Art Expo De Brief - A Winning Experience

Oh where to start? The Art Expo is done! All those months of painting and planning and organising and it's over...bang...just like that. It's incredible how fast 6 hours disappears when you are having fun. I've woken up this morning with a sense of relief, and of happiness and a great feeling of accomplishment...and a win. Yep! 'Girl's Best Friend' won the Animal Art Awards!!!!! Yeehah.

It was a total surprise...the quality of the artwork in the award was extremely high and all unique and stunning. Mine, if anything, was one of the few paintings depicting a domestic animal. Maybe this is what grabbed people's attention...the depiction of love between a child and her pet. Who knows? I am so thrilled. I must have talked to hundreds of people...family, friends and many, many, many visitors... all enjoying a day out in the stunning grounds of The University of Western Australia. Perth turned on the most glorious spring day...a bit breezy which caused a few problems for the marquees and stands set up outside but which helped all the inside exhibits to remain light and airy. My stand was double what I had planned on...a real bonus as I was able to hang ALL my work. Lucky I over packed the car...just in case! There were over 40 exhibitors and ALL amazingly talented artists that I felt honoured to be exhibiting with. Ceramics, photography, watercolour, abstract, portraiture...you name it, it was there. It always astounds me to see talent like this all in one venue. It's quite overwhelming. Sales at the show were a little slow...ahem...non existant in my case...but that's ok. It seemed to be the case across the expo. Let's face it, art is a luxury item and economic times are hard. People were looking, enjoying a sunday outing, eating delicious food and listening to music in the sunshine...and it was fantastic. I gave out hundreds of business cards and flyers, so who knows...I may get a little nibble yet. A few people asked about commissions so it's a case of wait and see. Talking to the other artists was a highlight of my day...we all go through the same sort of struggles and trials getting our artwork out into the world. It gives me hope... their encouragement to a fellow artist is astounding. I got asked to demonstrate for a large, established art society (The Alfred Cove Art Society).....Thank you....but NO, NO, NO thank you! I am not ready for that. But how thrilling to be asked....especially seeing the incredible work they had there. Wow. Two of my favourite artists help run the society!! I want to send a huge thank you to my friends and family that came to say hi. Your support was VERY much appreciated. I loved seeing familiar faces amid the crowds. Especially having a couple of old friends at this part...the award presentation! Thank goodness I had my big girl there to take a photo. The award was presented by the 'SaveFoundation'. A charity dedicated to the welfare of the African Rhino. A charity that is very deserving of the monies the Animal Art Awards and the Art Expo raised. The decimation of these incredible animals is horrific and with Rhino horn worth $60,000 per kilo, the foundation is battling uphill. 60,ooo!! More than gold...and all because of myth and fallacy. Look them up...www.savefoundation.org.au Last night, needless to say, I was shattered. I had nearly the whole family home for a BBQ in the garden. My Papa Bear flew in from the eastern states, Bubbles and Alley Cat (my pretend parents!) arrived from Kenya that morning and my big bro brought one of his daughters over from Dubai for a SURPRISE visit!! They arrived saturday night. (Dudie and I were the only ones to know and we managed to pull off a brilliant sneak into the house!) We drank beautiful French Champagne (Thank you Joyce and Maureen for this wonderful gift in honour of my first exhibition) and ate and laughed and celebrated. I had planned to paint today...my paintbrushes are getting dusty...but it didn't happen. Tomorrow...tomorrow I get back to normal. Thursday is the Exhibition opening and award presentation for the South Perth Emerging Art Prize...Life ticks on. Lets wait and see how 'Vintage Roses' does... I'll keep you posted! Mia x