The beginning...

I'm an oil painter. I paint landscapes, mostly and I just started seriously in March of 2007. Since I'm so new at it, I didn't expect much success right away. However, I've decided that I enjoy it enough that I want to try to make it a full time career. and I recently acquired my first Collector. It's extremely flattering to have a Collector. I also won my first award, an Honorable Mention with the first painting I exhibited (Rock Valley Road) and I was thrilled! This is also the first painting that my Collector purchased. She also bought the next 2 paintings I exhibited six months later. Then she bought a 4th painting a couple of months after that. Wow!

Rock Valley Road, Hana Malia Cottage, Red Dirt Sail, Oak Island Lighthouse

Last month, I decided to build my own web site and after quite a bit of research, I went with BlueVoda so I could build and manage my own. Cheri Simmons Art web site.

I'm happy with it so far. So, I've been painting a lot and have a web site but I needed to figure out how to show my paintings to more people. I applied to 2 juried art festivals and to my surprise, I was accepted into both!

The first one is in Waxhaw, NC and it's called Autumn Treasures, Sat & Sun Oct 11 & 12, 2008.

The second one is in Raleigh, NC and it's called Artplosure, Arts Alive on Lichtin Plaza and it's Sat & Sun Oct 18 & 19, 2008.

I have a lot of prep to do so that my booth looks as professional as possible without spending too much money...after all, I don't know if this is going to be a profitable venue for me. It is for some artists because a good number of them travel all around the country exhibiting at fine art festivals.

I'll keep you posted on what I've done to get ready and how it goes.