April/May Update

Here I thought I had nothing to really write about but when I sat down and started I began to realize a lot more happened in April than I thought. It happened in such small pieces each week that it felt like I had nothing going on. That’s all the time I’ve really had for my artwork for the past month is small amounts of time here and there. The kids keep me pretty busy and with warmer weather I have a lot of spring cleaning to get done in and outside the house. Let’s not forget the spring colds that circulate!

I decided not to focus on posting my blog every week for the time being because I just don’t have time for it. It usually takes me about 3-5 days to put together a blog post and I don’t have that kind of time to dedicate to it every week, right now.

For the first time ever my bookmarks are available in a real brick and mortar store! I’ve contemplated it many times but in the end always concluded it wasn’t really worth it or I didn’t have the time to get stock together etc. So I spent a good few months slowly building my stock and carefully curated an inventory I felt reflected the types of people who shop locally in our town. Many of the bookmarks can be found online on my Etsy Shop or Square Shop but there’s a bunch that are exclusive to So Divine Artisan Boutique. You can find them in her shop on the corner behind Pharmasave (across from the Library). Also known as 470 Stuart Drive West Unit #15 if you don’t understand small town directions. Not only that but you can also find them in the So Divine Artisan Boutique Website! Below are the bookmarks exclusively sold at So Divine.

While curating an inventory I was also working on a commission which ended up taking me way longer than a bookmark usually takes me to draw. I kept having to restart the face and struggled so much that at one point I thought about starting all over from scratch. I persevered and in the end had something that I didn’t feel horrible about. I felt okay taking money for it. I kept wondering why did I struggled so bad? I decided I needed to take some time to focus on relearning and brushing up on some drawing fundamentals. I thought for sure the struggle was just I’m out of practice and don’t do it enough.

When I was filling out the authentication card I realized I didn’t even know the dogs name. I always ask for extra info about the pets I draw. I ask for their name, how old they are, breeds as well as more information about their personality. I request any stories that the owner loves to tell. I want to know more about who they are as individuals because, while I can’t explain why, it just helps me capture who they are better. I didn’t ask for any of that because the woman who commissioned me sent a LOT of really good photos to choose from. I was instantly inspired by one in particular and was excited about drawing it. I really didn’t think much more about it and just assumed I was ready to draw it no problem. When I didn’t even have a name to put on the authentication card I realized my mistake right away. When she picked it up I asked what the dogs name was and she told me “Elsa”. It felt so good to put a name to the face I’d spent hours staring at. Later on she sent me this message that brought me to absolute tears. It made the whole struggle worth-while to know this story behind Elsa and my heart broke for her owner (and friends who cared about her) because I too lost my old dog very suddenly. His name was Coal and I had him from the time I was 15 until my late 20’s. Like Elsa, he was in his senior years but his death was still unexpected and heartbreaking. Below is Elsa’s story. I’ve removed names except the dear beloved Elsa’s.

While I’m sure that not having enough info about Elsa led to my struggle to draw her I still feel like it wouldn’t hurt to brush up on my drawing skills. I have, on occasion in the past, taken online art classes but it had been quite a few years now. I found a course on Udemy (The Ultimate Drawing Course) and this isn’t an ad or anything but it’s currently on sale for $25 – originally well over $100, I don’t remember and can’t seem to find the original price now. At any rate, it’s a good deal and affordable for me. It covers all the basic principals of drawing that I wanted to brush up on, and hopefully I’ll learn something new too.

I’ve accomplished one lesson so far and had posted it in my Instagram stories. I think I will continue to post the drawings from each lesson on my Insta stories, so make sure to give me a follow @slsartistry if you want to follow along with me.

I was surprised to realize I really struggle with following instructions now. It’s been a long time since I’ve taken a class of any kind. It felt really weird and was oddly stressful just trying to follow along. I kept finding I would just do my own thing and then I’d realize the guy was talking and giving instructions and I’d already been doing my own thing way ahead of him. I had to slow myself down. Take my time and listen. It was surprising how that was such a struggle to do.

