Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Vegetable Medley On It's Way to New Orleans

I learned a valuable lesson this week that I want to share with you. My painting 'Vegetable Medley' was juried into the Louisiana Watercolor Society Exhibition in New Orleans and it's time to ship it. It is on a full sheet of watercolor paper, 30 x 22, has a 3 1/2 inch mat and a 2 1/2 inch frame. making it 42 x 34. Therefore, it is to big for my 42 x 35 box. Not only was I going to have to buy a bigger box it was going to cost $140-150 to ship it one-way and I have to pay for return shipping too. The 42 x 35 box shipping rate is only $45. Now that's a huge difference! I had just about decided to not send it and take the penalty of not being in the show for 2 more years. Then I started thinking of getting a smaller frame but it's a custom size so no time for that. Then it dawned on me that I had a metal frame that I had taken off a painting because it had a dent in it. And then I thought "was that painting by any chance 'Vegetable Medley'?" I went to my storage room and brought it home and viola`it fits!! I think it's 1 1/4" wide. Now the painting will fit in my 42 x 35 box and only cost $45 to ship! I'm soooo excited! The moral of this story is 'check to see how much it will cost to ship a painting before you put a wide mat and frame on it'. Just a few inches difference almost cost me $200. Ummmm! Now what art supplies can I buy with that money! Now I will have a chance to win an award too!

2 comments:

  1. Marsha, I always appreciate and admire your arts
    work and your valuable tips. Likewise, recently I was going to have some Giclees made for family, but the expense was more than I wanted to spend, and I have come to the conclusion that an original would be better and an opportunity to improve on the subject I had painted previously. Congratulations on your recent watercolor being accepted.

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  2. So glad you worked it out. This beauty would have been sorely missed in the show. It is wonderful and exciting to gain admission to these shows but the costs for shipping and handling fees can be just too much sometimes. BWS for instance has a $90 handling fee! This year I have entered fewer shows and luckily got in all three but next year I may start painting smaller for some entries and see how that works. Congratulation to you!

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