After Sierra Art Trails. . . . .

My last post was about Sierra Art Trails. The weather was perfect this year but it was a rather quiet weekend in terms of traffic and sales. Julie Mitchell, Vivian Aumond-Capone, and I wish we knew what made it a quieter year than usual. We enjoyed each others' company and the wonderful visitors we had but we are still wondering why it was not as well-attended as usual. Please comment if you have thoughts on the subject. Was it adding the third day? Too many choices of days? Of artists? Too many locations? Too many other events going on? Too tired? Didn't know about it? Too beautiful and you wanted to be at home working in your yard? You've seen all the locations/artists before and decided to take a year off? You've never been and you didn't go this year either? Any thoughts you can share will be appreciated.

Sierra Art Trails/September 30, October 1-2

Tomorrow is Day 1 of the 3 day Sierra Art Trails Open Studio event. Over 90 artists will be showing their work in studio situations in the mountain communities north of Fresno. For the 3rd year, I will be at Julie Mitchell's home studio in Coarsegold with Julie and Vivian Helena Aumond-Capone. Julie makes Spirit Figures and Vivian will have quilts, hand-dyed t-shirts and scarves, gourds and gourd necklaces, and more. I will have cards, prints, and original watercolor and mixed media paintings. At our location, there is a wonderful mix of art and artists and we certainly hope that you will visit during the long weekend. This is the first year that the locations (some of them, at least) will be available on Friday in addition to the weekend. Weather should be excellent.

From Highway 41 in Coarsegold, turn across the highway and go uphill at Pony Express Lane which is right across from the Shell Station. Take a quick right, uphill again, on the gravelled Forest Glen road and follow the signs a short distance to our location.

A New Project--Part 1

At Sierra Art Trails, Julie Mitchell and I talked more about a little workshop/demo session that we are going to do at Willowbridge Bookstore in Oakhurst in December. We did one there before and decided we want to make the next one much better. The first time, I planned to do a little collage demo and Julie planned to do a little make-it/take-it of paper clay faces. Well, of course, people wanted to do the make-it/take it, me included! So, next time we are going to do an interactive session together,  with each of us doing a part of the presentation/demonstration.

Julie will do the faces, hands, and feet and I will do the bodies and backgrounds. Our participants will  make a card or a little wall hanging.  I have been experimenting with some ideas for the bookstore session and here is what I have come up with so far. I'm sure Julie is doing the same in her studio in Coarsegold and once we both have some samples made, we'll coordinate our efforts in the final planning for the December afternoon.

First, I cut some old mat board scraps into 5 X 7 inch rectangles. The board was gold on one side (the front) and white on the other side (the back). I decided to work on 3 at once so I cut them, colored the edges with a black Sharpie pen, put a black ribbon loop on the back with double-sided tape, and then covered the back with a piece of scrapbook paper, applied with a glue stick. I had to do a little touch-up of the edge with the Sharpie when I was done.

 After the boards were prepared, I started looking through magazines ("Oprah!" is one of my favorites) for pieces to use for heads/faces and for bodies. Here are photos of the 3 faces that I clipped out.

This photo shows the prepared boards with the cut-outs selected for the bodies--which are clock or watch faces--and the 3 heads.

                                                                

In this photo, I laid down a body and a face on background and I also added some checks with a stamp pad and permanent ink, plus a piece of drywall tape to the lower left corner of the piece with the black and white stylized head. They will be glued down with a glue stick, once I have added some wings behind each figure--so they can be angels, though that isn't a necessity.

I decided that all of these little hangings will have a woman, some words, and some checks in them so that I can call them "Checked Chicks" or "Chick Checks" or some such. Working in a series appeals to me, and doing 3 at once means that I can think in similar terms for a period of time and be looking for similar things to cut out etc. I can also use the same materials for a little while and experiment with the same pallette, same supplies and same techniques on all 3 pieces. If I am trying out a new medium or a new technique, I have more than 1 opportunity to get it right, before it's all over for the day, so to speak!

That concludes Part 1 of the small project--Part 2 will soon follow!

Sierra Art Trails 2009

The big Open Studio Weekend is behind us for another year, but I must say that this year's event was my most successful to date. I have participated for 5 years, though I took last year off so that I could go to the other studios, and 2009 was by far my best sales year yet. It was wonderful to see old friends, make new friends, visit with other artists, and get motivated and rejuvenated with many new ideas. Now I am going to get back to serious painting and trying to get back on track in terms of meeting my goals for 2009.

Those of you who came yesterday--Thanks so much!! And thanks, too, to fellow artists Julie Mitchell, Ellen Carnese, and Valerie Runningwolf for a great 2 days. Special thanks to Julie for her hospitality and inviting the 3 of us to join her at her studio. Visit her at her blog and see her wonderful spirit figures.

Dueling Photographers

Julie and I playing around with "dueling cameras" at a quiet (?) moment during Day 1 of Sierra Art Trails 2009. We were being silly, maybe because we were tired after all the preparation, the set up and an intense day of talking to LOTS of people. I will include some other photos and try to write more and show more photos after tomorrow.

The weather was fabulous, the guests were wonderful, and there were LOTS of people on the trail today.

Today I drove to Oakhurst to deliver postcards and flyers to Timberline Gallery and then see Julie Mitchell and Vivian Helena Aumond Capone in a show at the Positive Living Bookstore in Oakhurst. It was a beautiful show and it seemed to be very well-attended. I fell in love with  a yellow angel muse by Julie and a tiny yellow comfort doll by Vivian. So both came home with me and I will treasure them. Julie and Vivian have very "complimentary" pieces that show very well together--Julie's spirit dolls and Vivian's art quilts, journal covers and comfort dolls.

The wildflowers on the way up and down the hill to Oakhurst are absolutely phenomenal right now. Yellows, golds, blues, purples, and the ever-present white popcorn flowers. Take a drive, if you can, and see them!

Work and Play

Today was the second meeting of the Art Marketing Salon group in Coarsegold. We are meeting as a group, with a designated leader (Julie Mitchell) to follow the "plan" established by Alyson Stanfield,  Art Biz Coach. Her website is artbizcoach.com and her blog can be followed at artbizblog.com. There is a definite time commitment involved (which makes the process somewhat hard and serious work), but there is also a feeling of fun, playfulness, and developing collegiality. 

As I read Alyson's  blog today, one paragraph stood out to me. It started out by saying: "Presentation is everything." And then went on to say: "It's the small things that make a difference and distinguish us from others. As an artist, it’s your attention to the detail of your matting, framing, and display. It’s the care you give your printed materials and your Web site that announce to the world that you’re a professional. It’s the care with which you treat each person you run into because you know they might be a customer one day—that you show them respect and trust." And I know from personal experience that this really is the truth.

I am enjoying meeting with other like-minded artists to discuss common concerns and share our hopes and goals regarding our careers as artists. The process is causing me to focus on the critical pieces of marketing and public relations that I might neglect otherwise. Today, we had lunch together after the meeting and that was rather like one of Julia Cameron's suggested "artist dates". We're getting to know each other better and coming to respect each others' opinions and advice. I look forward to the next meeting in 2 weeks.