A Great Day at the Village Venture

This past Saturday was my 8th year participating at the Village Venture - a wonderful arts and crafts show along the tree-lined streets of historic downtown Claremont, CA. The sky was gloomy and threatned rain all day, but the crafting gods were looking down on us and held back the mositure until 30 minutes after the show...what luck!

 

Set up started at 6:30 am. Who knew that the sun wasn't even up at that hour! I asked the show promoters for a new booth location this year as I had spent the last 7 years set up next to the Folk Music store's performance booth. The music is wonderful, but the sheer volume made it impossible to talk with customers. My new spot was centrally located right on a busy corner - perfect location!

 

The show officially opens at 9am - my first customer was there at 7am! She came early to watch me unpack and get first pick. That's dedication! Here she is making her decision...thanks Holly!

The gloomy weather really put people in the shopping mood. I had the single best sales day of any one-day show, ever! Thanks so much to Marty, Jeff and Wendy for helping me setup, teardown and wrap and bag all those sales. And a big thank you to all my friends, fans and collectors who came out to support me.

My BIGGEST Day of the Dead Creation EVER!

I just finished up my largest Day of the Dead figure so far to date. It may not look like it in this photo, but this fellow stands at over 13" high and is about 9" wide. I always like to make at least one LARGE piece for each show I attend; call it a "show stopper!" Something to really grab people's attention as they pass by my booth. The larger size also made it much easier to paint in all those intricate details on his face.

This bone-daddy makes his debut at the Claremont Village Venture, Sat. Oct 23rd. Hope to see you there!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Halloween is still several weeks away, but I've put the orange and black paint away for now. It's about time I start working on holiday creations. I have to admit that a bit of melancholy comes over me when I know that the mad Halloween-rush is through. I still have one more Fall show to attend, but just about everything is completed for that show. Creatively, I find it tough to switch gears so abruptly, so I like to ease into it slowly. I may start by looking through some old Christmas catalogs, or books about Vintage collectibles. I remember as a kid, I found it easy to get into the holiday spirit when the Sears Wishbook would arrive in the Fall - does anyone else remember that? I know I'm really dating myself with that reference ;)

Somehow, this weekend I found the Christmas spirit and starting in-head first on some snowmen. Now I'm anxious to get working on those Santas, angels and gingerbreadmen.

And before you know it, I'll need to get out those pastel paints and start getting enthused about eggs and bunnies. Wow, where does the time go?!