While a little off the beaten track, several visitors nonetheless managed to find my Open Studio and offer fresh insight into my work. Feedback ranged from the format and type of artwork that would be best to focus on, to which events and art societies I might participate in – a lot of thoughts to digest!

Belying my office-job roots, to help me sort out all the feedback I have resorted to that most mediocre of organisational tools, the homemade Powerpoint presentation – NB mediocrity was introduced by the creator, not the software:

Notably, little feedback was given on pricing, although I asked; people are unsurprisingly shy about this (it’s always a little awkward telling the artist to their face that their work is overpriced…)

Although several visitors were people I knew, some were completely new to me and making the rounds of many Open Studios, and one turned out to be a local artist only a few minutes’ walk from my house. Most heartening of all, a couple of commissions have come my way as a result.

I hope to take part next year as well, although I’m undecided about whether to opt for a more centrally-located group, or to try and enlist a few more local artists to create more of a draw to visitors in this area.

I might not bake quite so much next time though; only a few people availed themselves of the edible goods, so I had to demolish three tins of homemade shortbread, two tins of flapjacks and three loaves of focaccia bread* almost by myself… but I managed.

*ah wait no, I actually baked another loaf for a belated visitor today… and they ate some!