New Rainbow Pillow – Setting Up in the Rain

Getting ready for the Annapolis Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend–Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9 with a new Rainbow Pillow. Isn’t that a great way to brighten up the sofa?! The show runs from 10-6 Saturday and 10-5 Sunday in Annapolis, MD and I’m in Booth D-3.

Well, it had to happen sometime. Today was my first experience setting up a tent and booth in the rain–courtesy of Tropical Storm Andrea! Fortunately I got to Annapolis early, so went directly to the site at the Navy – Marine Corps Memorial Stadium at 8:30 this morning to get started setting up. I’d looked at the hourly weather forecast and it seemed that the morning would be the better half of the day, weather-wise, and I was glad I did. Just a gentle rain this morning

turned into a deluge by noon! I decided to just set up the tent and panels today and go over early tomorrow morning to set up my walls, when hopefully the rain will have stopped. The thought of accidentally dropping a piece of work into the mud today doesn’t sound appealing.

Doesn’t look like much so far, but actually once I got the sides on the tent and took the panels in to set up, it wasn’t too bad. Kind of cozy in the tent with the rain falling all around. This is the third time I’ve used my new panels and each time it’s a little easier, but it still takes longer to set up than the old screens. Thankfully for this show you’re allowed to drive right up to your space and I didn’t have to worry about using a dolly in the rain.

I had everything up in about 3 hours, then had to make a trip to Home Depot to get some additional rachet straps for the tent weights and a couple of other things. One thing about being an artist doing shows, you have to be sort of a jack of all trades–creating the art is just part of the equation! Figuring out how to fit everything into the car, getting it into the car and then out again in the right order at your space, tools you’ll need to set everything up, how to attach weights so the tent stays where it’s supposed to–the list goes on and on. I really need to make a master list of everything I might need so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. Today, I definitely could have used some towels! Put that on the list.

With the rain, I had the sides down on the tent and couldn’t get a good shot of the panels, but this entry from the Northern Virginia Fine Arts Festival last month gives you an idea of what they look like. I’ll post another shot tomorrow after I get everything on the walls, hopefully without the rain.

Just so I don’t leave you with a muddy shot, here’s an image from the creation of the Rainbow Pillow and others that I’ll have on display at the show.

I have a basket on my cutting table where I toss bits and pieces of fabric left over from my projects that aren’t big enough to put back in the containers where I keep my yardage. When I’m ready to create a new piece, I dump the contents of the basket on the floor and pull out the colors and shapes I think I want to use, then audition them next to each other until I have the look I’m after.   It’s very intuitive and lots of fun!