Blog

The storm the night before as it approached Ocean City travelling north to south. Note the clear skies behind it and on the left. To the right, the sky was black....Also note the trailing thing-ees under the wall cloud...

Saturday, June 15, 2013..... The day dawned bright, crisp and cool, as only a beach town show can. The weather had cleared out less than an hour after the wind squall which took out 7 or more tents the previous evening. While we were salvaging the painter's inventory whose tent got nailed, we both noticed that the moon and stars had shone through the few remaining clouds... Today, the sky was clear.

My wife, Carol, and I arrived on site at approximately 6 AM to get set up and to put the top back on the canopy frame. Putting the top back on took all of five minutes... My wife later alluded to her fears that we would have to drop the tent legs to get the top on as everything was still zip-tied together...an onerous task she felt would take over an hour. Since this park site is open to the public, we knew there would be potential early shoppers and didn't want to miss out on any opportunities.

So, we got busy. Once the top was back on and the sides of the tent rolled up, Carol got right to work on hanging the paintings. We had taken several images of the booth set-up and hanging scheme at the sodden and muddy (but surprisingly sales worthy) Annapolis Arts Crafts and Wine Festival....so we had a guide to setting the art. We used to draw a diagram at the end of each sales day when I was using the steel frame and peg board hanging system, but it was a whole lot quicker to shoot a couple of images with the IPhone camera... So she was able to place the hook and loop hangers on the panels relatively quickly in the right places.

At the same time, I worked to get the deep cycle LED lighting set-up prepared. One problem I have noted with using the pro-panels and their light bars is that if you are using their stabilizer bars, you end up having to pull the hook and loop closure off the top post of the panel - thereby losing the easy anchor post to hold one end of the hook and loop while trying to join the panels together. This is b/c the light bar post takes over one panel post while the 2 in 1 stabilizer bar takes over the other. If there was a bigger sewn loop in the hook and loop strips, one could then get the closure over either stabilizer bar end or light bar end and not lose the easy way to bind the two panels together. The way it is set up currently, you have to pull the strip off the post, install the bars and then bind the assembly back together. If you use a 3 light bar set up, this happens three times.... Could be easier.... Hope someone at Pro Panel is listening and is going to send me 4 or five for beta testing.. You know my name and address folks.....

So anyway, got the light bars up, track light strips installed and cord plug end pieces screwed together to the track sections. Next came setting the LED floodlights on the tracks and adjusting their set off from the panels in order to assure even lighting coverage. After this, I got the two marine deep cycle batteries in place behind the panels in their little wagon, hooked them in parallel with cables, wing nuts and lock washers, and clamped in the voltage inverter. Then plugged in the track light cords to the surge strip and the strip into the inverter.... Ready, Set, Lights On?.... well, 6 of 9 were on... Say what??

Carol in the meantime had the art more or less roughly hung and was setting the price cards in place on the frame corners... Time was passing quickly and now I had to troubleshoot the track which wasn't lighting. I figured it was either the power connector or the track conductors which were not making contact as these Pro Panel-supplied tracks are not very well made... So I fiddled with these two items for about 20 minutes to no avail... That meant that power wasn't getting to the track despite solid connections between connector and conductors... OK... Pulled the connector from the track and took the two screws out which hide the wiring connections from cord to connector... Wish I had a picture to share... Neither line cord wire end was in contact with the screws of track power supply connector.... NEITHER ONE!!!

The connectors have been used a grand total of six times and the wires came loose..... REALLY?????

The wires appeared to have not been well connected to the terminal screws...i.e. loose screws - which equals shock and fire hazard in my book. Not a very good advertisement for your products Pro Panel.. You might want to check these items in the future before they ship to customers... I had to strip the wires back a bit further and make the connections and dog the terminal screws back down and re-assemble the connector access cover plates. Hit the switch on the power supply and all the lights lit. And just in time, too as the customers were starting to converge on the exhibitor tents.

Show Time

As usual, the traffic seemed to center on the booths featuring women's apparel. Given the typical customer mix is more female than male, this seems unsurprising to many artists and craftspeople. It's also why there are so many jewelers and wearable vendors in many of the events I jury into. It's an exhibit institutional issue and it hurts everyone. More 'jewelers' means more jewelry sales, since women will often spend 20$-50$ on something to wear before they will buy fine art or craft. However, since it is spread across many more jewelers than in times past, it often results in fewer sales per 'jeweler'.  But it also hurts the fine artists due to the potential spending budget amount limits of the female customer. Perhaps there should be a movement to limit fine jewelry and 'jewelers' to those who work in precious metals and precious and semi-precious gems.

Anyway, I am sure that I just cheesed off a substantial number of board members and for that I have a bit of regret since it usually results in the need to wear Nomex tighty whities...they itch and are confining...

The event moved towards noon with a couple of small sales and lots of lookers, kids in strollers, dogs on retractable leashes (which weren't retracted often enough for some), cyclists, joggers, and people totally oblivious to the art show, but wondering why 'their' normally quiet and uncrowded park was so full of people...

