98 days to Hallowe'en...

Greetings!  I've received some inquires about the Tour for 2013 and thought it best, after emailing all the artists to post an update here.  Sadly, neither Bat Conservation International nor Bat World Sanctuary wants to support us, seems our donations are too small for them to consider helping us help them.  This is very disappointing not just for us but also any grass-roots group that wants to raise funds for a charity:  are they all this ungrateful?  I hope not!  But that leaves us without our "backers" so to speak and without access to advertising through their mailing lists and on their facebook pages.

  What to do?  At first I was really disappointed, then angry, then depressed.  Then inspired!  I saw this at a local art fair and took it home:

It was created by artist Kym Brundritt and you can visit her website here.  I've hung it right over my weekly agenda which I check every morning so now I pause to read these words and re-focus.  Awesome!  And so far it's working, a great mood-lifter.

So, where do we go from here?  I want our Online Hallowe'en Artists' Studio Trick or Treat to live on, but I very much need to cut back the amount of my time it devours.  Therefore, I've asked the artists if they're capable and interested in creating their own webpages, their own spot on the tour, to which I would link so that the map at http://www.halloweenstudiotour.com would directly link to each artists' page that they created (rather than on my webspace).  This grants each artist greater freedom, as they can choose to create a studio photo and self-portrait or not, and post as many pieces (within reason) of their Hallowe'en or seasonal art, editing or adding as they want.  AND the animals will still benefit!  How?  Each artist will get to choose which animal charity they want to help, by donating 20% or more of their sales to that charity.  On their page they will clearly state which organization will get their $$ by including its website, address, etc... and perhaps some information about why they chose this charity.  

 So there's the scoop:  there will be a Tour but it will be different.  Hopefully enough artists will be interested in participating and we'll have a crazy wonderful collection of art for everyone to see and purchase, we'll share some great advertising and raise money for some very worthwhile groups, helping lots of different animals, both wild and domestic.  

If you're interested in being one of our awesome artists, email me!  And if you're one of our equally awesome collectors, we're honored and hope we'll have a truly incredible show for you to enjoy this October!