Rise and Shine - and a Grand Coincidence

Rise and Shine

Oil on canvas, 20x20, sold

The weather people delivered their proclamations of doom this morning with their typical dramatic flourishes. I looked at the weather map and decided to put some extra weights on my tent, but otherwise, not to panic. 

By 3 p.m., the 52 percent chance of rain had diminished to 30 percent. And just as I saw this, I heard a big thunderboom overhead. Shortly thereafter, the organizers of the Brandywine Arts Festival here in Wilmington, Del., decided that, to be safe, the show should close at 5. 

So I packed up and left, and kept my fingers crossed. But as I was packing, a lovely couple came along and bought this rooster painting. Yay! 

The show here in Wilmington continues on Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Stop by if you're in the area! 

***

IN A REMARKABLE bit of coincidence, two young women walked into the booth this morning, attracted by that very same rooster. Turns out they want a 48x48 rooster for their kitchen, and I laughed at this, because I had a 48x48 canvas that I'd considered using for a rooster. Instead, I painted sunflowers, and they do look great - but I had kept wondering and wondering about a bigger rooster. 

I took their contact info, and did notice that their last name sounded a little familiar. They asked where I lived, and when I said Wachapreague, they bubbled a little. Their uncle lives there, they said. Did I know James Swineford? 

No, I said, I didn't.

And then I thought about it for a minute. 

"You mean Jimmy?" I asked. "Nitty-Gritty?" They nodded. "He lives across the street from us!" 

We've never called him "James," and while I guess I knew his last name at one point, I quickly and completely forgot it. We call him "Nitty-Gritty," because that's the name of his boat, and what he has on his license plate. Jimmy is a good neighbor, solid and available. He has a little bit of a lawn-mowing fetish, driving the mower at least weekly, and while he has a slight propensity for curmudgeonliness, he is always happy to share a joke and lend a hand. 

Isn't life amazing? 

***

Dog of the Day

It's Fred! He belongs to Tamara, a faithful reader of this blog. She sent the picture when I started painting roosters, and I will surely paint Fred one of these days. He's a looker! 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson.blogspot.com

Mia - and, Sigh, a Downer in Delaware

Mia

Oil on canvas, 12x12, commission

Well, the show in Wilmington was terrible for me, sales-wise, terrible, terrible, terrible. And to make it even more disappointing, it was a lovely show, well advertised, well attended. The people were terrific - friendly, supportive and polite - but they weren't buying, or at least they weren't buying my stuff. 

Four paintings sold, all my smallest pieces, $100 or less. People said they loved the bigger pieces, but didn't buy them. Maybe they were simply priced too high for the venue. Or maybe it was location - I was the third booth in from the main entrance, and I think that didn't help. No one wants to make their major purchase when they've just entered the event. 

Or maybe it just wasn't my day, and my buyers simply were not at the show. I did have a lot of interest from some really great people who loved my stuff and might want commissions, and so, perhaps, that's where the sales from this show will be. 

Still, there's little in life - outside of the major events - that feels worse than ending a show in the hole. 

But ending in a hole means that the next step is likely to be up. So I am keeping that in mind. It's a new day, a new week, and I have another chance next weekend. 

Here are some photos from the show: 

Here's my booth

The show was in a beautiful park in Wilmington, DE, along the Brandywine River. 

There were TONS of people at the show, so that wasn't the problem. 

I loved this. "Kindness to God's creatures is a service acceptable to Him," it reads.

***

Dog of the Day

There were great dogs at the show, and this little cutie was one of them. 

Delmarva Farm - and a DelMarvelous Show!

Delmarva Farm

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100

Sold

I was painting this farm - half-hidden by the soybeans, nearly ready to be harvested - when the farmer who owns the place came by.

He'd farmed there all his life, he said, but had sold off a lot of the land recently, as he was 78, and slowing down. Right now, all he has is 300 acres. Soybeans is what he mostly grows, and corn, too, and he rotates the crops year by year.

His kids don't want to farm, he told me. His wife had been a schoolteacher, and his kids had gone on to get higher degrees, and schooling he'd never had. One was a teacher, and the others were in business.

And he was happy, he said, that they had decided not to farm. 

