Doug Hoppes Studio Notes

Boston Christmas Festival

2011-11-07T16:47:00.000-08:00

This last weekend, I had a booth setup for the Boston Christmas Festival in Boston, Massachusetts. Although hopeful in the beginning, I soon realized that the show was not for me. Although I sold one large painting and made a number of print sales, the crowds did not seem to have any interest in viewing my paintings. The crowds were definitely present, but they were primarily buying jewelry, food, or small/inexpensive items. Most of the people were just walking by my booth and didn't even come in or look at any items in the print bin. After talking with several other 2D artists, this trend seemed to be pretty consistent among them.

For those who did stop within the booth, the standard comments of "This is Gorgeous!", etc were given out. Usual questions about commissions or purchasing over the website were also answered. It'll be interesting to see how many contact me after the show.

Some interesting things did happen at the show, though. First of all, I met an old friend of mine from college. I went to Boston University in the mid-80's for a couple of years (until I couldn't afford it any more). A friend from freshman year, Sam, showed up in my booth. He immediately recognized me and I had an inkling of who he was when we first met. Since it was quiet in my booth, we had a chance to catch up a little bit. That was a great surprise.

Quite a number of the artists mentioned that I should be doing the Paradise City Art Fairs or art fairs in general (rather than just craft shows). The clientele who goes to those shows are more inclined to purchase my paintings. I totally agree. The traditional craft show seems to be filling up more and more with buy-sell vendors and people who don't do their own products (just resellers).

Got a nice compliment from an artist who mentioned that he thought that I had one of the top 15 booths at the show (considering that there were around 400 booths), that made me feel pretty good. Even the show producer stopped by my booth one morning and complimented me on how gorgeous my paintings were and how well my booth looked. She loved the style of my paintings and the presentation.

Another vendor mentioned that I really should be focusing on galleries because my work would sell well and fast. She took my card and is planning on presenting it to some gallery owners that she knows.

My process for art fairs/craft shows

2011-10-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

When doing a craft fair/art show, I break the event into four basic areas: pre-show setup, show setup, the show, and post-show.

Now, I’ve gotten better at this (believe me… my wife knows how disorganized I was). For the pre-show setup, I like to make sure that all of my prints are done, all labels are created, all prices are attached, and I’ve made a decision about what artwork to bring. My prints are separated into two bins (which is in my booth). The top bin contains multiple copies of my most popular prints (in alphabetical order). The bottom bin contains multiple copies of my other prints (in alphabetical order). I also begin wrapping my paintings in bubble-wrap and place them in boxes for transport. Other things that I make sure that I bring to a show: scissors, clear tape (for wrapping up paintings in bubble-wrap), extra bubble wrap, my credit card machine, extra roll of credit card paper, price labels, receipt book, extra pens, address form for new contacts (also, small clipboards), business cards, table cloth to cover my bins, water, extra lightbulbs, granola bars, and … most important… altoids (nothing like having your customers avoid you because of bad breath!). Now that I’m more organized, I do this several days to weeks ahead of schedule. I used to do this the morning before and it led to some incredibly hectic mornings!

Now, I like to setup for a show the night before. That way, if I forget something, I can bring it the next morning. So, when setting up a show, I keep a couple of things in mind. First of all, I make sure that I have plenty of room in my booth that people can come in. My chair and flip bins are against the outside corners. I like having people inside of the booth so that they look around without people running into them or walking in front of them in the aisle. I also position my lights so that they are taller than a 6’ person and not shining in people’s eyes. The setup is pretty simple. Using my graphic display panels, I have black coverings that show of my work pretty nicely. I place the $75 paintings over the prints because people who are mostly interested in prints may consider a lower price original. I also place my brightest and best paintings in the center of my booth. That way they are seen from a distance and have that “Wow!” effect when people walk by. The point is to get them to stop walking and come into the booth. For extra prints, etc, I keep the bins in back of my booth so that I can access the extra bubble-wrap and other materials easily.

Now, I mentioned that my top bin has my most popular prints. The top bin also contains shopping bags for my customers and some bubble-wrap/scissors/tape for paintings. The point is that you need to get to the materials to make the sale, replace the item and get the customer out of your booth as quickly as you can. It’s like a restaurant: the more people that you can get in/out with product, the more products that you can sell.

