oh. i have shed light on current events, but forgot to bring any closure to past ones! my most waxless apologies!
BFAF outcome: enlightening.
i didnt sell a thing. there wasnt a lot of people coming through, so no one really did well (except those who had kid-friendly and/or cheap items). confirmed to me though that i dont really want to price my work high even though my friends and family think i should be able to. but honestly, i like the idea that normal people should be able to have those things that speak to them - isnt that why i do this? i only want to find something that causes you to stop and be moved in some way. how dare i keep you from taking hold of that moment in your daily life? i should just give it to you!
anywho.
i learned how not to set up that 10x10 space, two different ways not to. so next time (if there is one), i will try something a third way! i tried to have art on two sides of my partitions, nope. that just creates awkward narrow places that no one wants to walk into. i'm going to just have it open, w/ the art on the three outer walls, and i will stand in the middle w/ my easel and paint, care to watch? that way we both get to have a little fun! maybe for a dollar i'll paint your face. 50 cents? ok, ok, a quarter. you drive a hard bargain! how 'bout this, quarter/ side of face. so a whole face is 50 cents. ...fine, i can see you dont care...i'll move on.
the artists around me were great, lady to my right was one of the organizers, to my right was a woman about my own age, and across from me another lady who both of them were veteran 10x10 booth sellers. we got to chat quite a bit since there weren't gobs of people begging us to take their money. i really liked one of the pieces across from me, giant leaves and drippy paint lines in fantastic blues and greens. gorgeous!

another event that's come and gone was my meet-up group's little expo. i didnt realize how much work we had created over our short time of meeting! i had a blast organizing them into groupings. once everything was up on the walls and in the hallway it looked nearly professional. nearly. the others brought food and set up the tables with fall colored cloths. that drab room may never look so good again! the plan is to do it annually...we'll see if i'm around for the next one this fall.

why? well, because i'm thinking about moving. i have already pictured myself loading up my car - then pausing to consider if any clothes will fit too. it's not set in stone yet, but i sure look forward to the extreme change it boasts! who knows, i might get to experience seasons - all four of them - in order no less! when you grow up in a place where half of the trees drop their leaves in the spring, and a frost can come right after some late blossoms have opened, knowing the correct order is a strange experience to consider.

children's faces can quickly look like old men.

i'm aiming to be an illustrator! a dear friend has asked me to create the drawings for her children's book (though the twist at the end makes it more for the adults in their lives). it's going to be a great challenge, i'm rather excited about it. it requires learning how to draw children's proportions, which i've never done...and figuring out how to draw some things that no one knows what they look like... kid's faces are hard, the subtle expressions are very picky! you look at your reference, that faces is smiling - you look at what you've drawn, and wonder why they look like they're about to cry. fine lines everywhere, you're bound to cross one if not all of them!
i hope she doesnt mind it will take me a while. quite some time has gone by since i really pushed my artistic boundaries! i need that kind of thing, we all do. it's one thing to try something i've never done out of my own curiosity, but another entirely different to try it for someone else - what if i visualize and produce something that isnt at all like what is in her head? i know how i feel when the few things i have a final vision for dont turn out right. it means i start over, or at least start nearly over, and try again. or it means it sits there for a while, perhaps even a long while, till i feel motivated to try again. may God grant me inspiration! that's when the outcomes are always best. that's when i look back at a piece and think, "hey that's actually good!"