First Saturday, Again?

If you are over 50, you probably are experiencing the rush of time. I don’t mean “rush” as in thrill, but rush as in hurry, fast, speedy-gonzalez. Didn’t I just particpate in First Saturday about 2 months ago? Nope, it was in May. Or was it in February?

See? I sound like an old person, which over 50 used to be.

In addition to the change in how time passes, there are always those questioning conversations, plus the ever-shifting definition of “old age”.

But that’s not why I am blogging today. (See? all those conversational diversions also go with middle-age!)

First Saturday Three Rivers is happening in two days, on November 3, 2012 and MY STUDIO WILL BE OPEN.

Sorry for shouting. I get a little carried away sometimes with the enthusiasm of actually having folks come to my place of normally solitary and silent work.

You’ll have to go to Anne Lang’s Emporium to get a map to find me. I’m not posting directions or my address on the World Wide Web for all those weirdo spammers to see!

The theme is Oak. Or is it Oak Leaves? Maybe it is Oak Trees.

If you come, you’ll have the best selection of my new blank journals with my paintings on the cover ($14 inc. tax) or my first ever calendar with paintings for each month of 2013 ($15 inc. tax, special deal for you only this Saturday.)

Lone Oak oil painting by Jana Botkin

Lone Oak, oil on wrapped canvas, 12×16″, $250

Straight Talk About Art Fairs, Part Three

Yesterday’s post left off with a promise to tell about the good parts of the Visalia Taste the Arts show.  Just call me List Lady. . .

  1. Very very well organized
  2. Great booth space
  3. No charge for the booth
  4. Shade!!
  5. Unloading and loading right at the booth site.
  6. Free lunch and bottled water
  7. Booth sitting so the artists could have a break
  8. My very dear friend spent the day there with me
  9. I saw some former drawing students, some old friends, and received a HUGE surprise (stay tuned)
  10. I sold some cards (I know, I’m really really trying to look on the bright side here)
  11. Everything fit perfectly and easily in and on my Honda Accord coupe. (I ain’t driving no Mommy-mobile and don’t you forget it!)
  12. They gave permission to pack up and leave before 6, so I was loaded and outta there by 5:30, all with hand signals because my 2 helpers and I couldn’t hear a single thing due to the loudest band of the day.

The HUGE surprise? My cousins from Sandy Eggo County have been teasing me about just driving up to surprise me at a show sometime. THEY CAME!!!

I’m still in shock and disbelief. We had a wonderful visit shouting at one another in the heat, and I will never forget the thrill and fun of suddenly realizing the couple standing outside and staring at me was my own family. (They had an unfair advantage because they both wore dark sunglasses while I was wearing a name tag.) When it was announced that a drumming group was up next, they decided it was time to go. They shall remain anonymous for purposes of privacy in this World Wide Web, but suffice it to say that this was definitely the highlight of a VERY VERY HOT and VERY VERY LOUD show.

Straight talk? Not doing this one again. We can figure out a family reunion some easier way.

Straight Talk About Art Fairs, Part Two

Yesterday we left off with a photo of my booth, which was both well-spaced and had a crooked Sawtooth oil painting with a worry about a large stage with very very large speakers.

 

cabinart booth at Visalia Taste the Arts

Better – Sawtooth doesn’t show. But next time could you move that dumb-looking basket before taking the picture?

 

cabinart booth at Visalia Taste the Arts

Enough paintings, not too many, well spaced with a crooked Sawtooth oil painting, open booth design so lookers don’t feel trapped, great location, wonderful organization, incredible staff of volunteers.

But that stage. Holy guacamole. It was the venue for one dance group after another, back to back, non-stop VERY VERY LOUD music, and loads of people standing in front of my booth so that lookers must really make an effort to come into the booth.

But they weren’t worried about getting tricked into buying anything (not that I have any earthly idea of how to do that), because we were completely unable to converse.

In addition to the VERY VERY LOUD music, it was VERY VERY HOT.

I soldiered on bravely, and at around 3 p.m. I remembered that I always keep a pair of earplugs in my purse. They helped, but I had to take out one so the occasional looker could shout into that ear while I tried to read lips.

Tomorrow I will tell you about the good parts of the show. There were good parts.

 

Straight Talk About Art Fairs

When I got to the venue for the Visalia Taste the Arts, I was very very impressed by the way it was set up.  As I pulled into the fenced off area, I was handed a show packet that included a lunch ticket and directed to my booth. There were many huge canopies covering multiple spaces and I drove right up to the front of my space to unload.

Visalia Taste the Arts

 

My booth was on this end, the right side of that canopy. There was a “wall” separating me from the folks on the left end.

Visalia Taste the Arts

Everything is unloaded and my car is parked within view. This is shocking to me, because the show staff said, “Park right there” and I said, “But that’s really close – what about all the visitors?” He said, “They’ll be fine”. Umm, okay, thanks!

