Monday, November 24, 2008

SO NOT Fair! Yet strangely grateful.

So here's the long and the short of it.
I spent the past few days prepping for an Art Fair on Saturday.
I spent hours and hours putting notecards in boxes and framing little pieces like this. And this.  And this.
























I literally stayed up all night Friday getting the stuff ready. 
Went to bed at 5:20. Got back up again at 6-something.
My adorable husband drove me all the way up to Salt Lake and helped me set up (so I wouldn't fall asleep on the road.)

We walked in and I knew it was a bad idea. No, make that a disaster.
This was not a fine art fair. It was a multi-cultural crafts fair. People were selling things like soap and jewelry and aprons and...well, NOT paintings.

You know you've hit an all-time low when the top selling item is in the booth next to you: kiln-melted liquor bottles selling as hors d'hoevres trays...and/or "wall art." yikes.

Now for the grateful part:
I DID sell a few items (mostly notecards). And I got some great tips about selling my art on eBay. But here was the best part of all: I got to take a mid-day nap. Gratefully, there was another artist-friend there, old enough to have grown children and a big, empty house, who decided I needed a nap. She took me home and put me in a quiet bedroom (all joyfully decorated from floor to ceiling in eggplant purple and lime green...these are the digs of a very funky artist!). I slept for about 90 minutes, and woke up feeling completely rejuvenated...but best of all, pampered and cared for.

This all reminded me of my dear friend Barbara, whose house in the hills above Pasadena became my occasional Napping House. Barbara provided those few delicious naps by recognizing I was beyond exhaustion, then pulling out some lovingly tucked-away dolls and Legos for the children to play with (and occasionally even offered them a cool dip in the pool) while I slept. My friend Barbara has since become synonymous in my mind with all things comforting and nurturing: Gentle conversation. A neck rub. A piece of chocolate cake. And a handful of well-placed naps. 

So, while I didn't become the overnight sensation of the art world at this poorly attended fair/fiasco...I found myself feeling grateful for a new Napping House, a new nurturing friend, and a chance to reflect on an old friend as well. If I could send you all a Thanksgiving wish, it would be for a caring and observant friend, a cozy, quiet corner, and a nap!




8 comments:

LisAway said...

Love the paintings. And what a great story to go with them. Maybe one of the reasons you ended up on this unsought "adventure" was so you could write a great post about it and have us all wanting a nap in an aubergine and lime colored room! At least I'm grateful for it (the post), and would be telling myself that if this experience had been mine.

breckster said...

I'm glad you got something good out of the day. The eBay selling amazes me. For as long as I could remember my dad only sold things to family members who were trying to help us out finacially. And now he has a fan base, and people who get into bidding wars over his work. He has sold a few "trading cards" for over 200 dollars. And it bumped him up into a higher tax bracket which is the only downfall of the whole thing in his eyes.

Melanie Jacobson said...

Those leaves are amazing.

And so are you. I'm glad you got a nap.

Heidi said...

They are all beautiful but I especially love the fairy. I am going to be selling books at a simliar event on Wednesday--now I am feeling paranoid. Oh well. (You know you're at the annex today, right?)

Mrs4444 said...

Oh that everyone had a Barbara in their lives. Thankfully, my dear friend, Molly (whose son passed away last month) is surrounded by nurturing friends and family on a daily basis. Please keep her in your prayers this holiday season...

Kimberly Vanderhorst said...

I would've bought you out.

And then I would've gotten mad at you for letting me go broke like that, because I'm all tempermental like that.

I want the turtle painting. Badly.

Dedee said...

I love your paintings as well, and I'm so grateful you have a bestest friend like that!

Kazzy said...

Holy smokes... I need a Barbara! I am so sorry about the fair mix up. I'll bet you guys laughed about it though :)