This is copied from my blog

You’ve applied to hundreds of shows over the years. You know what to do and not do with your images. ZAPP and JAS have made it really easy to quickly apply and not really think about it. BUT, when was the last time you went into ZAPP and checked your profile? Checked that all your information is correct? Checked your capitalization, spelling and punctuation? Have you checked your artist statement to make sure it’s current?

 The same things are important on JAS but on there your artist statement is even more important. When you’re being juried on JAS, your artist statement is right in the center of the page, easy for the juror to read. And you wouldn’t believe how many people make mistakes in there. The wrong words, extra punctuation, missing letters and the big one is your name! Sometimes just the first name, sometimes the full name, “James does this”, “Mary Smith likes that”. I was shocked during my latest jurying how many statements had names. Have you checked yours lately?

 Your artist statement should be current and if you want a juror to read it, it should be short. I don’t need to know where you went to school, what your life’s path has been or how many years you’ve been doing this. I need to know anything critical to what you’re showing me in your images. This is not your resume, please don’t list all the shows you’ve done. Short, readable and to the point.

 And then there’s the old issue of a name in the booth image. There are still many, many booth shots that have either the artists name showing or the business name. Please, please remove it. It will not help you and it may hurt you. Take down the booth signs that the show gives you even if you can’t read your own name on it. Anything that distracts from what you want the juror to be looking at which is your booth and the work in it. Leave the chair, that doesn’t bother me at all but get out all the signs.

 And I’ve learned a couple of new things in this last round of jurying that I’ve done. Photographers as a group have the most odd looking booth images of anyone. Many of them look like they’re 20’ x 20’ booths and amazingly they show under 10 pieces with no flip bins! Wow! Please don’t take offense if you’re a photographer because it’s probably not you I’m talking about but you probably know someone who fits this. Just something to think about.

 The other thing I’ve learned is that sterling silver must no longer be a precious metal. No one told me! Jewelers - if there are two categories, precious and non-precious and you work in sterling silver, fine silver pmc or gold, you belong in the precious category. And trust me, you don’t want to be in the non-precious category if you don’t belong there. There is some absolutely wonderful jewelry being made these days without the use of precious metals and you don’t want to be competing with them if you don’t have to. Of course if you’re applying in the non-precious category then I’m not competing with you for a space so maybe I shouldn’t be telling you this…

Hi Everyone!

For those stuck in the great white north of Wisconsin (and cannot get to Florida) my partner and I decided to open a season gallery for the holidays in downtown Minneapolis. This will be open only from Black Friday to January 4.

If you are interested below are the details or you can go to http://vintagepainter.wordpress.com/2012/10/29/art-elves-looking-for-artists/. There are only 10 spots. There are also pictures of the site at that link. 

________________________________________________________________

The Art Elves – where Santa goes for fine art – is looking for regional Wisconsin, Iowan, and Minnesota artists to participate in a seasonal artists show at the Gaviidae Commons in the heart of downtown Minneapolis.

We have secured 1,400 square feet on the street level of the Gaviidae Commons IIand are situated between the Italian restaurant D’Amico & Sons, the retailer Talbots and Neiman Marcus, the coffee shop Caribou Coffee, theWestin Hotel Minneapolis and the RBC Plaza.

All of these businesses open up into the atrium.

The Target Holidazzle Parade passes the store every Thursday through Sunday until December 18 bringing in additional foot traffic and interest.

The store will be open from Black Friday (November 23) through January 4, 2013 (Yes. I know. 2013 already?!) and through a lottery system every artist will rotate through the storefront windows and have access to the street window. 

We have space for ten artists. Each artist will have approximately 100 square feet depending on the type of art and how it needs to be displayed. Although the store has excellent track lighting and display space you may need to provide your own booth panels, displays and lighting.

You must provide your own insurance.

Let’s get the money questions out of the way: $800.00 Participation Fee + 10% commission + 3% for credit card transactions.  Art Elves will collect and pay all applicable sales taxes.

Did I mention that is a total of six weekends and five weeks over the holidays in downtown Minneapolis? On the parade route? In a high-end, high traffic location? Alongside other heavily promoted retailers? Over the holidays?

With fresh coffee nearby? And you don’t even have to work in the store unless you want too.

Participating artists will be mailed a check on Monday, December 17 for sales registered between November 23 to Friday December 14 and on Friday, January 11 for all sales registered between Saturday, December 15 and Friday, January, 4th. Checks will include a statement reflecting all sales.

