Back from Apple Butter Stirrin Festival

Facing East

Facing West

Long Horn WIP

My Cosume & Booth

Well I am back, got back yesterday afternoon, played catch-up with some animal care and did not get my camera out of the vehicle until this morning for posting.  I feel blessed to have had great weather at this festival.  It had good attendance.  I got alot of interest and promises for commissions.  Did not sell well  again though, about six greeting cards.  Quite a few men and one lady who said they would buy the eagle or the hawk if they could afford it.  The lady across from me selling dish towels with a cloth addition added onto them for draping over a kitchen drawer handle said she made the booth fees (about $100 depending on if your demonstrated or not) several times over.

There was only one other purely 2-D artist.  She is on the a national circuit and said not to think it was my art, that things have not gone well for the last two years.  She was very upset about people taking pictures of her art and then making her own prints.  She posted signs to prevent this, but as they were being ignored, by the third day, she was posting that taking a picture of a work would result in the individual being charged the cost of that work.  She was planning on calling the police if necessary.  Any thoughts on this problem of people taking photos to make their own print?

I enjoyed getting some folk art animals in trade from another vendor for one of my prints. I gave one to my mom and kept the other for myself.

I have posted the only picture I have of myself to show my costume, I think my expression is lousy, though.

I got a little further on the longhorn than I have shown here by the end of the last day, but did not get a photo, will probably update on that later this week. 
I would like to just keep working on that, but vowed to attend to some very badly needed clean-up work around the farm once the shows were done, so will be starting on that until maybe the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by!

Off to Festival Today, Hawk finished - Demo started

I finished the hawk, this is not the best photo, but best I could do this morning before I frame it to take with me to the Roscoe Apple Butter Stirrin Festival.  I am a little more behind than I had planned to be.  I made a kitty rehoming run into the city yesterday that I did not plan.  I have had so many no shows for people saying they were coming out to look at them, that I thought it was best to jump on it.  I am fretting over him though and will be calling the new home later this morning to see how things are going.  I have offered to take any back if not what they expected/having problems adjusting. 

My set up is not until 4:00 P.M., but have a lot to do before then and plan to leave about 2:00 P.M.  I wanted to work a little more on my demo that I started Tuesday, yesterday, but did not get the chance.  I am supposed to post demo times scheduled four times a day for the three days of the festival.  I like to do the experimental backgrounds I am starting to do with mineral spirits along with the colored pencil on my own -- I may not get that chance today with backing and organizing.  Will be scary to do that kind of thing in front of people, might chicken out, will see.  Anyway, here is the sketch of the demo.  I had some photos of longhorns I took this summer.  I spent hours sorting through them and messing with what composition to choose.  My sketch is a little looser than some I do before transfer, but feel o.k. with that (except for adding the background, which I plan to ad lib a bit).  It is 18x24, and as long as I don't mess it up, it will keep me busy the three days.

The set-up is until 8:00 P.M., but it will be dark by 7:30 -- so probably have to get up early tomorrow to finish up to be open by 9:30.  The show runs 10 to 6 on Friday and Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday.  The participants were asked to be ready by 9:30 though when tourist bus sometimes arrive.  I still have to work on my early 1800's garb, do barn chores, and pack.  Wish me luck and thanks for checking in!  I will post pictures of the show when I return, Monday.

Finished Portraits and Kitty Delivery Service

I emailed a copy of the finished portraits last night and they were approved.  Keep in mind they are only 3.5 by 5.5 inches  with custom requests in the compositions.  This is  a size I definitely have not done. I admire those even smaller ACEO artists all the more now.

Great Dane in Historic Home

Great Dane Puppy

I have been busy with tax prep classes and trying to find the seven kitties in the second litter homes.  I did mange to get the mother caught and spayed.  I have only found two of the kittens homes thus far, but I believe they are good homes and both have promised to update me.  I have several other possiblilities with  some no shows and not acceptable homes.  I would like to be able to get my car in the garage before it snows.  Was still doing that with the first litter, but put it outside when these seven began to waunder.

These Orange Tabby Males Are the Sweetest

One of the three Fuzzy Wuzzy Boys

Tortieshell Girl

Cute Tinie  Girl found good home

I have a fair, The Apple Butter Stirr'n Festival next week.  It will be only the second time I have put up my tent myself and the first time on concrete.  I have opted for several "cheap" weight options, though still playing with that. I hope to get there right at set up time so as not to be crowded in my tent set up, do not think there are any voluteers at this one. I am supposed to be dressed somewhat to the period of 1803, have to work on that a little too.  At least set up is the day before, no tear down will be another story. My mom nearby, so I will be staying with her.  I hope to finish the Hawk and start a really good demo before then.

