Sheila M. Evans

The Park City-Kimball Arts festival is this weekend!

Park City Kimball Arts Festival

When: July 31 – August 2, 2009

Where: 638 Park Ave, Park City, UT

Hours: Friday (preview) 6 – 9 p.m.,  Saturday, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m., Sunday 9:00 a.m. – 6 p.m.

What I’m bringing: Pastels and Oils

Booth #165

The Bellevue Arts Museum show was a great success for me, and this year I am especially grateful. I know this would be a very easy time to cut back on art purchases, but Bellevue came out and supported artists in a big way. I had a great time selling art, meeting new collectors and catching up with established ones, and seeing some old friends as well. Thanks again to everyone who came out.

In fact this year, Bellevue went beyond the scheduled three days for me. After driving home to Spokane, I turned around and drove back two days later to deliver a painting to a wonderful new collector, who met me at the halfway point between Spokane and Seattle. I was thrilled that this young couple ended up with this particular painting. It was a happy ending to a story that was oddly typical of Bellevue this year.

In this case my new collectors had just missed out on a small pastel study they wanted to buy. Undaunted, they asked me about possible commissions. Later the same evening, they looked at my work online and discovered that I had made a large oil painting from the small study they has seen earlier, and as it turned out, they really needed a large piece anyway. So we made arrangements to meet before I left for my next shows and the rest is history. But not every incident like this turned out so well.

For as many pieces as I had in my booth this year (photo, above), I was astonished at how many times multiple people would want the same piece. One customer would see a piece they wanted, but decide to do some shopping and come back for it later. Meanwhile someone who had seen the same piece earlier would come back and buy it within minutes of the other person’s return. My husband and I were marveling at this, and trying to understand it. Perhaps the amount of work in the booth caused people to feel confident no one else would want “their” piece. Or perhaps the purchase is such a big decision that people prefer to leave it up to fate—if it’s still there when they return it was meant to be.

It just seems to be the way it works that if one person loves a piece of art, several others will love the same piece. It was so hard to watch the disappointment when someone just missed the one they really wanted. But that’s the nature, and the value, of one-of-a-kind work. I know I certainly have missed out on my share of things by hesitating. So I have resolved in the future to keep this in mind, and I hope some of you will do too: if you truly love it, buy it. You may only get one chance.

The Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair is this weekend! Bellevue is the only show this year where I will not have oils, so I have saved some of my best new pastels for the occasion. Dancing Half Moon, left, is one of the pastels which will make its premier appearance in Bellevue. This is always one of my best shows, so I am very excited to return. Just a bit more packing to do and we will be ready to head out in the morning!

Bellevue Arts Museum ArtsFair

When: July 24 – 26, 2009

Where: Bellevue Square parking garage, 510 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA

Hours: Friday – Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m., Sunday 9:30 a.m. – 6 p.m.

What I’m bringing: Pastels

Booth #J-8 (Straight west from the Information Booth, in the parking garage)

After a very enjoyable week in the studio, it is time to face the prospect of seven weeks with no studio time at all. Art Fair Season is now upon me.

With that in mind, I’ve tried to get the most out of the last few weeks at home. As I mentioned previously, I’ve lined up some gallery shows for next year. So over this last week I made a large painting specifically for my oils show (to make me feel like I’ve gotten a head start, I suppose). Lacewing (detail, above) is the result of my efforts. Not a very good photo, I’m afraid—I took it in the studio with absolutely the wrong lighting and lots of glare. As a bonus, my studio is so small I can’t actually get far enough away from the painting to photograph the whole thing. Thus the detail shot. But, considering the quality of the photo, that’s probably for the best.

And that will undoubtedly be my last new painting post for a while. It’s time to head to the basement and reprise my role as Framing Troll in preparation for the next several weeks. Beginning with the Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair next weekend, I will have an art fair every weekend save one until after Labor Day (and Sausalito). For the complete schedule click here.

I’m very excited to get out there and do my shows, but I’m pretty sure the magnitude of the travel schedule hasn’t quite hit me yet. Not to worry, it will soon enough.

Serenity is both the title of my newest pastel study, and what I hope to find a bit of in my studio for the next few weeks. My next show, Bellevue Arts Museum, isn’t until the last full weekend in July and I hope to get some serious painting done between now and then. My goal for next week is to use this study for an oil painting to take to Bend and/or Sausalito later this summer, although I realize I will be pushing it for drying time. It’s not as if I don’t have plenty of oils to take with me already. I do, however, have other shows coming up, and I guess I’m just never quite satisfied with what I have. I suppose that’s to be expected in a situation where a sale requires having just the right piece in front of just the right person at the right time. Small wonder artists are constantly second-guessing themselves. Or are they? Is it just me?

See what I mean?

This past weekend was the Edmonds Arts Festival, and I enjoyed a laid-back four days including great booth neighbors, visits with old friends and collectors, and re-familiarizing myself with the smell of the ocean (much needed). The weather mostly cooperated, and I made it through setup and tear down without ripping out the stitches I received after a freak utility knife accident during my preparations for travel. All in all not too bad, but I must say the possible highlight of the weekend was receiving the President’s Award for my booth. Not only is the award an obvious honor, but possibly better still, it came with the single most ginormous ribbon I have ever laid eyes upon (see photo for scale—the Pro Panel wall is seven feet high). Now I need to figure out what to do with it… maybe someday when I have a bigger studio, I’ll have room to display it. Not likely anytime soon, but a girl can dream, right?

See my pastels and oils at the Edmonds Arts Festival this weekend:

Edmonds Arts Festival

When: June 19 – 21, 2009

Where: Frances Anderson Park, 700 Main St, Edmonds, WA

Hours: Friday 11 a.m. – 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

What I’m bringing: Pastels and Oils

Booth #22 (O’Keefe Blvd along Main St.)

Above: my booth at last year’s show.

Artfest left me a bit disconnected for the last week or so. There’s something about starting the fair season that really messes with my painting mojo. Invariably I return from the show with a great to-do list of details missed during initial preparations. This time it was price tag holders, an extra naugahyde baseboard and a few other things apparently too inconsequential to remember at this writing. I can’t seem to shift gears out of show-prep mode after the show, so I tackle these projects instead of doing what it is that I think I am supposed to be doing, i.e., painting. After finishing those items and still feeling incapable of entering the studio, I moved on to more framing, sending out packets to persons of interest in the art world, and unexpectedly getting together a group of paintings for a new gallery. 

I’m finally back at the easel (at least somewhat) this week. I just finished Lacewing Study, shown here, which may be the beginning of a large pastel or oil. I hope to complete a few more small pieces in the next few days, but then it’s off to Edmonds. Hopefully my recovery time will improve this go-around. Riiiiiiight.