My art show season is from October through April each year. The Florida Summers are too hot to venture outside. It is in the mid-90's today. Even worse is the humidity which makes breathing hard. All of which means, there are no outdoor art shows in Florida during the Summer. Of course, like some of my art buddies, I could pack my bags and head up "north" where all the great Summer shows are. But, that is just not in me. So, I will have to make do with the Florida shows.
My October 2008 - April 2009 show season brought to light some great insights that I want to share. I exhibit both my art (acrylic paintings) and handcrafted jewelry - not at the same show of course. So, every time I apply to a show, I have to do some research about the area before I decide what I am going to exhibit. Last year, I decided to figure out a way to split my 10 shows into exhibiting art at 5 shows and jewelry at the other 5.
All of my jewelry shows were a great success. Even at the slowest show, I made a minimum of $1000. My art shows (exhibiting my acrylic paintings) were all failures. It appears that people are willing to spend money of wearable art or functional art. They are definitely holding off on the decorative art.
My game plan for this art season (Oct. 2009-April 2010), I am going all the way with my jewelry. I will be back exhibiting my paintings when the economy gets better. I shall keep you posted on how this new game plan works. Here is a photo of some musical kids at the MayFaire show in Lakeland.







