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.
sLs Artistry 