Rain Couldn't Spoil My Day

Wow, what a weekend! It took a lot of work to pull off my first outdoor show, but is was sure worth it.

With the help of Matt, my display panels were constructed quite easily and inexpensively. The panels themselves were made by my dad many moons ago for my high school senior art show. In my 17 year old wisdom, I had painted them with wavy stripes and polka dots. Let me tell you, they were hideous! But a coat of paint fixed them right up. The paint was also "freecycled" from my parent's basement - it's leftover house paint. Score! The only thing I needed to buy was a couple of 2 x 2's to create the panel legs and some hardware. To hang my work, I drilled holes in the panels and used pegboard hooks. Easy as pie!

My tent sides did not arrive in time, but I did manage to borrow some from twitter pal Cynthia, aka amwatergirl. Thank goodness I had them as we got quite a rainstorm on Sunday afternoon. Without them, my work and I would have been drenched! Thanks so much for bailing me out Cindy. (Of course, my panels arrived in the mail today.)

Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures of my tent. By the time I thought to take pictures, things got busy and then the weather turned bad. All in all, Art on the Lawn was great, despite the crummy afternoon weather. Morning traffic was strong, and I sold several original pieces as well as many prints and card sets. I made enough money to pay off my tent, cover all show costs and still turn a profit. Best of all......I won Best Of Show!!!! I am thrilled to say the least.

I can't tell you how big of a confidence boost this whole show was for me. It's so easy for me to get down on myself, when things aren't selling on Etsy. All of the positive feedback I got keeps me motivated to continue doing what I'm doing. I'm excited and ready to do another outdoor show!

I am working on a new chair piece as I write this. I sold 2 original chairs at the show - gotta build up inventory for my next show (Greenwich.)

Thanks to all of you who came out and braved the weather and to all of the Art on the Lawn volunteers who we so helpful throughout the weekend.

Have a great week friends. I'll be packing for Italy. I leave a week from today!!

Art On the Lawn

A week from today, I will be out at Rockford College, participating in Art on the Lawn. Slowly but surely, all the preparation for this show is being completed.

If you've been following things on Facebook or Twitter this week, you will have heard about my tent trauma! I ordered an EZ-Up tent on Ebay a few weeks back and was impatiently awaiting its arrival. (Yes I meant "impatient"......I am a terrible waiter!!) When the massive package finally appeared on my porch this week I was relieved for about a minute. I opened it up to realize that the side panels were missing! I immediately contacted the seller about the whereabouts of the tent sides, and never heard back. Tomorrow I start the process of getting some sort of refund via Ebay if I don't hear from the seller or receive the panels. Grrr. Luckily, a local twitter pal saw my crabby tweets and offered up her sides for the weekend.

My next goal is figuring out how I will hang my work on the panels that Matt and I constructed this weekend. I don't want a repeat of my last show!!!!

So, if you are in the Rockford area next weekend, come out to see me and my art. There are 63 other artists in the event as well, so I guess you could come and see them too.

The Details:

Art On the Lawn

Sunday, June 13th from 10 am to 5 pm

Rockford College Burpee Commons

5050 E State Street

$3.00 Admission

Busy Bee

I was quite prolific this past weekend, and managed to create four new ACEO's. I'm on a kick with yellow right now. Yellow feels warm and summery, and reminds me that I will soon be on summer vacation!!!!

My first big show of the summer is right around the corner. Art on the Lawn takes place Sunday, June 13th on the Rockford College campus. I've got a new tent on the way and with the help of my trusty manfriend Matthew, will be putting the finishing touches this weekend on some panels to hang my work on. This outdoor show thing is certainly a lot of work! I am praying for a beautiful summer day and lots of eager art collectors to come my way. Mama needs some Italy spending money!!!

I found out today that I was accepted into the Greenwich Village art show at the Rockford Art Museum in September. I'm psyched and am looking forward to having another reason to use my tent.

Ta-ta for now!

Renewed and Relaxed

This week, I am thankful to be a teacher. Though my job is a struggle and a stress, I am afforded time off to renew, recharge and relax.

Spring Break couldn't have come at a better time this year. One of my teaching partners had to have emergency surgery and was out most of the last month. I had to take over one of her classes, which meant that I lost my plan time. It was definitely wearing on me.

I'm only a few days into my spring break, but decompression is already happening. My art "mojo" has returned. (I was having a hard time making anything for a while.) My head is clear and I'm motivated!

I just finished "My Dear Acquaintance" yesterday and have started two more pieces this morning. I used more of my vintage stamps in this piece. Frank Lloyd Wright, Grace Kelly, George Washington and Paul Dudley White MD all make an appearance in this piece.

I'm going to be cranking out this floral/tree themed pieces for a while as I will be peddling my wares at a spring flower themed show on May 8th in Sterling, Illinois. There isn't a web page for this event, but I did manage to find a Facebook event page. I also found out that I got accepted to the Art on the Lawn show at Rockford College on June 13th. I'll be busy, but motivated to make some money for my upcoming trip to Italia!

"My Dear Acquaintance" is available for sale on Etsy.

Have a great week. Hopefully I will have more work to show off later this week.