I had my first official art show on Saturday! It went so so well. I’m amazed by it. To be honest, I’m still exhausted!
The Santa Ana Art Walk is an event that takes place the first Saturday of every month in Downtown Santa Ana, and all kinds of artists come to show their work. Orange County Creatives owns two galleries and they fill them with about 25 artists from 6-10 pm. It’s great exposure for your work.
I spent about 3 weeks doing nothing but preparing my inventory and display for my table at the Santa Ana Art Walk. I ran around searching for and buying props for my table that would be cohesive with my aesthetic and vibe that I put into my art. I wanted my display to be a reflection of my shop. (This was incredibly fun. I never realized just how much I love to decorate and put together themes. I knew I liked it, but this was a whole new level of falling in love)! I spent so many late nights trimming prints, stamping and labeling them, matting them, packaging them, painting canvases, preparing a hard copy of my portfolio, and figuring out all the finance and logistics behind how it would all work.
Here’s what my table looked like (ignore the fan, it was like 90 degrees):
But it all paid off! So many of my friends and family friends showed up to support me; I was overwhelmed by the kindness of them all! Most of them bought some of my prints, and they were all so excited for this creative pursuit! It felt amazing to be able to show, in person, everything that I’ve been creating and building for the past 1.5 years. It felt like all of my imagining had manifested in front of my eyes. It was pretty surreal. I felt totally in my element though. I kind of wasn’t even nervous because it felt so natural to me.
I still have a long way to go with the growth of my business, but this first art show was a huge step forward. It renewed a lot of my confidence that I can do this. I doubt myself a lot because I’m so new to this, and this was really reassuring because I pulled it all together, by myself. I created all this. I still can’t believe that. I’m just so happy with all of it. Now I’m off to dream up my next steps and new art pieces. I feel like the possibilities are endless.
A huge thank you to Maggie of Orange County Creatives for finding me on Etsy and inviting me to participate in the Santa Ana Art Walk in the first place. Thank you to my family for helping me set up and carry all my stuff to & from the show and inviting literally everyone they knew to come support me. Thank you to all the people who came: Chris, Liz & Alex, Hayley & her parents, Nicole & Tyler, Jared, Alexis & Victor, Lara & Zack & Lara’s parents, Victoria & Brian, Jim & his wife, Deb & her brother, LaVie, Runora, Susan & Lucy, and Sally/Brent/Andrew & Lauren.
Here are some photos from the night:
Thanks for a great night :)
xo, Michelle
