Kaweah River. And there will be oranges, of course. And some small paintings of California poppies that sit on easels on a table top.

 See you at the Redbud Festival?

Three Rivers Studio Tour Ten Wrap-up, part 2

Zeke’s only appearance of the day was when the sign was uncovered in the morning.

SATURDAY SPECIFICS

1. It was sunny and clear and not hot and very beautiful

2. There were 81 visitors (not counting the sheriff, fire and ambulance crews)

3. People were mostly in groups, only a few women by themselves, more men than yesterday but proportionately about the same. (3 were Bobs)

4. Many commissions to paint later

5. Kaweah Kitty remained very popular.

6. Learned 3 new words – luthier, autodidactic, aberration (which I already knew but did not know it also pertains to distortions under the magnifying glass)

7. Six of my drawing students came by! (Linda, Maggie, Wendy, Anne, Sara, Cathy) Perhaps there were some future drawing students also. . .

8. A lady fell (see #2). Learned later that she broke her hip. Until then, she was enjoying herself. Major Bummer.

9. The final visitor of the day walked up the driveway with her boot heels clicking on the asphalt. From inside the studio I thought the sound was one of my cats barfing.

Some therapeutic knitting and comforting chocolate consumption took place on Saturday evening. These photos are to help me remember the beautiful parts of the day.

The ever-popular and always present Kaweah Kitty thoroughly enjoyed the visitors.

Three Rivers Studio Tour Ten Wrap-up, part 1

The very popular flowering quince.

The gregarious Kaweah Kitty in the painting workshop.

 

Just the facts, Ma’am.

FRIDAY FACTS

1. It sprinkled when I removed the cover from my #13 sign to open for the day.

2. There were 30 visitors.

3. Most of them were women. (I think there were 4 men, and 1/2 were named Bob.)

4. 5 women came by themselves; the rest came in pairs or groups.

5. I knew 2/3 of the visitors; the other 1/3 were new to me.

6. Kaweah Kitty was very popular.

7. My flowering quince were very popular.

8. There were people from Porterville, Fresno, Visalia, Three Rivers, Santa Clara, Sandy Eggo, and Minnesota.

Friday was overcast.

Remember the chairs? Our experiment with sequoia trees engraved and painted has not yet been perfected, but the painted trees definitely dress up the chairs.

Three Rivers Studio Tour Ten. . .

. . . begins today! You can get tickets at the Three Rivers Historical Museum. The Tour runs today, Saturday, and Sunday from 10-5. My studio is one of 22. (Actually it is probably #13, but since I am not superstitious, this does not upset me.)

The flag is from First Saturday. There will be a different type of marker at the base of my driveway for Studio Tour. The weeds will be taller too.

 

The blooms got knocked off the tree by the snow. The snow got knocked off the tree by Michael. Hopefully Michael won’t get knocked off by anything or anyone.

If you are lucky, there will be a welcoming committee.