Here is my latest commission, a big 24x20" painting of three beautiful Cocker Spaniels, Stevie, Misty and Jimmy. I had totally underestimated how long this painting would take me, giving myself just 3 weeks and in the end it took me a month but their owner is very happy with the finished painting and even I'm quite happy with it! As an artist, you always tend to pick on your own work so if you're even vaguely happy with your painting, that's a good thing!I've also had a couple of one day shows that I've attended recently, the Monmouthshire Show and yesterday I was at the Frampton Country Fair. The Monmouthshire Show was held on a Thursday and although I have as yet not got any commissions from it, it was a really busy day with people constantly in my tradestand tent. I was working on the above commission whilst there and that seemed to attract a lot of people in as well but it still amazes me how much people underestimate how much time and effort we as artists put into our work and how that calculates as to what we need to charge for a painting. Not helped by the recession, I know, but it still amuses and amazes me at the same time.
Frampton Country Fair seemed to be an entirely different type of affair, with not as many visitors and definitely not as many interested in visiting the tradestands. But it's always interesting visiting these shows and working out which ones will be worth attending again the following year plus this year I actually had decent weather for both shows compared to last year's wind and rain! It makes a huge amount of difference to the number of people who turn up at the shows and also it makes a huge amount of difference to your own enjoyment of the experience!!
