Lessons Learned...

I did my first outdoor festival this past weekend and I'm still "recovering" from the experience. All in all, it was fun and enlightening --- I got to meet some cool people, I discovered that I have more stamina for standing around 8 hours a day than I imagined, I added quite a few people to my gallery guestbook, etc.
What remains to be seen is whether or not this was a financially smart move. I did not sell enough of my work to cover the cost of the space rental... but from what I understand, not many people did. While I was riding the shuttle van back to my car one day, one of the other vendors remarked that no one was really selling anything and that was pretty much the story in the entire area --- people balked at paying over $5 for any sort of art. Paying $10 for a burger was not an issue, but art... that's another story.
A tinge of bitterness in my voice? Maybe a little... but I guess it's just a different mindset... a difference in what is important to different people. Or quite possibly, the outdoor art fair is simply not the place to try to sell art. Maybe it's a marketing tool.
Hopefully I'll have a good turnout for my gallerry show on october 3rd...