Tuesday, November 6, 2007

art fair, jet lag, daily paint


Good morning!

Today makes me glad that yesterday I finally brought in the rest of the plants targeted for wintering over. 25 degrees at 7:00 a.m. and it felt like it! I found a pair of gloves before Ollie and I did our 'route' this morning!

Jet Lag/Art Fair Lag
I am beginning to think that there is a disease among artists who exhibit at art fairs, kind of like jet lag. I have yet to fly to a show, so we can't officially call it jet lag, but Monday after a show, there's some sort of lagging going on! I exhibited my paintings at Two Rivers Art Market in Des Moines this past weekend. That's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Spencer, which is pretty mild as far as art fair travel goes. My theory is that it's the combination of activities involved. First we labor to get the vehicle loaded, drive like crazy to get there on time, agonize over decisions regarding the perfect setup and how to spotlight the newest paintings, and then we wait. At the perfect show, that first purchase happens right away and takes the edge off, but all you painters out there know that normally only happens to jewelers! Patience must be our badge. At any rate, the end of the show comes and packing it in begins. No matter how many paintings you sell, the remaining refuse to cooperate and fit back into the alotted space. Why is that? --probably the first visible symptom of art fair/jet lag. And then the drive home: it can be 100 miles or it can be 500 miles and it still requires the same amount of coffee---the second visible symptom of art fair/jet lag? Is there a cure? I have one more event on the schedule for this year, Thieves Market in Iowa City, the first weekend in December, and I will contemplate a cure as I drive there!

So there's my excuse for not too much paint brush action yesterday. But let me explain what painting did happen. I painted a still life quite a while ago, and there's always been something about it that bothered me. Yes, it was signed, but did you know it's possible to paint over signatures? :) Maybe it was the aforementioned syndrome that caused me to look at this painting differently, but I think I figured out the problem and even more amazing, I think I fixed the problem. We'll upload that image and let you decide!

Have a lovely day! Cooper

1 comment:

Mary Connealy said...

It looks great, Karen. What did you change?
Oh, wait, there was a huge rotten spot on the apple and you painted it over.
Or wait, perhaps a rodent peeked out from behind the teapot?
Really, you should have showed us before and after. Like one of those match games on the back of the Captain Crunch cereal box.
What's wrong with this picture? The Captain has MOOSE ANTLERS. You know, some subtle little change that only a true student can catch.
Okay, it's getting late. I need to quit shut up.
Thanks for stopping by the Seekerville blog.
I am too mean. I've GOT to stop.