When working a show, I have a prepared script that I always follow. I would suggest that everybody has one. Something not truly annoying because you will say this a thousand times. First of all, you NEED to talk to the customer. Don’t sit in your chair in the back. You won’t get customers or sales. Don’t ignore them. You pay money to do this! The point is to come home with more money than you spent to be in the show. So, when a customer comes into my booth, I show them a paper that has a drawing on it and explain that I create drawings out of my head. Once the drawings are done, I mix the drawing with plein-air work to create my original pieces. The paintings are gallery-wrapped, so that there is no need to purchase a frame. From there, I let them look and interact with them, if they are a talkative type of person. Don’t continuously talk to them. They need time to look at everything. If they stand in front of a painting for a while (about 10 seconds), go over and talk to them about the painting. Ask them what they like about it, etc. Start a conversation. The most important thing that you can do is to say “Hi” to a lot of people and smile. This will get a lot of them to stop and enter your booth. Never judge about who can or cannot buy your art. You never know.

One of the things that I do, which some people say don’t, is that I sit in a chair. I have bad knees and can’t really stand in the same spot the entire day. So, I use a director’s chair. This helps me be at eye-level for most people. For people significantly shorter than me, I talk to them from the chair. It makes me less imposing. For most people , when they enter the booth, I get up to talk to them.

Also, never pack up early. You see a lot of vendors start to do this. I’ve sold works at the end of the show when people are starting to pack up

Once a show is done, I always write up a report. This details what I like about a show, what worked, what didn’t, what pieces the people bought, what they ignored, how much money I made, show costs, etc. That way, the next time the show rolls around, I can determine if it’s worth it for me to sign up again.

Weekend at the Mall

2011-10-23T18:18:00.001-07:00

Well, this weekend, I tried my first kiosk at a local mall. Here's what my kiosk looked like.

Overall, it wasn't bad. I did better than I thought. I was able to cover my fee for the weekend and, if things go well, may have sold several paintings in addition. Still, I need to try it about five more times before I can tell if it's worth doing.

The traffic on Saturday afternoon was the busiest. This is where a lot of families were shopping with their kids. Those families were the ones that consistently stopped and bought prints. After 6:00 p.m., the viewing of the art slowed down considerably due to the mall mainly being filled with adolescents and high school kids.

Sunday, the walking traffic was not all that great. Several people mentioned that the mall was pretty slow and empty. Not sure why. May be, since it had finally stopped raining here, people were taking advantage of the nice day.

So, the next time that I am planning to try this will be in January. The sales warranted me to give it another try. November and December are already booked up due to the holiday season.

Latest Painting: Transformation

2011-10-20T11:32:00.001-07:00

"Transformation" is an original 9" x 12" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

CVU High School Fair: 2011

2011-10-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

For a one day show for me, this wasn't really that great. Don't know if it was the patrons or the product prices. However, only sold three prints, with the potential to sell more paintings later on (doubt it, though). The crowds were okay. At times, it was pretty busy and it was steady all day. However, watching the crowds, there weren't a lot of people carrying large items or any items at all. For those who had purchased stuff, it looked like the items were fairly small and inexpensive ($5 - $10 items). Seemed a lot of people were there for just looking around. Some of the other vendors that I talked to had a great show. However, they had a lot of smaller priced item.

Most people liked my paintings but felt that they couldn't afford them. More people, though, went directly to the print bin, after reviewing the paintings. I started collecting names for my contact list to send out coupons and notices to the various people who filled out the sign-up form. That worked out well.

According to Melissa, my sales pitch seems to be fine (need to not put my hand in front of my mouth when talking to some people). Also, a lot of people really liked the discussion of the drawing with the print. May have to work that into my display. Also, the display needs to have a visible sign with my name on it. Most people asked for my name. Need to change that up.

The setup went extremely well. Melissa helped with setting up and breaking down of the display. Reduced the time of setup from 2-1/2 hours to 1-1/2 hour and breakdown time went from 1-1/2 hours to under an hour. Plus, the new boxes for transporting the paintings worked out very well. The two boxes were able to fit all of the paintings that are to be on display easily in the truck.As usual, the load-in/break-down was very helpful. Some high school students helped bringing in the supplies and taking out the supplies. It was also helpful that one of the high school students went around to the vendors and took orders to bring them food.

Some of the things that I will need to do for the next show:

1) Create a banner sign with my name on it. Something fairly visible with my website.

2) Create a matted pen/ink drawing for each of my paintings. For a purchase of the painting, you get the pen/ink concept drawing.

3) Possibly work up a little booklet that shows how I go from a pen/ink drawing to a finished painting. Something that people can take with them. Something inexpensive. Need to figure that one out.

Overall, it's a good show for a more "crafty" type vendor, but not for 2D artists.