So far I’m enjoying it. The trouble is finding the uninterrupted time to work on it. The first lesson had me draw an eye and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. At the end of the whole course I will have to draw it again and will be able to see any improvement. I’m looking forward to really sinking my teeth in and enjoying the whole process of this course. I want to get the most out of it that I can.

Reflections and Resolutions (2022 – 2023)

It’s been a while since I’ve posted my weekly blog. I’ve been busy with my whole family catching the plague all of December. Or rather, we’ve been hit over and over again this cold and flu season since my oldest started Kindergarten in September. December seemed to hit us particularly hard though. Between that and the holidays I just decided to put my art on the back burner for a month.

2022 brought a lot of changes in my personal life. In December 2021 I gave birth to our second daughter and in 2022 we watched her grow into an exploring little one year old. My husband quit his job of 17 years and changed careers to where he’s working 10 + hours a day. It’s a huge change for our family and has been a big adjustment, especially as we battle a harsh flu season. This hasn’t left me a lot of time to focus on my artwork. Despite that, when I reflect on 2022 I realize just how much I accomplished after having a baby (and adjusting to a crazy new schedule with my husband’s work and my oldest daughter heading to school). I’m proud of how many of my goals I reached.

I made 21 bookmarks (which is 9 more than I made the year before) including starting a large series (all of the Doctors from Doctor Who) that I do intend to finish this year. This was my 3rd year creating the Classic Horror Crew annual bookmark and I think it’s my best one yet. I’m so grateful for Paul’s trust in me to make a bookmark every year that reflects their book club. I also helped spearhead Art For Ukraine which brought many artists together to raise money for the citizens of Ukraine. I personally donated $100 worth of bookmarks sold and together we raised $2,480 CAD. All proceeds went to the Canadian-Ukraine Foundation and it went towards providing necessary items for those affected by the war.

When COVID started in 2020 I had to completely revamp the way I sold my artwork. I could no longer do local markets and fairs, could no longer do in-person gallery shows and I found myself at a loss on how to share my art. This is when I started focusing on smaller works of art that I could easily ship across the country and around the world. Now that everything has opened back up and we can do in-person events again I find myself once again trying to decide what the best way to share my art should be. I need to find a middle ground where I can both share online and in-person. 2022 was my introduction back to selling my art locally. In October I did the Artisan Fall Fair at Pope Mountain Arts (my first event at the local arts space since 2019) and then in November I did the local Craft Fair which was always annually but the last Craft Fair was in 2019 as well. I was also the featured artist at PMA for the month of November. I spent two mornings out of the month hanging out at the building working on some bookmarks while people came and viewed my art. I had one class stop by which is always enjoyable. I love the honesty of children and they have the best questions.

For 2023 I want to focus again on selling locally while simultaneously selling online. I’d love to create a dynamic shop within my webpage and drop Etsy forever. The Art For Ukraine fundraiser made me really want to do something like that again. I’d love to run an “Art For…” campaign every year specifically focusing on local groups that could benefit from it. It’s something I need to spend some more time planning and talking to other artists about.

I don’t know if I’m ready to get back into painting canvases and doing gallery shows again. Having my work featured at PMA in November was fun but also reminded me of the headaches that come with doing a gallery. My preferred method right now is using a combination of Tombow Dual Brush Pens, inks and sometimes pastels on watercolour paper. It’s very portable and easy to quickly set up and clean up which is important when you’re going by the schedule of young kids.

