Neat old building, hunh? It seems as though I have been painting like a maniac for months, and when my work is all up on these screens, it looks like very little indeed. We had low attendance on Friday and I sold a lot of work. On Saturday, I scooted the paintings together and then used clothespins to attach prints to the empty screens. There was a steady flow of lots of people all day, and I sold less. Go figure!
Harvest Festival
This is a 4 foot square sign, photographed in cramped quarters after I finished painting it. It will be displayed much nicer than this at the festival! And, I know the lettering is weak – I am barely a painter, and definitely not trained as a sign painter! Okay, that’s it with the excuses; on to the rest of the blog.
If you own your own business, you are probably fried on getting asked for freebies for raffles, auctions, door prizes, etc. Me too. (more on that later). However, I ALWAYS give to my church, and the annual Harvest Festival is Saturday, November 8. This is a nice evening, not a fund-raiser but a nice time with games for children (and horseshoes for adults) and a place to gather, visit and eat some soup. This is my gift to the Harvest Festival this year:
(Someday I will learn about not photographing wet paintings in the bright sunlight when it makes that wet shine in a corner!)
Okay, about those freebies: I think it is Jack White, my “guru” in painting and the business of art, who advocates that all those non-profits BUY art from us. The non-profits can benefit tax-wise from spending money, and the artists can sell to them at a discount to help. The artists benefit because they are not depleting their hard-built inventory for free. We artists can only write off the cost of the materials, or take it out of our inventory for taxes but CAN NOT DEDUCT THE RETAIL VALUE OF THE ART! (Can you hear me??) One year I gave away more than I sold. That was a good year for the non-profits, but a painful one for me. So, I am trying to be smarter about it all, without causing a kerfuffle among the many very good non-profit organizations who ask (and ask and ask).
That Ag Art Show
Today I visited Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts in Madera. (that’s a long ways away from Three Rivers!!) This is the show in which my ice cream cone called Worth It won a second place ribbon in the category of Dairy. Art shows and judging are a mysterious process. I found my piece and wondered where the rest of the Dairy entries were. Turns out mine is THE ONLY PIECE in the category!! And, I got second place! Is that not the most embarrassing thing in the artworld? Nope, 3rd or none would be the most embarrassing. Sheesh! I asked the director of the gallery, and she said that the judge simply said, “I think this piece should be larger”. The director interpreted that to mean that I hadn’t done enough work to deserve a first! Before I could get huffy (what? me huffy??), she told me that the judge went home and died. He judged the show and died! Knowing this, I wasn’t too puzzled by the fact that I got third in Farm Equipment and Machinery when there was a Very Very Beautiful piece hanging above mine that got nothing! Poor old guy, he was tired. So, here is something new to look at. The only judging it will receive will be whether or not someone chooses to part with cash to buy it. That’s the real test!
8×10 – oil on wrapped canvas – $80