So this weekend I participated in the Gaithersburg Fine Arts Festival in Maryland. I always look forward to art shows because I start craving the face-to-face interaction with customers after a couple of weeks of no shows. The uncomfortable feeling of being “on display” has gone away and been replaced with excitement to talk and interact with my visitors/customers.

{My new bridal bouquet section in the booth! Sorry for the blurry photo. I snapped it with the iphone}

This time I was especially excited to see how customers was going to react to my new bridal bouquet section. Casey and I worked on making a larger poster for my half wall for this show and also did a big sign for the top to draw more attention to it. I brought the royal bridal bouquet so people could get a look at a real bridal bouquet painting. I think it stands out really well and yet doesn’t take away from my original paintings in the booth.

{See the new sign on the tent?}

Unfortunately, we had very few people attend this show because it was a first-year show, which I didn’t realize. Shows usually need a few years to start attracting the masses and deliver the big crowds. I was so excited and pumped up for this one and it was a total let down. 🙁 Oh well… you live and you learn. No more first-time shows!

{my trusted friend when the booth temperature hit 90F/32C. Casey gave me this fan many years ago
but I never knew it took batteries! Good thing he did… It was awesome.}

So with very little people, it made for a very boring show to be honest. Saturday was a 12 hour day in the booth and in 90 degree weather and without a jam-packed booth gets really boring. Luckily, I had two fantastic booth neighbors, Gene Gregorio and Bill Wierzalis who were great company.

{Any ideas for new poses anyone? Photo from the Gaithersburg Patch,
a local newspaper that interviewed me at the show}

But it wasn’t all bad! I did have some great visitors and several of them were interested in the bridal bouquets. Woo hoo! Many stopped and checked out my Yellow June which was great to see! It’s always exciting and a little nerve-wracking to see how people react to your new work.

Yellow June was the backdrop for my photo which was included in the Gaithersburg Patch, an online local newspaper. The reporter interviewed me at the show. Pretty neat! Go read the story and flip through photos of some of the other local artists that attended the show. Artists usually come from all over the US to attend juried art festivals. The two opposite me were from Florida and Vermont.

The woman who bought my Purple Roses last time I was in Gaithersburg (Sugarloaf festival) stopped by to say hi and Kathleen, an old co-worker of mine kept me company for a while as well. Thank you ladies!

{the best cure for less successful shows = CHOCOLATE!}

As I’m sure you can imagine, these shows are a lot of fun to do but also very exhausting. Set-up is early in the morning (and very stressful) and there a lot of heavy stuff to lift. I’m usually really pooped after each day during shows. For me, it’s definitely key to have a spouse who really understands that and helps you think when your brain has shut off completely (and you get lost driving home or starts speaking Swedish… oh yes).

Casey is awesome. I can’t stress it enough and I’m usually not the type that boast about her husband because Casey’s character definitely speaks for itself, but when it comes to the support he brings me during these shows… I wouldn’t be able to do this without him. I ESPECIALLY love it when he puts my favorite Ben & Jerry’s ice cream or my favorite all-time dessert in front of me: Fried Nutella and Banana Cheesecake (New York style cheesecake, hazelnut spread, bananas, wrapped in a flour tortilla and dipped in our Kolsch batter, fried and served with vanilla ice cream from Mad Fox Brewing Company). Thank you Casey!

Happy Thursday everyone!