Artist Showcase

Hello friends!

A couple weeks ago I was in my first Artist Showcase! It was quite the adventure pulling everything together just to make a little bit of money, but overall I'd say it was a good experience. Not really for getting myself out there or anything, but definitely preparing myself for future events like that one.

With the help of friends and family, I managed to bring all of my framed and unframed artwork, 2 TV tables, a suitcase full of business cards, greeting cards, sketchbooks and other supplies to set up my booth like two lamps and lots of binder clips, a chair, divded amongst 4 people including myself all via METRO. That's right. We got there via public transportation and miraculously nothing was damaged! I had help with set up and and at the end my brother helped me break it down and take it all home. Unfortunately we missed the last train of the night to go to where we wanted to go, but we caught the other train going in the opposite direction and took an Uber from there all the way home.

Keeping track of inventory and pricing wasn't terribly difficult, just tedious. Talking to people at the event was difficult because the music and other performance was so loud you couldn't really hear yourself think! I managed to sell over the required amount of tickets I needed to sell which was great, but it was also a sign that I wasn't going to be really making any business connections at the event since all of the other artists are inviting their friends and family - I didn't expect to sell any framed work, but I did manage to sell some cards and some handbound journals! Overall, with the items I sold and the tickets I sold, I made a little over $100.

Currently I am in the mess of trying to buy a car and I just keep hitting obstacle after obstacle! I tried to get my MD driver's license this morning which involved me waking up early to take the train to take a bus to get to the MVA, waited in 3 different lines only to find out my mail with my address on them was not enough, neither was the first page of my lease or my pay stub since I don't work for the government - like, the heck? The problem here is that my bills do not come in my name - they come in my landlord's name, so I can't bring those, and all of my other bills are paperless. And just now when I called my bank to extend the limit on my debit card so I can pay the person I am buying the car from I learned the extended limit ALSO has a limit which is just a little ridiculous but I guess they want to make sure you have extra financial security. Being an adult is so incredibly difficult.

Anyway, I'll let you know how everything goes! Baby steps.