Latest Painting: Transition

2011-10-03T08:53:00.000-07:00

"Transition" is an original 9" x 12" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Figure Drawing Session: 9/26/2011

2011-09-26T19:37:00.001-07:00

More studies. Worked on foreshortening and back studies, tonight.

Latest Painting: Cliffs

2011-09-26T09:33:00.001-07:00

"Cliffs" is an original 9" x 12" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Nude Study: 15

2011-09-25T19:39:00.001-07:00

Starting to practice from memory. The initial drawing was done several weeks ago at my figure drawing session. I'm trying to see how well my values worked and if I can translate them to deeper pen/ink strokes without having to resort to a photo or any other reference.

Latest Painting: Everywhere at Once

2011-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Everywhere at Once" is an original 14" x 18" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Nude Study: 14

2011-09-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Wanted to play with a bit of foreshortening tonight. For foreshortening, it is imperative that, in addition to getting the shape correct, the values of the shadows layers need to be correct. If the shadow areas are off, then the perception of the body part coming towards you/away from you is incorrect.

Nude Study: 10

2011-09-18T19:39:00.001-07:00

Another Nude Study.

Nude Study: 9

2011-09-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

Another study of the female form. I love the female form and drawing with pen/ink. With pen/ink, there's such a nice range of values that can be achieved.

Figure Drawing Session: 9/12/2011

2011-09-12T18:19:00.001-07:00

Tonight was the first night for the current figure drawing session. During the summer time (mainly August), the figure drawing session at the Burlington City Arts is discontinued until more people are around. So, tonight was the first night.

Now that I'm more into drawing people, it's also time for me to get back to live figure drawing. These are my attempts for the night. For the most part, they are all 20 minute poses.

Art Hop

2011-09-10T12:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the 19th year for the SEABA Art Hop. The Art Hop is a large festival where a lot of local artist show their work along Pine Street in South Burlington, Vermont. Friday night is usually the big night with a lot of music, artists, etc. The crowds are generally pretty good.

So, last night, I had my paintings hanging in the hallway of the Maltex building (on the second floor). I made sure that I was there between 5:00 - 8:00 (pm).. later, if there were going to be a lot of people to talk to. I also brought some mailing address cards to see if I could start to collect contact information for mailings.

Now, for the most part, the Art Hop is more about exposure than sales. There are rarely any sales at this festival. It's a great way to get new artists to show their work and to make contacts. So, I wasn't expecting any sales for this weekend.

However, around 8:00, I was noticing that there wasn't a lot of people that were showing up on my floor. Matter of fact, I probably talked to about 40 or 50 people for the entire time that I was there. Some of the people mentioned that the first floor was jam-packed with people. So, naturally, I thought, they'll be coming upstairs. They didn't. When I decided to leave around 8:30, the outside street was JAMMED with people. Lots of places you could barely walk. The building that I was in was almost devoid of people. The buildings across the street had a ton of people.

So, that means that, if I'm going to do this again, next year, I need to get my work into one of the business buildings rather than the Maltex. 'Course, I need to think about this over the next year. Exposure doesn't equate sales. It only equate sales in places where people are planning to spend money.

Nude Study: 8

2011-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

Decided to start adding more cloth to the drawings. I think that they tend to lend more interest.

Latest Painting: Parallels

2011-09-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

"Parallels" is an original 9" x 12" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Male Study: 1

2011-09-04T18:17:00.001-07:00

Starting to incorporate male figures in the study. Need to check out the muscle structure.

Customers Remember the day of their purchase

2011-09-04T13:19:00.000-07:00

As I'm trying to figure out ways to market my work and increase my sales, I came across a set of books written by Jack White. He has a number of books about the "Magic of Selling Art", etc. In reality, there's is no magic, but he has a lot of good common sense suggestions about various ways to market your artwork, present it, close sales, etc.

So, reading one of the books, he started talking about the "Day of Remembrance" for people purchasing your artwork. I was thinking in my head... "yeah... right... it's just a product". However, more I read and the more I thought about it. He's right. I may be selling a painting, but whomever purchases it, will remember the day that they purchase it. I remember the days that I purchased each one of the paintings in my house. Couldn't tell you about the day that I bought groceries or my tv, etc. But, I do remember the day for each one of my painting purchases.

I remember one special instance around Christmas time. This was when I first started mixing landscapes with abstract shapes and doing everything in oil. I remember that, at a local Christmas art fair, one of the vendors' wife came by and saw my work early on. As with everybody I meet at shows, I make sure that I talk to them (Need to do a better job of listening, but working on that part) and be my friendly, charming self. Later that day, her husband came by and said that his wife saw my paintings and that he should take a look. We talked for a bit and he picks out two paintings. His wife comes back later and then, sighs, when she has realized that he picked out my two most expensive paintings. However, it was his Christmas gift and I thanked them as I wrapped them up. So far, typical sales story.

