tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78684762008-06-29T20:23:12.623-04:00Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comBlogger120125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-13565790134347423042008-06-27T06:25:00.001-04:002008-06-27T08:50:50.686-04:00

About a month ago, I received my new propanels to replace my old homemade panels made from electrical conduit + grid wire. I got to use them for 2 shows now, and I must say I like them a lot. They look so much more professional than the old burlap covers I made for the homemade panels. They setup so much easier, are more rigid, and a tiny bit lighter in weight. But the biggest thing I like about

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-68576858073175169942008-06-23T23:04:00.003-04:002008-06-24T00:22:35.167-04:00

I had another show this week. This time it was the Northville Art in the Sun show. The gist of it is, I did a bit better...made a small profit, but still nothing to get excited about. Setting Up This was attempt number 2 at setting up my new booth. Unfortunately, this show only had a morning setup (no option to setup the night before). On top of that, my wife ended up having to work at the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-57961061992422260972008-06-19T06:34:00.000-04:002008-06-19T10:06:02.742-04:00

Once again I'm off to a bad start for the year. Last weekend I did the Livonia Art From the Heart show, for the third year in a row. It ended up terrible...I lost money. However, it was good practice with some of my new equipment, so not all is lost. History of Livonia Art From the Heart Just to recap a brief history, Livonia was my first show ever, and ended up as my best show the whole first

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-31807743048438505462008-05-26T21:09:00.002-04:002008-05-26T22:40:22.329-04:00

In getting ready for another year of art shows, I'm addressing some issues I faced last year. One of those issues is a lack of color consistency throughout my workflow process. Last year I learned all about color profiling and got OK results by using generic paper profiles from various sources. This year, I've decided to address the issue further. After researching various options, I decied to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-79036137242380208442008-05-03T15:15:00.004-04:002008-05-03T15:43:02.411-04:00

2007 ended up being a pretty decent year for art shows. After getting off to a bad start, things turned around and I had several of my best shows yet. However, in the process of all of that, with the preparations and improvements being made, I didn't have a lot of time for much else. After finishing my last show in September, I decided to take the winter off, and I haven't done much photography

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-67731567300948507702007-10-22T19:01:00.000-04:002007-10-22T19:07:35.054-04:00

Back in May I mentioned how the mirror on my camera broke and I did the $5 MacGyver repair to fix it. Well, a few days ago I went for a quick mid-afternoon photo shoot and discovered that my 18-55mm lens is not acting up. Anytime I'm zoomed between 18-24 mm, if I have the aperture set to anything other than wide open, the picture fails and the camera gets an error 99 and locks up until I power

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-58043685443142295502007-10-14T07:58:00.000-04:002007-10-14T09:10:32.135-04:00

The Northville art show that I did almost a month ago was my last show for the year. After a somewhat disappointing 2006 (where my first show was good, but everything went downhill from there), and a disappointing start to 2007 (where my downward slide continued for the first few shows), things eventually turned themselves around, and I had a pretty satisfying year. I did eight shows this year,

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-83899229999321016142007-10-05T06:30:00.000-04:002007-10-05T12:52:59.870-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a little while. My last post was the day before my South Haven show. The following weekend I was sick, and then the weekend after that was my Northville show. I planned to post an update here, but I had a few things to catch up on around the house, so that came first. Then, to completely distract me, my computer suffered a hard drive failure. And not just a single

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-65266980869102333672007-08-30T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-30T08:34:45.270-04:00

My Trimline tent arrived a few days ago, and I've had a chance to set it up. Well....sort of. Like building the jugsaw puzzle? Not at all. Assembling the pieces and figuring out what goes where wasn't so bad. I've heard lots of reports that it's quite confusing, even after you've done it many times. In fact, at one show earlier this year, there was an artist working on his trimline when I

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-77602368603277009592007-08-21T20:29:00.000-04:002007-08-22T09:23:36.025-04:00

In my last post, I discussed the many reasons why I decided to upgrade my canopy. The next step in the decision making process was deciding which tent to order, and then which options to order it with. The field of candidates wasn't very large to begin with. My starting options were Trimline (by Flourish) Craft Hut (now owned by Flourish, also) Light Dome (by Creative Energies) Finale (also by

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-63782191385567848222007-08-20T18:07:00.000-04:002007-08-20T19:25:21.273-04:00

When I started preparing for art shows a few years back, my objective was to minimize my entry investment so that I didn't lose too much money if things completely flopped on me. In order to achieve that goal, I had to make sacrifices in several areas. One of those areas was my canopy. With the better canopies running $1000 and up, getting a cheap ez-up style canopy for $200 was a great way to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-89381717712832774372007-08-13T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-13T10:57:48.410-04:00

In the couple years doing shows now, I've been fighting with the trick of rolling up the wall tarp of my canopy. When my wife is there to help, it's not a problem. However, when I end up having to open by myself, it can be a real pain. Previously, the way I did it on my own was to: 1) Start rolling up the wall at one end. 2) After you roll it a few times, you'll see that the other end of the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-65858188220541283282007-08-13T06:15:00.000-04:002007-08-13T10:58:02.987-04:00