 

There was so much space for so many artists! All covered, and none of us had to pay AND they provided lunch and bottled water and help unloading and offered to booth-sit so the artists could take a break.

 

Visalia Taste the Arts

I was next to a very large stage with very very large speakers. It made me worry a little bit. I thought “uh-oh”, and proceded to set up my booth.

Visalia Taste the Arts cabinart booth

This is how it looked. Sawtooth is crooked. These things don’t show when one is hustling around, trying to get the right light, not have people pass in front of the lens, all the while worrying about that very large stage with very very large speakers. Notice how well-spaced the paintings are.

This is getting too long. Stay tuned for the next installment of Straight Talk About Art Fairs tomorrow.

Taste The Arts

Taste the Arts takes place on Saturday, September 29 in Visalia, California. It is a little division of a week long event called “Taste of Visalia“. Maybe. I’m quite confused on the whole shebang.

What I am not confused about is that I will be one of many artists showing and selling my work at a former lumberyard in downtown Visalia from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The former lumberyard is encircled by Oak, Garden, School and Bridge Streets. I think the entrance is on Oak. I think it is free.

I am also not confused about the fact that I did several new paintings for the event. Here is one:

sawtooth oil painting by Jana Botkin

This is Sawtooth, in Mineral King. The painting is 16×20, the price is $375. Maybe people in Visalia aren’t as interested in Mineral King as people on this blog, in Mineral King and in Three Rivers. We shall see! (Who uses the word “shall” seriously??)

Accepted

The Madera County Art Council notified me that the following pieces have been accepted into their Ag Art Show.

Loves Cotton, Loves To Knit oil painting by Jana Botkin
Loves Cotton, Loves To Knit, 8×8″ oil painting

This will be in the category of Row Crops. It ought to give people pause as they look at pictures of alfalfa and broccoli.

oil painting of pomegranate
Great For Jelly, 10×10″ oil painting

Pomegranates have their own category. I think Madera produces quite a few and has a festival of pomegranates. This might be the 40th painting I’ve done of pomegranates, but it got a real title instead of a numbered series name.

Great For Pies, pumpkin oil painting by Jana Botkin
Great For Pies, 10×10″ oil painting

 

This will be in the category of Vines, which is usually dominated by grapes, vineyards, and wine pictures.  Guess it will stand out – sure hope so!

P.S. I’m not talking about the pieces that weren’t accepted. It will taint them, they will get a complex, and you will not want to buy them.

First Saturday, Three Rivers, September First

First Saturday Three Rivers has been happening for 3 years now. On the first Saturday of the month, merchants and artists in Three Rivers do something special. They have sales, open houses, new products, refreshments, or anything out of their normal procedures for the day.

9 oil paintings of fruit by Jana Botkin
These 9 fruits are each 6×6″, oil on wrapped canvas, $40 each, and available at Colors, An Art Gallery

It gives you a reason to come up the hill. I’ve heard it is fun. There is something about most of the first Saturdays that just won’t fit into my life, usually involving Mineral King. Occasionally I do open my studio or join the folks at Colors, but not in September. I’m sorry. I hope you visit Three Rivers anyway and have a bang-up great time.

On September 1 (Happy B’day, S & MKW & RT!) Colors will have 2 new paintings from me. Not really new, but old paintings that I retouched because I paint better now (an admission of growth rather than a statement of false humility about the past or braggadocio about the present). They are the paintings of Sequoia trees, hanging above the oranges:

oil paintings drying on the wall by Jana Botkin
The 2 8×10 paintings of Sequoia trees (AKA Redwood trees, like my high school) will be available on September 1 at Colors, $90 each, unless someone buys them before then. Might that be you?

If you are interested, you will enjoy seeing them in person much more than in this crummy little photo.

 

Hay, A Barn!

Big Fat THANK YOU to all of you who did my thinking for me to title this piece for the Madera Ag Art show! Here is the complete list. The winner is in red (and the title of this post). The runners-up are in teal. They (Sharon, Don and Sam) will receive a token of appreciation for their witty work.

barn oil painting by Jana Botkin
Unnamed Barn, formerly known as Tulare County Barn, 10×10″ oil painting on wrapped canvas

Choosing was very very hard. I am clearly drawn to things that make me laugh or at least smile. After thinking more about it, I decided that focusing on the barn alone wasn’t true to the image. It is 1/3 barn and 2/3 hay. (If it is wheat, I don’t want to know!)

The submitted names are elegant, gracious, sensitive, picturesque, poetic, appropriate, and dignified. My sense of humor is dumb, unexpected, plebian, and lacking in refinement. The chosen title acknowledged the field and the barn, was dumb and made me smile.

Now, I hope the jurors of the Ag Art Show feel the same!