The judges started their loop of the vendors at noon and took several hours to cover all the exhibitors. There were three judges I saw and they actually spent time with each exhibitor to look at their work and often to ask questions about process and materials. They spoke with me and asked about my works. I had to give two quick explanations b/c I was showing my two signature styles and the process and materials differ. But, to their credit, the judges listened attentively, and then stuck their small colored dot on my booth card - signifying that they had judged my exhibit - and went on about their way.... Now this is a small event, but has some very nice prize money... Best in show is worth $2500.00, while Judges Choices are worth $500.00 and the Mayors Choice is worth $250.00. There is also a peoples choice award given on Sunday - but I can't remember the prize value... These prizes are spread over about 125 exhibitors, so just by random chance there would be a 1 in 25 chance of winning an award.

We continued through the heat of the afternoon  and I started on a demonstration mixed media painting or two to pass the time and entice the customers to stop at my booth. I usually have something to work on while waiting for a nibble on a painting. So I started on some bluefish and weakfish pieces for stock. Surprisingly, many of the pieces I start on at an outdoor exhibit often sell at the very next show after they are completed... you figure that one out.

At about 3:30 or so, the judges returned to my booth.... This means you made the first cut in most shows and I fully expected to have them look again and hopefully come back....... But.... in this case.... they asked me to take one of my recently completed pieces to the artists reception room.... I won something!!!!! Wooo Hoooooo!

Now usually I go to the artists reception to hang out with a couple of other fine artists and artisans, nosh on some fine appetizers, drink some free adult beverages, and to poke fun at or puzzle at the judges choices for the awards ceremony. But this time, I was on the of people I usually puzzled about.... the horror!

So 5 PM finally arrived and we packed the art down from the booth before going to the artists reception. We never leave the paintings in the booth overnight as you never know what could happen given the limited number of security personnel, unlimited access points, and large number of booths for security to cover.... Anyway, sure enough, I received a Judges Choice Award for the painting "The Canal In Manayunk", plus some prize money!

That evening, Carol and I indulged in some steamed crabs and a pitcher of beer at Leo's - right across the street from our hotel. Back at the hotel room, I set up the charger and charged the deep cycle batteries. This took about 5 hours and one could only charge one battery at a time because too much heat was generated when trying to charge them in parallel - causing the charger thermal overloads to kick out. Carol and I did some clean-up and then Carol dozed off while I watched TV and kept an eye on the batteries.

Sunday June 16, 2013 - Well the day started a little bit later than Saturday. We checked out of the hotel after a bit of milling about in the hotel room. We arrived on site and set everything back up just like yesterday, plus added a few more paintings held in reserve.... The electrical system worked this time with no hitches.

The day was warmer than I expected, but dry, and the wind had picked up a bit over Saturday. Again, we had lots of early shoppers, but few buyers. I talked with several exhibitors over the day, and the consensus seemed to be that most of us were down in sales compared to 2012 for this event. Of course, last year, I sold a nice work which had a larger price tag compared generally to what sells out of the booth... (but still this was only 3 figures, not 4)...

We were pleased with the nearly hourly volunteer visits from the Ocean City Art League members asking if we needed booth sitting or a break.

I continued to do painting demonstrations throughout the day, but the show closed with only a couple more small sales in addition to the small number the previous day. I was thankful to have received the Judges Choice Award prize money, as this probably covered expenses and allowed for an undeserved small profit.

Carol and I tore the booth down and stowed it away in the Odyssey; saying farewells to our friends as they departed ahead of us. The drive home was uneventful except for two things. One was an intense rain squall which made it nearly impossible to see from behind the wheel. The second was riding in the rocking chair behind a group of Pagans Motorcycle Club bikers almost to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal bridge. It was dark when we rolled into the driveway. Both of us dozed off after dinner. I awoke in the wee small hours of the night and wandered down into the garage to unload the Odyssey...

After the unloading was complete and batteries set to charge, I started working on the paintings I had begun in the two previous days. As the sun started to rise, it was time for some bed.....

So, this is a very artist friendly show. It has easy load in and out, parking behind your booth, great event staff and volunteers, lots of booth sitters, a decent food concession on site and is well attended. My guess is that there were somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-10,000 visitors... but this includes the joggers, strollers, dog walkers and other park users. My sales were down from last year, but I saw plenty of boxes, bags and canvasses being toted about by patrons. As a fine arts painter, selling nothing but originals, I did under $1000.00 of business. However, none of my originals are over $1250.00 and my least expensive pieces are $50.00. These smaller pieces sold the best. I was interviewed and video clipped by the press on sunday. If I can find it online, I will link it. In my previous two shows, I sold over 10 pieces at each event. This show was perhaps only 6 pieces... But as my wife and I constantly tell each other, each event is a total crapshoot and you just never know what will sell. All exposure is good and each time you attend an event, you lay the groundwork for a future sale with someone...