Abbey, Portrait 2, finished

Once again time has gotten away with me.  Here is the second Abbey portrait, finished.  The client is pleased.

I do have another commission to do from the Zanesville fair.  Two very small portraits, 3x6 inches, one with full body and background -- so once again I have my work cut out for me.  I will not be working on these until after the art fair in Kent, Ohio, Art In the Park,  I will be participating in this coming weekend.  The set-up is on Friday and the fair is Saturday and Sunday.  I lucked out with getting a hotel three miles away at $42 a night (EconoLodge), which is good because I am staying until Monday morning.  The show will be having an artist's dinner after closing on Saturday, the first time I have experience such a perk!  I went to undergraduate school at Kent State University, but have not been back there since.  The art festival is in a park near the University.

I have posted a few things, and will post more, on the Prismacolor gallery website.  I currently use mainly Prismacolor pencils.  While browsing there, I saw an artist who uses colored pencils very expressively while portraying animals.  Her name is Maria Spencer and I admire her style, a style very seldom seen with colored pencils.

I will be working on setting up my tent several times this week before going to the show.  I worked on it yesterday, but must become much more efficient.

Y-Bridge Art Fair Update

My Booth & WIP

My Booth with People & My Neighbor

Packed

Painting the Fair

I had a great time.  The crowds were alot better than last year. Though I enjoyed numerous positive comments, I did not sell as much as last year, though.    I do have one commission request to follow up on right away.  Many promises -- which do not always materialize.  I did enjoy working on my demo, a close-up of a red tailed hawk.  You can see it a little better if you double click the photo to enlarge it.   It was sometimes too hot to work on it becuase my pencils would start melting, though!

 I made friends with my neighbor, Shirley Lumbatis, an equine artist from Zanesville, whose horses you can see a bit of to the right of my booth.  She had beautiful landscapes, also.  Her work was mainly acrylic paintings, but it had th look of oil paintings.  It was great to have her as a friend during the show and I will be looking her up for lunch soon.

  There was a best presentation award of $500, but I did not get it, though most artists did not set up a complete booth like I did.

The overall quality of the art was great and fun to look at.  I greatly admired the two artists who oil painted during the festival.  In addition to scenes of the fair shown above, they did portraits of people on the spot.

When packing, I can currently fit everything but my tent side walls and top cover into my SUV. Did not need the whole tent for this fair, but I am thinking of adding a carrier on the hitch for these.

Since being back I have been way too busy with finishing my portrait commission,  some tax and social work classes, as well as getting the feral kittens spayed and nuetered.

I delivered the last six portraits Saturday.  I volunteered to redo one of them after the customer feltthat the body (one that was "made up") was not quite like his dog, though he felt the face was right on.

I'll post the last two portraits and my hawk WIP in my next two posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Art Fair This Weekend

I am off at about noon to the Y-Bridge Art Festival in Zanesville, Ohio.  This is the second annual fair and last year's first fair was also my first art fair.  I have quite a bit to do yet to get ready, so this will be short.  Will post about it when I get back.

Have one more pet portrait to do in my series commission, a cat.  Would have preferred to have finished it before this weekend, but will work double time on it Sunday when I am back.

After the Art Fair

Here are some photos of the Granville Art Affair this past weekend. Given the constant threat of thunderstorms, attendance was decent. I had help putting up and taking down the tent. I will really need to practice to be able to put the tent up by myself in a decent amount of time. I did use tent stakes, dog tie 0utstakes with cambuckles (thanks Mona, so much for your helpful Squido lens regarding art fair essentials). My tent weathered a horrible storm Saturday night overnight when all the artist were in bed sleeping. Though I did not see the aftermath when I arrived Sunday morning, I was told that 12 of the 103 artists in attendance lost their tents. There were some not so well weighted tents, though I think many of them survived. This makes me very sad. I did survive intact, even leaving my art hanging overnight (security was very, very good). Thanks again, Mona, and thank you, Trimline/Flourish Canopy, Inc!

I only had a few print and card sales. Artists around me did better, but none seemed to be extremely thrilled with the sales as a whole. I got quite a few promises of commissions, as well as promises about recontacting me about the eagle as an original -- which could make all the difference if they come through. It is a newer show and I am sure it will grow with time.

There was a wine festival and polo along with art festival. You probably are not able to make out the polo in the distance in the shot above. The festival is the grounds of Bryn Du Mansion, now owned by the city of Granville, Ohio.

You can probably see the mansion in the distance in the photo above.
Also, though I did not feel my booth looked particularly unfull when I was there, I think it does look that way when I look at the photos and would look much better with alot more work.

