Last Post from the Door County Plein Air Festival

Pre auction viewing outside the tent

 Well today was the big finale in Fish creek: The Quickpaint event. The 40 of us in the festival, plus about one hundred other painters gathered in central Fish Creek this morning from about 6.30 in the morning to stake out our spot to paint. At 9am a horn sounded and we were allowed to start our paintings and at 11 it sounded again and all work stopped. Then the 40 festival artists had to frame their work and display it on easels around the perifery of the marquee on the green for the public to see, and at 12 noon the auction began.

Pre auction anticipation inside the tent

 The crowd was several hundred strong, every chair filled, people on the grass, people standing at the sides and at the back and beyond the tent into the park. It was my first time to see an auctioneer work and he had the crowd laughing and bidding competitively from the getgo. Prices began at $500 for each piece and almost all of them went up in $100 increments, then 50s as bidding slowed.

My piece, on the fireplace at the clients's house, two hours after I finished the last brushstroke

I have to say that I was uncomfortable about the public auction thing for the past 48 hours. It seems to be an opportunity for artists to be publicly embarassed in the event that the work is either not succesful, or the crowd just dont connect with it.

After the auction I went to visit a couple of galleries here that I had heard great things about, and it was great to walk in and have the opportunity to chat at length with the owners and to find that they knew of me and my work and had already heard about my week.  So........hopefully I shall be able to show my work here in the future?

This evening I went back to the Art School for the final event of the week, which was the opening reception for the public. I had expected to see my last four paintings on the wall but there were only two because I sold two more this afternoon. This evening I sold my wash drawing of Sister Bay, so now I'm thrilled to say, I have left the Peninsula School of Art with only one painting for the exhibition which runs for another couple of weeks. Painted 11. Sold 10. I haven't had that kind of batting average in a LONG time.