LOCKED AND LOADED

My day started slowly in prep for tomorrow. As I looked myself in the face I realized that tomorrow I would indeed need to add make up after washing. Oh my! I seldom wear make up, so seldom that I decided I needed to replenish my foundation and blush ( apparently you should be throwing it out after 6 months) mine is a tad past that recommendation by about 5 1/2 years -----or sooo.

I go into my local Shoppers and I am confronted by at least a dozen different cosmetic lines --- conundrum -- does one pay more to look younger or does one pay modestly and wear what all the other teenagers are wearing. I ask the store clerk to give me some advise as my skin is very pale and I cannot tell if the blush is complimentary to my skin tone. No response --- I repeat the question and she tells me what I already know ---"You're very pale she says" -I repeat the question again thinking she didn't processes what I said to her - her response was "Your change is $2.05" --  Oh well I guess this is one reason why I don't wear make up often. I am sure I'll look at least 16 maybe even a little more mature.!

Stellar start:

I drop into the hair salon where I had my hair cut and ( only my hairdresser knows the rest) yesterday, I forgot to pick up the"Shine". Shinny hair now comes in a spray can. Who knew??? I thought it came through good diet. Wrong ------- again!

Next to the library to drop in on Jim. He need some wire and hardware for his paintings. Plus I need to find out if he needs me to pick him up in Niagara Falls in the morning. If he does I will wait and pack the van for the show after I drop him off in the morning. Luckily Jim's son is loaning him his car so he won't need me to pick him up.

Arrive home: Heave Ho, up the stairs and into the van 16 large paintings , 2  - three foot x four foot paintings, 2 bags of support materials, large box of all my lights and electrical cords, my cradle and a basket of small paintings, a ladder and a dolly. All I have to remember to add tomorrow evening is my cash box. I am LOCKED AND LOADED----- BRING IT ON!!!!

Addendum:

Look out Pelham here we come. Sixty Eight fine artists are moving into the Pelham Arena for the Mother's Day Weekend. As I write, there are many high school students and senior public school students labouring to help set up the arena under the watchful eyes of adult volunteers. The stage will be set up and sound systems check so we will be able to rock out at the Gala evening tomorrow.

RUMMAGE, RUMMAGE - TOIL AND----------

Planned out and pulled together paintings to be shown at the festival this weekend. Ran to Staples for some supplies. Re visited the plan, shuffled paintings around. Rummaged for boxes and packing materiala. Really have to be careful with burnished gold frames  as they knick and ding easily.

Printed ID Tags and filled out.( Oh ya, forgot to say that I thoroughly cleaned house last week including my office and I placed my Art Festival envelope in a safe place, so safe I couldn't find it. Thank goodness for friends who bail you out when you get in a pickle!)Began sorting through show baskets finding and adding tools, sponges, business cards etc, Need to add promotional materials for Summerfest and Erin is bring promo for First Sunday Stroll to the show.

Photographed new small paintings, downloaded to IPhoto and then uploaded to Etsy and Pinterest. Hopefully will get them on my website tomorrow. Will helped me today by wiring 7 paintings and commented that I'd forgot to sign one. OMG! What else is new!

I'd also like to make a slide show of paintings that are at the studio and at Gallery 329. I'll be able to take my laptop and have the slide show looping during the show.

On a side note, Lori got confirmation on a couple of questions we had about the "Silver" package for her and Bryans' destination wedding enabling me to send the last revisions for the wedding invitations to Julie. The invitations look very elegant.

Tomorrow things ramp up - have to have all paintings wrapped including the two 3' x 4' with bubble wrap, check that all my lights work, find my white table clothes and unroll my rug and let it lay flat for 48 hours. I'd hate to have lumpy bumps as they are such a tripping hazard.Must find and pack the duc tape so I can tape the edges of my rug down. Wouldn't want my business insurance to go up. It's hefty enough as it is,

I hope & pray that sales at the Festival are good this year for everyone, including me. Last year sales over the year were less then stellar. It gave a whole new meaning to starving artist.

JUST AROUND THE CORNER!!!

Today was a BAM's day. Worked on finishing up two small tulip paintings. Now to start pulling together the PAF show. The Pelham Art Festival is just around the corner. I have gone through my Etsy shop stats to get an idea of paintings that are receiving the most hits.The information is quite useful, to date over 1,800 people world wide have been on the sight and given their general opinion's on the paintings listed.

(I really like the Etsy philosophy of promoting positive reinforcement for all of it's shop owners. It kind of follows along the old saying "if you cannot say something nice, do not say anything at all." If, you like a shop or an item in a shop you can favour it. If you don't you simply shop else where.)

Pelham is always a lot of fun, it's exciting to meet up with friends after a long winter and to see the great new works they have created. I'm looking forward to seeing our clients,friends and family that will come out to the show to shop and lend their enthusiastic support. Saturday night after the show the artists go to the Ross' and party hearty into the wee hours. Those of us who are local bring potluck and my friend Jim can usually be found doing his thing at the Barbie.

I wish all the artists good sales.

 I look forward to selling some of my own as well. It would be great to make some extra cash to put in the savings account for my son's wedding in Mexico in 2013. Destination weddings are fun but expensive. I'm not so sure that we can really call Bryan and Lori's wedding a destination wedding as they will be living in Mexico soon.

I need to wire several new paintings,make Id tags, bubble wrap paintings, box them and lay out a rough plan for hanging, check my lighting system, tables, chair. table clothes, lay out my rug and try and flatten it, check show equipment boxes, go over my Pelham Show check list and begin assembling everything in the studio.

I will also make a slide show presentation for my lap top. I think this adds an extra dimension to the show and allows potential customers to have a look at works not being shown at the festival.

These are all good intentions we'll see how far we get tomorrow!

BITS & BOBS

It has been a very busy few weeks. Starting with the opening reception at Rosberg Gallery which went well considering the short notice. Staff were very helpful.Meetings for the Summerfest Art Show and meeting regional representatives regarding the Nights of Art in Niagara. Learning to Pin on Pinterest and how to do links to other social media and websites. Plus, I tried a new medium "graphite" in a puck form that you moisten with a little water from a brush. Results were very pleasing.Plus ,helping planning a destination wedding to Mexico(which is very exciting). Beginning to get ready for the Pelham Art Festival which takes place next weekend. It will be great to see what my friends have been working on over the winter. I think I need a secretary and a housekeeper just to keep me on the straight and narrow with my art.