Where has the time gone?

Wow! The month is almost over and I continue to procrastinate in getting my first post completed. I don't know why I've been dragging my heels. Oh, well. . .today is the day. I'll have to take this in baby steps but I'm determined to do it! Here goes...

I had hoped to keep 'yall posted on my prep time leading up to my first ever juried art festival (43rd BLUFF PARK ART FESTIVAL). However, the event took place the first Saturday in October. I received my acceptance letter back in May and spent every waking hour, after the dreaded weekly 9 to 5 job, preparing for the one day event. To sum it all up, l'll simply say that I am encouraged to continue to participate in future art festivals (juried only). I didn't sell all of my inventory but the contacts that I made, in one day, have kept me bouyed. Networking is the key! My catagory was Printmaking: lino block relief prints. I won the Popular Choice Award. Yeah, I had my 15 minutes of fame. Although I'm passionate about needlepoint, I discovered early on that it was going to be nearly impossible to stitch and finish enough canvases to display at a festival. So, in order to get my work out there, I adapted more than a few of my original art images and converted them to block prints. I don't create cute little teddy bears or flowers; clowns or kittens. My art is southern and black (well, for those of you who NEED political correctness!) -African American- imagery.

I'm posting one of the smaller images that I created for the show. This piece is the first lino block where I included a male figure. I'm really happy with it and I think that because of it's smaller size (5 x 7) it sold well. My daughter seems to think that I should push the envelope a bit and consider selling the prints on etsy. I shudder to think of how crazy I'll be having to learn a new technical/posting system. She's much smarter than I am and it could be that I need to listen to her. We'll see. Most of my prints are 8 x 10; a couple are 9 x 12. Next time, I'll walk you thru my procedure from initial sketch to final print.