All credit card transactions in the store will be taken via a Square.

Artists are responsible for delivering, setting up, replenishing inventory and picking-up their own work during strict hours.

Artists may opt into sales and promotional opportunities that may include Groupon,Living Social, Google Offers, Facebook promotions, Google+ promotions, Linkedin promotions, SMS text marketing and in-store promotions.

More details to follow.

The space is limited to ten artists and is first come, first served and until the spaces are filled. To the best of our ability we will not have competing artists.

Did I mention? This is first come.

Call or email Chrissy Mount (Kapp) or Sean Kinney for details. Chrissy@vintagepainter.com or Sean@vintagepainter.com or visit www.vintagepainter.com.

There are only 5 days left for my Kickstarter project to reach its pledge goal: http://kck.st/UzXeft

Some of you may have seen my blog post about it, others may have heard about it on the Art Fair Radio podcast I participated in last week.  If not, here it is, and its down to the wire!!!

I have 5 days for my project to reach its pledge goal, or I don't receive the funding for the project.  I am so excited to go on this trip to Australia and create some great new work there and this project is going to help me in a BIG way.  I will be able to do a lot more traveling while in Australia and get to some amazing places!!!

Check out the project and please share with your friends and networks (facebook/twitter): http://kck.st/UzXeft

Thank you!!!

Does anyone know where to find "for sale by artist" display panels besides our classified ads here?

If you don't know, Kickstarter is a website that helps fund creative and innovative projects through crowd funding.  I am working with Kickstarter to raise funds for my next photographic adventure, this time to Australia.  I will only receive the funds if my project meets its pledge goal by Oct. 29.  If the project does not reach the goal, I receive nothing.  The best part is that no one is "donating" anything to me, Kickstarter requires all projects to return something tangible to the investors in the project.  In terms of my project, investors have the choice of purchasing a photograph from either my previous work, or the work I will shoot in Australia.

I think this is a great way to raise funds for arts projects and even exhibitions.  Its also a great source of promotion for your artwork.  It can take away the entire notion of "well, if I only had the money to..." It also exposes your work to a new audience!

You can check out my project here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1986082413/kite-aerial-photography-in-australia

I encourage everyone to look at the rest of the site and also, since we are all creative people here, keep it in mind for your own future projects.  So far my experiences with them have been excellent!

I will update with its progress.

I just would like to say thank you to everyone who supported my Kickstarter project: http://kck.st/UzXeft either by pledging, sharing the link or simply wishing me well.

My project ends tomorrow, Monday 10/29 at 3pm EDT and it reached its pledge goal tonight!

Thank you all very much for your support, I have worked extremely hard on this, and still have even more work ahead of me now.  I am so excited for my trip and the new work that I will now be able to produce thanks to everyones support.

Special thanks to Connie for having this site and also for inviting me to be a part of Art Fair Radio.

The project will be open to pledges for a few more hours and will be posted up on the Kickstarter site permanently here: http://kck.st/UzXeft

Thank you very much,

Evan

This was our 4^th time in 6 years participating in this show in Coeur d’Alene ID.  The show is the first weekend of August and can be very warm and this year Sunday seemed especially hot as the temperatures came close to the triple digit mark.  I reviewed this show last year, not a lot has changed other than our results.   I really can’t explain why, but by the end of this show we had our highest ever numbers at Art on the Green.  Maybe it was because we skipped the shows in Spokane this year and it was the first time we’ve been to this area in a year. 

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/coeur-d-alene-art-on-the-green

Load in and load out really didn’t change from last year’s write up.  I didn’t see as many volunteers this year, but maybe that’s just because we were busier than last year so I might not have noticed any of them checking to see if we needed a booth sitter.  I also know I didn’t spend much time wandering this year, another sign that we were busier.

Sales on Friday started a little slow but we had a very steady afternoon and by Friday night had covered booth plus expenses which for us is just gas and meals since we tow a travel trailer and they offer free onsite camping.  Saturday sales started early and were fast and furious the first 4 hours of the show then slowed down as the temperatures climbed.  We had a small rush of sales early evening and ended the day with our single best sales day we’ve ever had at Art on the Green.  Sunday was HOT!  Not sure what the official temperature was, but our thermometer in the booth  was showing 97. Crowd was small, sales were slow and ended as our slowest sales day of the show.  Overall, we were still pleased with the results and most likely will be back to this show.

