Mandala 18

Here is the 18th piece in my new Mandala series.

Mandala 18

Mandala 17

Here is the 17th piece in my new Mandala series.

Mandala 17

My first extended trip of the season

WARNING: long post ahead.

I’ve been attending art festivals in Arizona for a number of years. Although these shows take me 1800 miles from home, they have always been worth my time and the expense necessary to do them. Typically I do the fall shows in both Tempe and Tucson AZ. but for the first time I will be doing those same two shows this spring.

I just finished doing some gas mileage calculations and discovered that with gas nearing $4.00 a gallon pulling my trailer will add over $400.00 to my expenses. Because I use my 6’ x 12’ cargo trailer to both carry my booth, art and supplies to enable me to set up my mini art gallery at various art festivals PLUS use it as my mobile hotel room (I sleep, eat and bath in it) leaving it home usually isn’t an option. Even though in the previous years that I’ve “moteled it” I always found the cheapest accommodations I could, usually Tom Bodett’s Motel 6. But now that my home away from home rolls with me behind my truck I’m going to be hard pressed to leave it behind.

Packing what I normally take to shows under the canopy of my 2005 Chevy Silverado truck and NOT in my trailer is going to take some serious planning. I used to do it but since I started pulling my trailer I’ve become used to the extra room and thus have not been as careful with what I take and what I leave at home. If I revert back to my set up prior to using my rolling print bins, I can take 6 2’ x 4’ tables to support my framed prints instead of my large rolling bins that I couldn’t lift into the bed of my truck. This will save a ton of room.

If I also only frame as many images as I think I’ll need for one show instead of two, I can take hundreds of un-framed prints with me and cases of glass and then frame what I need for the second show between the festivals. That way I will save half of the room I would need if I made up my entire inventory at home. A little more work but that way I can do these 2 shows without my trailer.

This trip will have a few additional benefits that all traveling artist should be taking advantage of, namely, book shows close to family or friends you’d like to visit. Not only can you write off the expenses you accrue with these visits because your main reason for these far off trips are to conduct business at the festival but you may also be able to save additional money by staying with these folks.

That’s exactly what I’ll be doing this time. I have a son, daughter-in-law and two grand kids that live near Salt Lake City Utah. By leaving early in the morning on my departure day I can make it to Idaho Falls in a long but doable driving day. This first stop is about 550 miles from my home in Sandpoint, ID. By leaving my trailer home, I’ll need to book a room for the night, which will cost me about $45.00. The next day I’ll have a causal drive to my son’s home.

After spending the night with my family I’ll drive into Arizona as far as I can make in one long day of driving and then I’ll need to book another motel room which will run about the same as in Idaho Falls. The next day’s destination is Mesa AZ. which is where my other son and his family live (starting to get the picture?) Mesa is only 15 minutes from the Festival of the Arts in Tempe so I’ll be able to return each night to stay with my family and NOT need to stay in a motel.

Between my show in Tempe and the 4th Ave. show in Tucson I will also be staying with my son saving over $200.00 in lodging fees plus giving me opportunity to play grandpa to my 1 ½ year old grand son. I can’t wait.

The 4th Ave. show is another 3-day affair so I’ll be heading south towards Tucson on Thursday morning which will give me ample time to set up my booth that afternoon. For that night plus the next 3 I’ll need to call Motel 6 home once more which will set me back less than you might think. Tucson offers some of the best lodging prices anywhere in the country. The 4 nights there will only run about $130.00. The age and condition of the Tucson Motel 6 is less than I’d like but I am only sleeping and bathing there so I hate to spend more than I need to for this.

Monday morning I’ll start my long trip back to Idaho and even with a long day of driving I usually only make it to southern Utah. Chalk up another nights stay and expense but this time the Motel 6 I use is one of the nicest I’ve ever stayed in. Go figure. To keep the night’s lodging consistent all over the country, Motel 6 must some how subsidize the newer and fancier hotels because the difference between the one in Tucson and the one in Cedar City UT. is night and day.

The next day I easily drive back to son #1’s house in Salt Lake City, spend another day or two playing grandpa to my two other grand kids then it’s back on the road. After about 10 hours behind the wheel I pull into Missoula MT. and hook up with a friend and old neighbor of mine from when we both lived in Santa Cruz CA. We catch up on old times while consuming a few adult beverages and get a good night sleep without forking over and money to the hotels night clerk.

The next day I say goodbye and head home. It’s only a 6 hour drive which is a piece of cake so I’m driving back to my mountain ranch home before dark.

Because this trip will keep me on the road for nearly 3 weeks and if I needed to stay in motels the entire time I could easily spend close to $1000.00 on lodging alone. By staying with family and friends I reduce this expense to under $400.00, which coincidently is what I would have spent on the additional gas to pull my trailer.

