Talk about Competition

The Sea Glass Festival in PEI was a great learning opportunity for me. Not only did I get to meet the guru of Sea Glass, Richard Lamotte, and learn about appraising glass, finding glass, identifying glass, I also got to scope out my competition. My true, head to head competition; other sea glass artists. (photo by Buffy Delaney Moore)

The morning of the festival started out exactly how I thought it would... slow. Not with foot traffic but with sales. There was actually a lot of traffic. So I thought it must be the amount of direct competition. There were almost 25 vendors all selling sea glass products. The up side to this is that I never once had to explain what sea glass was, because everyone that came, came because they too were a sea glass lover. In fact, one women said to me 'I collect sea glass' and her husband swatted her arm and said 'who here doesn't'. The downside to having an 'educated' audience? Everyone photographing your work, writing notes about your work, studying your ideas, so they could go home and use their stash of glass to try and recreate your art.

The afternoon was a nice surprise though. It proved that what I always say is true; don't worry about the competition, if you offer something of value, you'll come out ahead. And so I did. The afternoon I was very busy with sales, orders and compliments about my work. It didn't matter that I had so much competition around me, it was a good show (for sales, and for learning). And besides, I got to make my own notes too..

The Working Holiday

Before I get into the working holiday bit, I wanted to share one of my favourite photos of me with you. It's not my favourite because of how I look, but rather the authentic smile / laughter that it captured while I was beach glass hunting on my favourite beach. Thanks Tracy Olan from Beautiful Day for capturing it!

Now it's down to crunch time preparing for the working holiday. It's definitely the way to go. Not crunch time, but the working holiday that is. The trip to PEI originally started with just me going to be a vendor at Canada's first ever Sea Glass Festival, but it quickly grew to be the annual family vacation. We have always wanted to travel down east (or for Tim's sake out East), but kept putting it off. Now we found a way to make it happen and now it will be a tax write off too! Shhhhh.. don't tell anyone. The downside is you have to pack for both things and you have to make time for both things, but the pros definitely outweigh both of those things. My suggestion is to keep two separate packing lists and don't intermix the boxes - well that's what I'm going to try and do, I'll let you know how it goes when I return.

Studio News

Well, I can finally see my dining room floor.... because I have a studio! Well, ok so my actual studio is still being built but in the same complex I am now moved into a temporary studio until mine actual one is finished. My studio is at NGB Studios on Cataraqui Street. It's definitely not fancy, but it's full of character, lots of other artists and it's my own space. I haven't fully made me it my own yet as I am reserving that effort for my permanent space (although resisting that urge is hard), but I'm working out the kinks and it feels good.

I'm going to try and be there for Thursdays and Fridays during the day for the next little while, so please feel free to drop in and check it out. Come in the front door right on Cataraqui Street - the somewhat scary looking green door up the 3 stairs and look for the sign straight ahead that says 'Recycling Depot' - how perfect is that for a beach glass artist eh? Not my idea, was there before I moved in.

Now I'm just one of those artists with a studio, but not enough time to spend in it. In fact, I'm going to keep this short so I can head to the studio right after this. See you at the studio!

You have to want to win

As I write this blog I have to fight back a little tear (ok that may be a little exaggerated). You see, it's about my Detroit Red Wings and the Stanley Cup. For those of you that watched the game last night you know what I'm talking about, for those of you that didn't, don't worry, this entry isn't really about hockey.

As I watched Detroit last night, from the very beginning I saw, or didn't see actually something different. In game 1 and 2 of this serious Detroit was out to win, this game they seemed to be playing in a Sunday afternoon game, not for the Stanley Cup. Matt (the hubby) says it's the age coming through. Detroit is a lot older team than Pittsburgh (you know like my age) - maybe that's true. But then how come they won one of the games 5-0? Age didn't matter then. I honestly think it was the drive to win. Pittsburgh fought hard last night, right to the very last second.

So what does this have to do with art? Well, today I'm off to do participate in Art Among the Ruins in Newburgh, and I'm playing to win. The last show I went to I think I treated a little like a vacation... fun place to be, fun people to be with, etc. But if I want to win at this game of being an artist, I have to fight. Not literally, but I have to go out there and do what I need to do to win over a few customers. Hopefully you'll hear as the day is drawing closed 'she shoots, she scores' coming from Newburgh.

I'll take the high road

James taught me something last night (not the first time). He was singing a song that I taught him last week when a friend hit him and he wanted revenge - "I'll take the high road, and you'll take the low road and I'll be to Scotland before you..." We talked about what 'taking the high road' meant. I thought the lesson had just went right over his head, but apparently something stuck. And his timing couldn't have been better... for me.

On the weekend I was doing a show at the Distillery District in Toronto. A neat place for sure, with lots of people and lots of wind. The wind storm created some issues and I had some of my display items break. In the midst of cleaning them up, someone had taken one of my rings; and not just any ring but a red beach glass ring (one of the rarest colours of beach glass). Needless to say I was off to a grumpy start that day.

But when I heard James singing 'I'll take the high road..' it reminded me to do the same. Instead of being so bitter about it, I'm going to see it as a compliment. Someone wanted one of my pieces so much that they were willing to risk breaking the law. And I bet they'll be talking about it too! So who knows, maybe they'll buy something from me down the road...

The dreaded donation request

Spring is here, and do you know how I know? Because I've been asked to donate some of my beach glass art to everything ranging from animal shelters, homelessness, to youth at risk and some organizations I still don't have a clue what they do. Don't get me wrong, my frustration isn't that I don't think these organizations are deserving, nor is because I think I'm the only being asked because my husband who is not an artist but a small business owner, is getting swamped with similar requests - maybe even more. My frustration is that I don't think they're listening to the same radio station as me - WII FM.

Have you listened to that station? It's the What's in it for me station. As much as we do things for strictly philanthropic reasons, we often have other motives as well. If I am going to help an organization for nothing else then to help, they don't need to seek me out, I'll seek them.

So if someone is seeking my support, then I need them to do some work in exchange. I need to determine what value is in for me as an artist, as a person, as a small business owner. I actually get them to fill out a form so I can judge all my donations equally, keep a file on each donation and make informed decisions. Since I've started to telling other artists I do this, I've been getting requests for copies of my form so here is the gist of it:

Contact Name:
Contact Phone:
Contact Email:
Organization:
Value of item requested:
Event Name:
Event Date:
Location:
Description of Event:
How many people will be attending?
Who will be attending the event?
What other items are being donated?
How does my art fit?
Where else will my name / item be promoted?
Will I receive tickets to the event?
Will I be notified after the event about who received my item and how much it went for?
May I request a reserve bid?
Are you able to pay for any portion of the piece?
Will I receive a tax receipt for my donation?

So don't dread those requests, organize them!

My treasure box

When I'm participating in art shows / sales I have a list of stuff to bring, you know the usual - product, receipt book, pens, credit cards slips, brochures, table clothes, business cards, etc. But I also have my treasure box. And the other artists always love it. So what's in my treasure box? Here's the list:

~ Tylenol
~ midol
~ throat lozenges
~ mouthwash
~ a loonie
~ band aids
~ extra shoes (feels great to change your shoes half way through the day)
~ granola bar
~ fruit
~ hand sanitizer
~ hand cream
~ small blanket
~ a good book
~ allergy pills
~ sunscreen

Just the little things that make the day go by a little bit easier. Now - get packing your treasurer box.