Picture this-
It's the last few days before the Holiday RAWk event and I'm scrambling to get everything ready. December snuck up on me and I'm making a mad dash to get everything prepared in time. I'm feeling stressed out and anxious and that's when I hear the voice of my Madness* saying "Y'know what would be really cool? What if we made a sign with our name on it... And then made it glow! It would be so easy! We'd just carve our name into some cardboard and and paint it black! And cover it with paper and put some kinda light behind it. Come on! It would be so easy!" And I'm like, "Shut up, voice. I've got stuff to do."
Yeah, take a wild guess how that ended...
I can't help myself.
The Madness* requires that all my coolest ideas are unnecessarily complicated and only conceived at the most inopportune of times.
It was made out of some spare cardboard (including a lid from one of my comic boxes), rice paper, acrylic paint, tin foil, and christmas lights. Oh, and lots and lots of packing tape. It gets pretty hot, so I brought a fire extinguisher to the RAW show just in case my makeshift creation decided to burst into flames. It didn't.
But enough about the sign...
Despite being a last minute addition to the list of featured artists, I managed to pull together the nicest display I've ever done for any show EVER. I'm really pleased with how it looked and I know that it definitely turned some heads.
Once I get someone's attention, the art can speak for itself, but getting them close enough to see something they like is half the battle.
I made some new friends, met a few people who might provide me with gallery opportunities in the future, and sold enough artwork to make it worth making the trip. All-in-all, a successful night.
I want to send out yet another thank you to Thomas Mitchell for helping me run the booth. In addition to being a spectacular boyfriend, he also fills the role of my part-time event manager and as soon as I make enough money to actually pay him, I'm hiring him on to do this full-time. He's incredibly helpful and almost as passionate about talking to people about my artwork as I am.
Fast forward to December 10th!
The T.A.R. Salon's Second Saturday exhibit was
such a great event! It was a packed house. When I tell you that from 7 to 9, you could barely move in there, I mean that sometimes people would go outside for a minute and find themselves watching the show from the doorway because the way in had closed behind them.
The Tommie Griggz Band performed an incredible set (both original songs and a few well picked covers) and I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the live CD they recorded of that night.
There was unbelievably delicious food there, also from local restaurants. Cuban food from the store next door as well as what can only be described as artisan cupcakes. My favorite was a banana bread cupcake with creamy frosting that was very subtly peanut butter flavored, topped with a caramelized piece of bacon. It might sound a bit weird, but it was heavenly.
The best part of that event though was the afterparty.
Tom and I were invited to go back to one of the musician's houses for drinks and conversation. We left with them, intending to stay for a half an hour or so and ended up staying out until almost midnight! I met so many wonderful, inspiring, and genuinely fascinating people! One of wants me to tutor her kids. Another is a childhood friend of Ethan Van Sciver (a fancy pants comic book artist, for the civilians reading this blog) and is the person responsible for teaching him how to draw. I am SO glad we stayed out!
* "The Madness” is what makes you want to get out of bed and draw. And then when you are done drawing, draw some more. It makes you miss meals, because you are too busy painting. It's an irresistible, incurable compulsion to create things, and I've got it BAD.
