We got back this afternoon (Wednesday) from a week-long trip to New Brunswick. That was one of the reasons I couldn’t publish a real blog entry last week, as we were busy packing to get ready to leave. I wanted to write it on Wednesday night, but the power went out around 6:30 pm. I thought I could get it done in the morning, but the power only came back about an hour before we were scheduled to leave, so I wrote out a few sentences and that was that! Well, "it’s déjà vu all over again!" It’s Wednesday evening again, and the power is out again! I was busy trying to catch up on the news that happened during our absence. I had heard the worst of it, but I was now ready for more details. Poof! No power! But this time I remembered that I can write with my Chromebook and save locally, so here I am. In the dark. Writing. But not about art. We were in New Brunswick to attend our first ever “Rally by the Sea”, a yearly get together of owners of “Pleasure Way” brand RVs. We bought our 2000 model in late 2018. We weren’t able to go to the rally in 2019, and we signed up for both the 2020 and 2021 rallies, which were both canceled because of Covid. The rally was very well organised, and activities and excursions were available for those who wanted them. It was quite a sight to see row upon row of similar yet different vans, eighty-one in all, the oldest being a 1991 model (if I remember correctly) and the youngest being only a few weeks old! It was interesting to see the evolution in the models, each year’s design trying to be better than the previous. These vans are what are considered “Class B” vans, and the camping part is built by Pleasure Way Industries in Saskatchewan. One of their employees, Phil, who has been with the company for 35 years, attended the rally and went from van to van answering questions and helping fix issues, no matter how long ago any warranty had expired!! Talk about customer service! Twenty-nine of the participants were going on after the rally for a 2 week tour of Newfoundland. That seemed a bit too long for us to be away. Next year the Rally will be near Quebec City. The campground where the rally was held was bare-bones, but it was situated in an enormous park with dozens of walking trails, which made up for it. The weather was great and we got some good hikes in. I took a few pictures, but as often happens when I travel, I was not inspired to paint. There is always so much to do, and painting doesn’t seem to be one of them. It was good to take a break from art for a few days, although I did do a few sketches, but nothing worth sharing. Now I have to get ready for the big weekend show coming up July 9-10. It will be a first for me, a two-day multi-artist event in a town a few hours away from home. We will be calling the RV back in to service (we might do that tonight if the power doesn’t come back soon!!) and sleeping over at the event grounds. Hopefully we will be able to get the water heater fixed before that (it decided to spring a leak the first night of our New Brunswick adventure-- Phil thinks it’s just a connector!) I hope so! Cold showers don’t sound too tempting! For the first time since it started in 2016, I will not be doing the World Watercolor Month Challenge this year. Although it is a great activity, it is just too difficult for me to commit do a painting a day during such a busy month. I still have a few days to change my mind, but I don’t think I will. You’ll find out next week! P.S. So we ended up having our dinner Wednesday in the RV, and our house power came back around 9 pm. This morning it was back off again, and after going out to do some errands, it is back on, but the internet is deathly slow! I don’t know what is going on, but I hope someone figures it out soon!
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Last weekend, I was participating in an art show with a local group of artists to which I belong. It is our annual show, and we were all quite excited to be able to hold the event after a Covid-imposed 2 year hiatus. Sales had been OK, perhaps a bit better than in past years, but not what you would call brisk. I was helping out at the main sales table when a nice lady asked me for a small piece of paper. I of course obliged. A while later, she comes back with her note-covered paper and informs me that she is “ready to buy”. I glance at her paper and ask if she means that she wants to decide among the paintings that she has listed, and calmly replies: “Oh no, I am buying them all”. OK, this is a first ….. Trying to not show too much excitement, I ask her how she plans to pay for her purchases, and she coolly replies “Credit Card”. My heart sinks, because we aren’t equipped to handle credit card sales (I know, it’s 2022, but this group is very traditional and this kind of situation has never happened before). I inform her that we will accept a check if someone in the group will vouch for her, or cash of course. There is no problem vouching for her, but there is the slight problem that she doesn’t have her checkbook with her, nor her debit card to get cash from a nearby ATM. That could have been a problem anyway, as I had added up her selections and the total was over $600, more than most ATMs will allow you to withdraw …. So I was silently glad that I hadn’t gotten too excited, because I could see this “dream transaction” slipping away…. As we are discussing possible solutions, the lady suggests that she could go home and get her checkbook, but understandably she doesn’t sound too thrilled at the prospect. She confides that she picked the paintings because she just fell in love with them, and eventually convinces herself that the only solution is to go home and get her checkbook. She assures me that she will come back. While she is gone, the member who vouched for the lady, and who incidentally had invited her to come to the show, says she knows her personally and she is an art collector, so she is