Whitbeck Notes
Spring 2025
Indian Beauty
18"x24" oil on panel
Baluch with Fruit
18" x 24" oil on panel
Welcome to the Spring 2025 Whitbeck Notes. The start of the 2025 season is now behind me, having just returned from the Florida tour, and what a great tour it was! The weather was perfect, the sales were great, the people were great and it was just overall a pleasant trip. Plus, this was the first time that my wife Gale and I had brought our two year old dog Pasha along the tour with us and he passed with flying colors! We were a bit nervous heading out, but it turned out that all of our worries were for naught. And it looks like he will be heading with us to Chicago this June.
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During the shows I get many questions from visitors, the biggest one being, "How long does it take to do a painting." And understandably so. But I also get questions like, "Where are you from?", or "Is this your tent or does the show set it up for you?", "How do you get your paintings here?", questions about the logistics of an outdoor art show and what an artist has to do in order to participate. And as I have already devoted an earlier Notes to the questions having to do with How I do my paintings, I thought I would now spend a little time in these Notes laying out some of the behind the scenes details of what happens before the show even opens.
As all of the shows are juried ones, the first thing that happens months before the actual show is the application. Thats kind of the tough part here as far as scheduling goes. You might have the best of a season lined up with the greatest in the country, but that does not mean that you will get into every show on your list. The short of it is that when application time opens up you send in three or four "slides" of your work (digital images actually, just a leftover term from the good old days) as well as an image of your booth with artwork displayed. Then, over the next couple of months the jurors for that particular show go over all of the submitted images from sometimes hundreds of artists (that adds up!) and make their decision, usually based on a few points like quality of work and technique, professionality, originality. Then you get the long anticipated email from the show director. You are hoping to read "We are happy to inform you...", but sometimes you get the "Thank you for your application, but we regret to inform you...". And even, sometimes, you get a score that puts you on a "wait-list" where you can be happily surprised a week before the show and get an invite.
Once the show application portion is over and the shows you have been accepted to are right around the corner, then its time to get your vehicle ready with oil changes and maintenance and finally loading up. You can see with the photo above that it was a good time to get out of Massachusetts! This was getting ready for this years Florida trip and our dirt drive way was an icy mess.
Most artists use a van, varying in height and length depending on what you show. Some artists, especially the large sculpture ones will have trailers and some can even manage with a car or the back of a pick-up truck with cap. But because Gale and I (and now Pasha) sleep in our vehicle, it had to be something more spacious then that. So we settled on a medium height Ford Transit van. All of the artwork, tent, tent poles, display walls and other bits and pieces are designated to the back half of the van, while the front half is for sleeping with a couch that pulls out inti a bed. Also up front the passengers seat swivels around to face the interior where we have a small table for eating (or backgammon). With a ceiling vent fan we are pretty comfortable in the warmer weather. Florida was no problem for us this year.
I have to mention the painting boxes here, as another common question is how I safely transport my work, all over the country, without any damage. These painting boxes (which you can see in the van packing image above), four all together, I had made from luan plywood and are big enough to hold the largest of my paintings, 18" x 24" and each box has a cover, sealing them in nicely. Besides this, each box is padded with an insulating foil liner and each painting is in turn put in a clear plastic sleeve and slid into individual foil envelopes, adding to their protection. Knocking on wood, but this is how I have done it for years and have never had an incident.
Also in the back of the van will be the tent poles, tent, weights for the tent, track lighting for the tent with its battery as well as sundry things like tool box, bungies and what-not. It all fits in like a Tetris puzzle, so nice and tidy.
Once the van is loaded then its time to hit the road. All artists drive their work from show to show. The only category I know of that does not have to do this is jewelers. They have these ingenious, tightly collapsing display cases that fit into a piece of luggage as well as all of their jewelry, so flying from show to show and renting a tent (almost all shows offer this) is perfect for them.
Some shows are not far from home and studio, but some (Denver, Colorado for one!) are a distance and so it can end up being a trip of many days. As I have already mentioned, our van is set up to sleep in, so we do not need hotels. And actually, the restaurant chain Cracker Barrel, found all over the country, offers a portion of their parking lots free of charge to RVs and campers and so for this season, so far, we have been staying in them exclusively. Usually there are a handful of other campers and vans already there by the time you pull in so it feels like a little campground with the camaraderie of the other campers around you, with the added benefit of a breakfast close by when you wake up.
Next comes arriving to the show and set-up, which can either be a "morning of" set-up or the day before set-up. A"morning of" is nice because you do not have to arrive the day before and so shortens your overall time there. But on the other hand it makes for a long day as not only are you putting up your tent early in the morning and hanging your work, but then working the whole day and sometimes into the evening.
