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Having bailed out at the last minute on 3 shows this year, it was time to see how things were going. The Denver show has the advantage of being organized by Jim DeLutes, a road show veteran. Jim is (almost) obcessed with making this an event of note and I trust the guy to actually do what he says, and he said he promoted the bejesus out of it. He was right.

The crowds were there, (most with hands in pockets), but we were blessed with 4 days of the best weather Colorado could offer. That, my friends, was a minor miracle.This one may have cost Jim his soul. Sales for us hit my goal of 5K, but what was unusual was what was purchased. I rarely sell a big framed piece, sold one. I usually sell a dozen or so canvas wraps, sold three. The matted prints flew out the tent, and most were purchased in groups of three or four. Very cool, since this product has the highest profit margain. A few commissions (we will see) a wedding (been a while for that). The neighbors (the dancing dachshunds,a jeweler, a scuptor and Heather the clothing lady all had varying degrees of success (and for two of them, this was the last show,both going on to bigger and better things).My good friend Jeff (analog BW) had a decent show as well. No one complained about anything but sales (well, Jeff dislikes the preponderance of what he refers to as "landscape porn" the overly saturated nature work in the 10X20 booths). Some observations from the show:

1) I am convinced that tent poles have a secret life. Despite careful packing, pre assembly and organization, once exposed thery are never where they were left.I can see the damn things snickering and laughing, jumping from bag to bag just to confuse the hell out of me during set up. I plan to install a nanny cam in the bags to prove my theory.

2) One of the most under rated benefits is people watching. I have my favorites, the hippie in the flesh colored body suit leading his llama thru a show in Nederland, my biker buds and goth people that readily identify with my work (damn, that's some sick s**t dude!), and my all time favorite, the white guy in shorts with black knee socks with the flip up sun glasses. This show had the March of the Cougars. It began quietly, a trickle of little black dresses, high heels and feather boas that turned into one of the oddest parades of prefumed and overly made up women I had ever wittnessed.Side by each, no male escorts in sight, I thought "this is one hell of a girls night out". Turned out to be the premier of Sex in the City. Quite a sight, and more than one husband got the shot to the ribs by the girlfriend/wife as his head swiveled to admire the scene.

3) Despite years of shows, I can still screw myself.Had a bike couple (pedal bikes) stop and exhibit some good interest in the work. We talked for 20 minutes or so, and they asked if it was OK to take a few pics of the booth for reference to take back to the hotel. I never allow this, but they were soooo nice. I said OK. It started with a few general pics, then she began to frame the images, he would hold them up for her.By the time I realized I had been set up, they had a half dozen shots.Very uncomfortable confrontation followed, I stopped short of asking them to delete the images (I really had no proof of their intentions). Never again.

4) As the show ended, had a guy (blue blazer/yellow pants) walking with his wife stop for a second.He raised his hands in disgust, and said loud enough to hurt the feelings of anyone within earshot" Why can't these people do something different, it's the same old crap at every show". Wow. That one really hit below the belt.Hard enough these days, and to have one a**hole summarily dismiss the creative efforts of all the hardworking people kinda got to me. Then I thought, this guy is probably the only male to see Sex in the City with his wife.Good enough for me.

After using an EZ-Up tent for five years, I bit the bullet and bought a professional tent. I asked the Artfairinsiders.com community for help and Linnea Lahlum recommended a Showoff. She provided lots of helpful points that made me feel comfortable moving forward with the purchase. I practiced setting up the tent at home and discovered I had some problems with my mesh display walls from Flourish.

I use Flourish white mesh walls to hang my artwork. I love how easy the set up is and how light and portable it is compared to the solid panel walls many artists choose. What I didn't anticipate was that the tent is a different size than the EZ-up... it isn't a true 10x10 according to the people at Flourish.com. The legs of the tent and upper tent structure is a different size. I needed to order new bottom support poles and hardware for the base of the tent. The Flourish people also say that I will need to use a rubber mallet to get the top hooks of the walls to fit the new size of the upper structure. They also said I may need to create some kind of extension for the velcro strips on the back wall as it will be wider than my EZ-Up. Not the end of the world, but I was disappointed that I couldn't use my new tent while I wait for my new Flourish supplies. Thought I would share this info in case anyone using EZ-Up and Flourish is ready to graduate to a "big girl tent" as my friend Claudia calls it.

