My 1st Cambridge Open Studio - part two: THE EVENT

In my last post (part one) I shared about my preparations for my very first Cambridge Open Studio weekend – well it's been and gone, so it's now time to tell you all about the event it's self... how it looked, how it went and whether I'll do it again!

How it looked

First we had to turn our home into a gallery space – this video makes it look a LOT easier than it was!

Tidying, cleaning, hanging, labelling…. and this was the result…

Many people were disappointed not to be able to come so I created a couple of videos

A Whistle-stop Tour (2 ½ mins)

A more in depth guided tour, talking through some of my work (22mins)

I was only able to do the 1st weekend and was concerned that all my effort would be in vein if no-one knew about my event, so I worked hard with advertising and it really paid off.
I actually felt it had been worth taking part in this years Cambridge Open Studios before the weekend even arrived due to all the exposure and contacts I made. I was on Cambridge 105 radio, in the Cambridge News and Cambridge Independent newspapers, in Cambridge Magazine (p129) & got to paint live at 2 COS promo events, not to mention social media!

I have also really enjoyed joining this community of artists, finding a new group of people who I can support and encourage in their artistic endeavours (even those who've been successfully doing this for decades need encouragement), it's been so easy and enjoyable to bless other artists.

How it went

As for my little weekend I had 161 visitors, took a good number of sales and have 40+ people to add to my mailing list. Particularly exciting were all the potential projects I've been invited to do or made contact with: from community arts, to ArtBNB, artist in residence and workshop opportunities, to performance art invitations.

INTERACTION
I loved inviting people into my home, talking about my work and hearing their feedback. I was excited to see all my work together, it was evident that I've developed my own style and voice for myself. Everyone commented on the vibrancy of my colours and the repeated use of circles!

Here are some of the wonderful comments in my visitors book:

• conveys a sense of total freedom and joy
• inspired, joyous, unique, exciting, an explosion of colour. So uplifting!

• I especially loved the happiness of each painting.
• So lovely to be able to feel the emotions and hope behind the pictures
• absolutely awesome work! Love it!! I feel so inspired – thank you!
• a very colour happy space, thank you for inspiring creativity!
  

Next Time?

I've certainly learnt a few things

1. I thought I was an organised person but I ran out of time (despite pulling an all nighter)! I didn't get titles on pictures until my Private View was over. I gave up on neatening the edges of my work and varnishing canvases and I only managed to mount 1 or 2 pieces rather than the 20+ I had hoped to make available for purchase
   
2. I ran out of change to give people on day one
3. I had a rota of helpers so that I could be down the garden in my studio some of the time and this was a life saver
4. Although I was terrified doing a radio interview it really helped me to get used to talking about my work. This aided me in knowing what to say to people during the weekend. In future I think I'll write myself a script as if preparing for an interview by way of getting my head round things again!
   
5. I did a Private View on the Friday night for invited guests which was a really good way of warming up to the weekend – a gentle but celebratory start.
6. It seems to make a difference having a bright colourful thumbnail in the guide book – many people mentioned that it had stood out to them. Also the fact that I had crochet as well as paintings made me a bit different and maybe stand out from the crowd
   
7. It was a lot of work for just one weekend and although it will be a challenge with child care we think that 2 weekends would be better.

YES I will DEFINATELY do it again. I'm utterly exhausted but it was such a rewarding experience!
I'm already thinking about doing a Christmas one!