The secret preparations leading up to an art fair.
This weekend sees a brand-new Art fair at Newbury racecourse.
It is in fact my fourth art fair so far this year!
So surely I have a well oiled machine that enables me to prepare for an art fair with no stress or hassle - Well, I am pretty organised these days so here's my insight into what I’m doing this week to get ready for the fair.
- 1. The artwork. Obviously! For me, as an oil painter I have to plan ahead as I have to allow enough time for the artwork to dry. That can be as little as a few weeks after completion and as much as a several months! Once the artwork is dry if I'm going to hang it unframed it's simply a case of adding some D signs and hanging cord to the back, if framed I have to get it to the framers allowing enough time for the work to be done and for me to collect it.
- Packing the work. At art fairs you’ll see bubblewrap, felt folders, sheets, cardboard boxes, wooden crates…all manner of what-have-you can be used to packpaintings. I use silver insulated bubble wrap. You can buy these pre-made by brilliant company called Stiffy bags or you can make your own. It's not exactly environmentally friendly the first time you use it; but you can use these bags again and again and again at so there isn't much waste. In fact by using these bags I've reduced my plastic waste significantly.
|
Some of the luxurious mouldings at my framers.
|
Work packaged in silver bags ready to load up the car.
|
Its great when you sell its also great when your stand neighbours are lovely, funny friendly artists. What a weekend we had!
3. Tools for the job. I need a trolley, a stepladder, drill, screwdriver, screws, spirit level, tape measure. These are just the bare minimum of items that you will need to set up your stand.
4. Prints and print racks. Most art fairs only allow limited addition fine art prints. So another important job leading unto the fair is to mount and wrap the prints so that they look super shiny and are protected when folks flick through them in the browser.
5. Labels. Oh my goodness; labels are the bane of my life. They take a disproportionate amount of time. I like to mount my labels onto foam board so that they look super professional. And this takes time. Does it really make a difference? I'm not sure, but I know I like the look of them next to my work. I like putting red dots on them too!
6. Stand box. My stand box is little Aladin's cave of extra stuff, my labels, red dots, business cards, pen, spare pen, postcards, card reader, spare card reader, glasses, scissors, lucky gonk, blu-tak, Bach’s rescue remedy, mints, memo pad, guest book…you name it.
|
My all important stand box for all my bits and pieces
|
My cut out and keep stand plan!
|
8. Website and social media. I’ve been making sure all my new work is added to my website and that I’ve been posting pictures on facebook and instagram of what will be on my stand, ensuring a key hashtag or two.
|
|
|
|
9. Car jenga! You gotta fit in all in somehow. I have a big estate car which can pretty much do the job, (though for some bigger fairs I borrow my brother's van). But I have to be very strategic in how I load my paintings for maximum space with zero damage!
10. Look after your feet! Oh yeah I ought to think about what to wear. It's not too much of a hassle but broadly speaking it needs to be fairly smart, but also needs to look nice with comfy shoes! On the PV night you’ll occasionally see me in heels, but definitely not for me on Saturday and Sunday when I'm on my feet all day.
So I’m nearly good to go.
Why not come and see how I get on, I’m on stand 45. See you there.
Contemporary Art fairs Newbury. Private view, by invitation only Friday 10th May,
open all day Saturday 11th May and Sunday 12th May.
The heart inside the art
I’ve been to Fresh the past couple of years and each time I have been on the stand, selling my work, this year at Fresh my work was represented by Park gallery, which afforded me the luxury or spending a day painting. My painting demo was of a lion. I had absolutely no idea how many people have been on Safari in various places throughout Africa. But believe me I met a lot of them on Saturday. I was enjoying our conversations immensely as I will be heading off to Kenya in September to go on Safari in the Masai Mara. People get very emotional when they see my lions, I try to put emotion into all of my animals, for me it’s definitely all about the expression in the eyes. I love the way the animal comes to life when I start painting the reflections and the glint in the eye. I even received around of applause when I put the glint in my lion's eyes during my painting demo. Later on in the fair a lovely lady bought a big lion from the Park gallery stand. And it turns out this was an entirely emotional response. This lady had worked in Botswana and South Africa on various different reserves, and understandably loved lions. Truly madly deeply. She said to me of the painting “That lion’s face just blew me away”. She told me that so often when people are trying to create the strength and power behind a lion that they make them ugly, but mine was majestic and handsome. [The picture above shows the painting I was working on that day, her painting is his big brother!]
During the Easter weekend I found myself sitting at the bottom of the garden where we have a little orchard. It's a very special place for me. Under one of the apple trees is where my husband proposed to me nine years ago. Next to it is a cherry blossom tree which he planted on our first anniversary. Whilst I was sitting on the grass in the sunshine the wind blew and the cherry blossom tumbled to the ground. It looked like it was raining pink. In the same moment I thought of dear friends of mine who were married in Japan. Aya looked so beautiful in her stunning wedding kimono. And the chord was struck and I started thinking about how I could possibly create that image in paint. It took quite a few sketches and quite a lot of reference photographs to put the combination together but this is what I came up with.
suitably inspired by this more delicate approach I went on to create a Thai dancer. When I visited Bangkok I was struck by how much gold there was everywhere! Very modest little buildings sit cheek by jowl next to bejewelled temples. The palaces are covered in gold and my goodness there is such a lot of vibrant colour. One evening we were sitting in an open air restaurant by the riverside and we watched a traditional Thai dance and this painting reflects that evening. The light glinting on her costume and the gold sparkling.
All these paintings will be on my stand, Number 45, next weekend at Newbury art fair.