We had a beautiful but HOT weekend for the Barrington show on 5/29-5/30. It was the first year for this show and the community seemed to be very invested and supportive. Amy Amdur puts on a first class show and I was very impressed with the turn out. The crowd was steady and the location was good. My setup flight was at 8:00 pm on Friday night and it was the first time I tried to set up in the dark. Street lights didn't provide much help.

For me and many other artists I talked to, it was a great show. I had several commissions and sold lots of prints. Sunday was the better day for me and several of my neighbors, despite the fact that it was the hotter day. I would definitely do this show next year and I'm looking forward to the other Amdur shows I'll be doing this summer.

I've participated in the Sturgeon Bay Fine Art Festival for the past four years and I certainly hope to be accepted again next year. My medium is photography. Show hours for both Saturday and Sunday are 10am to 4pm. There were 96 artists evenly distributed among the mediums. Application and artwork samples are submitted by mail. There is no jury fee and the show fee is $125. Sturgeon Bay is the "entrance" to Wisconsin's Door County - an area of the Wisconsin "thumb" that is jammed packed with vacationers from all over.

The layout - Located on the water in lovely Sunset Park, booths are laid out for a comfortable patron flow. Each artist has 3 to 5 ft of space on both sides of the booth. Sure is great having this space not only for storage, but it nicely allows walk around room for those wishing to hang artwork on the outside walls.

The weather - Could not have been more perfect! Clear blue skies, max 5mph winds and low humidity. I recall in past years having to tie my tent to the van the winds off the lake were so strong and cold. Not this year!

The crowd - Likely due to the weather, attendance was quite a bit lower than the last three years. I don't have the statistics yet, but in my opinion attendance was about half what I've experienced in the past. This show typically has not only local Door County residents, but in the past (and this year as well), 50% of my sales come from Illinois residents, most with second homes in "the Door" or those that arrive on their sailboats.

The $$$$ - I was a tad worried on Saturday. My sales were way down from previous years. However, three other artists that have attended those prior years with me were doing great. Barb, a fantastic jeweler, always has a booth across from me and she did on Saturday what she did all weekend last year. She has a great following and I was beginning to wonder where "my people" were. Sunday cleared that up for me. Barb's Sunday was not so great but mine ended up quite well and my total weekend sales were a couple hundred higher than last year. Pretty good considering the lower attendance. This vacation area on the Great Lakes however is certainly my market - I should always do well here as most patrons either live on or close to the water, are sailors/boaters and make their living in a town that has one of the largest ship building facilities in the world. My peeps!

The Other Side - While the four of us artists who have done this event for many years seemed to have a successful show, I spoke with four or five that had dismal results. For three, it was their first time at this event and they mentioned they would not return. I wish the attendance would have been higher as their artwork is stunning and they should have had better sales. As several of us have had many repeat customers over the years, perhaps this is one of those small vacation town events that seems to have a distinct following. Looking at my sales four years ago, they were not that great in comparison.

The Organization - I have always appreciated the hard work Kristi and her team of volunteers put into this event. Each artist is given a "goodie" bag upon arrival with area literature, water, chapstick, a muffin, dried cherries and other fun stuff. For some reason (slow sales for some) Kristi had to deal with alot of artists complaining about other artists this year. Grumblers snitching on other artists, accusing each other of buy/sell, narking on "original/non original..... I was amazed at the outright pettiness of some artists and I certainly would have not expected that at this little event. While Kristi had to address each issue brought up by each artist, it couldn't have been easy. One of the features many of us have looked forward to over the years are the roving musicans and one clown she has walking throughout the booth. One musician plays the violin, one plays a "squeezebox" (one of those hand accordians) and the clown sometimes acts as a babysitter by involving the kids with various things while the parents get a chance to enter the booths. They are absolutely wonderful and quite appropriate for this venue. Geez.... one artist approached Kristi right in front of my booth and demanded that the violin player stopped. Talk about bitchy artists!

