Artfest 2001!

(This was posted before Artfest 2001. Now that this glorious celebration of creativity is past *sniff*, I'm putting my class notes and printable pages online, as time permits. Visit my library pages to see them.)

Here's what I said, before Artfest 2001:

I'll be teaching/playing at Artfest in Port Townsend, April 5th through the 8th, 2001. I hope you're one of the lucky artists who'll be there!

When you see me... my name is pronounced like ASH-ling. It's an Irish name. I have a bazillion cousins with the same name in Cork city, Ireland. Part of the time, I'll wear a tee-shirt with my name on it. Be sure to read the back of it! *chuckle*

Swaps

Swaps....? I'm not doing swaps, I'm bringing freebies. If you have something to give me in return, that's great... but it's not required. I'm here to share art, not make this into a scorekeeping event! *LOL*

I'll be wearing a bunch of my faerie necklaces, to give away. These are the Mardi Gras ones at my Ballynafae pages. Glass beads on black nylon thread... very nice, and fun!

I'll probably have other treats to give away--time permitting--but see me early if you want one of the maybe 25 necklaces I have for freebies. (If you don't see me wearing any, then others already own them.)

I also have some Irish triad booklets, handmade teensy things, for fun. I think I have ten of them to give away.

Oh yeah... I'm 5'7" with auburn hair to my shoulders. I'm about to turn 50 (yikes! *grin*) and I'm carrying maybe 30 pounds more than I should. *shrug* Green eyes, freckles, and I look like half the other "boomers" on the streets of Limerick or Cork city. (I'm Irish-American.)

At my vendor table, Friday evening

I'll probably be one of the first booths you see, just inside the entrance to the hall.

FREEBIES! I'll have a page of collage elements copied for you! Stop at my booth and pick up your free sheet of Victorian and Edwardian images. One sheet per person, I'm only bringing 300 copies, one for each student/teacher at Artfest. When they're gone, they're gone.

Also, I'm bringing treats to sell, most priced at $20 or less, so find me early while I still have goodies available--these things usually sell out in a blink!

Yes, I'm underpricing my work, ridiculously low. My most recent paintings (larger, of course) sold for over $500 each. These small acrylic sort-of copies usually sell for $50-75 each. My dolls usually sell for $35-175. My collage square thingies, sort of like the ones at lalasland.com, sell for $25-35, sometimes higher if I get carried away or use vintage materials in them.

They'll all be $20 or less. Well, maybe a few will be higher, but my goal is $20-or-less for each item.

The reason I'm pricing things low for Artfest, is because I hope that everyone who wants to own some of my art, will be able to, regardless of their budgets.

Among fellow artists, I'd rather make money in volume, not per-item prices, sharing my visions with lots of other people at Artfest.

So that's why most everything I sell at Artfest will be $20 or less.

Of course, my prices will return to normal after Artfest. *shrug*

(And, if you miss out on something you wanted to buy at Artfest, I'm sorry, but I can't take orders for more art at those prices, or soon I'll be at the windows of McD's, asking if you'd like fries with your order! *LOL*)

But, oh, that's a fun thought... I mean, what if there were art stores like McD's, with a drive-thru menu showing lots of cool art. And then you order one of Art Project #7, the Journal-on-a-Necklace kit, and two of #5, the feathered Creativity Talismans, and... ? *grin*

Sounds good to me.

Okay, back to Artfest news...

My current projects include:

• Seven "Teal Magick" dolls, the ones with the turquoise hair and wooden block bodies, about 10 inches tall, head to toe. $20 each.
  
  Teal Magick

• Pin dolls, handsewn and preposterous. Also cloth dolls, IF I find time to sew them... including two copying one of my favorite goddesses, Tammy Faye Bakker Messner! *grin* Most pindolls will be $20 each. If I run out of time, I'll put them in eBay when I get home. *shrug*

• I hope to have some fabric collage squares, which are a whole lot like the "Fragments" at lalasland.com, but I've been doing these since forever too, so I'm not about to change them just because they look like hers! *grin and shrug*

  To get an idea of my style for these, see my 1992 artquilt, Out of the Box. My collage squares aren't that elaborate, and they're a little more "raw" now, but you'll see a similarity in my evolving style. I'm planning to offer them at $10 each, but it depends upon how much work I can put into them. (You display them "as is", incorporate them in a collage/assemblage, or in a quilt, pillow, or fabric art piece.)

• Artistamps... past favorites, selling for a song at Artfest. $5 per page of artistamps, signed, for you to display, or cut up and use. I've made two new artistamps, for Artfest. I printed 10 of one sheet, and 15 of the other. Signed & numbered, and $5 per sheet.

• Original paintings. Yep, I've made a few copies of my most popular landscapes, the sunrise series. (For example, at the moment I have one smaller copy of Peach sunrise.)

  I've copied them with acrylics on canvas board. These are NOT printed, they're actually painted by hand by me, so no two are exactly alike.

  Various smallish sizes (8x10, 9x12) and unframed. They're signed, dated, and I'll autograph them personally for you, on the back if you like. They'll be $20 each. You can use them as foundations for collage, as covers for journals, or just plain display them as art! Some of them are turning out even better than the originals. Coooool! *grin*

Oh yeah, I'll take cash, personal checks, barter, swaps, and--if you're totally desperate--I'll accept a few promises (but only a few) from folks who'll pay via PayPal as soon as they get home from Artfest. Yes, I'll trust you; I've found that most people are basically honest.

If you're in one of my workshops

Just bring the goodies that Teesha listed in the booklet. That's enough.

However, you'll probably want to read my pages, describing each workshop that you're in:

• Shrines In Your Pocket

• Collaged Tote Bags - and necklaces!

• Time Travel: Journaling Your Past

One more thing - People have been asking about buying kits from my workshops. I'll be bringing extras to each class, in case more people show up. If there are spare kits left, I'll sell them at cost. (See each workshop page, linked above, for specifics.)

However, if you miss out, everything which can be scanned or copied and placed online will be online for you to print out, within a couple of weeks after Artfest.

Sure, it's convenient to buy the kit. But, if you miss out, the printed material will be online for you, later.

My goal is to make art as available as possible, to everyone. I mean, really, I'm here to spark creative dreams in others, and help you to turn your dreams into fabulous reality!