Sunday, April 21, 2013

Short and Sweet

Sentinels (c) 2013
Another very full day at the Lacombe "Encore: Sale & Celebration of Creative Expression" show.  Each of us sold a small piece, and my daughter sold many of her lovely cards, and some book-marks.  Lots of interest in "Sentinels", but no one's taken it home yet.  It is particularly attractive to men (!) -- and I had two stop and tell me they liked it because they work(ed) as linemen.  That was a total serendipity for me and makes me smile just to think about it.

Another fellow stopped to chat about it even after his wife dismissed my work with  "I do that stuff".  He smiled and said, sotto voce, "She has to follow a pattern though; she doesn't do this" (gesturing toward the exhibit).  And he hung about another 5 minutes or more talking about art and sewing etc.

"Abandoned: House I" and "Watching" both received a great deal of attention as well; they're mounted on stretched canvas.
Abandoned: House I  (c) 2012

Both purchasers of my minis may also contact me for commission work (I have their names), which would be a real plus. The mother of one gal lives here in Mirror, so she was very excited to meet a local artist.  She's just moved into a new house and is still setting up/painting etc., so I may hear from her about a larger piece once she and her husband are settled in.

Another gal who is an art quilting student had a long enthusiastic talk with me about my work, and took a SAQA brochure.  Others took them "for friends" -- so I have only one left!  My stack of postcards is dwindling, too...

And...I survived the expected visit of a gaggle of women from church who breezed through to see my "nice little hobby".  I've been making a point of mentioning (conversationally, of course) that I spend 4-6 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, in my studio.  It's a small comfort that the jeweller in the booth next to me gets the same sort of comments.

I lost count of the number of viewers who asked me if I were Patti Morris (the SAQA Western Canada Co-Rep for Alberta) -- or if I knew her.  I'm always flattered because she does wonderful work, but I began to point out that our styles are quite different -- and that she works much larger than I do (at present, any way).  This brought puzzled looks.  Isn't one quilt very like another?  ;-)

Another couple of viewers had seen our SAQA WC exhibit, "Meet the Best of the West" and tried to recall my piece as I described it for them -- with mixed success.  However, they were excited to meet another artist from that exhibit to whom they could put a name and a face.

Another viewer had a hard time referring to the works as 'quilts' because they weren't repeating geometric designs.  On the positive side, she concluded that my pieces weren't quilts (even if they might be quilted) -- they were art!  (GRIN)  (Okay...so what does one say when a viewer refuses to acknowledge the 'quilted' aspect of one's art?!  Now there's a topic for debate!)



In the manner of my friend Nancy Cook, I bought some art with some of my sales proceeds.  I love hand-made books and just across the way from us is a vendor called "Those Great Little Books", from which I purchased a beautifully bound lined journal.

Mine is bound in the 'Rustic' style you see at left, with a turquoise cover, tan spine, and an imprint of an aspen leaf in gold foil on the front -- appropriate to my work, which is filled with images of aspen and birch.


We came home very tired, and hopeful that many of the enthusiastic viewers will return to make purchases today. There's a necklace I want from the jeweller next to us!  All for now...


3 comments:

Jackie said...

I just found your blog as I was visiting Elaine Quehl's blog. Then see that you are going to Quilt BC in the SAQA show... I will be there for the duration and hope to meet you!
Your work is just wonderful!

Regina B Dunn said...

Sounds like you had a very rich experience at the show. And the quilts you showed in this post are very impressive. You do get "interesting" comments at shows. At a show I did once I tried to sell fabric postcards for $15 each. A woman stopped by and raved about them and wanted to buy one and said wow they are even cheaper than Walmart's. Then she reached into her wallet and handed me 15 cents! When I politely said no they are 15 dollars she said she'd be right back after she went to the ATM. I felt bad for her because she was embarrassed. She had no idea about art. Of course, she never came back.

Peggy said...

Don't let the turkeys get you down.