Not to be confused with “bizarre”. This lovely poster says it all. Hope to see you there at my next event! Okay, not “mine”, but you know what I mean, right?
Show Summary
In the interest of following up on Friday’s post, here is the summary of the weekend show in 8 points.
1. My booth looked great.
2. My booth neighbors were delightful, as were the show organizers and all the visitors too!
3. I saw many old friends and made some new ones.
4. This wasn’t really the right place for my art work.
5. Stuff sold anyway.
6. Not as much as I hoped.
7. That’s okay – I have another show next weekend (Three Rivers Senior League Bazaar), and the one after that too!
8. There was a neato star thingie on the ceiling of the convention center.
Five Items On A California Artist’s Brain
- Thank a Veteran today. (Thank you Bob J. and Happy Birthday, I can’t believe you will be 80!)
- Thank you, Laurie, for pointing out the booboo in the link under See My Work. Now, if you click on Exeter Murals, it takes you to a YouTube video about Exeter, including a talking chin. (weird view of me, good story of Exeter)
- Remember the show in Visalia today and tomorrow. See the entry on November 8 for the details.
- These paintings might be dry enough to bring to the show. If they are, they will be more detailed than in this photo.
- R.I.P. Bugsy, 1994-2011. I’m sorry for the time I folded you up in your bed like a taco and poured you into your kennel (but you had tried to take my hand off on a previous attempt.) I won’t miss your yipping, but you were awfully cute when you came over to my house to find your missing people. And your ears flapped in the most adorable way when you ran!
No Shopping Gene
I get to participate in a cross-cultural experience on Friday and Saturday. No, I’m not going to a Hmong festival or a quinceanera. It is the Holiday Marketplace Boutique at the Visalia Convention Center.
My idea of shopping is the Mercantile and Creekside Yarns in Three Rivers, Winco in Visalia or Amazon in my living room. My clothes come from the local thrift shop, a very few catalogs, eBay and my knitting needles. I have no idea what is in style, and shopping is the furthest thing from my mind when a friend suggests “doing something together”.
Despite my lack of a shopping gene, this coming weekend I will set up a booth in the convention center and happily accommodate those who enjoy shopping. I might even learn a thing or two about what the current fashion trends look like! (But I am NOT giving up my long floral April Cornell skirts, so there.)
Oil paintings, cards, reproductions of my pencil drawings – that’s what I’ll have available.
What If I Gave A Party. . .
. . . and EVERYONE came! The art show for my students was a HUGE success. It was elbow to elbow for almost the entire 2 hours. The work looked stunning, and if I had been any prouder of my students, lightning might have struck us all.
First, HUGE THANK YOU to Michael, Robin and Sylvia for taking charge of the food and beverages so that no one else got stuck in the kitchen and could just enjoy the show. THANK YOU!
One of my long term students, Jackie, helped me hang the show. I think she has been taking drawing lessons for around 6 years. We grouped the pieces by subject – portraits, florals, landscapes, animals. Then, I just enjoyed it by myself for awhile in the afternoon. (There is more art than appears in this photo, of course. Just didn’t want to antagonize you by showing you all 52 pieces so far away that you can’t really see them.)
The brown box is where you put your ballot after you vote for your 3 favorite pieces. The artist whose piece has the most votes will get a month of free drawing lessons!
This is Jerry – he is the husband of one of my drawing students. He bravely volunteered to be the first at the food table, and to let me photograph him “for scale”. 😎
Kirby and me – 2 different people want to buy her swan drawing! (I couldn’t get the silly happy grin off my face for the entire evening, and my hair did look better in the morning, thanks for asking.)
Kim and me – between us is her first pencil drawing, her cat Scooter. And isn’t it cool that Kim and I are birthday twins, although I am about 1 hour older which means I get to boss her around.
The show will be on display at the Courthouse Gallery of the Arts in Exeter until the Tuesday after Thanksgiving (because that is the last day of drawing lessons for the year and everyone will take their pieces home then.) The hours are Tuesdays 12:30-5:30, and Saturdays and Sundays 10-4.
Student Art Show!
COURTHOUSE GALLERY HOURS
Tuesday 12:30-5:30
Saturday/Sunday 10-4
You are invited to the
STUDENT ART SHOW
an exhibit of original drawings
by the students of
Jana Botkin
November 4 – 27, 2011
RECEPTION NOVEMBER 4, 5-7 PM
Courthouse Gallery of the Arts
Workshop Room
125 South B Street
Exeter, California
Images of Home or The Bridges of Tulare County
There are about 2 weeks remaining for the show, Images of Home, at the Tulare Historical Museum. Here are 2 more pieces that I painted specifically for the show.
Buckeye Bridge, 16×12″, oil on wrapped canvas, $250. (just sayin’)
Michael said this is really the Paradise Bridge. I believe him, because he helped to build it. Since it is located just beyond the Buckeye Campground in Sequoia National Park, I think of it as the Buckeye Bridge. Hence, the name. My painting, my name. However, if you wish to buy it and the name is somehow a hindrance to the process, it can be changed very simply! (again, just sayin’)
Oak Grove Bridge IV, 18×24″, oil on wrapped canvas, $500
This is my favorite bridge. Did you know that?
Images of Home
Better hurry, they’re going fast!
I’ve been reading lots of articles on marketing art. Some say to create urgency for greater sales. Hmmmm, sounds pushy. Others say to just be conversational and make friends, and the sales will come. Now that sounds far more natural. Guess I’ll just do what comes naturally to me – show and tell.
The show at the Tulare Historical Museum (in Tulare, California) will be hanging through July 16. Here are a few more of the pictures I painted for the show. These are California poppies, because I am a California artist (Hey Google-man, did you catch that??)
They are 8×8″, $75 each. Just being conversational and friendly! 😎
Images of Home
The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. When the curator and I were discussing titles, one of my suggestions was “It Ain’t All Smog and Welfare”. She-Of-Good-Sense laughed out loud and then rejected that idea. Glad she has a sense of humor along with common sense! Here are more visions of Tulare County’s better parts in case you haven’t made it to the show (this is for you, Cousin Maggie!)
Mosquito Lake Trail, 16×20″, oil on wrapped canvas, $350
This trail is in Mineral King. In case you are wondering, it is the same trail as Eagle Lake Trail, just a little different view. The trail splits to two different destinations about 2 miles from the trail head.
North Fork of the Kaweah, oil on wrapped canvas, 11×14″, $175
This is in Three Rivers at the Sequoia RV Ranch Campground.
Images of Home
The show continues at the Tulare Historical Museum. The address is 444 W. Tulare Street and the phone # is 559-686-2074. I’d advise calling for their days and hours because their website is looking a bit wacky at the time of this posting. Although it is a museum with an entry fee, you DO NOT have to pay if you are visiting the attached gallery. It is a little confusing, but humbly speaking of course, my work has NEVER LOOKED BETTER than it does hanging on their walls under their lights! The show is up until July 16. Now, have a look at 2 more pieces:
Kaweah Post Office IV, sold
Spring Sycamores, 11×14″, oil on wrapped canvas, $175
The Kaweah Post Office is a much loved little building 3 miles up North Fork Drive in Three Rivers. You can read more about it here. And, in case you were wondering, sycamores are native trees in Tulare County. They like to grow in drainages and to live near water.