After the Tour.

Well the Open Studios Tour is over. The summaries written and mailed in. And I am uncertain if it all was worth while.

Saturday we had only ten people come by. On Sunday twenty-nine. And that includes friends, family, and neighbors who saw my signs and dropped by. About of a third of the visitors were other artists who wanted to see how I do things.

There were no sales (I had some eighty paintings on show). There were three people who were serious enough to ask about prices. At least one of which seemed very interested in a specific painting.

Several of my visitors told me other artists they had visited had complained about the few visitors. Since the tour I have talked to several other artists who say they found the attendance thin. Maybe it is a sign of the times. There has been a lot written recently about the slowness of the art market.

The general tour promotion seemed very good. I cannot suggest where improvements might be made. Even the reception was well attended, though I am not sure that I saw any serious buyers or collectors.

It takes a lot of work to put on such an event. At the moment I am discouraged about doing it again. But who knows how I will feel in six to nine months time.

Busy Time - Getting Ready For My Studio Tour

Each Labor weekend I participate in the Santa Barbara Studio Artists Tour. Some 40 local professional artists open their studios so that art buyers and collectors may see how our art is generated.

I will be demonstrating how I develop a painting from multiple digital images - from choosing the source images, developing a composition, laying out my canvas, mixing my palette, to the production and finishing of a painting.

Come and visit my studio and gallery, and see how it is all done. View some of my recent work.

Next Friday evening (August 29) we will be having a reception at the local Arts Fund Gallery. There you will be able to see an example of each artist's work. Choose which artists you would like to visit and plan your tour for the following Saturday and Sunday (August 30 and 31).

Artists' Studios will open from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m each day. The reception is from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.

You may purchase maps ($20) at the reception, from any participating artist's studio – including myself, or online at the Santa Barbara Studio Artists website. At the website you may see a complete list of the artists and their work.

See you next weekend?

My Labor Weekend Studio Tour Revisited.

Yesterday the Santa Barbara Studio Artists group had a meeting to dissect the recent Labor Weekend Open Studio Tour, and to plan for next year. Some dozen or so artists (out of 44 open studios) showed up.

They reported that the number of visitors who bought maps (the map was the key to knowing where the studios were located) was up a third from last year, and the total sales was about the same.

As I have reported in my 4 September 2007 blog, my experience from the tour was dismal. The general and my own publicity was great, but I had few visitors on the Saturday and Sunday. I put that down to the intense heat of those two days.

Though there were many out of town visitors (as reported by several other artists) they did not travel beyond the downtown core area. My studio is about four miles away, just too far for most to travel. Other outlying artists reported the same story.

The group is planning to do a similar three day event next year, though they now plan to cut off Monday at 2:00 p.m. Also, the gala opening will be back to Friday evening, not Saturday as was this year.

Another change is a move for both the gala and the exhibit of member's sample works from the Corridan Gallery to another venue close to downtown. Several people felt that the Corridan, located on the East side of town was a location where some people felt uncomfortable due to the recent gang related unrest. The Faulkner Gallery is under consideration.

Also, they indicated that they expected that the artists in the Santa Ynez valley would not participate, since they have another group forming in that area.

Next Labor Day Weekend is a long way ahead. Nevertheless, at the moment I plan to go forward with the same routine for next year. I have signed up to help them with the publicity,as I did this past year.

Open Studio Tour

Have just finished a three day Open Studio over the Labor Day Weekend. It was part of the Santa Barbara Studio Artists 6th Annual Open Studio Tour. Some 44 artists participated. The publicity was just great.

Unfortunately the weekend was the warmest of any time this year in Santa Barbara, with temperatures even close to the beach, near to 100 degrees Saturday and Sunday. Monday it was in the high eighty's.

For me the turnout was disappointing. I think the heat had a lot to do with it.

Each of the first two days we had about about ten visitors. Though Monday was much better with about 30 visitors.

Did not sell anything, but there were several interested people.

On other earliar tours, I have had the same sales experience, but following with people coming back and resulting in sales over the next week or so.

Most visitors on the tour days are in a hurry as they want to get around as many studios as possible on each day.