My in-laws got me a Square reader and a locking cash box (goodbye cardboard box with an elastic band around it) after I spent a lot of time humming and hawing about the things I need if I want to keep doing markets. I’m excited to have ticked two of the things off that list now and so grateful for this really thoughtful gift. I’ve been considering doing the Farmer’s Market this year and those two items really helps towards that goal. I also need a tent to protect my work from the weather. I’m not sure if doing the Farmer’s Market would be worth it for me to do week-to-week. There is a yearly membership fee and a weekly fee for a spot at the Spirit Square on top of that. My artwork is very niche and that niche isn’t exactly the majority of the patrons in my small town. To make it worth my time I’d have to consistently sell enough week-to-week. I have some ideas to make that more likely and if I can figure out to pull it all off I think joining the Farmer’s Market every week would be a good avenue of sales to add to my repertoire. I would likely need to bring my kids with me but that hiccup is the least of my concerns.

Another exciting thing for 2023 is the opening of an artisan shop! The lovely Nikita of So Divine Crochet is working on opening an artisan shop called So Divine Artisan Boutique. I’m really excited about this and feel it’s something our town could really use. There’s a few local businesses that have space for local makers things but it’s not a lot and they’re usually looking for a certain small northern community aesthetic. This will be a storefront with a good mixture and variety of things crafted by local makers. I applied but asked her to put my application on the bottom of the pile, for now. My family being sick for so long has turned my life into hell and I really need time to recover and get my life back on track before taking on anything like this. I will also have to reassess my prices as well as my content. I have enough experience to know which things sell well to most people in my community. Like I’ve said, my stuff is very niche and the people in my community largely aren’t within that niche. This is something I’ve been fine with in the past but if I’m going to take a gamble where I have to pay to have my items in a shop then I need to reassess how much of it is likely to actually sell. Her prices are totally reasonable, I just don’t have confidence that what I am currently creating will sell to our local demographic. Super exciting to have someone with the experience she does as well as the enthusiasm and passion in our corner. To quote Nikita herself; our success is her success! One thing I’ve really struggled with is promotion (especially on a local level) and the legwork involved in putting my stuff out there. Nikita is willing to do that legwork and to me that’s 100% worth it. As a mum of two small children I just don’t have time to do this all on my own. To have that kind of support available in my town means the world to me.

2023 is also going to bring new ventures in design for me. I don’t want to go into too many details because it is very much still in the planning phase but my sister is playing around with design transfers and is currently waiting on ink for a sublimation printer her and her partner bought. They want to create designs that reflect who they are, what they enjoy about our community and the northern playground we live in. She’s asked that I help come up with designs and this is an opportunity I would fully love to be a part of. Like I said though, still the early planing stage and we will see where this idea takes us.

Now I just have to get my family healthy again so I can get my life back.

Happy New Year everyone! I hope your holidays were wonderful and I hope the new year brings lots of happiness and opportunity for you. Let’s put the last few years in the rear-view mirror and move forward with hope, optimism and creativity.

Craft Fair After Thoughts

Last weekend was the big Craft Fair that happens in my town every November. Unfortunately it had been canceled previous years and the last time we had the Craft Fair was in 2019. It was my first year doing it and we lost power for half the weekend so we only had the one day for sales. So needless to say, everyone was really excited to have our annual Craft Fair back and it was a really great turnout for vendors and patrons last weekend.

The Craft Fair benefits the Fort St. James Secondary School grade 12’s. All of the table sales and lunch sales went to the grad class. The grads are very involved all weekend. They are there to help set up before and take down after, they go around with menus and a cart with snacks and drinks so that the vendors can buy their lunch and not worry about leaving their tables. I never buy the lunch because I’m cheap and if I spend too much money at these things I don’t make any and then it’s not really worth for me to do at all. So I pack my own lunch but I know some vendors really appreciated having lunch available. I really enjoyed a video Nikita shared in her stories on Saturday night about how exhausting these events can be and how when you’re the only one selling at your table you’re stuck there all day without breaks. She said she’d never seen one where a lunch menu was offered and food delivered right to your table. So I feel it is worth pointing out how great it is that the grads do this!

I had a new display at my table this year and that was for my bookmarks. There was definitely some pros and cons to this display and next time I might try to arrange it a bit differently. Most people didn’t see me sitting there behind it until they were right at my table and the hand painted bookmarks were on the other side so I had to keep telling people they were there or they’d be passed right by.

