The 2011 Outback Art Fair is in the books, and I'm exhausted! I feel like I ran a marathon while fighting off George Foreman and Hulk Hogan! The chair I brought did me no good. I can't sit and let people pass me by! So I spent two days standing, walking, and- when it rained- running!
I stood near the front of my tent and greeted people as they walked be. There's no harm in saying "Good Morning"! Most of the time, people would pause and greet me in return. Then they'd peer inside form the walkway. If they lingered more than two seconds, I invited them to come and take a closer look. Usually they did.
Once they were in, I told them that I'd be happy to answer their questions. This usually started a conversation about the paintings, which is a great time to hype the art up. If it didn't start a conversation, I was still able to watch what they were focusing on. Then I asked the questions. "Do you like it?" "Are you Local?" "Do you know where the scene in this painting is?" "Can I tell you about this painting?"
The most important part of this dance was getting people's attention. There are a lot of things to see at an Art Fair. People will walk right past you if they're focused on something else. Not only was I being friendly by saying 'hello' and 'good morning' to anyone who wouldn't ignore me -and even those who did ignore me, the greeting and smile attracted them to me and the paintings I was standing near.
I ended up selling two higher priced paintings during the weekend. I can say one of those paintings was sold because I grabbed the attention of the eventual buyer!
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