DOMO in May
May has always been a month of renewal, and this year, it brought me an unexpected surge of creative energy. I hadn't done an event in a while, my sister and I went to an event in Downtown Modesto (AKA DOMO) it's the first Friday night of the month. I WAS EXCITED. I vexed and planned my table- overthought it several times and when I got there -
IT WAS ALL WRONG.
As an outside event, you do not want to have something tall - because wind. Blew my now flying llamas & cow prints to the next booth - so embarrassing. They were rescued, my signage kept blowing - omg, I just wanted to fall into a manhole and forget my art existed. At least I did have my stickers firmly in place.
I took a break and looked at other booths, tables and saw what everyone else had set up. I didn't want to repeat the same mistake the next event I went to - I had an epiphany.
While my pencil work is stellar, I felt I could do more for my customer. I watched all these other wonderful artists had major splashes of color with bright beautiful stickers, prints, etc. While noticing this, I realized that there wasn't really any live art. No face painters (maybe I missed them), caricaturists - something that's engaging with the customer in a specific way.
The crash of color in my brain (I also paint in watercolor) my booth disaster and my relative confidence in my skills I found my mind swirling. I am reasonably delusional in my art self and comfortable talking to people - live art.
I ran back and told my sister. Live art - they get to take a little colorful art piece of themselves home at a reasonable price. Pencil portraits take time and are a financial commitment (as well as time for me) - if my customer isn't ready to order that yet - this seemed the perfect solution. Dip your toe into my artwork, so to speak.
Next question: How do I show up as an artist in that kind of space?
After some research and some practice, I found a method I liked and can paint at a reasonable clip in a live environment. If you follow me on Tiktok @melissastagi, you can join my lives (7pm, Mon/Tues/Wed) and see the process.
I do my first live event this Friday in my hometown - wish me luck!
I've also added it to my shop, if you'd like to take a peek.
Have a great day!!!
Melissa