art..where are we going???

Good Saturday morning to ya!

I just finished up a large art show and WHEW! It was a great show but I am totally exhausted.

I have to give a huge. HUGE. HUGE shout out to a few people. First a big public thank you to my parents. Not only did they watch my pixies for me while I set up for my show, they and my kids.....CLEANED MY HOUSE!  When I am getting ready for a show I am pretty crazy Like many moms out there, when you focus on work, the house falls apart and then focus on the house and work is running away with itself. SO. my house was a wreck.  I am so blessed call them both my parents.  I could not do this without them!
Another huge shout out goes to my awesome neighbors. I have never done this show before and I was not aware that I could not bring my car in to load up art after the first night. The vendor parking lot was about 1/2 mile away and I had no way of getting my stuff there without walking 4 bins of art 1/2 mile there and back 4 TIMES.  hmmm what to do. Just then my neighbors showed up and said "Do you need help loading up??" Errr...yep I do! :) I put my original art in their van and then carried a crate of prints to my car. I have no idea what I would have done had they not showed up when they did!  If you think I am bragging that my parents and neighbors are better than yours. I am !:)

As an "artist" you work and work in the quiet of your own home, not sure what people will think of your art. I post my stuff on Facebook and get great feedback. This feedback is from my friends, total strangers is a different story. Art shows are exciting and scary. Once a few people buy things I start to relax and enjoy myself. I start to notice what kind of people buy my art and who "doesn't get it". I don't sell landscapes and I understand that quirky may not be the theme you want for your home. Here are a few things  I noticed at my hometown's 4th of July fair.

• Women wearing denim shorts, wearing tall socks and tennis shoes don't get my art.
• People that bring their dog's to festivals tend to like my art.
• Women wearing maxi skirts/dresses love my art.
• The hippie guy selling magic wizard wands, incense burning was awesome when I set up the tent. Two days of it was overkill.
• The guy making balloon animals should be banned from making "Swords" for kids. I saw at least three kids come into my tent with these "swords"  we are all adults right? OK. these looked like kids running around with giant genitalia. eek. This balloon maker needs to look on youtube for some new balloon making tutortials.
• When you let your kids come with you in a booth please don't let them touch all the art with dirty hands.
• Pictures. hmmm. There were a lot of people that would smile when they saw my art and say "OH so and so would love this...." Then text them a picture of my art.  I have no idea what to do with this. I don't want my art ripped off but also don't want to be a jerk. hmmm fine line/
• I had some time to sketch while I was in my booth and I keep sketching the same mermaid wearing water wings. Not sure what to do with her.  I realize this makes me sound crazy.

Now that we got the random observations out of the way..... I am exhausted. Ex.  HAUS. TED.
I have used every bit of spare time I had to paint and glue and make all of this art. The act of each fair is tiring as well. The pay off was when about 75% of the people in my tent enthusiastically asked me where can I get more of this? do you have a store? can I get this in different colors? I have never seen anything like this before, I would like to buy more.   I was overwhelmed by everyone's generosity.  I also was very overwhelmed. My answer was always the same. "My youngest child is headed off to kindergarten in a month and we will see where all this goes!" I understand that this is an amazing problem to have but I have no real answers on how to make more art with the time I have.  I have started researching "thinking bigger" . My husband has been encouraging me to do this from the beginning and I will have to give him the credit if it pays off!! :) Just quietly saying a prayer of thanks tonight and overwhelmed by everyone's support.  Except for the balloon animal guy. I am praying he gets a how to make new balloon animals book for his birthday!
Have a great holiday weekend!
Lindsay and her seven  lemons...