It’s been a while since I last posted, but I have not been idle.
I have been very busy with attending markets as well as needing to replenish my paintings. I have painted and sold a large number of paintings. On average I sell 1 – 2 of my larger driftwood framed are sold every week, along with 15 – 18 of my smaller framed paintings. That means I have to paint at least 15 paintings every week.
I have found that loons, foxes, moose and blue herons are favorites wildlife subjects at the Lake Placid NY and Saranac Lake farmers markets. I have also started to paint locally inspired landscapes and they are very popular as well.
While attending the various markets I have made a number of good friends and professional connections, and as a result I have been directed to a number of new events to sell at.
I will be honest, a number of markets have not been great, cold and rain resulting e very few sales. I have also missed attending a number of events to attend to other issues. This has spurred me on to enjoy the ones I get to participate in.
After the mid week markets finish in mid September, I will try to update my web site and social media accounts.
This has been a very good year and thanksgiving I have so much to be thankful for in both my personal and my art life. I have been blessed with new “Art” friends, I find that by attending several art events that I repeatedly run into other artists. Without exception, they are all willing to talk about their art and about the art business. I was told about many art events I didn’t know about and who to talk to and what’s good and bad about the various events. I also try to pass along my understandings and experience to other artists.
While I have decided not to take on any more commission pieces, I did get a request for a commission that I couldn’t turn down. A guy wanted a landscape painting to give to his new girlfriend for Christmas. He was so enthusiastic (in Love) and the subject was interesting so I decided to do it. I had the opportunity to play with the subject a little and I used Hot pressed paper to give me the opportunity to lift and layer paint. I am happy with the end result and made a custom driftwood frame to finish the piece.
I was at the Adirondack Coast Arts and Craft Fair and had a great time. Sales were very good and the crowds were pre-covid level. Yes we all had to wear masks, both vendors and patrons since it was indoors, but it was still a good event. I would be happy to do it again next year, and I know most of the others would as well. I had to create a setup that was 8×10 in size, so I added more of the closet shelves I use as vertical grids to hang paintings and they worked very well. I will use them for other indoor events in the future. I zip tied to the tables and threaded a rod to stabilize them.
As a result of the show I have had to scramble to paint more in order to have items for the 4 shows I have before Christmas. These are just a few of my new paintings.
I am doing a couple of new shows in December One is Sparkle Village in Saranac Lake. It’s an indoor 2 day event held on Friday night and Saturday. The other new event is going to be held on Sunday December 12th in the afternoon at a local restaurant called Living Goods, it is a limited event with only 8 vendors. I don’t expect much but it is one of those events to help another vendor and show organizer.
With the shows spreading out and a little more time to myself at home I have several new projects I am going to try.
this past week I was at the final farmers markets for Lake Placid and Willsboro. It has been a great experience and have made a number of friends along the way from both fellow vendors and customers. It is a bit of a grind and I will re-evaluate the number of markets I do next year (some weeks I did 5 events). I may do more day vendor and less season long commitments, picking the best markets to make a solid commitment.
As the markets have been winding down over the past few weeks, attendance is dropping off as the summer people leave the Adirondacks. I have a three markets left on Saturdays in Saranac Lake NY until October 2nd, two on Fridays (19th and 24th) in Elizabeth Town NY and one Peru NY. Sunday the 19th . I will still participate in the monthly Strand markets held outdoors, October 30th, November 27th and December 18th.
I am looking forward to a two day market at Gore Mountain Ski area Octoberfest on October 9th and 10th. I have been told that it is a very good event by several vendors that will be attending as well. I had to do more to participate in this event due to it being held at a NYS Olympic Regional Development Area (ORDA) site, extra insurances etc. I wont have help since my wife is off to a quilting event that weekend. Only a 1.5 hour drive, so not a big deal going home at night.
I have been painting my butt off trying to keep up with the sales so that I have fresh paintings to display. I need to make a few more of my largest paintings having sold most over the past 6 weeks. I have also found that my smallest paintings of hummingbirds are very well liked and sell well. I end up doing a couple or three every week.
Now that the markets are slowing down my goal is to review my inventory and get everything listed here on my site. Looking to have it all updated by the end of October. I will be adding note card sets that are prints of my works and have been one of my best sellers all summer. I even did a few whimsical paintings of snowmen and winter scenes for the Christmas season.
I have enjoyed making the cards from prints of my work and it has been a great seller at the markets, covering the costs of the materials and the market attendance costs. Then my painting sales are profit on top of the cards sales. I am only charging $15 for the card sets, half of what it costs for cards in a drug store. They come in a boxed sets, and at the Art and Farmers markets I also sell them individually.
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.
