Whilst in the middle of moving house, I am preparing for my first exposition. At the same time, @clareartista is preparing for what I believe to be the third expo of her (not so) slow fashion/clothing.
It's fair to say that our house is even more messy than per usual ( we are two creatives ) and it is hard to prioritize things, to say the least.
I digress...
I am pretty sure it was Clare who talked me into showcasing my (cat) drawings, after an unsuccessful attempt of hers to convince me, a couple of months ago.
At the end of May, she had her previous expo ( in a friend's art gallery, in town ). Back then, I had a chance to show my drawings or paintings but I didn''t feel up to it and only had old work to show ( mostly short films - I used to be a filmmaker ).
The few drawings I had of 'recent' projects where still stored at a friend's attic, back in Portugal.
Long story short, around 2 months ago, I started drawing (our) cats. I showed some of this work with you all on my blog. They were mostly silly, as I like to make people laugh.
And then, recently, Clare inflated my Ego enough for me to show (some of) my drawings to a live audience.
She told me how much she liked my drawings and not just out of kindness, because we are lovers. She is a woman who speaks the truth.
From the 4th to the 10th of August, there will be a big, yearly cultural festival going on here. It's called 'Vinalia' and involves a lot of wine drinking. More importantly, it tends to draw a serious crowd of thousands of people to this small city with approximately 5000 people.
Clare and I decided to be (back) here for the final weekend of this event and open up our bottom cantina that usually serves as the cat (feeding) room. It is only fitting that most of the drawings that I will be showing have been drawn down there, whilst feeding the cats.
During that last weekend of the Vinalia, or to be more precise, a couple of hours each evening, we will transform that space in an expositon room where Clare will show and possibly/hopefully sell her clothing ( of which she shared the process in her needlework Monday posts of the last two years ) and some of her paintings and I will exhibit my cat drawings.
It will be fun to do a show together, as this is the first time ever and we have very different though unique styles.
Now Clare has some experience with selling clothes. In fact, I have seen her sell 5 to 10 pieces in the last couple of months.
For me, on the other hand, selling drawings is a brand new experience.
I have been an independent (microbudget) filmmaker and made some money, albeit little, doing so. And - in more recent years - I have been focusing more on being a writer, self publishing my books.
I sold a bunch of copies of my books but all very low key, in small amounts.
Suffice to say that I don't have high expectations but I am looking forward to it. I am also aware of the fact that my work is pretty fun and that a lot of people like cats so who knows. I might actually sell a couple of pieces and otherwise they will look nice on the wall in our new house.
Enfin, It's now time to go back to our chaos of moving house. Although Clare and I will probably have a hot chocolate and wind down for the night with some brainless screen time.
We plan to drive back soon - possibly tomorrow - to our new property ( more on that in Clare and my most recent posts ). Not just to move a bunch more of our things there and work on making it more of a home/ feel more at home but also to ground ourselves in our amazing 1.1 hectare foresty garden.
We can't wait!
Stay tuned for more updates...