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Well, the shows finally got a little better here in Western NY. The rain storms stopped messing with us in July and I could assess things without factoring in "except for the rain".

My best shows, as always, have been at the Chautauqua Institution. It is a dream community with the type of customer we die for: educated, art-minded, interested and able to afford staying at Chautauqua. My "holy crap" moment came when I whined to my booth neighbor that I wished they were buying more than cards. Cards, cards, cards. They are repros of my collage work and, for a while, my idea of printing them up as 8X10 frame-ables to tempt the bargain hunters seemed to work. And it does, but not to the extent I hoped.

So, my neighbor says to me "It's OK if it adds up" so I checked my reports (thank you Square) and on Friday and Saturday I sold $750 in cards. Cards! The sum total of work involved is to chop my card stock in half, load the printer and press print. I usually package them in the car on the way to the show. By the end of the show, the total was over $900. If I hadn't run out, it would have been more. I'll take it.

Speaking of "If I had more", I upped the amount of product I had ready for each show. It took more than 15 years, but it finally dawned on me that having enough product is not as good as having a lot for the customers to choose from.  Except for the prints and cards, all of my stuff is one of a kind. I upped the choices which upped my sales. And if they wanted a piece out of the frame and it could be done..sure. Why not?

We discussed low cost "widgets" a while back as an easy way to plump up the bottom line. Well, those cards are my widgets and the prints filled in at mid level, but this year I made dozens of small mixed media collage and marketed them in their own display baskets.

I sell them for $20. They are totally made of scrap, even the mats. They take me maybe 10 minutes to make and cost pennies. Sold lots of them. And I didn't have to make magnets :)

Speaking of mats, I stopped double-matting the unframed collage and nobody noticed. I actually like them better, collage loves white space. And I framed some with no mat at all if the frame worked with the piece. Sold them all. I hate cutting mats, so this made me happy.

It hasn't been all roses. I did a relatively new suburban show that has blown up in size based on word of mouth from artists. Tanked. Another show, staple in my schedule for many years, has been affected by drama within the organization and I may need to just step away because I don't need drama. I like to enjoy my shows.

I have one more Summer show at the end of the month and then we go on vacation for a month to the West Coast. If it's still there. This is usually a good show for us. It is blocks from the house and draws a young, buying crowd along with the usual suspects. It is run by artists and it has become Buffalo's favorite show. I love doing it, it's a great way to wrap up the season.

Then the Christmas shows start.

I am already reviewing my schedule for next year because some will need to be replaced. But that is good, Because if I learned anything this year it is that to be successful requires that we evolve, change, re-evaluate, take chances and, above all, use common sense.