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Summer Markets are Hot

I have done several summer markets in the past 2 weeks. Sales have been unexpectedly high, with the exception of the farmers market in Willsboro, it hasn’t had any traffic so I will give it another week or two.

The newest market was in Peru NY at Hayworth park, it was a first time event and very well run. The Peru market was over 90* and a very light wind. The Strand Art Market was also on a hot day with high humidity, has been a pleasure to attend and the staff has made the difference. I have done a few of the Lake Placid farmers markets and I am very surprised at the results, several sales of my nicer pieces, even with light traffic, the summer season is just starting there.

I purchased an new printer to support making cards, its the new Epson Ecotank 8550. It is able to print A3+ size but the reason i bought it was to make better quality note cards. I have sold a lot of the note cards and I am working on producing set to sell on this site. I have tried printing some larger images as a test and I am very impressed. It handles the heavier card stock very well (I like the 110lb stock).

I have sold a number of paintings over the last few markets, so now I need to paint more just to keep a stock for the various markets I do. I have sold Loons, Herons and a Fox driftwood frames.

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Farmers Markets Return

This past week I participated in 3 Farmers Markets and another Strand Art Market. Four events in four days, and each one very different. It started with a new market for me, Lake Placid. The main road through town is all under construction and it’s a little congested, it was a decent market for me. I sold a lot of cards and have found that the layout makes a difference. Putting the cards at the front of my booth they get seen and purchased. At the Willsboro and E-Town Market they were back at the table and didn’t sell as well.

I was also at the Strand on Saturday and that was the best market so far. I sold several of the driftwood pieces and my smaller studies as well as sold most of my cards. It will be a busy week to make a few more paintings and printing more cards.

I finished two new cardinal paintings early last week and put them up in the market, both sold quickly. Cardinals are one of my most popular birds. I also sold a Humming bird painting that I added it last minute after fixing the frame. I had one the paintings blow off the grid racks and break the branch off the frame.

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Turtles Arrive

This past week I did a series of Turtle paintings . The inspiration came from seeing a turtle on a log in the marsh at Ausable Point Beach. I was impressed with the bright bottom side of the shell as it was reflected in the sun.

The paintings will be mounted in driftwood frames, some I have already made and others I will have to do soon. I will have them available at the next art and farmers markets. I will also post them on this site as soon as I can.

At the past Strand art Market I sold almost all of my cardinal paintings and decided I need to have a few more for my first Farmers Market in Lake Placid. I expect the market to be very interesting an believe that my driftwood frames will make a positive impression.

I am painting in the sun room full time now and saving the studio in the basement for frame work.

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Mothers Day Art Market

Yesterday was the Mothers Day Art Market at the Strand Center for the Arts. It was a very good market and almost felt like a pre-Covid event. There were 45 vendors with a wide variety of booths.

I had a very good market and sold several paintings, and a bunch of note cards. I really need to get the card sets on the site. After the last market I sold 2 commission pieces. I had many other inquiries again this market, mainly for pet portraits. As you see below I have been busy in the studio.

This is the new fishing series that I developed for this market. One is already sold.

I shot a sort video of my booth, see it here.

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Spring Painting

Like spring cleaning, spring painting gets me ready for a full summer Art Market season. I plan to add a few more farmers markets this year . I have finished most of my indoor chores, just one bathroom left to remodel but it may have to wait till fall.

I have started to paint more and have finished a few that I will post today. The painting of Trevor – Ausable River Split Rock Falls has already been sold to a person that is on my advance mailing list. I will be doing more of a series of pieces similar to that one.

With a Mothers day Art Market at the Strand coming up in May 8th I have a few that I am finishing up to have for that market.

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Strand Spring Art Market

March 20 was the Spring Market at the Strand in Plattsburgh. I successful market for me with good sales and many new contacts. Interest in my paintings was very good but the majority of my sales was in the small paintings and cards.

It was a sunny day but didn’t warm up as much as expected due to a cold wind. It just reached 44F and with the wind it didn’t feel above freezing. When the wind died down the sun was glorious and a harbinger of warmer days ahead. I used the stand alone displays and didn’t use the canopy setup, I wanted the sun to shine on my art.

Looking forward to the next market in on May 9, warmer days ahead.

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Spring Market 2021 Event

Sunny Bunny

On March 20 I will be participating in the second Strand Center for the Arts – Art Market, it runs from 10am to 2pm. It looks like this market will have great weather, temps around 45f and sunny. I am worried that the grounds will be a little soft and muddy but that is all part of the season we are headed for.

I plan on using my new “sunshine” setup, where I don’t use my shelter canopy, instead I set up my monolith display racks so they are easy to walk around and I can display my paintings. Not being below freezing I can go back to use my zip ties to assemble the racks, last time it was so cold the zip ties would just break when they were flexed. I will have a second table this time and add my vertical displays.

