" The Wychcraft Market (WCM) operates for 24 weeks from May 24th weekendto the last weekend in October, on Saturdays, 11 am - 4 pm. The WCM is located in Toronto, on the lawn of St. Michael & All Angels Church, at 611 St Clair Avenue West on the south side, at Wychwood Avenue. We have no religious affiliation with the Church."
Nor are they associated with the occult or the devil in any way, at least not that I have noticed (as yet ; |).
This is where I was today.
When I started writing about my art on my old website I stated I would write about my experiences as a new artist in the fairly new (relatively speaking) field of digital art. I have blogged about some minor success' and more than one disappointment and failure.
Today was the first time I've sold my art in a public place, other than the Internet.
Sales were disappointing, but there weren't very many passer-bys and they weren't out there looking to buy anything anyway. Doing errands for the most part, so the intent wasn't there in the first place. It's not that well established a venue and most people don't even know they will encounter it. (I'm not trying to make excuses, just looking at the realities of the situation and it was pretty much like I expected it to be.) That's not to say, I didn't learn a few things today and now have some ideas for the next time. That's also partly why I wanted to do it. If people never see my art, they are not going to buy it.
I would say for the most part people thought my art was done with real watercolours or prints of them. Most people were amazed and almost no one could understand what I am actually doing, or had even realized there was such a thing. (Then there was the guy who asked why I didn't just take a picture of the bird and leave it at that. Then he stuck his big hairy nostrils on my framed paintings and told me he was some kind of expert and especially talented at detecting lines that weren't perfectly crisp in watercolours. I had to stop him before he examined every single one of them this way. Next time I'm bringing the Windex lol! I don't think I gave him a bookmark ,so hopefully he won't read this! Adrienne was a little scared by a really weird individual that was only interested in paintings of dead people, or dead bodies and blood. He went on some length with her about it. I'm glad her friend Carston was with her, because I wasn't there for that one! Maybe he was confused by the Wychcraft name eh!)
Artist have to stand behind their work and look their prospective customers in the eye and watch as people look at their work in this kind of setting. Whether you are a well known artist exhibiting at a high end gallery, or a lowly little digital artist selling her art on the street-corner (I was practically on the corner...don't tell my mother I'm hanging about on street-corners she might get the wrong idea!) most artists are in this position at one time or another in their lives.
I thought I was going to be really nervous and worried about my art beforehand and I just wasn't. My feeling was "like it or not, buy it, or don't" at least for today. It's not going to stop me painting it and trying to sell it because I do want to share it.
The part I didn't expect was how great it was to meet other artists and artisans and how friendly and helpful everyone was. After months and months of painting alone, and rarely seeing people face to face and only meeting other artists online it was wonderful to be with people "like me." They were all so encouraging and gave help and advice freely and generously. (Thanks Tracy, Melly, Nichole and Susan if you read this!) And a special hello to anyone who is visiting because of my business card bookmarks contact! Hope to see you at Wychcraft Market again soon. Thanks to all the very nice people walking by that smiled and to those that stopped and looked. Hey Wendy this means you too! Dont' forget I do want to go for a coffee with you!
The best part of the whole experience was sharing my art and talking to people. Of course it feels good when people stop and say it's beautiful work and other nice things (even if they don't buy it). You can tell when they mean it. My daughter Adrienne was with me (thanks again P'Nut!) and she was really good at talking it up! All in all it was a fun experience and I will definitely do it again ...soon! It was so much work getting everything ready (don't forget - I have to print out my art and I'm fussy about the final look of it, so it takes awhile. It was hard to decide what to bring too. My displays need work and I think I'll offer the
paintings from nature gallery stuff more because it seemed to be the most popular. My
Great Blue Heron was there as a small framed print and he literally stopped people and made them come closer, or they reacted to him in some way and kept going,but he did get noticed in a favourable way.
And finally, I think I will bring more cards and smaller prints because it is geared to passers-by not expecting to buy art on the corner! Now I'm going to have a nice long bubble bath and rethink the whole thing while I'm in there!! I feel like I should be having crackers and old cheddar with hot chocolate, while we all rehash the whole thing around the kitchen table. At least that's what we always did when I was a kid - after concerts and special events. Any family reading this will know what I mean!!
Posted in Artistic Growth on August 22nd, 2009. 3 comments so far.
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dwsel said:
Congratulations on new experience ;) For me the greatest achievement would be that people couldn't tell apart if they're real watercolour paintings or printed digital ones. And don't think about these customers, cause there are a lot of strange people everywhere and some people may have a fun of making jokes to confuse people ;)