not surprised by her actions. About an hour later, the lady returns with a box of packing materials and her checkbook, and I proceed to write up her purchases while others are busily packing her newly acquired treasures. We agree to have separate receipts and checks for each artist, and as she is writing one of the checks out, she looks up at me and says “You know, I feel really bad paying only this much for that piece. It’s worth a lot more. Can I add $20 to the amount?” As I had already written out the receipt, I ask her if she would like to talk to the artist and share what she had just told me. So I call the artist over and enjoy watching her receive compliments from the lady, as well as a cash tip. They are both happy, as am I! Talk about win-win-win! As we near the end of our transactions, the generous buyer casually asks me if I am an artist. Of course I say yes, and point to my display of paintings right behind us. When she sees my name, she says “Oh, I almost forgot, there is one of your small paintings I wanted to get too! “ So she wound up buying 8 paintings in all, from 5 different artists! I hope she enjoys them for many years to come! Has anything like this ever happened to you? Do share in the comments! It has been and continues to be a crazy week! Between preparing for a show this coming weekend (selecting the works to show, making sure they are framed, matted, packaged, labeled, rounding up the hanging & display hardware-- thank goodness I am moderately organised!!), then setting up the show, attending the show, taking down the show, traveling to a family birthday party (and getting ready for that!) and getting new art done for the farmer’s market next weekend, there are not enough hours in a day this week! And I hate to admit that I don't get things done as quickly as when I was younger! Not to mention the physical strain of lugging stuff around. Thank goodness I didn’t get into pottery! So this blog will be very short. I am looking forward to a major weekend event this July. It is out of town, and is causing me a few sleepless nights as it is all new for me. And it is less than a month away! But it will also be a turning point for me. If it goes well, I will continue to promote my art as I am doing, but if the results are disappointing, it will certainly make me question whether or not all I am doing is worth the effort. Maybe the time I spend trying to promote my art might be better spent making art! So, big decisions ahead! In closing, I wanted to share with you this very interesting person I discovered this week. His name is Danny Gregory, and he posts essays and videos every week on art-related subjects. Although some are technical, I am most interested in the philosophical ones. Here is one to check out what I mean, titled “27 Ways Art can Change Your Life’: https://youtu.be/MGD7SWq8CL0 . Hope you like it! This week I want to talk to you about a couple of art shows coming up. These are in addition to the current show at the Centre d’arts visuels de Magog, which runs until June 26. One of the upcoming shows is in July, which in my mind seems very far away, but really isn’t considering all that will be happening between now and then! This will be my first really big show, lasting the entire weekend of July 9 and 10, in Lyster, Quebec. It is a juried show, meaning that not everyone who applies gets in. I had been accepted for the 2020 show, which of course was cancelled, then for the 2021 show which almost took place, and now all signs point toward the event happening for real this year (although up to this date last year we all thought the 2021 edition would happen, so I haven’t started packing just yet!). It should be a wonderful experience, because it is an established show and people have missed it! The other show is happening next week (June 10-11), and is put on by members of the Lennoxville Art Group. This is the very first art group that I ever joined, so it has a special significance for me. It is with this group that I exhibited my work for the very first time in 2018 (photo above)! Usually they have a show every year at this time, coinciding with the “Friendship Day” celebration in the borough of Lennoxville, and hold another smaller show at Christmas time in the local library. But of course Covid put pretty much everything on pause for the past two years, so many members were eager to finally do a show again this year. It will be slightly different as not everyone is participating, and the usually well attended Friday night “vernissage” will be simpler this time, with no food being served because of current restrictions on gatherings. The traditional spread offered by the members was quite a draw, so we will learn this year how many “fans” came for the art versus the food! Another thing different this year will be the addition of a “Studio Sale” table. Many members used the Covid time for painting, and with few occasions available to display and sell their work over the past 2 years, many find themselves with a surplus of completed pieces that need to find “forever homes”. Some may be a bit older pieces, some may not be framed, but all will be offered at very reasonable prices (not to imply that our prices are not already reasonable!). Some things have not changed. Each participating member will have their dedicated wall space showing recent pieces, and we will also have our usual “minis” table, which has smaller works at, you guessed it, very reasonable prices! There will also be a raffle of a lovely professionally framed watercolor painted by member Muriel Fitzsimmons, with proceeds going to the Lennoxville Library who has been such a valuable partner of the art group over the past few years. I hope you can come to visit this show, as well as the one in Lyster. Details on times and locations are on my website. |
AuthorMy name is Claire Bureau. Archives
March 2023
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