Outback Sales Report part 2: Saturday

The Outback Art Fair in Marquette started out great! My art was displayed and ready to be sold. There was a nice breeze gently blowing off of Lake Superior, and thirty minutes before we opened there were nice crowds forming.

   For the last three years I've been sharing a booth with Pam Perkins. Pam makes cute, low-cost earrings and neat higher priced necklaces. She knits nice clothes, sews wine bottle covers, and generally makes a lot of useful art items. This is great for her. People like useful art! I had to try to convince people that nice paintings were useful too.

   Most of Pam's work was displayed on a table in front of the tent. My work was inside the tent. At first I liked this set up, because a lot of people would slow down to look on her table. While they were there I would greet them, and get their attention. This seemed like a good trap.

   By the end of the day, I realized that the people who looked on the table were more interested in the jewelry than my art. Many of them would step into the tent and look. A few were really interested. Only one would buy.

   I was very fortunate to spot this buyer. He's my old boss, spinal surgeon and business man Dr. Matthew Songer. I saw him and his wife Laura walking  somewhat quickly through the walkway, looking in the tents and moving on. As he walked by my tent, I walked out to greet him. He smiled and we talked for a bit. Then he and his wife came in and spent several minutes looking at my paintings and talking about them. Then they left.

    So I went back to my smiling, chatting, and greeting. The breeze died down and it got hot! The heat didn't stop this crowd! I met a lot of nice people, including one lady who said "You're self taught!"

   I said "How did you know?" 

   "Because you're a genius!" She called me a genius! She obviously knew what she was talking about.

 

Cool Clear Stream, collection of Dr. and Mrs. Songer

    At about this time Dr. Songer and Laura came back and told me they wanted to buy "Cool Clear Stream", one of my latest and favorites. We talked for awhile more, and I offered him to sell him a $150.00 painting for $100.00 to go along with his original purchase. He laughed and said "You're a good businessman!" Then he declined my offer. 

   Having Dr. Songer buy one of my paintings was great. Having him tell me I was a good businessman was awesome!