I really wanted to sell my big prints for The Other Side but didn’t sell a single one. I had a couple of people interested in them but because I didn’t have Interac I lost those sales. I am considering getting a Square for next time.

I sold Wretch (the crow) and the framed Hummingbird. I felt really weird after Wretch walked away; it felt like my baby had left me. I’d accidentally put a hole in the canvas last time I transported it from a show and so I decided to let it go for $20 to anyone who fell in love and didn’t mind that it had a hole poked through it. Well that person did come to my table and I’m so glad! This was one of my favorite paintings but I always knew it belonged to someone else. I was told $20 was too cheap and was offered cookies too! I thought that was adorable but I declined and insisted I couldn’t sell it for more than that (with a hole in it).

I finally sold a bunch of the Stranger Things print pack and I was SO relieved at that because I’d ordered SO many of them sure that they would be a hit and until last weekend I hadn’t sold any of them. I sold out of my Space Turtle bookmark and my Milky Way Fox bookmark. It was interesting to see which ones people gravitated towards. I loved seeing small kids come to my table because the first thing they would notice was the brightly coloured Goosebumps bookmarks. Then you’d see their little wheels turning as they realize there’s something off… something creepy about them.

I didn’t sell too many hand painted bookmarks but that’s to be expected I think. It was easy to sell them in 2019 when I first came out with them and only charged $5 each. That wasn’t worth it though (it takes about 2-3 hours to make each one) so I have slowly increased my prices over the years until I landed on something I felt was fair to myself. People don’t always really “get” the hand painted bookmarks though. It’s a small original piece of artwork. It’s meant to be framed and put on a wall or on a bookshelf. It’s meant to be displayed and enjoyed but not used. That’s why I came up with the prints- they’re meant to be used. The prints can get bent, smashed, squished and scraped. A fellow artist recently told me my bookmarks are too hard to frame because of their unique size. Maybe that’s true? But custom framing isn’t hard to get done it just costs more. For a $20 piece of art is it worth it? I personally feel like it is but I also haven’t framed any of my personal pieces yet, so what does that tell you? This is why I provide a plastic sleeve. It keeps it protected until you do get around to framing it. I’ve digressed though. My point is I understand they’re not for everyone. So I don’t mind patiently waiting for them to find that one person who loves it. I don’t mind that for any of my art pieces. I’ve always said that each piece is made for somebody somewhere out there. Sometimes it just takes a while to find them.

One such original bookmark did leave me last weekend when it found that one person. Earlier in the year some fellow artists and I put together a fundraiser called Art For Ukraine. I made 5 bookmarks to donate $100 myself. Last weekend I finally reached that goal when the last sunflower bookmark found it’s person. The lady who bought it didn’t know it was for charity until after she decided to buy it. It was just meant to be! I wish I’d gotten her name.

The Saturday was pretty busy but I still managed to finish the Jaguar bookmark I’d started at PMA the Thursday before. On Saturday I had a little more time to start and finished the 5th Doctor bookmark. I never watched further than the 4th Doctor in the Classic Doctor Who episodes so I was surprised when this unfamiliar character came out so easily. I’ve been using this series as an excuse to practice drawing people faces and I found that this face was much easier to draw than the last 4. I enjoyed the colour pallet and for whatever reason it just flowed from start to finish. It took me no time at all and got me through the slow parts of the day.

I’m still struggling with proportions and making clothing look like it folds naturally, but overall this one came along really well and I am really happy with it.

After the time spent drawing and the sales by far my favorite part of the Craft Fair weekend was the conversations I had with people. I loved seeing peoples reactions to my art. So many people stopped and repeated lovely things like “wonderful” and “very talented” and “beautiful work”. By the end of the weekend I was completely humbled. The people who stopped at my table stared at my work with bright expressions and with interest and awe. It was an amazing reaction overall that left me feeling like all this hard work I’ve done is starting to show. My long-term fans will say I’ve always produced beautiful work but I feel like I’ve reached the level I’ve been expecting of myself. I will always find the flaws in my art. Always. It’s how I grow and learn. I’m extra critical of my own work because that’s how I find what needs improvement. What needs extra practice. Sometimes I forget to look at the parts I really like and analyze why I like them. Seeing these reactions and hearing all these amazing comments about my artwork reminded me to see the parts I like too.