You also hope for good weather as setting up in the rain can be a bit challenging. In good weather you simply pull up to your spot and unload everything then begin. But with the rain you have to first bring out the tent poles and set them up, then the tent cover, then the walls, being sure to shut the van doors every time so it does not get wet inside of the van! And the way that I have everything stored in the back of the van there are always things on top of the poles and tent bag, so I have to rummage around, moving show chair, table, luggage and various other things all the while trying to keep it all dry and therefore making it a bit tricky. We always have an eye to the weather the day before and hoping not to see that dreaded image of cloud with rain on our cell phones.
Set up now takes us about two to three hours including hanging the paintings, which is much better then when I had first started participating in the outdoor art show scene nineteen years ago. Every season I would learn some new trick to simplify set up and takedown, either on my own or from a helpful neighbor. One of the big ones was using "soft walls" for my display instead of the metal frame walls with a cloth covering. You can see the black soft walls in the image below. The metal walls all had to have their covers removed and the walls taken apart, which took considerable time, let alone being very heavy and taking up a good portion of the van space.
With the soft walls you would just clip the wall size cloth to the tent frame itself, pulling it taught and smooth with pull straps at the bottom. And that was it! With every season learning a new streamlining method we would shorten the length of set up and take down. I have take down now at one and a half hours.
Another question that I would get is if electricity was supplied by the show, this after a visitor seeing the three sets of track lights up in the roof of the tent, illuminating the paintings. Some shows do offer electricity for a fee, but having recently purchased a lithium battery I can easily run all the lights as well as charge phones for a two or even three day show. And what a difference these lights make, especially on an overcast day or if under the shade of a tree.
One wonderfully helpful aspect of most shows is the volunteers who come around throughout the day offering water and snacks or watching your booth while you go grab lunch or go for a bathroom break. Often times there is a number to call if you need a hand or have a question. All shows vary on this, but for the most part they all have some degree of artist hospitality, and for those who do not have someone with them ( like a very helpful wife!) this makes for a better experience to be sure.
So now Sunday comes around and all of the artists are starting to think of packing up at the end of the day and what the most expeditious way will be to take down and move on. This usually starts with moving your van as close as you can to your booth, especially if you need to dolly to your van from your tent site. Some artists, if the weather is good will start taking down their outer tent walls and folding them up before the show starts for the day. Every little bit helps for a quick take down. Depending on the show, whether a busy, tight packed city or a spacious town park, take down can either be leisurely and low keyed or a real devil. Imagine one hundred plus artists, some in vans and trucks, others with huge trailers, all trying to pull into the show to load up, and all at the same time. All the shows I have been to have a rule that your tent must be fully taken down and all of your things put to the side, off of the road or path, making room for the pulling in of vehicles to their booth spots. But, of course, not everyone follows these rules and the end of the day on Sunday can get a bit overwhelming.
It always works out though, and it has also been my experience that most fellow artists are considerate and helpful, going out of their way to make it an easy thing for everyone. Plus, we all know each other! And pretty well too. By now most artists have done the same shows for years with real friendships being made and a genuine camaraderie. We have a number of shows where we look forward to seeing so and so or are hoping to have the same neighbors again.
And speaking of friendships and camaraderie, I would like to end these Whitbeck Notes by mentioning the friendships made over the years with visitors to my booth, people who have come in to look at my paintings and struck up a conversation. I think that the work hanging on the walls and what is in them opens something up in people to ask questions and start these conversations, some of which have been going on for years and some of which newly begun. As selling is of course my main goal here, these experiences I have with great people from all over the country, (and the world!) is also a reason why I love participating in these fine outdoor art shows so much. It is an overall experience, one that combines the adventure of travel with the physicalness of setting up and taking down and the enjoyment of people and conversations.
So the Florida tour ends and soon the Midwest tour begins. I have two months to paint in the studio and replenish what I have sold. It is a slow process, as most of you know, and I am happy to have started three paintings before I left for Florida with two of them being well underway, so the ball was already rolling as soon as I returned to the studio. I am very excited with what is being done and I have some great ideas for future paintings, this is a good start to spring!
Also, be sure to check my website to see what is available as well as viewing the new work. The show schedule is updated thus far, with more to come as the acceptance emails come in (now you know all about that!), so take a look at that as well. The next big thing is the 57th Street and Old Town art shows in Chicago this June, be sure to attend these great shows if in the area.
All my best,
and see down the road!
James Whitbeck
(413) 695.3937
