Harvest Festival Number Two

I had planned to write this post yesterday, but I had to deliver some work for a show and plus it turned out that even though I thought I had recovered from the physical labor and the hours of chit chatting with tons of people, I wasn't really. I feel much more like myself today, so here we go!

Even though I know it's a bad idea to be finishing up paintings and packing and organizing for an event right up until the very last minute, sadly I still persist in doing it. More than anything I wanted to get enough sleep the night before, but I didn't get to bed until almost midnight on Friday night and then kept waking up because of the RAIN. Just what one wants to hear the night before participating in an outdoor art event. Anyway, I got up at 5am and we got the car loaded (well my son and husband did that part) and arrived in Sharon Springs at 7:30am. It was humid, wet and muddy from the rain, and was looking like it was going to rain any minute. Awesome.

But with crossed fingers, we set up my brand spanking new tent that had just arrived on Friday (I like living on the edge!). Last year I had borrowed one from my friend Karen, but this year SHE was also in the festival (we were hoping to be next to each other but alas we were separated) so I figured I better get my own tent. I didn't begin that process until the Tuesday before the show so it was a miracle that I managed to get a good tent, reasonably priced and delivered to my front door on Friday. All I can say is that I hate Walmart a little bit less now. heh.

Anyway. Set up went smoothly, my son Julien helped me again this year and in a lovely coincidence, I had brought one of the large sheep paintings and the couple in the booth next to me was selling big beautiful hanks on yarn spun from the wool of their own sheep. In fact, I bought some of their yarn at the festival last year. And on the other side of me was a woman selling hand knit hats and scarves, she and her husband were very nice and they also bought one of my little snow paintings. I always enjoy getting to know my neighbors at these things.


Saturday

Saturday passed in a pleasant blur. I sold 16 of the small format paintings which was really exciting and also totally beats last year's two day total of 14. And even though I consider myself to be a weird mix of somewhat antisocial and overly chatty, I thoroughly enjoyed talking with everyone who stopped by. There were so many interesting people! The weather held up, even though it was overcast most of the day, there was no rain and then the sun did peek out near the end of the day. I was quite glad when the day finally ended though so that I could stagger home and fall into bed at an embarrassingly early hour. My feet were killing me, turns out that muck boots don't really provide much support; my feet STILL hurt from wearing them all day Saturday.

Sunday

I finally got a decent night's sleep so Sunday started out in a much more relaxing manner. It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day. The first few hours were kind of quiet, then more and more people started coming through. However, I didn't make any sales until well into the afternoon and I admit to getting a bit of a complex about it. I contemplated changing my display around, and it even crossed my mind briefly that I should change careers. Ok, so maybe I was still a bit tired. Finally a few people came by and each bought a few pieces, then there were a couple more sales and my number for Sunday ended up being a very respectable 7. Doug and Ginger came later in the afternoon and I was able to go out and walk around the rest of the festival. I also visited the Mercantile and chatted with Brent for a few minutes.

There were probably twice as many vendors this year, and so the shopping was good! I am not sure how many visitors there were this time, but I think it must have been at least as many as last year, probably more. Also, the mood was somewhat different than last year as there weren't any TV cameras for me to avoid and no Rosie O"Donnell for me to chat with. There may have been some famous people there, but either they didn't stop by my booth or I didn't recognize them, which wouldn't be the first time. heh. Also, I loved the variety of people that attended, it made me feel like I was in a very comfy place between city and country, so many people there were visiting from other areas. The Beekman Boys have really put together a wonderful thing.

So today I am (almost) fully recovered and I have added all the remaining small format paintings onto my sales blog. Except for the sheep. Turns out the sheep were quite popular; I had six small ones and they all sold. But don't worry, I'm no dummy. I will DEFINITELY be painting more!

Sheep Study #339, 5"x3" Oil on Cradled panel