Planning shows you do that allow you to take advantage of my couch surfing plan will not only save you money but allow you to write off your family trips too. Believe me, this can be one of the best benefits a life as an artist can have.

Mandala 16

Here is the 16th piece in my new Mandala series.

Mandala 16

Catching up is hard to do

One of the things I look forward to when I start my show season and hit the circuit is catching up with old friends. Most of us have taken at least some time off over the winter and the first show back allows us to see what we’ve all been up to since we last saw each other.

I have many friends but some of the closest ones I have are other artists. Were all on the same wave link, sort of. We can relate to each other better than our other friends do not who travel selling their art. A few of my dearest friends, the ones who I could pour my soul out to if necessary, live many states away from my home and in some cases over a thousand miles away. But because we see each other each weekend at the various art festivals we attend, they’re like my next-door neighbors.

Try explaining to one of your customers that walks into your booth how tired you are with being on the road, away from your family selling art all day long and chances are you’ll get a look from them like “hey you live a glamorous life filled with travel and surrounded with beautiful art, what are you complaining for?”

But when you mention the same statement to your booth neighbor, the other artist that is just as burnt as you, a look of mutual understanding comes back at you. Grant it, we’re not out in the hot sun laboring all day digging ditches but none-the-less, we still get tired.

Anyway, back to catching up with old friends. The one thing that you don’t expect when greeting someone who you haven’t seen in awhile, is finding out that something bad happened to him or her since your last meeting. That was the case with me last weekend. I greeted a close friend with my customary hug and asked her how she “wintered over?” That’s a term that unless you live in the snow country, you might not understand. She smiled and said “fine” but I sensed that she was either ultra tired or not telling the truth. We parted ways and I headed back to finish setting up my booth. I really didn’t give it another thought until I latter found out (from another artist) that our mutual friend had lost a family member since the last show we did together and she was just too upset to even tell me about it. Totally understandable, but I would have loved to be able to reach out to her and just let her cry on my shoulder if she needed.

Thankfully, most of my catching up with friends was on a happier note but I also found out though the grape vine that another close friend was in the hospital under going tests to determine if something was wrong with his liver. I talked with his wife and she was going to call me this week to fill me in on his results. No call yet, I’m worried.

Boy, these folks are my age and although were not teenagers any more, were all too young to be having these scares and loses. Life just sucks some times, even for us “happy-go-lucky” artists. Send your good thoughts their way, please.

1 down, 25+ to go

I returned home from my first art festival of the year late Sunday night tired, satisfied and somewhat encouraged over customers interest in art for 2008.

What I mean by that statement is that for the past few months I’ve been reading about this down turn in our economy and have been in contact with many of my artist co-hearts who have expressed their concerns over what these bad economic times are going to do to our art sales.

It is true that when times get tough art purchases seem to get put on the back burner. Combine that with 2008 being an election year and you have two legs of a doomsday trivecta. (write me and I privately tell you what the 3rd leg is if you need to know) Although my sales for this latest show were off about 10% from the same spring show in 2007, I felt pretty good about that. I heard other artists complain about being off 50% and some, even more, so all in all, I feel I did pretty well.

I asked the promoters about attendances figures and got the canned company line “we are right on track to meet last years numbers.” Bull. I realized that they need to keep financial and attendance figures confidential but even rookie in this business could tell that there just weren’t enough customers to make for a successful show for 300 plus artists. Not a very good sign for the 2008 season.

The one thing I need to report though is that this show is made up of primarily “Country Crafters.” I was one of maybe 25 artists selling wall art. I know this next statement is a generalization but the type of customers that purchase “Country craft” type items are more likely NOT customers who came to by a fine art wall piece. There is a slight cross over of these buyers but typically someone who attends this show looking for a dried flower arrangement or cute toys for their grand kids are not my customers.

The majority of buyers who attend predominantly heavy “craft” shows tend to be middle or lower income households. Although everyone should be concerned, these income levels are impacted greatly by the skyrocketing price of fuel to run their vehicles on. Regular gas in Spokane Washington is $3.39 a gallon with diesel hitting $4.00. People have to think about filling their tank up in order to make it to work on Monday so frivolous spending is usually out for these folks. Based on this type of show and crowd, I feel fortunate to have had as good as sales as I did.

All but 3 or 4 of the shows I book yearly are “fine art festivals.” These shows draw a much more affluent crowd which typically has more disposable income in which to buy art with so I’m hopeful that the bulk of my shows are up over 2007.

The next set of shows I do are in the great state of Arizona. One is in Tempe and the other in Tucson. I’ll post links to their website in the next day or two.

Warm and dry weather, here I come.

Mandala 15

Here is the 15th piece in my new Mandala series.

Mandala 15