It was also fun to see AFI’ers David Forster and Dennis Brady.  We’re seeing David at several shows this year and it’s always fun to hear Dennis’ perspective on shows in this area as it is his home base. 

Word of caution for those of you considering the other shows in town this weekend (the show in the park or the Street Fair), all weekend we were hearing very negative reports from artists at both shows and know a few artists who have done the show in the park for a few years and have sworn they won’t return as they’ve continued to see the other 2 shows go downhill.  This town really cannot support 3 shows in one weekend and think that all the artists are going to have a reasonable rate of return.

After last weekend’s soggy experience in Sequim WA, we were excited to be headed east to the warmest part of Washington.  Several of us who had put up with the rainy weekend were looking forward to the opportunity to dry out and we weren't disappointed. 

This was our 3^rd year participating in this art show.  Last year it was our best show of the year and still stands as our best 2 day show EVER!  So, we went into this weekend with expectations of a good show, but also trying not to be overly optimistic.   Sales?  We hid the dead center of the results from the past 2 years, less than last year but much better than our first year and to date this year, our best 2 day show of 2012 thus far.  In our minds we at least achieved our goal for this show.

Load in / Load out is fairly easy, I blogged about the show logistics, fees, etc. last year so instead of re-writing all of that, I’ll refer you to last year’s blog:

http://www.artfairinsiders.com/profiles/blogs/allied-arts-leaving-richland-a

We had several repeat customers and seem to be building a great client base in this area.  This is the one big show they have each summer and is well attended.  We were a bit disappointed to see how they had reconfigured the portion of the show where our booth was located.  We had the same booth number but instead of having our nice shady location we were without shade most of the day, we had a lot of comments from customers that we had one of the hottest booth locations, groan, grumble, etc.  Set up and tear down in the direct sunshine was also a little more exhausting, but at least the tent dried very quickly after being packed away in rain the weekend before.

Friday sales started early and rapidly  between 9-11 and then seemed to die for a couple of hours.  The crowd seemed to shrink about 2 PM until early evening.  We had a few sporadic sales through the afternoon and then after 6 PM the crowd seemed to multiply quickly and we closed the evening with a few more sales.  Overall it was our lowest Friday at this show, a decent day but not the great day we had last year on Friday.  Friday’s weather was warm (97 for the high) with higher than normal humidity for this part of the state.  We were saved by having a fairly windy afternoon, that helped keep the air moving and made it feel a little more bearable.

Saturday started slower but sales were very steady for us from 10 – 4 and then a few last minutes sales between 6 PM and 7 PM.    The weather was much more pleasant with a high only in the lower 90’s, low humidity and a wonderful breeze for part of the day.  Saturday was a better sales day for us and the crowd was pretty steady all day.

Overall this is a fairly pleasant show to do.  No artist amenities are offered, the focus is really on just the art.  There is a stage with music and some performances by various dance groups, but it’s off to the side and the volume is not an issue.  The food area is close to the stage and there’s plenty of seating near the food area so we did not have near as many people walking through with messy hands, trying to touch jewelry while eating their junk food.   The show is held the weekend of the hydroplane races on the Columbia River.  I learned this year that this used to be a 3 day show and years ago the organizers decided that holding the show on Sunday wasn’t worthwhile for the artists due to the races, so they shortened it to a 2 day show and eliminated Sunday.  Nice to see a show where the organizers are actually concerned about making it worthwhile for the artists. 

This is a show that most likely remain on our schedule and continues to be the start of our summer road trip. Next stop?  Couer d’Alene ID, Art on the Green.  Hoping to get a few things restocked between now and Thursday.

I recently spent 4 long days in the hospital taking care of my husband after surgery. I learned tricks on my iPad that I never had a chance to explore before.

I loved the art apps. Believe it or not I designed couple paintings and when we came back home from the hospital I ran directly to my canvas and started painting some of those ideas.

Doing a little more research here are some great art apps for when you are on the road and feel creative, I hope you like them! :

http://www.redbubble.com/people/redbubble/journal/8972882-10-apps-for-creating-and-discovering-art-and-design?utm_source=bubblewrap&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Story1&utm_campaign=june_2012

This is the blog I posted this morning.  It is directly related to a specific art fair but it's not the first time I've come home empty handed.  In this day and age and economy, perhaps more of us are dealing with this than not....

