August 31, 2010

Finished Work Friday- My very first art show!!!!!

So last Friday it dawned on me that I should touch base with the owner of the cafe in town that was going to host my first art show. I picked up the phone and dialed. Emblazoned in my mind was OCTOBER. One month to finish about 10 more pieces for the show. One month to get together a good artist's biography and all the description cards that are hung below each painting on the wall. Plenty of time to sign, title, varnish and wire up all the canvases as well as put together a flier and start advertising for a First Friday reception. I hung up the phone after talking with the owner of Jitter's with my mind and heart in my feet. Attention Deficit Disorder had gotten the best of me again, the bastard. Not October. SEPTEMBER. We had scheduled the show for September and he needed everything to be ready to go by 7pm Sunday night. Battling a nasty chest cold and feeling exhausted, this seemed insurmountable. There was no way to back out. How unprofesh would THAT be?!?! But at the same time...what I had envisioned for my first show-enough pieces to warrant the "fireplace" room and a strong First Friday reception- was just not going to happen! I had about 23 canvases but there was NO WAY I could produce 10 more in 2 days! 2, maybe. I gave up the dream of that Perfect First Show and resigned myself to something more on the half-assed side. I downed the cold meds and coffee, tried not to cough up a lung and got to work. With the help of my sweet girls and our neighbor we were actually able to get everything done. We packed up the truck with all the canvai and headed down to Jitter's coffee shop. The owner helped hang it...and I even got the "fireplace room"!!!! Turns out I had just the right amount of paintings! I'm pretty pleased with it....and a friend and I just might do a joint reception next week. He's running for State House so we thought we could do a meet & greet/art viewing type of thing....kind of a weird concept but who knows. Truth be known...I'm a shrinking violet when it comes to having a spotlight focused on me...and even though the people who will show up for this art show are mostly my friends, it still scares the crap out of me. So, since I blew the First Friday thing anyway, maybe doing a joint event will ease me into the whole scene and give me the confidence I'll need for a more "public" FF reception.
For now, I'm just fekkin' thrilled to be showing my work here in town!


(Dea helping with the hardware)


(cutting descriptor cards)




(The aftermath of the art show scramble.....................................and back to peace and calm!)