On Saturday my husband brought our two young children to visit me and his parents (who were at a table next to mine). The oldest is 5 and she just beams with pride whenever she gets to sit at my table at one of these events. Her Papa gave her money to buy my art (for some reason I still struggle to understand why). I would have gladly given her them for free. But she LOVED those bookmarks she bought and I loved her for it. I’ve always said my dad is my biggest fan but I think he has some competition for that title. Our littlest is 11 months old and when she sat at my table she grabbed my markers and one after the other threw them on the floor. I thought she would attract people to my table with her adorable baby antics and she did but people were looking at her not my art! So she went to Nana’s table. The 5 year old wanted to come back on Sunday but we got a good dump of snow that day. I needed the car to bring my stuff home at the end of the day and the stroller won’t go in the snow. So husband and kids had to stay home for Sunday.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who stopped by my table and had great conversations with me. Thank you to everyone who bought a piece of art and supported my little passion project. I loved meeting all of you and sharing this piece of myself with you.

I will definitely be back for the 2023 Craft Fair.

Prepare a Canvas for Hanging

I should do this every time I finish a painting, but it’s not my favorite thing to do so I usually end up putting it off until I HAVE to do it and then I have a whole bunch to do at once. This was the case when I realized I needed to get most of my paintings hang ready to display at Pope Mountain Arts for November. Don’t be like me and make sure to have your paintings ready to hang as soon as you finish them! That is my number one advice.

Since most of my paintings were sitting in my studio collecting dust the first thing I had to do was clean them. I used the bread method, which I’ve raved about in the past and swear by.

Please note that I have only tried this method with acrylic paintings and don’t recommend it for other types of painting. Since I’ve never tried it on other types of paintings I can’t vouch for it’s validity.

Step 1: Have a Clean Painting

A dirty painting will scratch and smear when flipped onto it’s face to attach the hardware on the back. Make sure your table is clean and your painting is clean before you start. If your painting is fresh and brand new this may not be necessary and you can skip to Step 2. But if those paintings are needing a little TLC all you need is a piece of white bread. It is soft, porous and absorbs dirt and oil.

Our hot dog buns were getting stale so I decided to use them. It was just as effective and I think they were a bit tougher and didn’t fall apart as fast as a slice of bread does. If you’re using sliced bread I recommend using the end pieces. They are tough enough to last a few paintings and I know (at least in my family) nobody wants to eat the end pieces. Full disclaimer: it gets really messy but it is fairly easy to clean up (just sweep it up with your hand).

After watching the video you might be thinking “couldn’t you have just used the Swiffer duster to dust the painting?”. I did try that but I found it just snagged on the painting when it was dirty (but didn’t when it was cleaned) and it left streaks in the dust rather than actually removing it. The bread also absorbs dirt and oil off the painting while the duster just sort of scraped at it in a half attempt to remove the dust only. It did work great to remove the bread crumbs though.

Step 2: Measure Twice

Measure your painting from the top to figure out where to place your hardware. I have learned these things through trial and error:

Don’t measure at or below halfway. If your hardware is installed below the halfway mark your painting will hang off the wall funny. It will stick out instead of laying flat against the wall.

Make sure both sides are installed at the same height. You don’t want your painting hanging crooked either so make sure both sides are level.

Install your eye hook inside the painting frame not on the back. If it sticks out the back your painting will not lay flat against the wall.

Step 3: Attach Your Hardware

There are several different kinds of hardware you can use to string a canvas painting. I like to use a nice quality closed eye hook. There’s no chance of the wire slipping off with a closed eye hook.

