We had our inaugural home art show this past Sunday. Called "Light, Paint & Ink," it featured my photography, Tina's oils and watercolors and Ellen Shipley's monotypes and wood prints. It turned out pretty well. The weather cooperated and we had a nice day. The rain held off until we were all finished and everything was put away. This is the view down our driveway as we were nearly ready to start. As you can see I had a lot of rather large aircraft prints and one giclee. Our friend, Tom Hacker, is in the background helping us set up.
Tina had some rather large paintings as well. This is the view further down the driveway opposite the tent above.
This is the view from the tent. As it turned out I was asked to take detailed photos of a sculpture. Since it is a limited series, we decided to display it in case anyone was interested in purchasing a piece as the artist is a good friend.
The figure is a highly detailed rendering of an Imperial Japanese Navy pilot from World War II. Sculpted by Don Lynch, now living in Canada, it was commissioned by another friend, Gary Nila, who is an avid collector of Japanese World War II uniforms and accouterments. Gary has done a couple of monographs on the subject, which I had the honor of doing the contemporary photography. More on that in a later post.
We also had a table set up to display the Invenature Cookbook, of which Tina and I contributed, and flyers for Kindle books by another good friend, Mel Gilden.
The idea behind the show, besides trying to sell our art, was to provide a dry run for a potential art-in-the-park venture. The Pro-Panel walls were newly purchased by Tina for that future endeavor and this was the learning phase on how to set them up. The art looked quite good on the walls. Aida King and Mel Gilden are looking at art.
Another view of the panels, this time with my photography hung on the panels. Karen Hilb is checking out the layout. Karen was our cashier and was a tremendous help.
Another view. Mel is skillfully avoiding my camera. Tina is in the background.
We were blessed to have plenty of help. Gary Charpentier is to the right of Mel's shoulder. Tom is checking out the loose art bin. Some of my black and white photos are on the left wall.
Ellen took a different route. She already had a sun shade, so she and her husband Bill decided to fabricate her walls. It turned out pretty well. This view shows some of her Paleo-Mythos prints. They are quite good.
Some more views of her set up. As you can see we had lots of chairs set out so people could come and relax and chat.
More views of our panels. We were quite pleased with how the worked out. 
We set up the snacks in the Secret Garden. A funky red and white checkerboard tablecloth was used and the drinks were chilled in the ice chest. We also had some wine. Ellen, Laurie Perry, Tina and Karen provided cookies, cheeseballs and crackers, fruit and especially pumpkin bars (thanks Laurie!). We also had sandwiches, which made the rounds.
The back edge of the yard was lined with chairs. It was a very pleasant setting and people enjoyed being able to lounge about.
Steph Grush manned the snacks area and did a fabulous job!
Craig Kaston (right) and Chris Eisner share a conversation. Chris' husband, Steve, is behind Craig. Knowing them, they were discussing airplanes in general and the F-4 Phantom II in particular.
Lynn and Maryanne Jenson peruse the loose art bin. I had my smaller airplane photos in a couple of tubs on the other side.
Ellen holding down the fort at her tent while folks relax in the chairs. We were quite pleased to have Tina's dad, Bill, show up for the event. My cousin Bob Chang chats with Steph.
Fortunately, we did sell some art. Tom was particularly generous. He's getting his purchase from Karen and Roy King looks on.
More views of the art on our walls. As we started to sell pieces Tina went into a seller's frenzy and started filling empty spots with more of our art, some of which were hanging on our own walls! If somebody wanted to by one she was game. We could always replace the pieces with more of our art. But it was pretty funny anyway.
The sky grew overcast the later in the afternoon it became. Karen is now wearing her jacket. The rain started shortly after we closed down. It was a case of great timing. I don't know who Tina had to bribe to get the good weather for the show, but we lucked out.
Through it all our male cat Nicky (short for Nikolai) guarded the back door. He was a very good cat and did not try to go outdoors. I think he like being the king of Bubblewrap. He seemed to enjoy being snuggled up in it.All in all, we all did well. We all sold some art, and two cookbooks as well! We're looking forward to doing our first art-in-the-park sometime in the Spring, as well as doing another backyard show around this time next year. We had a great time! Hope you all can join us then.
