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My Sea & Sky Exhibit

Sometimes life gives you lemons. Or a pandemic. Such was the case with my Sea & Sky exhibit. On March 16, 2020, just a few days after my opening reception, the commercial district in Seaside, Florida, including Anne Hunter Galleries, began closing to help slow the initial spread of the Novel Coronavirus COVID-19. My sisters and brothers-in-law had come out from Colorado to have a beach vacation at the same time as my exhibit opening, and their being here during this confusion gave me some sense of continuity and stability. But within a few days, like so many of you, I felt like my world was tipped upside-down. All of my marketing plans for the last year and for the next couple of years were tied to this, my first exhibit of larger works. I had scheduled six Monday demos for the public and seven Thursday night Meet-the-Artist receptions to which I had intended to invite real estate agents, designers, realtors, and architects from my fast-growing community.

My talented niece, Briar Rose Consulting, my website and marketing consultant, quickly created a Virtual Exhibit on my website and I promoted it through social media and by resending cards and postcards to everyone I had initially sent announcements to. In May I moved the entire collection to Krista Vind’s Artists Warehouse on Hwy 393 in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where it can be seen by appointment — call me at (850)259-8394 to view it; or use my contact form. Visit my Sea & Sky Virtual Exhibit page for a preview. That page also contains “Room Views” to help you visualize each piece in a home or business setting, and each piece has a purchase link. Below are a few images from the exhibit page, https://joanvienot.com/sea-and-sky-virtual-gallery-exhibit.

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Community Awareness and Art Marketing for Plein Air Painting

This fall I am investing my time in cultivating my community’s appreciation for plein air painting, as well as promoting my own work. Many people in my community have never heard of plein air painting, so that is taking extra effort. My local arts association, the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, is very supportive. The CAA will be adding a plein air paint-out to our existing Flutterby Festival at Watersound Origins here in Santa Rosa beach, FL, in November. I will be teaching a one-day workshop the day before the festival, the lesson being effective shape-making to start a plein air painting in a way that will offer a high likelihood of success.

Art marketers say that 20% of your time as an artist should be spent on marketing. I am spending more than 20%  of my art energy right now, but I expect it to level off. I actually had intended for last year, my third year of plein air painting, to be my marketing year. The transition and adjustment after selling my pool service business took more time than I had anticipated.

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