Spent Thursday evening, Friday and Saturday (April 24th, 25th and 26th) as a vendor at the Gamble Garden Tour. As always, I love my time spent sitting amongst my product and selling my wares. This was a great venue. The Gamble Garden is located in Palo Alto. It’s a charming old home built in the arts and crafts style in 1902 by the Gamble (Proctor and Gamble) family, with surrounding gardens that are gorgeous to walk through. Today it is a non-profit horticultural garden set in Palo Alto. You can read about it here: http://www.gamblegarden.org/history/.
I wish I could post some of the pics I took of the lovely flowers gracing the front entrance and of my place in the dining room (shared with 3 other delightful woman selling product) but my lack of techy knowledge is playing a role here. I took pics on my iPhone and now have the cloud which is supposed to automatically upload onto my iPhoto. Problem is I can’t seem to get to them in iPhoto. Can’t figure anything out so this will have to be a post without pictures. Darn it! You can go to my Facebook page, however, and see the pics I posted there…some on peg conley and others at words and watercolors page.
What I love the most about doing events is the chance to chat with those who are buying my cards, boxed notes, paper, etc…One woman, named Pam, approached me with a stack of cards/envelopes in her hand. As I counted them and exclaimed “13! you win the prize for most cards purchased at one time”, she replied “I love these cards, you touched my soul as I was reading them. Each and every one of these cards is picked for a specific person”. She got teary eyed as she was telling me this which made me get a bit teary eyed as I thanked her for sharing. I said I guess I did the right thing by giving up my corporate sales world (truth be told I couldn’t find a job in 2009 when I moved to SF in Sales of commercial carpet or office furniture because of the economy) and started this. She said emphatically, “You did the right thing”.
This was my first time to get feedback for and sell my “wall art”. Something I’ve been wanting to do for awhile. (Again, wish I had the ability to post my pics…I will get this figured out!). It was fun to hear such positive comments and be able to actually sell my archival printed images. I have a variety of sizes, 4″, 5″ and 8″, offered in matts and/or just in glass clip frames. Will be taking these to my gift shows this summer and anxious to see how they’ll be received.
For now I must end as I’m on my way to do teach a watercolor class for a small group of women. Laurie Callaway, chair for the Gamble Garden Tour and one of my “new best friends”!, is taking a group of women to England in a few weeks to visit the gardens there. She has provided each one with a travel set of windsor newton paints and wanted to give them some basic instruction before they go which is what I get to do today. I love teaching watercolor workshops and thrilled that Laurie asked me to do this. It’s been a busy weekend but a delightful one!