Friday, May 17, 2013

Conventions Inspire



April turned out to be convention month for RayMar.  Emily and I manned (or “womanned”) vendor booths at the 2nd Annual Plein Air Convention and Expo in Monterey and the 15th Annual Portrait Society of America’s Conference in Atlanta. Meeting many long time artist customers and new ones was the convention highlight for us.  
Cathy and Emily speaking about RayMar Products
We unveiled our new multi-dimensional carrier.  Artists have asked for a carrier to transport multiple sizes.  The “Multi” holds the most popular travel sizes 8 x 10, 11 x 14, and 12 x 16 in one carrier. When word got around the convention about this new carrier we sold out twice and then took orders. They are now for sale on our website.

Each convention focused on a different genre of painting.  However, artists told us all subjects inspire them to paint.  We discovered portrait artists paint en plein air and plein air artists paint portraits.  Seemingly a surprise at first, but then we realized artists are open to the world and their sources of inspiration are limitless.

 With hundreds of attendees to view demos and lectures by the top artists in their fields these two conventions supplied inspiration at the highest level. If you were on the fence about attending and passed this year, I highly recommend you participate in one of these next year. They were both well conceived, organized and delivered!
Emily Dietrich with Aaron Westerberg at PSA Awards Banquet

Apart from the scheduled convention events, it is the gathering of so many like minded, creative artists that built intense excitement. From my perspective, to solidify the importance of creating art and the desire to support each other’s efforts is the main purpose of these conventions. Plein Air Magazine has already sent an email advertising next year’s convention, their third annual, which will be in Monterey again. So schedule a convention in your future and prepare for you and your art to grow exponentially.    

- Cathy