The cheerful volunteers were plentiful and checked in frequently to offer breaks if needed.

Food - Each morning coffee and donuts are available for the artists. A special artist reception is always offered after closing from 4pm to 6pm on Saturday. A nice selection of cheese/sausage/fruits and other yummies along with various beverages and wine are always offered under a tent as the artists mingle and awards are handed out. The food court and the kettle korn guy are across the tennis courts from the artists (thank God). Several local organizations run the food court area (Jaycees etc) and they have run of the mill burgers/dogs/brats as well as salads, beverages and potato curls - I always tend to bring my own food.

Art Raffle - an art raffle tent is in the center of the booths and for the first time I checked it out at the end of the day on Sunday. Got a kick out of the many who came back to see if they "won" their coveted artwork. Plenty of cheers and groans from all.

This is not a huge event by any means. However, in my opinion it is top quality art and the organizers pay attention to the details to provide a pleasant experience for all. I'll post my YouTube Video in the next couple of days or so.

40 Question Blog Series – Question 21 What can I do to relate to mycustomers better?

Everyone buys something for different reasons. Whether it is a car, a cellphone or even art, everyone is not the same. Recognize this becauseall of your customers are not the same. You know your work insideand out, but do you know your customers? Can you relate to them? Ifyou are a “middle class” artist, can you relate to an audiencethat is upper class with your art? Here's some tips on how to get inthe head of your customers...

Question 21 What can I do to relate to my customers better?

To understand your customers you have to know who they are. Generallyeveryone has a typical customer/marketing audience for their art orcraft. The key is to learn what their beliefs are, their passions,favorite shows and books, and so on. While most folks may questionthe logic of learning a customers favorite t.v. show, this info canhelp in breaking the ice when it comes to selling to customers.Here's some examples.

1. Finding a common ground can help ease both parties when talking about yourart. It isn't enough to just have your work on a wall or shelf at ashow, you have to sell it and each person responds differently towhy they buy. Tell interested customers whether a particular pieceis inspired by a piece of artwork on a popular t.v. show or the bowlis just like one that Paula Dean uses on The Food Network. Theseexamples allow customers to personally identify with a piece,which will make them more likely to buy it. Those from a higherincome bracket might want to know if your work was featured in arecent art exhibit or if it a popular seller at a local gallery.Knowing where these people shop, watch on t.v. and so on are allways to get customers to relate to your work and help them becomeattached to your art.

2. People with different economic backgrounds display art in different waysand this can affect how your work sells. Those with money often buylarger format work because, with having bigger homes, their wallsare bigger and are less interested in small 11x14 photographs, butgravitate towards large format work. At the same time those withsome spending money, but live in apartments or smaller homes,gravitate towards smaller pieces, this is why having a largeselection of art work sizes (for example) opens yourself up to alarger buying audience.

3. Don't be too specific with your work. While the economy prevents peopleto spend money easily, the more specific a buying audience you havethe more likely you will not have great sales. My personal storywith this deals with my new line of candles. Granted everyone sellscandles these days it seems, the key is to offer something others donot offer yet anyone would be interested in. I developed a line ofpalm wax candles called Destination Scentsations which ties intravel and scents to those who love candles. I can't think ofanyone who doesn't freely talk about their recent vacations andmix that with those obsessed with making things smell nice became myinspiration with my new line. Combining the two opens my product tonot only people who have money to travel but teens who dream oflounging on a tropical beach to those planning a destination weddingand so on. Doing this opens the door to people who wouldn'tnormally buy candles, yet love to travel and at the same time givecandle lovers an even better reason to buy my candles over others.

