Open Studios 2014 Postmortem

Another Open Studios has come and gone and I like to think about what worked, how many people came by and of course, the sales.  This year, I featured paintings from my Hawaii series.  I needed to increase my inventory because of my Williams Sonoma Home deal.  However, it seemed not many visitors were interested in that series.  

Hawaii series on wall

They were mostly interested in my Edges and Iceland series.  While I had more people stop by on Saturday (35), none lingered enough to see around to the isolated areas where my Iceland paintings were located.  Even when I mentioned that there were more paintings, no one seemed to care.  It is a fine line between trying to be informative and being pushy.  I might have sounded desperate as in "please see my other wonderful paintings"!

mostly Edges series on facing wall

 I hosted a martini hour on  Saturday from 5-6 pm and had some sales at that time.  I felt I had to change things up so when I came in on Sunday morning, I decided to move things around and bring  more of the Iceland paintings in view.

hidden along the stairs, Iceland series

 And, wouldn't you know it, more people lingered although we had fewer people on Sunday (25).  Open Studios was competing with game 4 and 5 of the World Series (Go Giants!!) so that might explain the smaller than last year's numbers.  However, it did seem like the Iceland paintings caught people's eyes and made their way into my studio.  Did these people actually buy anything?  Nope, no sales resulted.
Most of my sales (and I did better than most of the artists exhibiting here) came from people who already have my paintings.  One couple came in to see  my Iceland paintings because they saw the piece that is currently exhibiting at SomARTs.  They spent a good amount of time looking at the pieces.  We spoke briefly and they wanted to measure the space they had in mind.  I learned from last year to leave the work up for at least one week after Open Studios just in case someone wants a second (or first) look.

work area

my gin bottle collection
great conversation starter

What works:

1.  )  I always include inexpensive but original paintings in postcard size.  That way, people can spend $10-20 on an original piece of art.  I also give them as thank you gifts to  people who buy my paintings.  The sales of these postcards  almost pay for the cost of open studios. 

2.  )  Maximize the wall space where ever.  The hallway at Francisco Studios is where I hang large pieces (4 ft X 4 ft for example)

What I learned:

1.  )  I didn't have labels on the paintings - just a price list which i think was a big mistake.  So on Sunday, I wrote out labels with year completed, titles, media for most of the paintings and that seemed to start conversations when visitors read the titles or ask about why I use beeswax.  

2.  )  Forget the Pepperidge Goldfish - serve grapes!  Everybody loves a little freshness to nibble on.  However, now I have a lifetime supply of those damn goldfish!

Sales were about half of last year's but I would still classify this open studios a success.  I made  a few connections which may pan out.  I created more work for the Williams Sonoma Home website. And I met with a couple of my collectors - it's good to show them that I am constantly creating and thinking about painting.
World Series Game 6 tonight!  Go Giants!!