So, blogging it is. Ha!
There's actually quite a bit I could write about and share. It's been an incredible year of branching out and trying new things with my art and other areas of life.
In April I decided to try out vending at our new local farmer's market. This was many things to me. It was a challenge sticking to it, and being social when I feel like an odd duck in social settings. I continually tried out new ways of setting up my display to attract more people. I learned that people love to watch me work, so I started doing live painting.
I learned that it's quite difficult to sell art, and there are many aspects to succeeding at it. I'm still in the research phase of figuring it all out.
I mostly sold original work to tourists coming through. Locals enjoyed my work, but they mostly just wanted to look and ask me questions about how and what I use to create my pieces.
By far, my favorite thing is to be an inspiration, and see a person's old art hobby come back into focus. They see what I do, and they want to go home and dust off their old supplies and start anew. I love this, because I totally get the exhilarating emotion of rekindling an old fire.
Kids were my favorite fans. They get so excited and want to try creating something of their own. With this in mind, I started packing along some art supplies to share with the local kids. Some even walked around trying to sell their own creations. Ah, I loved that so much!
A few times I was able to get my own kids to share their talents at the market. My daughter sold some original artwork, and my sons played live music. Ignoriors ROCK!
During the course of our market I met some wonderful friends.
I met many artists, farmers, crafters, foodies, etc. It really felt like a Saturday family gathering each week. Something I looked forward to, whether I sold things or not. We were there, rain or shine.
I didn't feel like I was able to create as much as usual during the market season, as I found myself mostly socializing all summer. I'm used to quiet summers, with long streaks of uninterrupted time to create. Rather than being upset by this, I became grateful for the human connections I was creating. With experiences, comes inspiration. My market family was a constant inspiration. I look forward to next season.
Photo credit goes to Rosalyn Santerre, who managed our beautiful market. She now has a new art studio for us to gather together and create. http://www.rosalynsartstudio.com
