Great weekend, great show, lots of orders for custom portraits!
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Great weekend, great show, lots of orders for custom portraits!
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Comments
Thank you, Robin, for reviewing this show. The Howard Alan organization has two fine art shows each year on Venice Ave. (the other is held on the first weekend in November) and both are consistently good shows for me. Which isn't that surprising; the town is right on the water and my work is heavy on pelicans, egrets, and other wading birds.
The show is strung out along Venice Avenue for about four blocks. It's an area filled with restaurants and small boutiques, and they seem to welcome the show every year. Tents are pole to pole, and although there is ample storage space behind your tent it can be difficult to get to it if you don't have a door in the back wall of your tent (I don't). The Howard Alan folks (Robin: pls. note the spelling for future reviews) do a good job getting you to your space in the 5AM darkness. Venice Avenue has a wide central median, and many artists didn't have an artist behind them on the opposite side. If that was the case, and you had an SUV-type vehicle, you could even park right behind your booth for the duration of the show.
Load-out was well-managed and smooth. I broke down my tent, fetched my Ford Transit from a side road about a half mile away (the walk does me good after standing in one spot all day) and slipped into an open spot behind my booth to pack my artwork, then pulled in front of the tent not long after 6 PM to load the tent and hardware.
Most of my neighbors, and others I spoke with, had decent to good shows. For me, it was a breakthrough event--the first show since moving to a larger-sized (3x2 foot, plus) canvas at which I sold more than one. So it wound up being my best show of the season--displacing the November Venice show by a couple of hundred bucks.
Hmmm, maybe I should be opening a gallery up there if my knees and back ever tell me my outdoor show days are numbered. But for now, I'm remembering the words of my jeweler neighbor, who said he was 62 years old and "don't think I'll be doing this more than another 30 years."
Ok, drove from Webster FL. leaving for Venice at about 3 pm on Friday, a 2 hour drive without traffic. My GPS routed me around a major traffic jamb on I75. I arrived in Venice a little before the parking allowance time of 6 pm. Set up didn't start until 5 am Saturday morning so I found a great Sushi restaurant, had dinner and went looking for a good spot to take a nap in the truck. At 4 am the hustle started as I had expected, no one waits for the real staring time! We had three hours to unpack and move our vehicles. The designated parking was in a local Bank lot but that soon filled up with big RV's and trailers, I opted to park else were, I was chastised for that but deserved it!
I try to follow the rules but it always seems other don't and I get busted! The Howard Allen people were very kind, I was in the wrong. I am now on a first name basis with them so I guess I need to behave!
The weather on Saturday was glorious, the people kept coming and coming. Lots of seasonal tourists with the intention of spending money. People were early Christmas shopping and in good humor. I had the most wonderful conversations with everyone! I still get asked if my "Colored Pencil and Watercolor" drawings are photographs, even with a clear sign that they are not, however, I was never challenged or interrogated as I had been at past shows.
Sunday was again a beautiful day, we were allowed to park on the street close to the Bank without incident.
My neighbors were wonderful, they did very well indeed. One a talented fine art jewelry couple, the husband actually worked on a piece at the show and the other a gifted seamstress.
I was told a few of the vendors were doing buy sell, but I have no way of verifying that.
There were many return patrons from fairs past, this town loves the Art Fairs and it's artists!
The show ended at 5pm Sunday evening and we were allowed to bring in our vehicles at 6pm.
I am always the last to leave, Sunday was no exception. One of the Howard Allen people asked me to please make sure the road block was put back when I left, no pressure to hurry, thank you Howard Allen.
Cosco had a tent set up for the Artists with food and drink, there was a public bathroom within easy walking distance of the booths. The food venders were awesome, gourmet food, the local restaurants provided delivery and the "Happy Hour" at the Margarita Grill was the best!
I had the best sales this season, that didn't take much considering I hadn't had any sales yet, more people took cards and seemed interested in ordering on line.
Things are looking up, I might be done for this season but am looking forward to next year.
I would without a doubt do this show again, the down side is that it falls on the same weekend as the Gasparilla Show.
Thanks for asking Connie.
Glad to hear you are happy, Robin. How about some details?