Look at your work and ask yourself what else can I do to make my work moreappealing to others. Get to know your audience because if you can'trelate to them, how do you expect to sell to them. The more youappear genuine and honest to your customers, the more they will buyfrom you – economic recession or not. Next question will covernaming your business – soo many people are doing it wrong, learnhow to do it right!!! - Michelle Sholund,www.bythebaybotanicals.comand www.quickcraftartisttips.blogspot.com

I paint pictures.....acrylic....portraits, sports art and scenery and everything in between. I sell prints of my orginals.

I was very disappointed in the low attendance at this show on May 29 and 30, 2010.

And it was the consensus of several artist who have attended this show before that attendance was down.

Now there were 100 booth of great artists.....but this made no difference..at times the place was quite empty.....even on 1:30 on Saturday.

Weather was hot for Sturgeon Bay.....but dont think this is a good excuse.

The food was quite poor. Poor quality hamburgers.....nice entertainment for the kids.

The promoter was quite upset that I did not bring any originals, just prints.....she said it was stated in the rules that there a painter needs to bring some originals. Some? I again checked the rules and there was no reference to the requirement to bring originals. The only thing the application says is: "Reproductions: Only original work and signed and numbered prints may be exhibited."

( Gee if I was a photographer it would be so easy.....and I would not get hasseled ....lol)

Will not do this show again.

We traveled to Purdue country, the home of the Boilermakers and the setting for the Round The Fountain Art Fair. It was the 37th year for this 1 day event and my second year participating.

The event is held in the center of Lafayette around a grand old courthouse (pictured here). Most of the artist's booths (75%) line the sidewalks that circle the perimeter of the courthouse and the remaining artists setup on the courtyard inside perimeter walls (yes, there is a fountain on one of the corners of the courtyard...not humongous.). Setup is the Friday evening before but only after 6PM. There is little coordination; mostly artists are left to their own good manners. From a sales perspective, this setup works fairly well; there is a small enough number of artists that everyone is visited. However, as an artist it is much easier setting up on the street since you must dolly everything into the courtyard from only a few entry points (a wall circles the courtyard).

Nearly 100 artists participated and the quality of the art work was good. The selection jury did a good job screening. The show offers few amenities: no security, no booth sitters, no water, there were coupons for a free cup of coffee at a nearby cafe. Parking is limited to a garage so trucks and trailers are on their own. They did have artist awards (several) and they did produce a nice brochure that is freely distributed to patrons by a team of volunteers. The amenities are not a big deal for me, keep the focus on marketing. That said, I think Friday night security is kinda basic and not all that costly. As artists, we all hung our wares and hoped for the best. I didn't hear of any thievery.

OK, the bottom line, How was the show? This is a solid little show and sales were good though maybe a little down for some (this is based on my very scientific survey of "So how ya doing?"). The weather was hot, high 80's, and most of the crowd came out to buy in the morning. By 1PM I could hear the crowd crying "We're melting, we're melting." and sure enough they did. Those few hours in the morning were great for sales! Sales at this show were interesting for me ... I sold a few of my most expensive framed items and many, many of my smallest items. Very few sales in the middle. Sales were either high or low. As the show was finishing, I had matched the exact number of items sold and total gross dollar amount to nearly the dollar from last year. But then ...in the last 5 minutes of the show, I made a custom sale of my largest piece... whoo-hoo, a great way to end the day.

Places for improvement: If there's an area that the show needs improvement on, it's communication with artists. The phone number was removed from the web site and was not published in any information package. Everyone was required to communicate via email. This would be fine if there was a response to emails... only cyber-silence. Many artist expressed frustration about this. Here's the show number for future reference: 765-491-6298

The jurying seems to work. Five images of your work and a booth image is required. They use a homegrown system and image size is limited to 400 pixels. That's rather small for viewing details. The jury image is about as large as the image I posted above.

Overall, this is a good show and I do recommend it. The community supports it, booth fee is low, layout is good, but you just need to know that there are not a lot of amenities.

Cheers,