Open Studios Weekend.

The weekend of the 3rd & 4th of September was the first time I had participated in the "Open Studios Ayrshire" weekend. There was a choice of showing artworks at a venue alongside other artists, or opening your home studio up for anyone wanting to come along for a look and a chat....I opted for the latter.

I didn't realise how much preparation was involved in this, and it took close to a week to get things ready. Choosing the artworks to show, unwrapping them, hanging them in the studio, organising a Gazebo for the garden where I could also hang artworks, laying out and preparing cardboard rolls, bubble wrap etc for wrapping and even getting soft drinks and nibbles for any potential visitors..

Saturday arrived, and so did the rain. I had said I would do some demonstrations during the weekend, so headed to the studio to paint. 

A few people braved the weather and began to arrive. This was a great opportunity to spend time talking about my artworks, the methods I used to paint them and the reasons behind the ideas and styles. I think I was spending around half and hour with each person, and they appeared to be genuinely interested in what I was saying. Two sales by lunch time were very much appreciated.

Sunday morning didn't start well, with the winds starting to lift the Gazebo: I made an early decision, ( about 7.00am), to take the gazebo down and move all the artwork that was going to go back inside it into the kitchen. Then the weather changed and the sun came out!

This was a much busier day. A constant flow of visitors as well as supportive friends. Again, I was spending around 30 minutes taking the small groups around the studio and kitchen discussing my artwork. Again, a couple more sales quite a lot of interest in pieces I was still working on.

I had a request for "Private Viewings" which I have now added to my website. A gallery owner visited and I will meet with him in the coming weeks. A couple more people showed interest in some of my larger pieces, so I may be hearing from them soon.

Overall, a successful first time. I have participated in events where I had a stall before, and realise that you can't spend enough time with people at these type of events. They are still good, but my sales definitely came from the longer discussions I was able to have with the people who showed an interest.

It took a week to set up....and about the same to dismantle and repack everything. Well worth it though, and its something I will happily do every year.