Here I am ready for the second day of the Washington Country Open Studios. The studio is very spiffy and we have refreshments and everything! Look at me—lipstick and a clean white shirt. But that is just the window dressing. The real thing about opening your studio up to the public is making the most of the chance to put your work out there and tell the world what you are all about. And man, am I bad at that! OK, maybe not terrible, but it sure doesn't come naturally. Still, at the end of the day I was thinking about specific questions and specific conversations and what great exchanges happened amidst the brownies and the schmoozing. Well worth doing this, despite the physical and mental energy that goes into it. It always surprises me how incredibly exhausting something like this is—not the physical cleaning and arranging, but the person to person part. I am still dragging today. I am so grateful to all of you who came and added so much to the conversation and to all the energy, and all the people I met for the first time and especially to my friend
Jeri, who brought her exquisitely beautiful and obsessive work to grace my studio and kept me company and made everybody laugh!
Today I spent the afternoon cleaning up and met the woman who won the piece of art I gave away in our drawing. She seemed so pleased to have won something.
I felt like I needed to do a little cutting and sewing just to let it all settle, so I put together a little flag to replace the Open Studio sign on the new sign holder.
I used what I had on hand—some waterproof nylon flag material and letters cut from quilting cottons and appliqued. I painted the cotton with acrylic gel medium to waterproof it. I wanted something bright and fluttery and so intentionally made it not that easy to read. Maybe I will make several flags and change them out from time to time. It's getting a little junky out there! The purple tub was something I brought out at the last minute for wet umbrellas. It needs to go back to the garage.
All that planning and preparation and now we are done for another year. Now I can get some
real work done.
Wish I could have been there. That type of event is also exhausting to me, too. I think it's because of talking to so many people and having to be "on" all the time. Afterward, a solitary break is necessary.
ReplyDeleteYou are looking great!
ReplyDeleteWOW! I can not believe you already have your new sign up, yesterday was a "no phone, no door answering day" for me, and I am still tired. But I do agree that these events are important, and I get a lot out of them. It was so great being a guest artist in your space, Thank You.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you did it! I enjoy the interactions and love going to things like this. From the guest side it's easy, but when I am the hostess, I get really tired too. It's a bit stressful to worry that the TP might be empty or that people don't like the art/studio/food/parking/whatever. Being "on" as Lisa mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI'm really sorry I didn't make it. It was a very chopped up weekend here, with obligations in the morning and mid-afternoon. I was hoping I'd be able to carve out a couple of hours to come over, but that obviously didn't happen. I'm glad it was a success, though, and I'm not at all surprised that it tired you out.
ReplyDelete