The Day of Rememberance bit comes later. She saw me at this same show the following year. Asked me how I was doing and had to mention that her husband still loves the paintings. Whenever anybody new comes to the house, he talks about how he met the artist, how the artist works from his pen/ink sketches to come up with the concept, and then takes plein-air paintings or photos to compose the painting. He talks about how I showed him my sketchbook to see how it all started, etc.

I realized, that for me, it's my typical way of doing work, but it's incredibly fascinating to people who don't think my way. I also realized that my talking about how I do things is kind of like a "show" for them and they get to relate that story to anybody who questions them about the painting.

For me, it was when I first started mixing landscapes with abstract shapes and doing everything in oil. I remember that, at a local Christmas art fair, one of the vendors' wife came by and saw my work early one. As with everybody I meet at shows, I make sure that I talk to them (Need to do a better job of listening, but working on that part) and be my friendly, charming self. Later that day, her husband came by and said that his wife saw my paintings and that he should take a look. We talk for a bit and he picks out two paintings. His wife comes back later and then, sighs, when she has realized that he picked out my two most expensive paintings. However, it was his Christmas gift and I thanked them as I wrapped them up. So far, typical sales story.

The Day of Rememberance bit comes later. She saw me at this same show the following year. Asked me how I was doing and had to mention that her husband still loves the paintings. Whenever anybody new comes to the house, he talks about how he met the artist, how the artist works from his pen/ink sketches to come up with the concept, and then takes plein-air paintings or photos to compose the painting. He talks about how I showed him my sketchbook to see how it all started, etc.

I realized, that for me, it's my typical way of doing work, but it's incredibly fascinating to people who don't think my way. I also realized that my talking about how I do things is kind of like a "show" for them and they get to relate that story to anybody who questions them about the painting.

Now that I know this, I can see of ways of working it into my sales procedure to make sure that the customer remembers when they purchase the painting. This may, then, lead to repeat sales and another addition to my customer base.

Nude Study: 1

2011-09-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Another nude study. While I'm waiting for my print supplies to come in the mail, might as well get some more drawing/painting work done.

Nude Study

2011-08-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hey! Guess what I drew again tonight! Yeppers! Another nude study. These are getting to be quite fun!

I'm also working on not texturing the body so much. See if I can go for more subtle shading for the women. Gives them a softer touch.

Woman with sword

2011-08-28T17:35:00.001-07:00

Well, lately I've been busy making new prints for shows coming up this fall and reading about ideas for self-promotion (Courtesy of a book by Jack White called "Mastery of Self-Promotion"). However, since I ran out of printing ink (have more coming in the mail), time to get back into some drawing/painting practice and hold off on some of the business tasks (at least for a couple of days).

So, back to drawing women again in pen/ink. Here's tonight's incarnation. As before, had to do this a second time. After taking a bit of a break for dinner, I went back and looked at the first drawing... the proportions were wrong, etc. So, had to take another crack at it. Like this one much better.

Latest Painting: Cycles

2011-08-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

"Cycles" is an original 16" x 20" oil painting created on a 1" stretched, high-quality canvas. The painting is presented as unframed (Sides are painted).

All Artwork is copyrighted to Doug Hoppes Studio and is not to be copied or reproduced in any form without the permission of the artist. Sale of this item does not transfer its copyright.

Amazon

2011-08-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

Busy day today. Dropped off some paintings for the Essex Junction Fairgrounds, dropped off some paintings for the South East Burlington Art Association's Art Hop, finished the current painting that I was working on... and, finally, finished the nude drawing that I started working on last night.

Don't settle if there are issues

2011-08-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Working with another nude drawing, I decided that I needed to do this drawing twice.

The first time that I did this drawing, I wasn't near as careful with the proportions as I should have been. In the end, the head was too small, the torso too long and the legs were awkward. Now, I could have left it the way that it is and I'm sure that some people would have said that it looked nice. However, after I reviewed the drawing (after taking a break to work on my latest paining), I realized that I couldn't just leave it that way. Therefore, I did the second drawing paying a lot more attention to the angles, lengths, etc. That one turned out much better.

For me, although I love the art that I produce at the end, I gain the most enjoyment from the process itself. When drawing, if the drawing is not right, I just have to continue to work to get it right.