Random Encounter

I have a little routine for my weekends, which for me is usually Sunday and Monday nights.  After getting home Sunday morning, I try to stay up all day, doing basically nothing and having no plan except to go to bed at a time when I can sleep most of the night.  That way, I'm up early on Monday, and I can tackle the weekend's big projects, like the yard work, and hopefully get something done in the studio.  This weekend's task was to finally do the spring cleaning in the studio, which involves dragging everything out onto the patio and mopping the floor, and spraying for bugs.  And the weather was perfect, which helped a lot.
  Tuesdays are spent doing housework and running errands. I got my hair cut.  I went to the grocery store...

...and that's where it happened.

After picking up the last item (frozen peas,) I ran into Kelly Killough, another artist who does a lot of the same shows that I do.  We talked about the Edmond show, and about how sales were for us and our neighbors.  My next booth neighbor this year was Shirley Gibbons, who was doing the show for the 32nd time, and she had the best sales she's ever had.  Across the street, James Coplin won 1st prize and was also selling a lot, and my other next booth neighbor was selling his copper wall hangings hand over fist. Kelly said his neighbors had also done really well, and he himself had done pretty decently.  I, on the other hand, did not do well at all.  This was my 25th year at the Edmond show, and this year's sales were the worst ever.  I told Kelly that that is what made the cancellation of Kathy's Paseo show more painful.

Oh, but no!  The show hasn't been cancelled, Kelly tells me.  Seems that, though the family feud still goes on, the legal part has been settled, permits are acquired, and booths are filling.  And Kelly had the phone number for the man in charge.

I'm stunned by this news, and I don't know quite what to do with it.  I'm pleased that the show is back on, but it's in two weeks.  I'm already prepared to go, inventory-wise, but can I get the time off from work? And do I really want to put out the money and effort? I need a second and third opinion.
    After I had gotten home and put the groceries away, I texted the man spouse for his opinion.  He had recently made a very hurtful comment about my art (he called it a hobby -- which is not wrong, exactly, but it just galls me to think he could be right,) but he still has a stake in how I spend my time and money.  Plus he knows me better than anybody, so I don't have to over-explain how I fell about this.  When he was able to call back, he was supportive, and he understood what I meant when I said that what I was feeling in that moment was pissed off.  He said that even if I don't get in the show, I at least deserve an explanation about why no one contacted me.
    The next input I needed was from the boss man.  I texted Garris, saying that something had happened and I needed his opinion. He called back quickly, and when I told him what was up, he was so incredibly supportive and enthusiastic.  He said that if it was at all possible, I should "absolutely" do the show.  (He used the word 'absolutely' a lot in that phone call.  He's only been to see my work one time, but he talks like he's my biggest fan.) He also assured me that it wouldn't be a problem for me to take the time off, since we have the staff right now to cover my shifts, and the hotel won't be busy that weekend anyway.
   Well, that was what I needed.

I called Mr Clark.  He answered the phone immediately, and was pleased that I had managed to get in touch with him.  I complained about not being contacted.  He explained the painful journey he and his family had been on, and how he had gained charge of the show.  The reason he hadn't gotten in touch with me was that the other faction in the family feud had the mailing list, and all he had was a map with artists names penciled in, but only six phone numbers.  He managed to Google a lot of them. Also, it's only been eight days since he got the go ahead from the powers that be.
  He told me about some changes made to the show, like reserved parking for artists and a place for the artists to retreat to when they needed a break.  He asked about my needs, which got me a (hopefully) better spot.  I think I'm going to like this guy.

So, in a matter of less than two hours, I went from having no plans to having big plans.  All because of a random encounter at grocery store.  Now I just need some people who like my work enough to take it home with them.

*want*

Lesson learned: be very clear about what you want, and don't assume the other person already has the information they need to help you.

I found out that Tim, who prints my photos, got his new gicleé machine last fall, so I took an order to him, just meaning to replace some of the pictures that I had sold at last spring's shows.  Since his old machine had broken down last spring, he had amassed quite a bit of backlog, so he couldn't get to mine for a while (Robin, his #1, had said she hoped that I didn't need them before Christmas.  I assured her not.)  After Christmas, I checked with them periodically to see if he'd gotten to mine yet.
    A few weeks ago, Robin told me he had questions.  Among other things, one of the pics was not stored on his computer, and he wasn't sure what I wanted to do about that.  But by that time, I was running short on time, and I decided that I would just place the order for my five new pics, and one older one that had sold out last year.

To simplify things (I thought), the new pics all had file names with the title and the width of the picture:  i.e. "Land Line 10"wide."  That way, he could just look at the title and set the measurements in the computer and press print.  Those were the instructions I gave Robin, and those are the instructions she wrote down.  And that's where the trouble began.

Now, the old pics were not designated thusly.  When I placed the original order for "Skyline Signature," I was standing there with Tim at the computer as he followed my verbal instructions and typed in 15"x whatever", and I assumed that the old measurements were still in his computer.  They probably were.  But the old pic order got conflated with the new pic instructions and...

Tim says to Robin, "Is this really the size he wants?"

Robin says to Tim, "Yeah, that's what he said."

So Tim prints the picture according to the title on the file, which says "Ratio 1.25 32x40."

Twice.

That title actually had nothing to do with the gicleé prints.  When the photo was originally taken, my intent was to paint this picture, and 32x40 was to be the size of the painting.  Then my friend Loggan made the astute observation that I would never get around to it, and then I discovered Tim,and well, the rest is history.

I got the call today that the pictures were ready.  When I came in, there was "Skyline Signature," two of them, the size of a full sheet of matboard.  Omigosh, they were beautiful.  It wasn't what I meant to order, and he is reprinting in the size I need, but I want the big ones so bad.

But here's the problem.  Gicleé is a relatively expensive printing process, which makes the prints expensive for the art consumer to buy.  When I got home, I figured out that the retail price on these would be $470 unframed!  Do I actually have a market for that? And I'm down one show this year, since the Kathy's Market On The Paseo show had to be cancelled for this year.  The Pride show is not a moneyed show, and the only other show coming up that I've been involved with is the Pancakes and Booze show in September.  It's not practical to spend the money on them this year.

But I want them.

I want them so bad.

The other prints were mostly fine (although, when I got home I realized that I hadn't specified the 1" borders, which is going to cause some framing problems -- again, don't assume someone will remember something you told them two years ago,) so I packed them up to take home, still wistfully looking at the giant ones.  I told Tim, "Don't destroy these, because I know I'm going to talk myself into getting them."  I don't know when, but it's going to happen.

Probably.