Felipe the Flaming Salamander, WIP

15×20 Gouache on Illustration Board

Y’all know the saying “running around like a chicken with its head cut off.” I figured it’s more efficient to say “running around like a headless chicken,” but whenever I say it, people go, “what?”

I’ve been running around like a headless chicken all week. I’m leaving for Con on the Cob on Thursday, and it’ll be the first time I’ll have an exhibitor’s table at a convention. I’m also entering 3 6×2′ panels in the art show. Preparation for this includes the following:

• Painting “Felipe” specifically for Con on the Cob (at one of last year’s Quick Draw competitions, a “flaming salamander wearing cowboy boots at a taco stand” was suggested)
• Matting, backing, labeling, and bagging all my new pieces
• Laying out the art show panels so I know how much art I can hang
• Labeling non-show pieces with prices to sell at the table
• Buying and labeling a portfolio for unmatted sketches
• Buying and filling a print binder
• Getting prints made
• Creating and uploading notecards and magnets to Vistaprint (their notecards are nice quality but say “www.VistaPrint.com” on the back)
• Buying ungodly amounts of candy to draw people to the table
• Buying a 29 cent ACEO frame at the resale shop only to find that a 1/8″ frame border swallows up a lot of the ACEO
• Buying a 49 cent jar at the resale shop for animal shelter donations
• Purchasing a receipt book
• Researching vendor taxes in the state of Ohio
• Designing and ordering from Kinko’s a 3×1.5′ banner. It looks awesome and cost ~$50.
• Creating a small pricing sign (for prints and commissions)
• Pilfering binder clips from the office
• Panicking
• I think that’s it.

Luckily, I have most of these done. However, it’s the first of the month, so I should update my website. And as you can see, I still have half of Felipe to paint. *runs around like a chicken*

p.s. I underpainted with three warm orange washes and it is working really well. You can layer gouache as long as you aren’t heavy-handed and use the right tools. Illo board soaks up paint fast, so it’s much easier to layer than Gessobord.