Bazaart is over and now it's time for summer

I have been preparing for Bazaart, http://www.mackenzieartgallery-bazaart.ca/  the huge outdoor Art show at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, since early January.

I am not new to Art and Craft shows, I have been selling my creations since the mid 80's and have tons of experience setting up and tearing down booths, displaying my work to it's best advantage and helping customers.  I love to talk to the other artists and to the people that are interested in learning more about my work. They all inspire me to keep creating art.

What I am new to is "Outdoor" art shows.  Outdoors in Regina, Saskatchewan means wind, wind and more wind. 

Last year at Bazaart the weather was so terrible that I could hear pottery and stained glass smashing to the ground in the booths around me.  It was awful and I was very glad that my acrylic paintings bounced and the mud could be wiped off with little or no lasting damage.  This year I was taking fewer acrylics and more watercolors so I made sure that every painting was sealed in a protective cover and I had super strong clips to attach them to my display boards.

The show was on Saturday.  The 3 days before the show it rained... they said Saturday was going to be sunny but then rain again on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  What were the chances that the weather man would actually get it right?  

Slim chances is what I though and I was not surprised when I woke up at extra early on Saturday morning  to rain.  I packed the truck in the rain, drove the hour to Regina in the rain and unloaded my tent and displays in the rain.  Then as I was setting up my tent the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and I had great hopes....until the wind started blowing.  

My darling daughter, Jen, came to help me for a few hours before she had to go to her real job and we had the tent up and were putting the displays together when the wind blew our tent right over.  It was upside down on the lawn beside our booth space.  Thank goodness we had no one on that side of us or we would have wiped out their entire display.  We got things back together, screwed everything to everything and weighed down all the corners.  Then when the art was all hung we assumed the position.  Jen holding down the 2 tent corners on the right and me holding down the 2 tent corners on the left.  

Let the show begin!

The crowds came, saw, enjoyed, bought and by 5 pm they were all gone. 

I now have fewer paintings but more money (to buy art supplies, of course). I talked to some interesting people and saw some strange ones, like the funky lady with grey hair, except where she dyed it purple and the guy in the skirt and the 5 ladies shopping together, all wearing sparkly, red boots.  It was a fantastic people watching day.  

I was packed up and had everything in the truck by 6, was home with a large, loaded pizza by 7:30 and in bed by 9:30.  

Five months of painting, one day of selling and it's all over for another year.