Ars Gratia Artis

We went to the Art First Saturday in Chico yesterday and made a couple of good finds. We only went to two openings and both were productive for us. First, we stopped at the Chico Art Center and saw some gourds on display and they were priced at $45. That was good to know as I have gourds that were that good or better and I intend to sell some next week at my daughter's business, The Plant Barn. She puts on a small extravaganza of flowers and art every year at this time and said she would set aside a table for me and my art. Truth is, I've had four pieces of my artwork at the Barn for a couple of months and none have sold. But, the venue, where the gourds were scattered about among the other decorations and gifts, was not all that flattering. I'm hoping that a better display and some refurbishing will move some of them. That and I'm also going to part with some of my better pieces. For a price of course and the $45 dollar figure gave me an idea of where the market was. And, it also confirmed that I already knew the market pretty well, I had three of my gourds priced at $35 and one was at $50. True, they didn't sell at that price but I am thinking that it was the setting. In fact, I'm convinced it was the setting!

Second, we stopped by a small house, away from downtown, where a showing was being held in a backyard. It was set up on the small patio because of the strong breeze and so it was crowded with people and art, but I spotted one artist's work right away and after a short deliberation, we took away a nicely matted piece for only $20! The matting was worth at least half of that amount. And the artist gave us a gift of one of her decorative note cards. I also took her business card and later, after we were home, I checked out her website and was pleasantly surprised by the range of her work. She has some more pieces that I would love to have…plus she has inspired me to get busy, when I can, with my own mixed media works.

Her website… http://cmpeterson.com/ and the Plant Barn… http://theplantbarn.com/