first fair is fair!

Hi! Lots have been going on lately! I did my first ever market fair last Saturday at the Parkdale Bazaar Vintage and Craft Market, and it was absolutely fun and a hit! Let me paint a tiny picture, the fair is a community based project in the Parkdale area which is just on the edge of downtown, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was all such a positive experience. Simply put I made and created stuff, set the stall, sold them and made profit - hurrah!!
The best thing however was meeting people that truly appreciated my work, I had so many kind lovely comments that will energize me to power on and create more! I got asked a lot of questions about my painting techniques and digital design techniques which am always happy to share, as well as swapping cat and squirrel stories. I even got to meet a couple of nice art directors that complimented me on my work, am super chuffed about that. My boyfriend decided to come with me after seeing I had so much stuff to carry and stayed all day and chatted to lots of people, he was such a champ that day! Don't think it would have been as fun and successful without his help, he took this photo...

This was before it got busy, 5min would have been the longest of time without talking to a visitor/customer - time flew! My neighbour Elizabeth got me wearing her beautiful handmade fascinator for the day, I took my scarf off after realizing it's a bit much with the headwear. I had another illustrator sitting behind me Ken Turner, he was pretty busy too with his printed tees, cards and comic books. It was a better experience to have lovely neighbours.  It's nice of Jack Dylan to lend me his table cloth as I would have forgotten - he is a pro at these fairs!
I sold my Greeting cards in 2 different sizes and the small 4 pack, calendars, prints and I made canvas book covers with illustrated iron-ons > every group had buyers even my yummy date slices! yippee! I also brought with me an original - "Mademoiselle Chameleon" something to prop up and attract people over, the painting helped sell the 11x17 prints.

I must say the Greeting cards were a hit! I had to bundle more of the packs as they did run out. This stuff is seasonal, so I am in the middle of brainstorming some ideas for the next fair I do. Yes there will be a next time!! I could have applied for more fairs, but I just wanted to test the waters, it takes 3-4 weeks at least to apply for markets but I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for future ones.

In the meantime I've opened up an etsy shop to sell the cards and calendars, So come have a squizz! Hope the holiday buzz have hit you, it is such a fun season and colourful too!
loves and doves xx