Odds and Ends

I've been called from the waitlist to do the Maitland Rotary Arts Festival. This will be at Lake Lily in Maitland, Florida THIS WEEKEND (Oct 2). This show is a little bit different because it has night hours. It opens on Friday at 6PM - 10PM and is from 10AM - 10PM on Saturday. Normal hours of 10AM - 5PM on Sunday. You can find more information at http://www.maitlandrotaryartfestival.com/ I'll be in booth 53. Please pass the word since I am not on the artists list and the show isn't listed on my postcards. You can always see my most up to date schedule on http://www.serenityscenes.com/UpcomingEvents.html I've got a completely new booth design for the new season and a lot of new photographs to share with you.

I've started a group on Facebook called Alison Thomas - Serenity Scenes Photography. It's open to everyone. If you are on Facebook please join.

Waiting

It seems I write this blog every year about this time. Although things are looking up, usually I am complaining about being rejected. Looks like this is going to be the summer of the wait list. First Maitland, now Art in the Gardens. Actually being waitlisted for Art in the Gardens is probably the best possible outcome for now. I applied to Deland with Art in the Gardens as a backup before I realized that if I was invited to Art in the Gardens I would have to accept or decline before I knew whether or not I was invited to Deland. Not a good plan. Now if I don’t get invited to Deland, I can still hope that I might get called off the wait list for Art in the Gardens. I know God’s in charge of all of this but I do wish I had more than one confirmed show for the fall.

At any rate, I have redesigned the booth, printed most everything, and should complete framing next weekend. Then I will go through the matted pieces and separate them into first and second string and go through my supplies to make sure I have enough of everything. I have to be ready for Maitland, just in case they call me.

I’ve got my fingers crossed and prayers said for Winter Park Autumn and Winter Springs that will be deciding soon.

I have learned not to pray to get into a show, but to pray to put my best foot forward. Praying to get into a show and not getting in just leaves me pissed off at God. I do the best footwork I can and it will all work out the way it is supposed to.

Fall Schedule

Well the final fall schedule is in. You can see it on http://www.serenityscenes.com/UpcomingEvents.html

I’m quite happy with the results. Three rejections out of seven applications isn’t bad for Florida art shows. I’m disappointed about not getting into Disney but the Maitland location is known for a disjointed layout and dead locations. I’ve done the Spring show twice and I’ve pretty much decided never again. The first year I was in among the food booths and next to the guy dressed up as a chicken giving away free coupons. The whole day went like this – mom and dad with kid come into booth, mom and dad start to look around and murmur positively, kid sees chicken, runs out of booth, mom and dad follow never to return. The only worse location I’ve had was when I was next to the cute dog modeling dog clothes. Same scenario only worse, kids dragging their parents past my booth…

So the second year, when they asked for requested booth locations, I said “NOT NEAR THE FOOD”. This put me in a location actually behind another booth. There was a whole line of us behind a line of booths that put us totally out of sight from the main traffic area. Not one of my better shows. The one big sale of the weekend was entertaining though. A couple comes into the booth in the last 15 minutes. While the husband is talking to me about a possible “end of the day” discount and I’m debating about how badly I want to make at least one good sale for the weekend, the wife is looking around. Just as I’m about to offer a discount, she screams “Oh, I’ve got to have this one”. Husband mutters something about “not taking you along when we buy a car” and pays full price.

I’m excited about Winter Park. It’s not the big spring show but it’s still the same location and a great location it is. I’m not sure about the Jacksonville show. I applied on a whim. None of my usual sources knows anything about it. But the location looks good. I didn’t know about the Saturday morning setup but thank God for friends that come through to help.

For those of you that got postcards I will not be in Deland this year. Notification was quite late and I needed to get the postcards out. But I’ll get to spend an extra two days with my daughter and grandchildren which is fine with me.

Hope to see you at one of the shows!