I might actually get to paint tomorrow. But today was filled with all sorts of extraneous stuff I need to do in order to get ready for my show in Scottsdale, AZ this next weekend. My first show of the year. Over the weekend, we pulled the Sprinter van out of the snow, and filled its tires. Then Rees took the stuff I've been collecting over the winter to our storage unit and came back with some more frames I had been storing out there. And then today it has been blizzarding all day--not a lot of accumulation but still--blustery and gross. I'm totally done with winter; it just isn't done with me.
But today, I framed a bunch more pieces--why? I don't really know. There is no way in the world we'll be able to fit all of it into the van. I mean I'll use the inventory eventually but I can't take all winter's worth of work to one show. Tomorrow I'll spend (waste) more time deciding which pieces to bring and which pieces to leave at home. I had to make protective fleece socks for my big long skinny pieces. I'm phasing out the smaller ones and trying to carry a deeper inventory of the larger size. Then I had to title a bunch of pieces--always a difficult task for me. And then, in a ridiculous effort to be (more) organized I actually wrote the titles on the photos of the pieces and filed them in a photo book. Then, I had to spray fixative on a few pieces I finished late last week. Still need to frame these tomorrow. Repaired a coroplast painting box. Started the list of things I can't forget--like my donation piece to the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, my sales license for the city of Scottsdale (I had to send my actually birth certificate--not a copy) in order to get the darn thing, my artist statement in its frame to hang in my booth, print out of the hotel reservation,etc, etc. The first show is always the hardest to prepare for. I guess a person just gets rusty. And, while doing all that, I'm looking out my studio windows and the blowing awful snow and thinking: How fun! We'll get to load the van in the snow! Boy, will I be ready for some sunshine and warm in Scottsdale. My spring break!!!!
One of the fairs I go to is attended by a guy that hauls a large covered trailer. Watching him unload one day I noticed he had a huge list of items on one flap of the back doors. He got tired of losing check lists he said.
ReplyDeleteI have a 3 x 5 recipe box my cognitive trainer gave me the idea for. Each card in the box is something that has to be accomplished before, during or after a show.
I doubt the average visitor to a fair has any idea of the work that goes into artists getting there.
A birth certificate???? Really??? What is their defense for that?
Best of luck. Looking forward to reports - our window to how the economy is doing is the first reports on the first fairs.
Thanks, Jacqui! On the birth certificate thing, it is to prove citizenship. Seems the municipalities in AZ don't recognize NM drivers licenses because you can get one without proof of being here legally. Or so they say.
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