I'm done blogging for a while.

I'm done using Twitter and trying to blog. I need to focus all my time on painting, doing shows and my web site. Thanks for the interest and I apologize if I've disappointed anyone.

File Maker Pro The Missing Manual

I broke down and bought this book...and glad I did. I spent most of yesterday reading through 164 pages of 809 and it's already helped.

The New Tent Arrived

My new Light Dome tent arrived yesterday. My husband helped me set it up in the driveway last night just in time for a quick but ferocious rain storm. Luckily, we did not have any of the fabric attached beofre the storm. Afterwards, we finished putting it all together.

I have to admit that I was disheartened by it all. It's a lot more work than the EzUp was, but I expected that. In addition, my custom display panels will not work with their set up. They (the manufacturer) have the side panels attach to the tent frame with straps and snaps. My display panels attach to the frame with zippers. I've decided to remedy this by asking my friend who made the panels to attach another zipper to the top of each panel so that I can zip the tent sides to my panels. That should work but I'm spending more money, again.

A real problem that the manufacturer has created for me (and I suppose other Light Dome users) is that if you have the front & rear awnings up, you have to remove their support poles (thereby lowering the awnings) before you can lower the sides or front & back. This is a bad design idea on their part. I used to frequently lower my tent sides during show hours because of rain, wind and sun conditions. Again, this can be remedied by spending more money. My friend will make holes in the front & back tent sides where the awning support poles attach to the frame.

Living and learning the hard way...again.

I'll post photos next time I get it set up.

Sold two paintings over the weekend

Miller Air Park. I painted this a few miles from my home in Mooresville, NC. I met someone over the weekend who told me who's plane it was and that it was a Piper Cub. Nice to have it recognized!




Venice Beach Access was painted in Venice Beach, FL last March.

Bought a Light Dome Today

Finally ordered a new tent/canopy from Light Dome. Canopy, frame, sides, front panel upgrade, upper & lower stabilizer bars, front & rear awnings $1130 plus shipping. Ouch! Should have it next week; I'll set it up and share photos. I'm anxious to see if my custom display panels will fit with the new frame or if I need to have it altered.

Filemaker anyone...?

I'm in need of a custom data base, tailored for me and my art. I've looked at different ready-made software for artists and there's something I don't like or need in all of them. I would like to have all of my contacts, my art inventory, my customer notes, art festival inventory and art show inventory lists in one place. Currently, I use Excel for my inventory lists and Outlook for my mailing lists.

I heard that Filemaker is the answer but it takes a while to get the hang of it. Well, I just downloaded a 30 day trial version and off I go...

If anyone has any comments, please share your experiences with me.

Accepted to 2 fall shows

I've been accepted into 2 shows that I haven't done before. The 24th Annual ArtFest of Matthews September 26 & 27th in Matthews, NC and the 40th Annual Golden Isles Juried Fine Arts Festival October 10 & 11th in St. Simons Island GA.

I have not purchased that new tent yet, probably the first week of September.

I'm on Twitter now...http://twitter.com/CheriSimmonsArt

Complete Self Portrait...

Would you call it done?

Canopy Research

The one good thing to come out of the Raleigh show was that there were over 200 artists there and every canopy maker was well represented. All but one EZ-Up owner was continually pushing pooled water off their canopy with a broom, umbrella, stick, etc. and most were getting a good rain inside their tent like I was experiencing. The one EZ-Up owner who was having no trouble at all had a different material top than the rest of us had; it was a heavy vinyl. I didn't ask her where she got it. I have a friend, the one who sewed my black display walls, that would make me one but it would cost a few hundred dollars. I know that my EZ-Up will eventually crumble like many others have before so I didn't want to sink more money into my poor quality tent.

I saw a lot of Trim-Line canopies there and a couple of their owners were also pushing pooled wter off the top where it meets the side. So that didn't instill a lot of confidence.

My neighbors next to me had a Light Dome so I had a chance to study it and ask a lot of questions. The first thing I noticed was that they had a heavy duty vinyl material on the top so they never had water issues inside their tent. I also noticed that the x member frame supporting the top does not allow the rain to pool. And I noticed that, unlike the Trim-Line types that have a half barrel top, the Light Dome top does not have any flat spots to catch the wind gusts so it seemed a bit more stable in the high wind gusts that the others.