***

THIS WEEKEND, I'll be at the Brandywine Arts Festival in Wilmington, DE. It looks like a nice art fair (DelMarvelous, even!), and I've heard it's good, though I've never been. I'll be in Booth J03, frighteningly close to the entrance (sometimes a great place to be, sometimes a terrible place...). The show is Saturday and Sunday; admission is $5, and children under 12 get in free. The entry price includes admission to the zoo, another frightening thing for me, as I really don't like zoos. 

So if you are in the area, please come by. And if you're not, please send your good thoughts my way! 

My next show is the following weekend, in Leesburg, VA. I did that show last year, and while I didn't do well financially, I had a great time, and got a number of commissions. Click here for more information on the Leesburg Fine Arts Show. 

***

Dog of the Day

Here's Django, who lives with Ashley Harper-Oberle near Austin, TX. I met Ashley through this blog, and we've become online friends. She writes Zen Daughter, a blog that I like very much, and it's been a real pleasure to get to know her. 

She and her kids named the dog Django because they liberated him from the pound - and in Texas, that's a life-giving move. 

He is half Great Pyrenees, and half golden, she writes, "nine months young and a big bundle of love." 

Morning in Wachapreague - and Success in Charlotte

Morning in Wachapreague

Oil on canvas, 10x10, $100

Sold

When I was in Charlotte in May for a show in the convention center, I met a wonderful man named John. He bought a painting from me, and commissioned me to paint his dog. Magically, it seemed, we became instant dear friends. I felt that I'd known him all my life. 

With his help and guidance this week, I am now represented in Charlotte by Judith Weston Voglesanger. She has a gallery in her home, and holds art events there; places art with clients throughout Charlotte; and is hanging her artists' work at a new wine bar and restaurant in Charlotte called J. Sam's. 

You can check out her website by clicking here (http://www.jwvartists.com/) - and you can also find her on Facebook under JWVArtists .

I'm pleased and excited to be represented in Charlotte, which is a fascinating city that seems to pay real attention to art. And I really like the work of the other artists Judith represents. So, yay! 

Here's the photo I used for "Morning in Wachapreague"

***

AN INTERESTING EVENT coming up in early October is a plein-air paintout at Olana, the Hudson, NY, home of Frederic Church. I am one of 30 artists accepted to paint on the grounds there, and I feel that I am in excellent company.

Truly, I have to say that I am amazed, really, at my good fortune. I look at the work of the other artists in this show, and the other artists represented by Judith, and I am sort of stunned that I am among them. I am so grateful, and truly so surprised and excited.

Since I have a show the weekend of the Olana event, I won't be at the auction itself, but I will have a piece in it, and will be on site painting for two of the days. So if you are in the area and want to say hello, come by on Thursday or Friday morning. And if you want to bid on my piece, or the work of the other artists, please go to the wet-paint auction on Saturday!

And for anyone who is not familiar with plein-air paintouts, what happens is that a number of painters go out into the landscape and paint, then choose a piece and bring it - wet! just finished! - to an auction, and the buyer takes it home as is. They are really, really fun times.

Here's the url of the event - http://cccaartswalk.webs.com/olana-plein-air-festival - and below is a postcard about the event.

***

MY NEXT SHOW is this coming weekend in Wilmington, DE. It's the Brandywine Festival of the Arts, and is supposed to be a good show, and great fun! So if you're near Delaware, or if you want a post-Labor Day destination, come to the Brandywine Festival! 

***

Scenes from the Drive

Beautiful flowers along a North Carolina highway

A cool car somewhere in North Carolina

The sky, as I drove across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

***

Dog of the Day

YEARS AGO, around the time that my mother died, people began sending emails to another Carrie Jacobson, instead of to me. The difference in our addresses is that I use my middle initial - B - between my first and last names, and she doesn't. 

This delightful Carrie Jacobson, who lives in upstate New York, has gotten a lot a lot a lot of emails meant to go to me - some of them very personal, very private. She has also gotten lots of painting emails, lots of work emails and lots of inexplicable emails. She has sent them all to me with tremendous grace and patience. 

Eventually, we met. She's really nice, smart, funny, individual. I liked her enormously. And she bought a painting from me, too, so how great is that? 

So this is her dog, Vince. And my guess is that he's not as fierce as he looks. 

Want your pet to be the Dog of the Day? Send a jpg to me at carrieBjacobson@gmail.com  - and don't forget that "B"!