Friday Night Twilight at Father's Office in Culver City
We had a great time in Los Angeles over the weekend. Superb. We left Friday morning at 8:30 am, and arrived in Downtown LA at 2:30. We unloaded our Subaru into the freight elevator, set up on the 13th floor of the California Market Center, and around 6:00 pm headed out to check into our hotel, the Westin Bonoventure ($90 Hotwire steal!). Around 7 we headed over to Culver City to have a couple well-deserved beers with our friends John and Jill, at a great place called Father's Office. Beers led to dinner, and yes, we agree, the burgers at Father's office are simply awesome. So is the beet salad. And the sweet potato fries. Full of road trip, set-up, good friends and dinner, we were sleeping like stones by 10:30.
Saturday Morning - Open for Business
We woke up Saturday at 8:00 am, and were at the show by 9:30 for the final stages of set-up. I had some time to check out some of the other vendors, and I was thrilled to have some time to talk to Paul and Valerie from
Tugboat Printshop. I think their work is INCREDIBLE, and we spend a good amount of time talking about making a living as printmakers. Great people, great work. They will be in San Francisco this weekend for the Renegade event here - if you are around you HAVE to check them out.
The show was open until 7:00, and we had a great turnout. Plenty of sales, lots of new contacts, and a lot of people surprisingly saying they have heard of us! Events like this are so cool, because the majority of our sales are done online. Having the chance to meet the peeps in person is what it is all about. Good times.
When the clock struck 7:00, we headed to Little Tokyo downtown, and there we met up with some friends for a Japanese street festival. Two dollar beers. Five dollar teriyaki. 'Nuff said.
We headed back to the hotel and hung out for a bit at the lounge on the top floor, admiring the LA skyline and all the activity on the streets below. I'm telling you folks, downtown LA is a revelation. While tempted to find a second wind, we decided to go to bed as Sunday was another long day.
Old Phonebooths and a Handsome Gentlemen - Breakfast at Philippe's
Sunday morning we rose around 9:00 am, and did a quick Google search for the best downtown breakfast spot, and we were guided to
Philippe's. We were not mislead. Annie fueled up with some french toast, while I oddly went for the french dip sandwich. And a side of pickled beets. It was a great venue for people watching, as the place was full of locals who have been going there for decades. And they had refills of coffee for 10 cents, which I think is even better than free - more charming anyway.
The Lovely Annie Galvin
Hey, I'm in LA
After breakfast we headed to the show, and Sunday was even better than Saturday. We were thrilled with the reaction from the LA crowd. Lots of San Francisco lovers down there. Lots of interesting people came through, often very beautiful (did you know short shorts were back?) and we even had a guy from the LA Times come by to take some photos and proclaim he would like to write a story on us. Lets hope that happens!
Orange hair, orange blouse, and a new orange print!
Top sellers for the weekend were Annie's bears, my robots, my new chair prints, and happily my Circus Liquor print, which I did just for the LA Market:
We had two retailers come up and buy a bunch of work for their stores. We had several galleries show interest in showing our work. We had about 50 people sign up for our mailing list. The show rocked. And we get to do it all over again this weekend as the show moves up to San Francisco.
These are happy, full, exciting days for me. I'm finding immense satisfaction in this journey of making and selling art. I feel incredibly fortunate that I have a partner like Annie who is taking the trip with me. And I am curious to see where all of this goes.
Recent Comments