Today I took a trip to visit a friend of mine at the Jacob Javits Center on the West Side in New York City. She was in town representing her company for the Annual Stationary Show. This show is always a great way to see what is new in the stationary, paper, greeting card, and gift wrap business. She suggested that I should bring my portfolio to show to other business owners. I put something together quickly. Once I arrived I realized that I had essentially brought a "knife to a gun fight". (...A very New York Metaphor!)
The Javits Center seemed like several football fields end to end with miles and miles of booths showing beautiful cards, artwork, and gifts. I was over stimulated to a point on par with a walk through Times Square or the Strip in Vegas. (When I told my friend I was overwhelmed she asked "But can you ever be just 'Whelmed'?")
After several hours walking through this environment (which felt larger than some American cities I have visited) I had a collection of promotional material from companies I admire, business cards from companies I would like to submit my work to, and a small mountain of promotional crap that was forced upon me by over eager vendors. Some very nice vendors agreed to look over my portfolio and I left my email address for a few company owners. I do not seriously expect to hear anything from them but my field trip today gave me a MUCH clearer sense of what is being created and bought in this market.
Along with this post I have uploaded an illustration I created of the south east corner of Central Park. This bridge is one of my favorite spots in Manhattan. It appears in the movie "Sweet Charity" and is even mentioned at the end of Orson Well's broadcast of the "War of the Worlds". The building to the right is the Plaza Hotel. I might go back and add a few layers of color to this illustration in the near future.