Monolith Display Rack
Monolith Display Rack

My display racks are made from three pieces of 6′ wire closet shelving, zip-tied in a triangle. I place a board across the bottom wires and add a weight on the board to help balance the display. I put in the board and weight before I close the last side, it doesn’t work dropping in the weights after assembly, things break! I put zip-ties loosely on two sides bundling all three together to make them easier to load on the truck and assemble. I use recycled plastic jars with sand and stone for my ballast.

I pre-wire my paintings using paper clips to make hanging go much faster. a turn or two around the hanging point and then leaving a hook to go on the displays makes quick work of setup.

Rack Hanger
Rack Hanger

This will be an interesting show and I am going more prepared with more cards including a boxed set option (6 for $10). The plan is to show more of the bunny paintings on one of the displays to see how having a theme (Easter) rack works.

Sunny Bunny
Sunny Bunny

I haven’t been painting much over the last few weeks pushing to complete the master bathroom remodel. On the home stretch with the vanity going in soon then finish up with molding. All other parts are finished and I do like the heated tile floor…

I have several subjects pushing to get to paper and I can already see the results in my mind. I think an eagle in is my near future, I sat in the hot tub after a day tiling the bath and watched a bled eagle fly over then perch in a tree near by.

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Finishing Stalled Projects

Canvy

I decided that February was my month to try to finish as many of my stalled projects as I can. Some were home renovations others are pieces that I have started and not completed and a few are to fix tools that have broken or damaged.

The “major” stalled project wat to finish the master bathroom. This one has been in progress for a year, other things are more interesting and I always find a convenient place to say it can wait. Lucky I have a very, very patient wife. I ended up installing in floor heating and tiled the bathroom and walk in closet floor. Still need to build a vanity so it looks like it will spill over to March. I did complete a few things, I repaired my Air Brush compressor, fixed a ship vac, and repaired the tile saw. I have yet to complete any more paintings but that will come in the next few weeks. I spent some time going through my workshop reorganizing parts of it (Not being able to find what I needed, but knew I had was the real reason) but I count that as a win.

I also looked into a few new options for images on my web site, adding an in room view using a product called Canvy. It is a cool product and I will start to incorporate it into the site in the future. I have been in contact with the developers since it does not support some of the art I produce like the Driftwood Frame series, I have offered to be a prototype user and shared some of my art images with them as they develop the enhanced capabilities.

Canvy
Canvy

I need to clean up the open projects before the weather turns and I want to make more art projects.

Cardinal-Cards
Cardinal-Cards

Before the next outdoor market I need to print more of my cards, I also plan to offer them on my site in the near future.

Back to the renovation work 🙂

Ron

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Art Below Zero

Bundled-Up

The first winter Art Market at the Strand Center for the Arts, was a held on February 13th, during one of the coldest day of the year. It was -6(f) at the start of the day and the temperature rose to 10(f) by the time the market closed . It was so cold that as I assembled my display stand the Zip Ties broke every time I used them. I was able to bend the Zip Tie in my hand and they would just snap. I had to use bent paper clips to hold the display together.

My Outdoor Winter Display

I decided to adjust my normal market display to keep it as simple as possible. Didn’t use my EZ-Up because I didn’t want shade to keep things cold. I used 6′ wire closet shelves in a triangle formation to work as display stands, prewired the paintings to be easy to hang, and added a weight to the bottom. That worked surprisingly well, my customers were able to walk around and see paintings on each side, I will use it again. Add in a table with my cards and I was set to go in about 30 min.

The best sellers were cards and I sold 4 paintings of various sizes. From this experience will have to start offering cards on my web site.

I recorded the display on YouTube https://youtu.be/6orpWCqRxDs

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Surprise Winter Event

Owl Driftwood

Late last week I got a surprise! The Strand Center for the Arts is going to hold a series of 9 outdoor markets for 2021.

Now this will be an experience, since it is an outdoor market and the temperature is supposed to be a high of 7f (-14c). I will have to dress warm and I plan to keep the setup as simple as possible. It will be a table with small sculptures and my cards and 2 of the wire walls to hang some of my Driftwood frame paintings. I will also have a center table with a bin of my smaller works. This will keep the setup and tear down simple and avoid manipulating the EZ-up in the cold.

Squirrel Peek
Squirrel Peek

I did finish off a couple of paintings and frames just for this event.

Date/Times:
• February 13th 10am-2pm
• March 20th 10am-2pm
• May 8th 9am-2pm
• July 3rd 9am-2pm
• July 10th 9am-2pm
• September 11th 10am-2pm
• October 30th 10am-2pm
• November 27th 10am-2pm
• December 18th 10am-2pm
Location:
The Artisan Market will take place at the Strand Center for the Arts, 23 Brinkerhoff St, Plattsburgh. It will be on
the front lawn of the Art Center. All vendor spaces are 6 feet apart, adhering to Market Safety Guidelines.