I recently returned from an art festival in Louisville where I have previously shown with success.  Not so this year.  Not one sale.  Zip. Zero. Nada.  I left the show thinking “I could have had so much more fun with the $600 I just spent to be here!”  The experience left me pondering.  If I look to financial success to define the weekend it will always and forever be an abysmal failure.  However (you knew that was coming)…

If I look to the results of the show I will be left with a different view point.  The results:  a decision to pursue different types of shows and festivals, a confidence to know it wasn’t about the quality of the art I create, a confirmation to be intentional with my pursuit of honing my craft and developing my personal style, a sensitivity to the art festival market, a beginning of a 5-10 year plan that might take my art out of the outdoor festival model.

Armed with a different perspective, Louisville will never be a failure.  It will be a turning point.  The ah-ha weekend.  The starting line of the next leg of this adventure I call life. ” Failure” is only the end of the line if I allow it to be.  I vote for allowing it to be a catalyst to a creative problem solving process that will move me forward in my journey.  Not the end, but the beginning of the next step.  Who knows where that step will lead.  The possibilities are endless.  I’m all in.

Hi! My family and I are moving to Atlanta, (Suwanee) Georgia in a few weeks. I am wondering if you may recommend any shows in that area?

I make handcrafted jewelry (non-beaded, $20-$60 range). My schedule is full through October here in the Midwest area, but I'd love to add a few shows from November through May.

Any suggestions or advice would be SO appreciated. We are completely unfamiliar to this area.

Thanks in advance,

Rhonda

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.  Did you notice my absence?  We were vacationing.  And it was great.  Even the add on.  Now that part has you curious, right?  That "add on" bit?  But first we need to highlight a word from the title of this post.  Promotion.

Promotion - yes, you could erroneously assume that I am going to give you a sales pitch on some paintings today.

Promotion - yes, and you could also erroneously assume that my job status has been elevated.  That I am now CEO of karencooperpaintings.com.  Oh, wait, I already am.  (Heheheh.)

But what I really want to do here is tie "promotion" in with that "add on" bit.

On our way back from way up north, the map lead us through Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.  Population:  more than Jefferson, but not 15,000 either.  We knew that Leinenkugel Brewing Company was in Chippewa Falls, and we thought, well, that 'd be something to do on our way through.  We were getting tired of driving, you know.  So we cruised around town, and accidentally found "Leinie Lodge", which turned out to be their "meet and greet the world" facility.  We walked up to their information desk to ask about tours.

Terry was the guy who greeted us.  Yes, they were getting ready to close for the day, in ten minutes, give or take a few.  But Terry was still hustling.  No lean on the counter and whine about the long day with this guy.

So, tours were done for the day, we had already pretty much assumed they would be.  We were planning on staying in town for the night, we just wanted to check time schedule for tours the next day.  Terry let us know that tour reservations were a really good idea, their time slots were already getting full.  He added our name to an open spot.  And could have left it at that, right?

But he continued.  What else do you need to know about Chippewa Falls?  We've got great places to stay, all kinds of restaurants, a stellar park.  Terry filled us in on all the local places.  And yes, he did mention the chain hotels and restaurants out on the interstate.  But he definitely highlighted the locals.  He pointed us toward an old-school style inn, just up the road from Leinie Lodge. called the Glen Loch Inn.  Probably a 50's era place, but almost impossibly meticulously well cared for.  Continental breakfast was simple but served on white table cloths.  The inn keeper was just absolutely gracious and friendly.  Does her own gardening, and it's as meticulous as everything else on the property.  The patio was perfect for the continental breakfast.

But Terry the tour guy also noted our bicycles strapped to the back of the Jetta, and mentioned if we enjoyed riding, that Chippewa Falls has a great park, with trails.  300 plus acres in the middle of town, beautiful trails, a band stand, a waterfall, even a small zoo.  We enjoyed.

And Terry also pointed us toward a great local restaurant on the lake at the edge of town, called (of course) The Edge.  Perfect.

So where's this all going you ask?  Promotion.  Terry's job was to promote Leninkugel.  And he did that very well, as a Leinenkugel host.  But he also promoted his peers, his neighbors, his fellow Chippewa Falls-ians.  Terry seemed to know that every bit of promotion he did for his neighbors, was going to come back around and be good for Leinenkugel.

Not all of us in the art world, especially the summer art fair world, understand that concept.  I see artists being protective, even secretive, about information that would benefit their peers.  It's not hard to find an artist based forum on the net, where artists are talking about who's copying who.  And "that was mine, and they copied it!"

Here's the thought to ponder:  everyone does better when the community is well.  Helping your neighbor is just another way of helping yourself.

