Saturday, November 14, 2009

Art of the Carolinas Trade Show

This will be another day when I don't get to paint because of time. I'm going to the Art of the Carolinas trade show put on by Jerry's Artarama today and I'm very excited. It's the first one I've ever attended although we went to one in Boone, NC put on by Cheap Joe's Art Supplies and had a blast.

The show runs today from 9 am until 5:30 pm at the North Raleigh Hilton and since it's Saturday, I'm hoping to avoid the insane traffic that occurs on weekdays. Of course, I'm sure the trade show will be busy as it draws people from all over. It will also be going on tomorrow from 10 until 3.

There are quite a few vendors listed and I'm particularly interested in the UART booth as I've heard their pastel/colored pencil paper is very nice. It's a sanded paper and I believe it comes in several grits so you can choose the one that's right for you. I wanted to try out the different grits and see which one I like the best. Even though this paper comes from an industrial supplier of regular sandpaper, the art version is acid-free and suitable for long-lived works of art.

So, although I really don't need any art supplies at the moment, I'm sure I'll find something I have to have once I get there! lol

I'll let you know how it goes!

2 comments:

Sue Clinker said...

Sounds like fun (and possibly expensive) :o)

Tommy Esposito from UART kindly sent me a selection of the sanded papers to try about a year ago. They are great for pastels but I now use Fisher 400 because its easier to get in the UK.

Jan said...

Yes, the show was both fun and expensive especially since I'd just gotten that order of the pan pastels from Dick Blick!

However, I got a bunch of Ampersand's PastelBord for way less than I'd normally pay for it plus didn't have to pay any shipping charges!

I also got to meet Tommy at the UArt booth. I bought some 800 grit paper (which he recommended for the pan pastels) but haven't had a chance to play with it yet. This has been another day when we've been out nearly the whole day!