Southwest Art Fair

I went to the Southwest Art Fair in Indio CA at the polo grounds on Friday 1-23-09, which was the opening day. The weather was perfect, the grounds were a flat and spacious lawn. There were a variety of arts represented including three dimensional, painters, jewelers, wood workers, glass makers and a lot of miscellaneous works. A very mixed bag with some high end work as well as some work I wondered how it made it through the jurying. It would have been a much smaller show if had had been the juror! Just kidding! I think their goal was to have a variety of price points available to the public. The local newspaper said they had a larger crowd this year than in the past.

I had a wonderful time and spoke to several artists which is always fun. It was a very well managed show.

If you happen to be in the Coachella valley any time I would recommend the Living Desert in Palm Desert as well as the Palm Springs tram. The weather just cannot be beat for this time of year.

I'll be off line for several days as we travel home and hope to have some photos to share soon. I'm looking forward to being home again even though the weather doesn't look at all good but it's what I've come to expect for this time of year.

Can't wait to get on the road again!

Photos while traveling

I mentioned I was going to post some photos of my trip here in the Coachella Valley. But the borrowed lap top had other ideas and is being a bit cranky off and on. So I'll wait until I get home to post, which will be early February.

I'm surprised how not having a working computer has affected me. I thought I would be more upset but it turns out it's OK. Very surprising to me. When I finally could get to my bookmarks and read my blogs I found only a few I really wanted to read. Same with my other bookmark lists. Having this much free time has been a treat and I hope to continue the same feeling of freedom when I'm back home.

I brought I few paints, brushes and smaller pieces of watercolor paper with me but haven't had much time to spread it all out and do anything. I probably won't have anything thing to show when I return. Can't wait to be home and have my computer and studio again!

There is a large art fair here January 23, 24 and 25 called The Southwest Art Festival with over 300 artists. There is an admission fee as well as a parking fee. You can even have a valet park your car for an additional fee. I'll take photos.

Business of art class

I took a class last Saturday from Bob and Kate Burridge called mARTketing-the business of selling your art. It was from 10 to 4 with an hour for lunch. They had previously taught three days of art classes in the same place and were driving home after this class. Bob and Kate are a good team and both taught with Kate teaching most of the time. She is very organized, kept everything on task and watched the clock. They have a book about the class for $25 which is the text they used. There were a few newer handouts too. They teach this class at an art school near where they live and it is an eight to 10 week class so this time on Saturday was not an in depth class. But there is the book to refer to later.

Some of the topics I knew about from prior study and other things were new to me. So I think I'll cover the new to me stuff and tell about the things they didn't cover instead of giving a full report.

Bob does all the photography using an SLR camera with film in bright sun light. They had a couple of techniques that made this workable and rather than try to explain all of it without being able to draw a picture I'll just have to refer you to the book. He firmly believes judging should return to the use of slides. Mainly because of questions about how long digital media really lasts and because people can tweak the photos of their work using digital. I'm sure this is all true but I really hope we don't go back to slides!

They handed out a fairly long agenda at the start of the class. The topics they either didn't cover or didn't cover except for a brief mention were: How does a website help in marketing art? Donations of art work--what can be deducted from our taxes? What's the best way to frame artwork? 

Much of what they taught is exactly what they do in their art business and they had several good examples of what they use to make their business run well. They both have day timers with the same things entered in each one. Kate carries two or three 5X7 prints of Bob's work to show people when they ask what sort of work he does. She can also give them one of the prints to keep and of course it has all their contact information and details about the piece. 

It was generally a well run class and both presenters were prepared, funny and energetic. It's main benefit for me was being around artists and talking about art. I think some or most of the information was new to most of the audience.

Traveling

I've been traveling and left home December 29th. We had borrowed a lap top and hoped to connect with wireless along the way and when we arrived in the Palm Springs area. It didn't happen and we've been working on the problem for far too long. We've hooked up to the local cable and now I can access the internet. However, email is another matter. I have to go to my Comcast account send and receive emails there but it will work for now. 

Not too much happening on the art front but I have done a little work in my journal with paint and collage. While the computer was not working I read about four or five books which I usually don't do at home.

Today I'm going to a class about the art business taught by Bob Burridge in Indian Wells. I'm looking forward to learning some new things but also looking forward to talking to other artists. I've only found one art store here and while it's small, it does have a good selection.

I love the surrounding hills in the Coachella Valley and have been taking a lot of photos. I'll up load some the next time I post.

I'm glad to be here and enjoy the sunshine and the temps in the 60's or low 70's during the day time. Not warm enough yet for me to go swimming though! Is it worth the 1200 mile drive one way? Still thinking about that and the drive back home. Well, one mile at a time!