Moving On

Yesterday was my last outdoor show of the season. Rain had been forecast all week but Friday night and Saturday morning, the forecast changed to partly cloudy and cool. No rain within 40 miles.Great weather for an outdoor show. Full of joy and expectation, I headed to Beech Acres Park for the Anderson Affair of the Arts.With the word "Arts" in the name of the show, how could I miss? Well, as soon as I got the tent up the rain started. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. At least it seemed that long. We had a few dog walkers and die hard soccer players come through but really just a handful of people who had come for the show and most of them were relatives of other artists.The rain finally stopped about 1pm and the sun came out at 2. We closed at 4.I would be surprised if we drew more than 200 people all day. I sold enough to pay for my set up and gas but the trip to the concession stand probably put me in the hole for the day. Friends did not seem to fare much better.I'm not blaming the park board. It was a nice site. They were open when they said they would open. Set up was easy and parking fairly convenient.They had real restrooms that worked and smiles on their faces.It just boiled down to the fact that a small show in a cold rain is not going to draw a crowd.I shared this because we all have bad days. Part of being an artist is how we deal with things like this. We can worry that nobody loves us and crawl into a hole as we try to change directions or we can dust ourselves off, stand up straight and move on. Me? I'm packing up my donations for empty bowls, clearing out the old and making way for the new, and getting ready for Christmas sales.Thanks for listening.