Light Dome's web site states that their tops are guaranteed not to leak or pocket water for the lifetime of the top.

Tody, I'm going to order a Light Dome...wish me luck.

Still working on the self portrait...

I find myself in a position that I hate...I'm almost finished but I don't like my face. It seems as though I have everything in the right place but I'm not happy with the colors. When I initially laid in all the shadows on my face, it was correct but it looked like I had a 5 O'clock shadow; it was too dark and it didn't look right. Now I've lightened it but it's still not correct. I'm waiting for it to dry a bit then I'm going to glaze over it and see if I can get it right. The project deadline is Sunday at 4pm EST so I'll post a finished photo no later than that.

This is as of 6pm last night

...still have to finish my face, arms & fingers.

Here I am, almost 3 hours later...

Self Portrat Attempt

I started at 10am, here's the progress so far on my first self portrait attempt:

First Portrait Attempt

This doesn't have anything to do with art festivals but it relates to my my current project. At the end of last year, one of our art guild members suggested we attempt a women painting women project, which I signed up for. It was my first portrait attempt and I think it went well. See

below:

I chose to paint a half portrait mainly out of fear; that and I wanted something different than the traditional portrait. Well, needless to say, I was a nervous wreck when it came time to reveal Barbara's portrait to her. As it turned out, she loved it and I gave it to her. It was a good expereince...so much so that I immediately organized another women paint women series...the self portrait.

Credit Card Sales

So far I have taken 6 credit card sales with my cell phone with no problems. It's hard to believe it works so smoothly. The deposits appear in my checking account usually by the Tuesday following a festival. The down side of my merchant account is that I'm charged $25 on the months where I don't have any transactions. The up side is that I don't miss a sale!

Note Card Sales

To follow up a post from last fall, my note cards sell very well at these festivals. An artist friend of mine tells me that I'm not selling them for nearly as much as I should but I'm comfortable with the price right now of $5 for 4 cards.

Artsplosure 2009

As I mentioned, I spent the weekend in Raleigh for the 30th Artsplosure art festival. There were over 200 artists there and the quality of art was unbelievable! Artists came from all over the country including a few I spoke to from GA, VA, and OH.

I sold 3 paintings which is a good day for me. Shown above:

Lansford Road Farm 8x16, Red Dirt Road 8x10 & Farm Shed 5x7

It rained hard on and off for breif periods early Saturday morning which pretty much soaked everything and then the sun came out and steamed us all, thoroughly. Despite this, there were thousands of people walking about, shopping and enjoying the festival until 7pm. All in all, it was a good day.

Sunday was not so good. As a matter of fact, it was miserable. It rained non-stop, starting when I arrived at 9am. The temperature dropped from the 80's to the 60's. I had a sizeable river running swiftly through the back of my tent where the curb was and my tent did not stop any rain at all. I lost lots of notecards to water, a white jacket to water & ink stains, all of the title cards hanging from my tent, all of the cardboard boxes used to store my art and a few other things. The biggest lesson learned yesterday is that I'm going to have to shell out another $1000 for a new, water-proof tent. I told my husband about all of this. He was excited and proud that I had made some money this weekend and then I told him about the tent situation and his response was this, "why is it every time you make money, you turn right around and spend it?" Sorry, Honey, it just can't be helped this time.

So, most festivals will penalize an artists for leaving early by way of not accepting your application for the following year. After getting a promise not to penalize artists for leaving Raleigh because of the weather conditions, a lot of us packed up in the rain and the wind and left. This is not fun at all. Everything is wet, goes into your vehicle wet and stays wet until you can haul it all out into the driveway to dry. Here in Mooresville it looks like that may be tomorrow.

Well, I'm off to research canopies...

Sorry I've Been Gone So Long...

I just returned from a fine art festival, Artsplosure, in Raleigh, NC. I was reminded of my long-abandoned blog by a couple that stopped by my booth to tell me they had been following my posts about trying to figure things out for art festivals. I was thrilled to have had the conversation with them. After they left, I was determinded to rekindle my blog. After all, I've been up to a lot since last fall.

So, the next posts to follow will be all about what I've been up to since you last heard from me.

Thanks for your patience...I know it ain't easy! (And thank you for stopping by my booth to tell me that you were following what I was up to, it meant a lot to me.)