You can use a drill bit to create a small hole to twist the eye hook into. I find our drill is never charged when I need it (or I can’t find it) so I usually just use a hammer to get the eye hook started and then I screw it in by hand.

Whether you leave the eye hook turned downward (like in the photo below) or facing outwards it doesn’t really matter. If you find your hook sticks out too far and compromises how the painting lays flat against the wall then you may want to turn it to face outwards so that it is flush within the frame of the canvas.

Step 4: String Your Wire

The gauge (thickness) of the wire you use will depend on what your personal preferences are and how big your painting is. I’m not sure what gauge the wire I am using is but it’s thin enough to easily bend and twist but thick enough to withstand that twisting without breaking.

Roughly measure your wire (I eyeball it) so that you have enough wire to string between both hooks without leaving the frame of the canvas. You will want to leave 1/2 – 1″ of space between the top of the wire and the top of the canvas frame. If you don’t leave that space you’ll find that your wire sticks out the top and/or the hook you are using to hang from the wall will stick out the top or push the painting forward so that it is not flush with the wall. You’ll also want to leave about an inch or so of extra wire on either end of the hook. When you string the wire through bend it backwards and wrap around itself up the wire. Before you come to the end bend it back down and wrap the rest of the way around itself going the opposite direction. This might be overkill but it’s how I like to make sure my paintings will stay hung up securely.

Once both ends are attached you can hang your painting on the wall. With this method it should hang flush against the wall. A regular picture hanging hook should do the trick to hang on a wall. You want to hang it on a hook that bends upward so that the wire doesn’t slide off.

I was getting my paintings ready to hang in a gallery which hang from a wire that comes down from near the top of the wall. This makes the paintings stick out a bit and so where the wire is placed is even more important to try to hang the painting as straight and flush as possible.

Artisan Fall Fair

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Last weekend Pope Mountain Arts had it’s first Artisan Fair. It was great seeing and meeting other makers in my community. Some of my favorite vendors were there such as my MIL Angie with her gorgeous sewing work (Nana’s This ‘n’ That), Kris Nutbrown with all her beautiful bee and resin products (Honey Nutbrown Handmade) and new to our community but an instant favorite is Nikita with her crochet work and buttons (So Divine Crochet). It was of course nice to see my fellow artists I hadn’t seen in some time either; Pat Gauthier and Bethany Giesbrecht. I’m always blown away by Bethany’s work. It is so vibrant yet calming at the same time. These are just some of my favorite makers but there was 11 of us in total squished into the old building.

I was really excited to use my new bookmark display for the first time (see the last slide above for a picture). My dad made it for me using two old cupboard doors. He hinged them together and we put eye hooks every 7 inches to give space between the 6 inch long bookmarks. We tied string virtically between the eye hooks to hang the bookmarks from. I already had these mini clothespins to use. We had trouble with some of the eye hooks breaking so I think I’d like to replace them with some stronger ones (which I already have on hand but didn’t bring with me when I went to help dad finish the display). One night I had the display leaning against a wall next to the baby gate in the kitchen. Our Dopey cat jumped the gate and knocked down the display. I was amazed it didn’t break any of the eye hooks off but it did squash most of them on one side. I decided to just leave it be as I didn’t want to go screwing around with it right before the Fair.

This was the first Artisan Fair held at Pope Mountain Arts (PMA) which is this little old building that’s full of a ton of history. While the days were long and slow I still enjoyed going. I enjoyed just being with my types of people. I enjoyed leaving my house and kids for a day (although that’s always this weird thing where you want a break but then when you do get a break you miss them). I enjoyed listening to the older ladies gossip and banter in the corner behind me during downtime. I especially enjoyed talking to people about my artwork and about Stephen King. It’s always a delight to meet other Constant Readers! I really enjoyed getting some time to just sit and sketch without reason or deadlines or pressure to get it right.