So we're already planning an autumn trip back to Chippewa Falls...

Later, Cooper

 This  has been posted before by others- as we are asked for donations all the time; one may want to keep this article in mind.  There is no tax benefits for the artist; pieces are usually sold for pennies on the dollar with no reserve minimums, and it is rare to get any business afterward- and if so the prospective buyer wants an unreal deal (like at the auction). Read on, and protect yourself.  

    Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mat-gleason/charity-art-auctions-_b_872953.html

                Fair Winds, safe travels, and check those tires & seat belts

And God said, I will smite your tent down with wind and rain and hail.
And Lo, the security guard will raise you from your slumber and lead you to your crushed and sagging tent. He will provide you with light and encouragement in your hour of need.

But beware the False-prophet who will stop and with forked tongue declare your type of tent is banned from many-a-fair, or at least Columbus. He will try to distract you from your work but he will offer no assistance.

And you will lose all hope as you attempt to rid the canopy of the gallons of water that have crushed it. You will void your tent of its water with a pocket knife by puncturing it 9 times. And you will have to break many supports to get underneath it.

 The bent and twisted tent will rest on top of your pedestals on your center table. As you raise it up you will discover  your ceramics knocked to the ground and jostled to the side, and you will be Sore Afraid. But you will discover that nary a piece is broken, cracked or chipped. And you will be amazed.  Other artists will not be so lucky and you will know you have been chosen.

  And you will take this as a sign. Your first born son, hearing your wailing and gnashing of teeth,  will declare: Father, should we give up, pack and go home? But you will not despair, only wail and gnash some more, then go out in very very early Sabbath morn , and I will provide for you. You will scavenge bricks  block, wood and Bar, and you will resurrect  your tent from the soggy ashes (and you will remember to  seek out the vendors who 'contributed' to your resurrection in the morning's light to explain your thefts).

You will then take inspiration offered from your offspring, remove all the artwork, rearrange your pedestals and tables so as to hide the destruction and the center pole. And you will be grateful that I sent your first born on this expedition to assist you as you cannot do this on your own.

And lo on Sunday morn, the sun will shine, the ravenous crowds will come forth in great hoardes, and they will wonder at your artwork. Any your son will rise at noon.

Man and woman alike will place money and credit cards on your table and you will make many sales, though not as many as the bearded Prophet with the Double wide Skylight  kitty-corner to you.

 You will be wise, take the money I have provided you in the face of disaster, and you will seek out a new, worthier canopy. You will turn a deaf ear to the vendor across the way who admonishes you for having an unworthy tent from Cosco  instead of the superior Walmart pop-up, and you will know it could have been any of the other 20 or more Ez-Ups that escaped my wrath THIS TIME. You will remember the other 4 destroyed Ez-Ups at the fair, and you will know that no foam-swimming-noodle could have altered my wrath. And  you will see the light.

You will have a vision of your Sta-Bar you used to support your demolished tent, and you will seek a tent made of that very same mettle and know that it is special, although a bit heavy.  And you will purchase a Flourish Trimline with Sta-Bar and you will not look back, lest you be turned to stone. You will know the added weight and  time for setup will lead to comfort in trying times and you will be glad you paid through the nose for this tent. You will give me thanks as you carry the Old One to the dumpster as even the zippers will work on your new canopy which always bothered you with the Pop-up. You will be joyful because the Trimline walls will even fit in their carry bag, which the Pop-up never did. You will consider it more than a long overdue investment for the future, it is a gift .

You will be thankful for the three years the Pop-up lasted and know you are meant  to upgrade. And Lo, from this day forward  light will shine brightly through your  own Double Wide Skylight on your artwork. Your Ceramics  will be much admired by the descending hoards and will find safe harbor from the fury of the summer storms to come.  

And you will  go forth and preach the good news to all Art Fair creation and make disciples of your new canopy and break the cycle of the Eternal Occurrence of the Same.

Amen

I have a show this weekend where the weather is "iffy" rain-wise.  I've seen mentions of using "swim noodles" in the roof of the tent but never having seen these used, I have no idea what you're supposed to do with them.  Flotation devices in case the water gets that high??

Cassandra

I just completed another 2 shows which wraps up my autumn (fall) season.   I usually go into winter hiatus now working and start shows again in spring.   My first was a private school annual fair.  The area is semi rural to rural, lots of horsey people (as in, into horses), horse studs and coal mines nearby where the workers gets paid extremely well so generally a well to do area.  The women are traditional with a little fashion thrown in.

