You know that you're too busy when Mondays start to look restful. That's just wrong, that is!
The art booth-thing (my art booth at a city celebration, so it wasn't really a fair) went reasonably well. There were a few snags, of course. I think there have to be, really. In some ways, it's a relief to figure out what they are early on, because the rest should be smooth sailing once you have figured out the hidden catch! I know that sounds pessimistic, but it's totally true!
Here's my catch:
In truth there were several minor catches, but the main one would be that fabulous orange cone in the center of my booth. It turns out that there was a big hole there, which was invisible to the eye because the grass had grown up level with the surrounding ground.
First my husband fell into it and turned his ankle. He warned me there was a hole, but I didn't see where he fell and so I made a mental note but didn't think much of it... right until I pitched head and hands first into one of my tables about 20 minutes later.
Have you ever twisted your ankle like that, suddenly, and your adrenalin goes berserk? In addition to all the pain, you get the shakes and start sweating like you just ran a marathon? My only consolation was that no one saw me take a header. Actually, that's a huge boon. There is nothing worse than having people witness you going face down and trying not to laugh at you while you are clearly writhing in pain. That, and the fact that everyone has cell phone video capability now. That's a moment I do NOT need immortalized, thank you.
Anyway, after my near death experience with the crater in the center of my booth, I chatted with one of the organizers about it. Her solution was to steal one of the snazzy orange traffic cones from the 5K race that morning (which I was wishing I had run, but you can't do the run and the booth!) Hopefully it was from nowhere important. She plunked that sucker down over the hole and proclaimed her solution as "PERFECT!"
Yeah... maybe not so perfect? It looks a little more like "STAY AWAY!" than "Come in!" I think. Still, I had enough customers stop by that it made the booth worth it. Although several got goosed by the cone (if you look at the relative heights, you can see it's just about perfect for that *face*palm*)
I was next to a booth that made cranked ice cream. Instead of hand cranking, they had rigged some sort of tractor motor up to the crank and ran that about every 30 minutes. Fortunately, all the diesel fumes it belched my way turned me off from the idea of ice cream altogether. A totally new experience, now that I think about it. I mean, since when don't I want ice cream?
I snapped a "selfie" (as my daughter calls them) while I was hanging out in the booth, trying not to breath the fumes from next door. I have a whole Flash Dance thing going with my shirts lately. I don't know why, but I can't help myself!
I was going to spend my time hanging out with my husband and chatting with passersby, but eventually I got bored and pulled out something to work on. I brought my colored pencils this time, thinking it's much easier to manage than paint, but I missed my paints.
I finished one little ACEO:
And then I was done. I really wanted my paints!
My husband kept sneaking off to check out all the food. I remember going to fairs and such, and food was part of it, but all the interesting booths were a big deal too. Now, it really seems like food wins the day. Maybe I should have been a chocolatier instead of an artist? I'd be rich! Ah well, I'm committed now, so too late!
My husband brought back Greek food for lunch. Interestingly, most of it tasted like my mother's cooking (which I've never liked.) I don't know if it was good Greek food or not, because I haven't had much experience with it. However, if it was good Greek food, perhaps my mother isn't such a horrible cook, perhaps she's just been cooking Greek food for all these years and didn't know it! The only thing I really liked was some sort of sausage in a thick pastry type of roll. I'm sure it has a name and it's probably standard fare, but I have no idea what it was.
I only had one crazy person stop in, and that was fortunate. I usually get several, and I'm not sure why. This one was a man about 35 years old who started off lecturing me about the origin of the word "goblin", and that then led into him telling us about the time he saw a real gnome with a hat when he was a kid. That then led into about how he believes in the bible, but he's not God. Then he explained with the big flood, he thinks Dinosaurs were around right before the flood, and that some of them survived and turned into dragons, and that all these years has led to them being able to talk to us. Then he discussed his dating life in terms of Alice in Wonderland. And I should believe in the flood and the bible, but what about those Celts? And Stone Henge, because was it aliens who built that?
No, he had not been drinking, but I sure wanted to start.
After about 20-25 minutes, he finally moved on and I breathed a sigh of relief. I was really glad my husband was there, so I wasn't all by myself. I felt like jumping out of my skin for most of the man's visit. I handle those situations well on the outside, but on the inside I'm screaming "I WANNA GO HOME!!! RUN AWAY!!!"
When closing time came, I was ready to go. I had only snuck off once, but it seems that when I'm not in my booth, people aren't interested in buying art from my husband. I guess he doesn't look artsy (fruity) enough?
I feel decent about how it went, and I think the next one will go about the same. I've also decided to put in a last minute application for the big art event in October that I had been waffling about. But I figure if I did decently at a non-art event, maybe one geared for art would be a real boon for my after all? I did it years ago, but it was so much work I just haven't been back. Maybe it's time I went!
Sunday was all about finishing up the back to school shopping, which took all day. I'm glad it's Monday, because my weekend exhausted me.
I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! What did you do?
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