Saturday was the longest day. I went there shortly after 9am to set up. I had no idea what I was doing for my table display. I wanted to put my new display on the other side of my table but since the table was in a corner and in front of the stage I had to put it on the left side in front of where I was sitting. The downside was that nobody could see me sitting there when coming from the one direction, but the upside was I had the stage to store all my art supplies.

I quickly went home to drop off the car for my husband and nurse the baby. I walked back and made it just in time to open. The morning was busy when we first opened at 11am but then we hit the lunchtime lull that lasted into the late afternoon. On top of that, I wasn’t feeling very well. I’ve been really sleep deprived since I had my baby over 10 months ago. The last couple weeks my 5 year old has been fighting a cough and then it suddenly got worse on the Friday before the Artisan Fair. So not only did I have my baby waking me up all night but the 5 year old was up a lot as well.

With two little kids I don’t always get a lot of time to just draw for the fun of drawing. It’s usually either a commission or a project I’m working on. I definitely enjoyed that time to just get creative and play with my pens. On Saturday I drew my dog Zelda. I only had about 4 colours that first day and forgot my black outlining pen. I tried to trade others a blue ballpoint pen for a black one and then my MIL sent me to her car to find one. It was a fun little drawing that I tried to keep simple and I feel that was very effective.

We had a few more people come through in the late afternoon and then after 5pm it was dead quiet. My husband walked there with our girls and by 6:30pm they were ready to go and so was I so I packed up early and went home to spend the night up every hour with the baby or my 5 year old who was puking by that point.

I had a late start on Sunday because I had to look after my girls in the morning and after yet another night of being woken up frequently and dealing with a sick kid I just wasn’t feeling super motivated to go sit at PMA all day again. I was a bit late but had asked Kris to watch my table for me. I was exhausted and it’s always a bit discouraging doing these things because I know my artwork is a bit niche and I end up watching a lot of people politely walk past. So I opened up my little COPIC sketchbook and started sketching a lion. I really struggled with it from start to finish. I kept changing my mind on what direction I wanted to take it. I had brought TOO may colours with me on that day and it was starting to feel overworked. Kris made a comment about how she thought I was just doodling and then saw I was making a masterpiece and I just loved that comment. I don’t know if you know this about me, but I LOVE doodles. I am a big time doodler. Doodling helped get me through math and biology class. Doodling helped me talk when I was in counseling. Doodling should be considered a masterpiece.

When I wasn’t overworking my lion masterpiece I was visiting with the other makers or chatting with the people who did stop and show interest in my art. I loved the variety of people and which bookmarks caught their eyes. Some bought Stephen King bookmarks having no clue they were Stephen King they just liked the design. Some bought animal designs, and some actually recognized some of the Stephen King books. I especially loved talking Stephen King with those fans. I had ONE person recognize Goosebumps which kind of made me feel old. The Stranger Things pieces sat untouched and I’m beginning to regret ordering so many prints when the originals still hadn’t sold. I sold one of the originals (the one of the Demegoron) and I had several people interested in that one piece, but otherwise nobody is into them. Here’s hoping some Stranger Things fans show up to the Craft Fair next month. I brought some random other pieces as well such as my 8×10 prints and a small canvas painting of a crow. Which, regrettably, got damaged when I transported it home on Sunday.

I spent about a week stamping paper bags with my logo and adding a little snippet about my giveaways on Instagram and then I forgot to give a bag to like 90% of my customers. I was just so excited for a sale and some of the people took them right off my display so were holding them. Oh well, something to work on next time. Every time I felt so exhausted from the lack of sleep and told my husband I just didn’t want to go he reminded me it gave me a chance to get out and do something I enjoy doing and to treat it like a trial run for the Craft Fair next week. He was right, and I definitely walked away with some new ideas to try, some things to work on and some things to just keep in mind for next time. I stopped doing markets and fairs when COVID took away the option in 2020 so this was my first time since 2019. I might as well treat it like the first time ever and walk away with it as a learning experience. After all, that’s really what all of this is. A chance to learn and grow as an artist and as a person.