Second day at Silverwood

Short day today, but still a good day. The stadium jumping, which is the last portion of the show, finished up around noon. But I had been there since 8AM, so I got as much exposure as I could have gotten. One lady came into the booth and started chatting even before I had a chance to hang the paintings up this morning. I don’t leave them on site overnight–too risky. I would have nightmares of rain/windstorms (but not thieves) carrying everything away if I didn’t take them home each night. Today, however, was a picture-perfect day. It resembled what I remember of an ideal Northern California summer day…warm, but not too warm, dry, gentle breeze blowing, air clear and bright. I had several visitors to the booth, and managed to engage them in actual conversations. I’ve discovered that, at least at this horse show, the first question should always be “do you have a horse in this show”; if “yes”, followed up immediately by, “how are you guys doing in the show”. That generally gets them started, and wherever it goes from there is just fine. It usually ends up with them asking something about one of the paintings, and then I get to let loose with what I already know how to talk about–my work. So all in all, I would say it was quite a good weekend. I figure I will seldom, if ever, take a portrait order at a show, but my presence there on a repeat basis will be great advertising.