Looking down the "market" lane during set up ... before the crowds arrived.

The market area of the fair has grown substantially over the years - I've been going there for six years now and every year is different.  Four years ago I was in the street all by my lonesome... while there wasn't any other draw to pull them out, I did quite okay - the lack of competition probably helped!   The last three years they've built the booth numbers up and this year there were 57.   About half of these were buy/sell and half handmade.   There were two other people with jewellery in my price range and both also sold other women's goods - eg. scarves and clothes also buy/sell.   There were three other lower end jewellery booths as well- two handmade and one buy/sell.       A lot of handmade children's accessories, some gourmet food products,  womens accessories (not jewellery) and house products.  No art per-se.  Definitely set up with booths aimed at mother's day which was the next day.    Set up was from 6.30am for a 9.30am start, although most people didn't arrive till closer to noon.    You couldn't leave before 3pm although I didn't start to pack up till 4pm when most people had left.    You could drive in and unload /pack adjacent to your booth but had to move your vehicle asap out of the street.

I was in a prime position near the front gate of the school (the market is on the street adjacent to the school entrance) on a corner, and masses of people went by entering the school and looking around.     However I had a the two buy/sell jewellery and women's accessories products close by - one as a neighbour and one a walkway and extra booth away.   My neighbour had a brilliant day going by watching her count out her $50 notes half way through the day!  She probably did twice my sales, but most of that was in brightly coloured Chinese made scarves and wraps.

As it was for a school there were lots of children around, and the day before mothers day I had little girls coming into the booth with $25 asking if I had anything they could buy for mum.   (As an aside,  I haven't had time to check my stock, but I hope there were no light fingers around - I know I stopped one little group of girls (about 9 years old) who I overheard say "there's no one here, I guess we can just take one"!   Then they saw me hovering between my booth and the next (I was minding the neighbour's for a few minutes) and they laughed nervously, got embarrassed and ran off!  My neighbour suspected one of her bracelets was taken by a young girl later in the day. )

There were some mums buying gifts for themselves, and others doing last minute shopping for mum.   And a few bought for themselves.    Lots of lookers, but most carrying bags of some description.   All in all I was pleased with the day's sales -it wasn't mind blowing but it was definitely a good show.  Booth fee was $100 and I comfortably made 10x after expenses.

The second show was a one-off art festival in a remote but known to be "arty" country town about 2 hours drive away.    I was asked by the organiser to attend as she had seen my work somewhere else a few years ago and had kept my card.    I had the option of indoor or outdoor and chose indoor with electricity.  Everyone else had chosen outdoor though and it was with many misgivings after I received the site plan a few days prior that it was just me and an art exhibition in the hall.   I hoped someone would come in to see the art!!  

They wanted people set up from 10.00am but when I arrived at 8.30 there wasn't a soul in the streets.   I stood out there a few minutes in the sunshine (it was a very brisk morning!) and someone drove past and screeched to a halt.  It was the organiser and she wasn't expecting anyone till around 9am as everyone else was at church (which got out at 9am).   She drove away and came back a few minutes later with the keys and told me to set up wherever I liked and dashed off.   We looked at the exhibition and picked a nice sunny spot near a window since it was rather chilly to set up in.  One of the ladies arrived shortly after and so did the other stall holders.   There were 30 booths and what a mixture - local products (eg wine, emu oils, wood), books, good coffee, local lamb for lunch, an artist with her work and painting at the same time, some folk music,  etc.

We had positioned ourselves in amongst the art so that if anyone came through, they would see us.  We found out the art on display was all from the local area and most was for sale - from $30-$850.    This fact brought all my ideal clientele in - rural ladies over 40 -  with some husbands too,  and they sold quite a few pieces of art during the day, (I believe the top price paid was $650) - including one to me!

I had steady sales throughout the day - more sales than the day before, but most of them were of a lower value.   Most were buying for themselves (including a number of the organisers who kept dashing past me) but a couple of younger harried looking mums were cross at not getting a mums day pressie and bought their own!

I did hear that the non-art and non-food people didn't do well at all.  The wind had increased and it stayed cold (but sunny) and this probably impacted on people's spending - they kept their hands warm and in their pockets!    The people who were there came to look at and buy art rather than products it seemed.   Booth fee was a mere $25 so not much to cover in expenses.

After such a good weekend I can now rest happily and gaze at my new painting .

So who's coming to live downunder!?  Buy/sell is rampant but the customers still buy art :)