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| Rio Grande Fair 2010 |
At what I considered the height of my art business I was doing eight big fairs in New Mexico and other cities in the west. One even in San Francisco with masks before transitioning to paintings. It wasn't easy getting in those touted markets. There was a jury process which in the age before transition to digital required slides which had to be prepared and mailed.
The Rio Grande Fair in 2010 was one of my last. I was seldom turned down for any fair I applied for. I had all the professional equipment at no small investment. But when my Astro van, the required conveyance for all that equipment and inventory, blew a connecting rod I sat down to an agonizing reappraisal of costs versus profits and quit.
Fairs at the time were going through a downturn. The middle class was vanishing with their disposable income. They went to fairs with their smart phones and took photos and ate at the food booths and more and more bought from the vendors selling Chinese products pretending to be originals. And digital technology made the ink jet (Giclee in French) ridiculously cheep. The first year after I quit I received calls from those running fairs I had tried so hard to get into at one time. "We have eleven booths open. Say yes and I will halve the booth fee."
Now I do only one little local fair. No travel costs. No hotels. No Chinese with their smart phones. No vendors from everywhere but here. And I have my studio. And our arts group does the studio tour every fall. Art does not have to be packed up and moved until it is sold or displayed at a local venue.
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| One Studio wall 2019 |
The Angel Fire Holiday Market December 7 and 8 this year is the one fair I do. I no longer have all that fancy professional booth furniture in the top photo. I have to be very creative on displaying my wares. And this year I have decided to concentrate on little arts. The big paintings stay in the studio which is open three afternoons a week.
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| Little Original Watercolors in Small Frames and on note cards |
The walls of my studio are full but as a painter I must paint. So I went back to the basics; tiny watercolors on note cards and in frames for gift giving.
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| Shelf Paintings and Little Gem Ornaments waiting to be packed. |
And since I was printing out photographs for note cards I produced some Giclee prints, matted and put them in frames of various sizes. My big Giclee's on canvas are hanging on the walls of Enchanted Circle Brewing Company in Angel Fire. Or my studio. The great thing about photography is its versatility. Want it a different size? Or on canvas? Just order it.
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| Thicke holding space open in the bin of matted and framed photographs |
This holiday season stop by the Brewery, the Market at the Community Center, or my studio. Or Binford-Bell Studio here or on Facebook.