I enjoyed talking with and getting to know the artists in two of the booths across from me. One of them, a jeweler, is just starting out this year, but she applied to alot of shows and was accepted, my hat is off to her in her how hard she has been working in her first year with applying, getting in and booth decoration. I got some helpful hints and venue leads to follow up on from her, too. The other booth across from me was being booth attended by the partner of the artist. When I saw the work in the booth, gothic/punk/fantasy style oil paintings, I imagined that the artist/booth attendant would consider me to be a "dabbling, medicore old lady". Well, the booth attender, Eddie, came over to vist me several times. He has done some colored pencil work and has his own artistic aspirations, he was quite encouraging and curious about my work. Given my initial thoughts especially, his interest and encouragement was quite uplifting and motivating to me. The warmth and motivation I got from Eddie's interest and encouragement is probably the most valuable thing I got from being at this show.

New Year's goals aside, I really have not worked as hard as I shoulda- coulda and in reflection, that ole "fear" probably has something to do with it. Living, learning and kicking myself in the butt -- "nothing ventured, nothing gained". You gotta work a whole lot harder, girl!!!!

I did get a lot of work done on my demo foal piece, I will post a WIP next time. Thanks for stopping by!

Art Fair This Weekend

The above photo is of all three feral kittens that were born in the garage. Have not been able to tame them a whole lot. May catch them next week and if cannot find homes (have been calling rescues about Slim -- they are all full). Then maybe make them into barn kitties if everyone can get along. I have caged Slim, unfortunatley. He was beating up the longer time barn kitties and one of them was staying away for days. I am considering whether or not to make him a house kittie, though I had vowed not to have anymore house kitties. We will see.

My first art fair of the season is this weekend. Will be the first time I put up the whole tent. At least it is on grass and only about seven miles from home. Will be putting up the tent Friday night and then hanging the art before it starts on Saturday. It is running Saturday and Sunday. Thunderstorms are predicted! Wish me luck. I have been busy starting a foal demo piece and matting some more prints and packaging some greeting cards I have recently ordered.

I am looking forward to it, but with the last week of school this week and all, I could feel a less rushed with it. I calm myself by telling myself I am still evolving :).

I went to a two day how to do framing workshop not quite two hundred miles away last weekend. I enjoyed it alot more than I was expecting to do. Met some really nice people. I also got to stay at my brother's and have some great food and see a movie.

ALOT of Snow Now

Well it has been snowing and it is still snowing. Not really shocking compared to what people in the central plains, west and north experience routinely. Not even as much as the east coast has had this year so far. But it is alot more than we have had for a few years. We may have had this much at the end of winter last year, come to think of it, but it was gone in a few days. This will be around for awhile with the below freezing temperatures hanging on indefinitely. Poor horses, too hard to tunnel out to the pasture right now. Do let them exercise some in an indoor area that has been tunneled to, though, each evening. It is all doable for now, as long as the power stays on -- losing that really makes it miserable.

I have had one of the worst colds I can remember having in awhile. Missed work on Saturday -- feeling bad about that as a newbie to my job. Will be going tomorrow. Medicine would not touch my symptoms until the last day or two. Can barely do a barn chore here and there. Have caught up on my sleep and have made my applications to a few art fairs. House needs cleaned more than ever, but that will have to wait.

Got news on the poster contest, the winner. Dick Close, is the design director of Ionic Communications Group, a brand design firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. So though this compeition did not have very many entrants relative to alot of contests, it did have some pretty tough competitors. The press release for the competition says that 26 artists scattered from Granville to Los Angeles entered 36 pieces of art into the competition. Several design groups entered.

First Art Festival Report

I'm back -- tired, not much richer, but very happy for the experience. Here are some photos -- one shot of some fun visitors and a few shots of the festival and my booth.

First of all, let me say that the festival organizers worked very hard -- the tents were provided, there were volunteers who were great with helping to load and unload, bottled water was plentiful and provided to artists for free. There was free coffee Friday night and Saturday morning. There were plentiful booth sitting volunteers on Friday (but could not find any on Saturday). The portable restrooms were the best I have ever seen (on a big spacious trailer) and wonderfully clean -- this may seem indelicate mentioning, but it was definitley something that made the experience much more comfortable than it might have been otherwise.

I found setting up the framework exhausting -- much more pressure and less space than the driveway added to this I think. Volunteers were very helpful with helping me hang my artwork and with tear down/load up. I am very glad I took a demo piece to work on, not only did it attract attention like was intended, but it really helped me enjoy those long hours more. I did enjoy meeting people -- all of whom were quite friendly and complimentary to my work. Children, mostly aged six to twelve, were really plentiful and quite interested in looking at the work and the prints -- often much more thoroughly and with more questions than the adults. I had not really anticipated this and found it delightful. Several artists were quite complimentary -- and this was very much appreciated. Some aspiring artists asked for advice, and this was also flattering, and I did realize I have learned alot over the last few years and felt gratified being able to be helpful.