 

 

Vintage Homestead 

Vintage Charm  

Seasoned Valley Barn

Tools of the Ag Trade

A Loyal Companion to CA Ag

The Farmers’ Loyal Companion

Shadows of the Past

The Grey Ghost

Standing Tall

Forget Me Not

Look At Me 

Structured Field

Grassy Barn

Serenity

Rustic setting

Rustic Patina

Rustic Serenity 

Grandpa’s Office

Original Jump House

Reliving Farm Memories

A Voice from the Past

Ripe with Harvest

Where’s the Beef?

Acreage 

Seasoned Farmstead

Zoological Storehouse

Historical future

Green Waves

Hay, A Barn!

Rustic and Ripe

New Crop, Old Storage

Times gone by

Waiting for Harvest

Field of Dreams

Field of Promise

Testimony of Time

Weathered Barn in Summer

Country Memory Maker

Casa de Bovine

Vanishing Breed

Barn Sweet Barn 

 Pure Country 

Green Peace

Aged Rest

Quite Contemplation

Verdance

Rust Renewed

Spring Harbor

Spring Study

Barn Memories

Do you agree or disagree with my first choice and the runners-up? Talk to me!!

Are Competitions Worth It?

Some artists enter competitions on a regular basis. If you read their resumes, you see the awards they have won. If you are a gallery owner, this might matter to you.

 

If you are Joe Bag-of-Doughnuts (or Bag-of-Bagels or Box-of-Oranges or Sack-of-Tacos – don’t mean to discriminate here) who says, “I don’t know much about art but I know what I like”, then a list like that probably doesn’t mean much.

Jane Box-of-Oranges and Joe Six-pack tend to be my best customers. These are regular people living here in Quaintsville, Tulare County, who just like art they can relate to. The galleries around here are usually non-profit, and not patronized by folks who are aware of or impressed by art competitions.

As a business owner whose product is art, I have to carefully consider the costs of these types of events. If there is a competition that fits my style of work and the $$ aren’t upside down (entry fees, shipping, driving compared to winning and selling), it seems like a reasonable risk to take. The Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts annual show/competition/sale in Madera has been good to me in the past.

It is both juried (“Shall we let this painting in?”) and judged (“Give that one a First Place!”). The arrangement is not by medium but by subject matter. They have categories that I find fabulous for creative entries. It has been 4 years since I last entered, and maybe some day I’ll tell you about the last time. Meanwhile, you can see 4 paintings in progress for Celebrate Agriculture With The Arts, or as I, Jana Box-of-Oranges call it, “the ag art show”.

Do art competitions influence you to buy art from the winners?

How Many Hours a Day Do You Paint?

An old friend asked me this last week. We only see each other once a year or so, so we aren’t close. I think he thinks that art is my hobby that I sort of fit in around my life. When I told him what all I do, he was very surprised. This means a couple of things: we really don’t know each other very well, and I’m not getting the word out very effectively that I am a full time professional artist.

Marketing, you say? Nope. I’m too busy working right now.

Check out this list from the other day:

  1. I posted to my blog. While in the house on the puter, the phone rang. My neighbor/friend works at a local motel. She was calling to say some people from New York were stopping by the studio in 10 minutes.
  2. Raced to the studio (after brushing my hair – sort of forgot to do that or figured it didn’t matter). The New Yorkers were a no-show.
  3. While in the studio I put together a bank deposit and read the mail.
  4. The mail included a Call For Entries form for an Ag Art Show. It has been 4 years since I last entered, and the rules have changed. It seems worth considering again.
  5. Went through my photos and compared them to the categories of the Ag Art Show. Calculated the cost. (entry fees, mailing or driving 200 miles round trip to deliver the pieces, returning to Madera to see the show, returning again to retrieve any unsold pieces) Got some good ideas, decided to do the show.
  6. Painted three 4×4″ oil paintings.
  7. Remembered I was supposed to go to the Sierra Lodge to get another bear to paint. This one had to be delivered to my studio and I was supposed to show them the way, so I walked/jogged over.
  8. Upon returning with the bear delivery guy, I painted a fourth 4×4″ oil painting.
  9. Chose the sizes for each of the paintings to enter into Madera, added them to my inventory list, put the wires on the back.
  10. Remembered the bank deposit, trotted to the house for my keys, remembered the keys were hanging in the studio door, trotted back to the studio to lock up and then back to the house to lock it, and then drove to the bank. Figured I might as well hit the Post Office and the grocery store while I was out. Tried not to run in the aisles. Tried not to make eye contact with anyone who might want to have a lengthy conversation.
  11. Returned home to photograph some completed work and some works in progress.
  12. Began working on the (in)famous Paint-My-Parents oil painting commission.
  13. Wrote 3 more blog posts in my head while painting.
  14. Suddenly it was almost dark, so I had to photograph Paint-My-Parents, close up the workshop, and go home.
  15. Wrote those blog posts on the computer before I forgot them while something that could sort of pass for dinner was burning on the stove.

Apparently, I’m too busy to paint or do marketing. (the kind that gets the word out about business, not the kind that puts groceries in the frig so I can burn them for dinner while I work on the puter.)

Preparing canvases for 5 paintings for the Ag Art Show