We've a new venture: The Club Comanche has invited us to display our artwork in their hotel and use their facility to encourage art and tourism in Christiansted! This developed very quickly: Alma and Marilyn had met with the owner on Thursday morning, a little after lunchtime Alma called to tell me of this exciting new opportunity for our members, and afterwards I emailed everyone to tell them about it. On Friday we discussed it a little more with our group. Friday night was First Friday in Christiansted and our first chance to test the waters. Only Alma, Carolyn and I were available so when we arrived at the Comanche we quickly set out some of our paintings for a spontaneous show upstairs on the second floor of the hotel. Alma gave a quick tour of the facilities available to our group and we couldn't contain our excitement! We discussed all the possibilities of participating in First Fridays, Jump Ups, cruise ship days and other events. What a boon for the Palletteers! What a great way to meet the public and let them know who we are, how much we love our island, and promote local art and our artists! Maybe we would also be instrumental in helping to revive Christiansted again! There weren't a lot of people out Friday evening, so it was slow, but the Blues band across the bridge at the restaurant entertained us while Rudi, Alma's husband, helped us cajole those who did walk by to come in and view our artwork. We made our first (and only) sale to a cute honeymoon couple who wanted a special remembrance, met a few other really nice people, and enjoyed the novelty of the experience. During the evening we found out that a cruise ship was coming to St. Croix Saturday morning. After Rudi escorted us to our cars and I drove back home, I sent out another email to alert everyone of this newest information. Saturday morning around 10AM I dragged my tired old self back to the Club Comanche to join Alma, Elizabeth, Carolyn, Carol, and later Marilyn in doing some plein air painting on the property and letting the passersby know of our art show. It was such a beautiful day that not too many of them wanted to go upstairs. In the Easter spirit, Elizabeth gave away some paintings of Easter flowers she'd done while sitting out on the sidewalk. Her generation of good will was successful because the recipients had huge smiles on their faces as they walked down the street with her paintings clutched in their hands! Upstairs, Alma had been talking to one of the ladies who'd come in and once the lady heard Alma's first name, she immediately supplied Alma's last name and exclaimed that she'd seen her artwork at the garden show and that Alma was one of her favorite artists!! Kudos are almost as good as a sale, eh? Monday is another cruise ship day.. and I think there's another one in on Tuesday!!! We've set a few paramenters for our group: commissions will be on the honor system, the exhibitor must be on the property and is responsible for her own artwork, Alma will be our representative to the owners, & only original paintings will be in our exhibit. We're still playing with what works for us as a group and as individuals, and what we actually want to and can do .. but thus far, we're really happy to be part of this new endeavor and we love the Comanche! The pictures show the entry to the upstairs level, the instant sign I made, the amazing room available for our exhibit & how we set it up Friday night, Marilyn doing a portrait for a couple who'd passed by on Saturday, and some of the other areas available to us.
Ginger
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