Sales -- I paid for my Friday night motel -- that is better than nothing. I would certainly have liked to have done better, but like I said, it was better than nothing. I sold a couple of prints (one a child chose -- her mother made her look at all the vendors before she was allowed to have it, but she came back for it -- and that was great!) and five greeting cards. The guy selling handmade brooms, six to thirteen dollors, next to me did great. The guy behind me, who came from Buffalo, N.Y. (his daughter lived locally) sold some big ticket watercolors to some doctors (there are two regional hospitals located in this town). I heard him say this, I could not see him once my wall was up. Otherwise, I heard some artists stating that the majority of visitors were lookers and the economy kept people from buying. I really don't know, I could not leave my booth enough to really look at at other people's booths that much, let alone talk with them. I was able to talk to my neighbors -- the broomaker and a fabric artist, alot, though.

Businesswise, however, at least ten visitors expressed an extensive (versus more casual) interest in commissions -- I believe at least some of them may actually follow through. A lady who runs a touring company expressed an interest in me showing and demoing (and she would pay me!) at her regional dinner destinations -- something I never would have thought about. I find that quite exciting and will call her this week. Several people expressed an interest in learning more about colored pencils. I have been thinking about doing some workshops and this really makes me think about pursuing that sooner rather than later.

I wish I could do another festival or two sooner rather than later -- but without a complete tent and most deadlines past I do not think that is possible yet this year. I think I do need some grid like structures for ease of set up though for smaller venues. I may do some farmer markets and animal related venues yet this year, since I have inventory ready, but I think I need a less extensive set up for these. Dunno yet, maybe with more practice, that booth won't be quite so difficult.

There was a little rain, I packed up over night because of it. The guy next to me poked the tent roof with a broom handle in the morning and I got a flood on one wall, after I was set back up -- but salvaged everything o.k. The bugs (we were over water, remember) really gathered on those white walls. I had to work on getting them off in the A.M. and was also glad I packed up because of them, too. I also clamped up the bottom of the walls so they would not get wet. Overall, the weather was great, but I did get a little sense of how fragile one is in the great outdoors.

Well, that is my report. Summary: I am VERY tired, but VERY happy for the experience.

Art Fair How-to Information

As art fairs are so big on my mind and to-do list right now, I thought I would share two sites that have lots and lots of information about showing arts or crafts in fairs and festivals. The sites are Art Fair Sourcebook and Art Fair Insiders. Both sites have interactive forums, as well as access to specific show reviews. I bought my used mesh walls and gallery covers by looking at the for sale items on Art Fair Sourcebook.
Done packing prints and framing except for the one I am working on right now -- working on one more dog pictue to exhibit, and one to demo.

Maude the Bulldog

Here is a portrait of one of the bulldogs that I have been fortunate to have lived with during my lifetime. Her name is Maude and she was in my life from 1997 as a two year old until the summer of 2006. She was a very sweet dog. I just finished this portrait. It is 7" by 5", colored pencil on Ampersand Pastelboard. I will show another potrait that I did of her in the past soon. I hope to do a montage portrait of all three of the bulldogs that have been in my life sometime in the future.

Stopped to do this in the midst of matting and packing prints. I am getting nervous as a cat off and on getting ready for my first art festival. I still have prints and greeting cards to package and signs to make. Ideally I would also do one more large dog piece. I am also planning to start another dog piece to demo at the festival. The clock is ticking away though. I am keeping up with the barn and yard chores, but the house is getting very dusty and I need to go to the grocery store. Have also had a couple of commission requests -- I am very glad, but it is true, "when it rains, it pours".

First Blog Post for A Work In Progess Blog

Welcome to my blog! I hope you will be entertained and informed with my posts about art and animals. I have done some form of art since childhood. I did have about a twelve year hiatus, however, when I purchased my small piece of dirt here in central Ohio and started taking care of my horse at home as well as got chickens. I then commuted a long time to fulltime work in the city. I now get to stay home most of the time and work on animal art and the business of animal art, as well as taking care of animals! I am a work in progress, epecially in the development of art as a business. My business is Angela's Animal Art, http://www.angelasanimalart.com/.

I have been doing pet portrait commissions for a couple of years, now. I will be in my first art festival this summer at the beginning of August. I am very busy right now preparing inventory and getting organized for this. I need everything but the outer part of the tent as the tents are supplied at this festival. Wish me luck!

I am working on four themes for this festival: horses, cats and dogs, barnyard animals and wildlife. I am currently doing most of my art in colored pencil. Here is one I did recently for the wildlife theme. I took the primary reference photo at the Columbus zoo. This piece is 14 by 11 inches on Ampersand pastel board in all colored pencil. It is called: "I Am Looking At You"