post-Fair recovery...

Two of the six panels used.

The 2010 Yolo County Fair is now done.
 My show there (as a Featured Artist) went well. I spent most afternoons hanging out in Waite Hall and thoroughly enjoyed watching people interact with my art. I've posted a few snaps of the displays at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/loisrichter/sets/72157624774747720/  I did have a mailbox there -- with notepapers and "This I Like!" checklists -- so visitors could either write me a letter or tell me which things they liked a lot. (It's interesting to see what folks checked.) By far the most smiled-at piece was a photo of Sandra's kitty 'Mocha' in her pose as a "SunWorshipper". Framed in brown velvet, I borrowed this from Mom's wall for hanging at the show. (Of all my artwork, this kitten is the only photo of mine that Mom has ever wanted to have hanging in her home.) Now I get to choose which of all my pieces I want to hang on the walls at home now. I had unearthed forty years' worth of stuff while deciding what to put in that show. Now some will go on display in my home gallery and the rest will go back in storage or get put into a box to be donated to the silent auction next year. (The silent auction is where items donated by local artists are sold off and the $$ raised goes to help art programs in the local high schools. I just discovered that paintings/drawings do NOT have to be framed to be donated! So I will pass along a few items. Even some framed photos may go there.)

Preparing for this event, I realized just how much the Fair has influenced what I have available to show. Almost all of my framed photos only exist because I entered them in the Fair some time. A few very large ones pre-date my Fair years (2003 on), but most photos don't get printed -- let alone framed -- unless I plan to enter them. I have a few dozen un-framed photos lying around, and several THOUSAND unprinted images stored on my computer. (I'm starting to put some of my favorites online now in my Flickr account.) 

 'Mocha' in her pose as a "SunWorshipper"

Although I'm apt to be proudest of my computer designs and LineArt (digital photos I've messed with a lot), for many years I could only enter one item in that category while there were a dozen categories in the photo section that I could enter -- SO... My framed photos outweigh my framed computer graphics by about 20-to-1. On the other hand, each PAINTING is physically present to start with; so although I have only ever created a few of them, they take up a large portion of the of wall space. My ATCs, on the other and, are mostly tucked away in binders. Well... I've rambled enough for one day. I hope you-all are doing well. -- Lois Richter, recovering nicely from a wonderful weekend.