Whew! I’ve been gone for a while! I just don’t know where the time goes. As I get older the days go by so much faster. And I don’t seem to get as much as accomplished daily either. I have been doing a lot of painting. I am really enjoying doing the fluid acrylic painting and I have also been doing some acrylic painting and some water color.

This past weekend I was able to be a vendor at a local women’s conference with my friend Ginger. We both love to make art and we have wanted to set up a booth at arts and crafts shows so this was a good opportunity for our first venture!

We both had canvases already done but with the opportunity to show our art and possibly even make some sales we both worked hard and created even more so that we would have plenty to show. It was truly a labor of love for both of us because we LOVE doing it! However, it did involve quite a few VERY late nights! When I set my alarm on Friday night for the event on Saturday, my phone said “your alarm is set for 3 hours and 27 minutes”!!! What??? When we got to the venue we discussed it and she went to bed about the same time I did!

 Once we found out where we were to set up our booth we got busy unloading the cars and preparing to create an awesome display! I had a wire grid wall that I was going to hang my canvases from and I had a set of lights to drape around the sides and top to make it stand out. I got the wall put up and the lights on and guess what….half of the strand didn’t light up!!! I just bought them!!! It never even crossed my mind to check them ahead of time….rookie mistake! I thought…no problem…not gonna let that bother me, it isn’t going to affect how the art looks, let’s just get the canvases up and displayed. We had to be at the venue at 7 am and to be set up by 8:30. Shouldn’t be a problem! Right. My original plan was to put wire on the back of the canvases for people to hang them with but then I decided that it wouldn’t really be necessary because with fluid paintings they can be hung whatever way looks best to the owner. And one less thing for me to have to do before the event! Score. NOT. My plan was to hang the canvases with the wire from “s” hooks on the grid wall. When I tried to hang the canvases without the wire from the “s” hooks….it wouldn’t work! It needed the wire to hold on to! Another rookie mistake. In my mind it should have worked but I didn’t try it ahead of the event day. Another rookie mistake. Now, I have 40 canvases, a wall to display them on and no way to hang them. Bummer. I decided I would run out and try to find something to hang them with. It was 8:03. Supposed to be set up  by 8:30.  I left and went to the nearest place that might possibly have something I could use… Dollar General. A sign on the door said they were closed due to register issues. I drive across town to another Dollar General, ran in, told them what I was needing and the clerk took me to where the hooks were and what they had wouldn’t work….Okay….think outside the box Jo, time is ticking! I look down and see a roll of twine. That’s it! I can make a hook with the twine, attach it to the back of the canvas with duct tape and hang it from the hook! SCORE!!! I. Am. A. Genius!  Rush back to the event, Ginger helps me and we get them all hung up. Whew..disaster averted. WRONG!!! The first guest speaker started telling her story, which was an absolutely amazing testimony of the power of prayer! A canvas falls. Boom…..hits the floor. A few minutes later, a second one, then a third. One by one….the canvases were falling. Minutes apart. Just when I thought another wasn’t going to fall……crash….another one would fall. How embarrassing!!!! Finally I just got up and took them down, stacked them in front of the wall and left it at that! Major rookie mistake with the duct tape!!!

I said all of that to end up saying that I am grateful for the opportunity to get it all figured out and ready for the next event!!! I am now currently working on making a fail proof hook for my canvas!!!

Ginger had her artwork displayed in an awesome way!!!

I also make jewelry from the leftover paint from my fluid acrylic painting and those were on display as well.

Here is what the booth looked like before all my canvases decided to play Humpty Dumpty and fall of the wall!!!

Photo credit to Ginger.

So that was my first event experience with my art. I am thankful for the experience and looking forward to my next event!!! 

This is just one more example of why my blog has its name!!! Mishaps and Mayhem abound whenever I’m around!!!  But ya know what….I just keep on keeping on!!!

Be blessed! I will be back soon.

Jo