With regards to my Sterlingfest show report and the credit card that I mentioned was declined, I am happy to report it has been taken care of. On Friday, I received a check in the mail for the full amount, so that made Sterlingfest officially my most profitable show yet. However, that title wasn't long lived. I did another show this weekend and beat my sales record by $10. In addition, expenses

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-88190487365083388642007-08-10T06:15:00.000-04:002007-08-10T09:16:06.619-04:00

After going through the first year of shows with declining sales, and then starting this year with the worst 2 shows yet, I then had my best show ever. Now this past weekend, I've continued this positive trend by having another great show. It almost squeezed its way past the Wyandotte show to become my new most profitable show, but one thing didn't pan out, so it will be my second best. Overview

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-69294287947737994902007-08-01T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-01T14:35:58.191-04:00

I just returned from a vacation a few days ago and realized I never posted my show review. Better late than never. After starting the year off with my worst 2 shows yet, I went into my next show in Wyandotte a bit concerned, yet hopeful and with a promising gut feeling. When it was all said and done, it was a long 4 days, but my best show yet. Setting Up When I went to setup Tuesday night, it

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-14944063126021479362007-07-15T08:30:00.000-04:002007-07-15T15:08:38.329-04:00

I just finished up a 4 day show, and it was a great success. I'll talk about my experiences there in a few days, but for now I want to talk about something thats fresh on my mind: marketing my work, and actually taking on the role of salesman. Over the last 8 shows (since my first show ever in June 2006) I've noticed how some changes to my selling style have impacted the results of my business.

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-56346898418342907002007-07-10T06:45:00.000-04:002007-07-11T22:27:56.973-04:00

Following up on my last post comparing Crescent and Bainbridge, this time I'd like to present a comparison of another pair of companies I dealt while choosing new materials for this years product line. In choosing frames, I looked at a number of options, but based on a number of factors (price, style, flexibility, etc) I narrowed my choice down to 2 frame suppliers: frameusa.com and

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-21540199314844025302007-07-02T06:45:00.000-04:002007-07-02T11:07:21.618-04:00

As I wrote about several weeks ago, one of the things I was trying to do was change some of my matting. In trying to evaluate the different matbaord options available and choose a color, my ideal plan was to obtain corner samples of the Crescent RagMat, Michael Graves, and Moorman Suede series. However, there in lies a problem. Crescent In looking around, very few places sell matboard corner

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-15122147659556917352007-06-29T21:45:00.000-04:002007-06-29T22:02:58.855-04:00

I had heard many great things about the this show, which was the entire reason I signed up. I had some high hopes, but in the end it was one of my worst shows sales wise, and once expenses were figured in, it was my biggest loss yet. I'm kind of at odds here. On the one hand, I can't say enough good stuff about this show. I thought it was incredibly well run. There was plenty of convenient

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-78303396208782117282007-06-28T06:45:00.000-04:002007-06-28T07:34:02.073-04:00

As I posted yesterday, the Livonia Art from the Heart show was a very good one for me in 2006...my best show of the year. However, 2007 was nothing at all like that. In fact, almost every single artist I talked to had the same opinion, including those that had returned from the previous year like me. On a per-capita basis, I think I actually did better than last time. However, attendance at the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-77650282307742582432007-06-27T06:45:00.000-04:002007-06-27T10:00:13.748-04:00

So far this year, I've done 2 shows, and I'm off to a very bad start. At both shows, after accounting for booth fees and travel expenses, I actually lost money. In fact, these 2 shows have continued a disturbing trend thats been going on since my very first show: each show has been less profitable than the last. My first show ever (last year's Livonia show) was a very good show for me, but the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-6005789383782411082007-06-06T13:00:00.000-04:002007-06-28T07:34:36.856-04:00

As I mentioned in my multi-part series on improving my presentation, I had been considering suede mats for my new, higher end prints. Well, I ended up buying some, and I've had a little bit of time to work with them, and I have a few thoughts to share. How I Chose Between Two Brands(and how I ended up with both) Originally, I was thinking about the Crescent Moorman suedes line. However, I was

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-9355319392517616632007-06-04T07:00:00.000-04:002007-06-04T10:30:02.631-04:00

So far in this series,I've talked about, bigger prints, better framing, and better matting. To wrap up this series, I'll address the last major area for this year's big round of improvements: better signs. Improving my signage isn't such a drastic overhaul, as some of my other changes were. It's more just a series of little details that come together to give a more professional appearance. The

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-48764298062941347892007-05-30T19:23:00.000-04:002007-06-04T08:24:50.438-04:00

In previous parts of this series, I talked about bigger prints, better framing, and choosing some nicer mats. Now I'll talk briefly about better techniques for cutting my mats Matting Technique Aside from just choosing new materials to work with, I thought it would be a good idea to examine options more more interesting matting techniques. So far, I've just done single or double layered mats

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-6803568046625664572007-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:002007-05-29T09:09:50.890-04:00

In previous parts of this series, I talked about bigger prints and better framing. The next logical item for improvement would be better matting. As far as better matting is concerned there are 2 ways to approach to topic: the matboard itself, and how the matboard is cut and presented. Better Matboard In choosing better matboard, there are 2 aspects to consider: better quality and better

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com