Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The website is live!!

And we're off and running!

The Sunday Market went great - minimal sales (everyone had a slow day for sales, the wine vendor near me only sold two bottles all day) but I achieved the goals I had set out to do.

With this venue and timing my goals were to practice setting up and running a booth (check) and to get some exposure. I worked on my 16 x 20 scratchboard and plenty of people stopped to watch and comment, I got to talk about scratchboard and hear plenty of pet stories. Basalt is such a dog-friendly neighborhood, my hubby put out a big bottle of water for all the dogs that were coming by which often resulted in the attached owners stopping in for a peek. We handed out business cards and brochures to anyone who would take them - if even one person orders a commission then the Market was a great success!

Our booth (not the best picture - it looks pretty crowded here but it really was pretty streamlined)

Band dogs taking five:

Another shot of the Market:

And... as an added extra surprise a photographer with the Aspen Times decided to take my picture!


Plus I got a couple of hours' work done on my big board - I luckily have no problem working with people looking over my shoulder, my biggest worry was working on an easel as I usually use a slightly inclined drafting table. The easel worked quite well, I was surprised! I won't use it in my studio where I have the drafting table available, but if I do ever wish to work outside (and the next few weeks at the market I will most certainly be doing so) I know I can quite comfortably!

I also mentioned a newsletter - as soon as I work out a couple of kinks I hope to send out the first issue - it will essentially mirror the blog, so you blog followers have a head start - but if you wish to receive the newsletter and you aren't sure if I have your email address just send me a quick note at Pam(at)Catinaboxstudio.com. Once I learn a bit more I'll have a sign-up on my website (or here on the blog), but until then I'll be working from my email list.

And last, but by no means least, this weekend was also the launching of CatinaBoxStudio.com! Check it out! There's a bit of content to add and some tweaking left to do - but the website is live and Cat-in-a-Box is officially launched!!

So all in all a successful weekend - but very little sleep. Framing and matting and last minute things (those little things like title/price labels for the pieces) kept me up until 3am the morning before the market, then we got up at 7am to go to the market. But coffee and adrenaline kept us fueled through the day and it was, all told, a thoroughly enjoyable experience! We're looking forward to next week's market!

If you're in the Basalt are come and visit us at the Sunday Market!

~ Pam

A long delay - but with an explanation!

To my blog readers - apologies for the inordinately long delay since my last post! It has not been without good reason, I've been very busy getting ready for the 'official' launch of Cat-in-a-Box Studio!

We're coming up on a year since this blog was started! In some ways that's shocking ('It's been a whole year??') and yet at the same time I can't believe it's only been a year! Though Cat-in-a-Box was conceived in September 2009, it's really been gestating all this time. I've made some sales and read lots about marketing, I've worked on finding my artistic style and enjoyed exploring different media to see what suits me best. But despite fits and starts there has been no defining moment that's felt like the shift from 'work in progress' to a real business. With my artwork that moment is when I sign it - and I've been feeling that I need such a moment for Cat-in-a-Box.

And that moment will come on September 13th!

When I realized that I need some kind of defining event for the business launching I decided that it will be my debut at the Basalt Sunday Market. I signed up for the market this spring - it's your standard small-town market with booths and a variety of merchants. The town of Basalt is charming and I go to town as often as I can. The market itself has been lively and crowded each weekend that I've visited (it runs every Sunday from July through October) and my block will be the final quarter - from September 13 - October 4th.


But a launching takes more than a market booth! The other arms of the launch will be the opening of my website and the Cat-in-a-Box Newsletter which will serve as a companion to this blog! Links to everything will be posted next weekend when they are launched!!

So if any of you blog-readers are in the region of Basalt, Colorado - please stop by the Sunday Market!

And everyone else, thanks for bearing with me this past month - now that the preparatory work is over I can get back to regular blogging - for your patience I'll leave you with a glimpse of the scratchboard that's on my drafting table right now. This is only a small portion of what will be my largest board yet (16 x 20").


Can you guess what it is?

~ Pam