Last newsletter, I promised a post mortem from my November open studio, which at the time was two weeks away. I was very happy with the results – both the opportunity to connect with collectors, friends and neighbours, and the 15 red dots at the end. So here are the things I’ll remember for next time – things that worked well, and others we’ve learned from:

One of our best moves was providing a range of smaller and larger items for sale, giving more people a chance to buy. Because the show was before Christmas, guests snapped up the smaller items as gifts for friends and family. In addition to paintings, I had prints and laminated plaques available. The latter were an experiment – and a successful one!

We went for an eight-hour event – a preview for collectors, models, decorators and home stylists from 11 to 1, and then the open studio from 1 to 7. For us, that was a bit too long; 5 p.m. might have been a better end time.

We thought we were keeping the food simple – one sweet and one savoury snack for the open house, plus white wine, juice, coffee, cheese, crackers and oranges. But then we decided to offer croissants and mimosas at the preview, before switching to the easier snacks. That was wa-a-a-ay too complicated!

Deb’s friend Nancy volunteered to help with setup, and provided her expert help in the kitchen during the preview. With Nancy there, the food flowed smoothly; after she had to leave, not so much. Deb found herself trying to greet guests, heat food, refill platters and hand some of the sales – all at the same time. Other friends kindly pitched in, though, which was a huge help. Thank you, all!

Note to Deb: 600 shortbread cookies in various flavours, plus 20 dozen chateau de la tour gougeres, were a tad over the top. In fact, we still have some of the latter in the freezer, and our grandson’s school, and our son and daughter-in-law’s office, enjoyed much of the leftover shortbread.

A detailed list of paintings for sale (below) was a huge success. It ended up being four pages long, with thumbnails of each piece, its size and name, along with some interesting tidbits about how the painting came to be, or how it was named, or what I liked best about the work. I also had a handout with descriptions of my upcoming classes, and potential students took that home, too.

One oopsy: I was in a hurry to send out my e-vites, and skipped the vital step of doing a test email. The file size was too large for some computers, and I had to resend, apologizing profusely.

We visited IKEA and bought inexpensive side plates, wine glasses and mugs. They paid for themselves, compared with renting or buying disposables, and nothing ended up in the landfill afterwards.

At the last minute, I had a brainwave about posting a page devoted to the show on my website. There was no time to do it, though, so that’s something I’ll keep in mind next year.

We spent a lot of time deciding what to hang where to create flow and attractive groupings. One artist friend commented he thought we’d done a better job of curating the show than many art galleries do – a wonderful pat on the back.

We knew from our check list that it was important to clear away as much clutter as possible. What the list didn’t mention was that we’d spend the next few weeks trying to find some of the things we’d stashed. In fact, we didn’t find one of our grandson’s Christmas gifts until Boxing Day, and we’re still looking for some of our paperwork!

Artists often experience an emotional crash after a show, even when it was successful – something to do with the spike in dopamine, I gather. Rather than be a sitting duck for depression, I had my next step planned, which was to approach galleries in Vancouver for representation there. So in early December, I visited three galleries on Lower Granville. I am now delighted to be represented by the Kurbatoff Art Gallery, 2435 Granville Str., www.kurbatoffgallery.com.

So all in all, we enjoyed the work of preparing for the show, had fun during the event, and were more than pleased with the results. And if you want me to email you our two-month countdown checklist or Deborah’s recipes, just let me know!

Best regards 

Nicholas Pearce 

Laminated plaques

Original painting

“Last Class”

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