Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Success!

I'm completely bushed, so this will be quick -- I was out half the day today, and so far my cards are at a gallery/framing store, a fitness club, a yogurt shop, and an art supply store.  The art store has a revolving rack for Open Studios artists, and the ones I put there before are gone!  

I went to a few more places and I sensed they weren't amenable to having my post cards, so I just gave them one and my business card, and left it at that.  I figure that if they want to talk to me, they have my number.

  A Big Sur rose for me (and you)

It wasn't as hard as I thought, but it still makes me so nervous.  But I just said to myself, let's go, and I went.  And I have ideas for a few more places, and tomorrow I'll go down to the Art League, where they're featuring all the Open Studios artists, and leave some cards there.

Someone asked what Open Studios is -- I assumed that there was something like it all over, but of course it's unfamiliar to some.  For three weeks in October, artists in the Santa Cruz area who have gone through a juried process open their studios or homes (in my case), and they publish a calendar that has all the maps and locations of the artists.  


It's from 11-5 on Saturday and Sunday, and I'm in weeks 1 and 3, so I'll have a little break.  You turn your living room into a gallery, and talk to people about your work, and you hope they will buy something.

So, I've been working very hard to get ready.  I have about 20 pictures printed on canvas, a couple framed; I have matted prints; I have maybe six different blank greeting cards; and I'm still intending to make the tiles I showed in an earlier post (hey, I have 3-1/2 weeks -- that's plenty of time, right?).  Other than that, we have a crew coming to replace our carpet with laminate within the next week or two, which has been making me very nervous about whether it will be done on time, the woman who gardens for me will spruce everything up, and I should be ready, right?

The best part is that my sister is coming from Minnesota for the second week to help out -- I'm figuring that after I've done one week, it should be a piece of cake, so I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun with her. 

I'll get there -- one step at a time!

5 comments:

Gail Dixon said...

Good for you! I hope the event is a success. I can't imagine opening my home to complete strangers, for I am a big scaredy cat! Wishing you lots of luck!

Katy Noelle said...

Alright! Firstly! What a BEAUTIFUL image! and, secondly, whimper - we're in the same place but you're doing a little bit better than I am. I've decided to take fifteen minutes working on it all, today, and then half hour doing something else around the house. Otherwise, I just stare at the computer - willing it to tell me what to do about frames! (Figured out the matts, though! Yay!!! =])

Phew! Exciting, isn't it? and one moment, I'm trusting myself and, the nest, wondering what in the world I think I'm doing. =/ A well worn path that's already trodden by every other person who's tried to do something with their creativity! ;)

Hugs to you! =]

xxo

Katy Noelle said...

(No joke - the anxiety is killing my spelling! LOL! OOOoooooohhhh..... =D)

Candy C. said...

How neat that your cards were gone at the art store! The tour sounds like fun and I know you'll do well! :)

Buckeroomama said...

I love the concept of Open Studios!

All the best! :)