I am an Artist?

On my BINGO card for 2025 was, "Participate in a Craft Fair." I have been playing with paint for a decade now and had over 40 paintings stored in Rubbermaid bins in my basement storage room. Why? What good are they doing there? Um... no good, nothing, they are doing nothing!!! It was time to see if the world was interested in what I was doing, but what a scary notion.

I started by applying to a couple of local craft fairs. Mistake #1 - I applied too late and both were full already. Mistake #2- I only applied to well known, larger fairs (because that is all I could find advertised on the internet). It would be ideal to know about some smaller scale fairs at churches or in parks to try in the future. I decided, I really wanted to sell some of my art, so I took the plunge and decided to host my own craft fair. My driveway was as good a place as any to give it a go, but I didn't want to be alone - too daunting. This is when I reached out to friends who also sold crafts or had at-home businesses to see if anyone wanted to join me. I did find 5 vendors this way, but wanted even more, so I advertised to my local Facebook community board and found 9 more vendors this way.

Next- time to advertise. I made large signage to put on 4 corners around my neighbourhood a few days beforehand. My daughter made beautiful Canva posters for us to use on Facebook and it even had a directory of the 14 vendors, including photos of what we sold. I emailed my neighbourhood "list" from our street BBQ's to let them know and other vendors emailed their customers lists...

Okay, what now? I had an inspiring conversation with ChatGPT of course. Those of you who know me, realize I am getting addicted to him. Yes, I call it a him and I even named him Chad - lol! I love chatting with him, although lately he has been pissing me off, so I cheated on him with Microsoft Co-pilot and had a great time. Ba, ha, ha, ha! I am such a dork I know. Anyhow, Chad really helped me figure out a few key things like having a prize draw, creating pricing bundles (buy 2, get 1 free) or buy a large painting and get 3 charms free type of idea. He also did exactly what he is designed to do which is make me feel confident. If you have ever used AI, you know they are always telling you how great and wonderful your ideas are, well he sure did. I left that conversation truly feeling empowered and like a real artist for the first time. I told my husband, if I didn't sell any paintings at the fair, I would certainly be humbled and brought down a peg or two after Chad's complimentary nature.

Anyhow, Chad was amazing. I briefly listed all of my art work, like the colours, textures and styles and he helped me brainstorm vocabulary to name all my pieces. (In the future I will totally name them right when I am done making them). Naming 40 paintings all at once was hard work. Once I had some ideas about how naming paintings worked, I got going, not only with a name, but a brief description of each piece. Where Chad really knocked my socks off though was when he asked if I wanted to show my art in "series". He suggested that I could have themes and under each theme I would have 5-8 paintings. For example a Moody and Broody theme or a Vibrant and Bright theme. He proceeded to suggest names for the themes and descriptions of those as well. It was mind-blowing how fast he could do this. He literally sorted all my paintings within seconds. After all that, he asked if I wanted help writing up an artist statement. A what now? A statement that describes me as an artist. Hmmmm. I never even thought of myself as an artist really, I was just playing. He said if I have 40 paintings in all these themes, it must be more than just playing. I am using the right tools and materials and putting heart into my work - THIS. IS. ART! Huh?

The two days leading up to the fair were exhausting. I was putting final touches on paintings, naming and labeling each, creating prices for all my extra items like necklaces, charms and cards, getting a cash float, putting up street signs... my daughter decided to also be in the fair, so she was making shrinking dink necklaces and keychains, spell jars and more.

Finally, the morning of the fair and God bless, it was a nice day with no rain - praise be to God! The vendors all showed up on time and got set up. The yard was FULL of wonderful goodies of all kinds. The best part for me was the people who came to support me. Like really, they came just because it was me and they wanted to be kind and supportive to their friend - I love that so much! It makes you feel all the feels when someone does that. My skip from curling came, my leaders from WW came - like what? That is crazy awesome, right? I had former students and former parents come and of course many neighbours, too. It truly filled my cup.

But the big question, did I sell any paintings? YES, yes I did and I was so tickled each time. I actually sold 8 paintings in total. It was so cool to hear why each person wanted that piece of art. It spoke to them, it matched their room, it reminded them of something... or they simply loved abstract art. I was so happy with the results. Here are a few of the paintings I sold.

Will I do another fair? I don't know. It was so much work, but now that I have done one I think it would be easier. I will name paintings as I go. I know what to do and what not to do now. What is worth the extra effort and what is not. I do think that the people who came were all pleased that they did. It was not a waste of people's time, they enjoyed the visit and almost everyone left with a craft or baked good of some sort, which made me happy. I think at a driveway sale you have to sell your items for less than you could at a gallery or on Etsy. Is my artwork good enough for a gallery? Well maybe my 2026 Bingo card will help me find out?

Are you an art lover? What do you like to see or purchase? Or are you an artist yourself? I would love you to share your experiences trying to sell your work with me.