Signed, Sealed, Delivered!

These are the two works that I am currently submitting for “The Good, The Bad, The Money” exhibition.
I put off sending in my entry into the 42 Gallery for long enough- I finally sent it out today! Hoorah! Now all I have to do is wait…and look for the next opportunities!

I took a career/personality quiz today for the heck of it. My boyfriend, Matthew, took it earlier today, and it sounded weird and interesting. He is an artist too, and voila! The personality quiz told him that his ideal career would be as an artist. I was wondering what mine would say…I was preparing myself for something like restroom attendant, cheese maker, or miner. I took the quiz- weird questions- drinking milk past expiration, to call fire department or not, create list or get to work… anyway, according to the test I am a Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving type, and indeed, artist was at the top of the list. Evidently artists throw milk out at the expiration, look for the fire first, do not call plumbers, do not take our cars into the mechanic when we probably should, and create lists before we work, instead of just working immediately…sounds about right…J

Looking Ahead

There is a gallery show coming up in Ohio that is all about Money- “The Good, The Bad, The Money”. I found it on www.artshow.com (what a great site!). Anyway, I couldn’t be more excited about the theme! I am going to gather my packet to send for the show this week. This will mark only the second time in my life that I have sent away to submit my work to a show. The last time was back in college and I submitted a couple of prints due to the nudge of one of my mentors. I was happy to submit my work, but unfortunately, it did not get into the show. REJECTED stamped all across the letter. At the time, I was just happy to have submitted my work. The rejection letter was smiled at, joked about, and thrown out without any big negative impact on me.

Hopefully this time will be different! I have optimism! I feel ready for this now, and it’s just what I have been wanting to do. I need to take chances, and it’s time to jump in. The deadline is in about 10 days. Cheers to revisions, good paper, burning the two images to a CD/DVD, and confusion along the way! Cheers to it all!

Let the Games Begin!

The Winter Olympics are back! Vancouver 2010! Witnessing greatness as it happens. Watching stories of the athletes’ trials and tribulations which have brought them to their current state. Cheering for the triumphs. Getting teary-eyed at the beauty of a perfect run, or routine. Understanding the dedication it takes for these outstanding athletes to reach this level of excellence. The sacrifices. The heartbreaks. The courage. The euphoria of victory.

The Olympics are great for inspiration, but maybe not so great for allowing me to work. Here is the extent to which I have worked on my art since the Vancouver Winter Games have begun…

A bit of collage work…

And


Yes...paper hats...

The Day After

The Day After…

Top Ten Things I Learned From the Opening Last Night…

10. Print off as many color copies of your brochure as possible, and do not bother with black and white copies for several reasons…I am now speaking from experience…

9. Follow the advice of NOT showing up with an EMPTY mailing list. I did. It was pristinely blank upon arrival, and it struggled to even get half-filled. I simply forgot…I’ll write it up as a social experiment I guess.

8. Be bold in approaching people looking at your work. I did it once last night to people who, as soon as I opened my mouth, I could tell were not really that interested. It felt awkward and so I failed to be so bold for the rest of the night…I need practice.

7. Definitely bring gum or mints, because you will be talking- a lot! After all, I am not in the business of burning off other’s nose hairs, and I am so glad that I remembered gum.

6. Bring a wall case for displaying brochures, business cards, and displaying your mailing list by your work. (I wasn’t quite organized enough to even think about that detail…)

5. Enjoy the pointing and laughing by immature boys at one of the male genitals you drew. At least someone is noticing your efforts! (That particular penis took me 2 hours to make it look right and it was the size of 2 grains of rice! Glad someone appreciated the small details! Ha!)

4. Have business cards on hand and displayed. I need to prepare some for the next show.

3. Wear comfortable shoes.

2. Have cake and wine afterwards with friends, while laughing hysterically at failblog.com.

1. Enjoy your friends, loved ones, and fellow artists. Enjoy the atmosphere. Laugh a lot. If someone comes up to you for a hug, just do it. They’ll explain later, and we all need random hugs from strangers.

Getting Ready for the "Dry Illusions" Art Show

So, I have this ongoing list in my head of things to do before the show. I will be showing two of my recent drawings at the Ryan Hadley Studio this Saturday night, and I am so scared that I am going to forget something. I've written down my list, but it just seems to be getting longer...buy frames, matte board, sign the 15 prints, photograph the work before I frame it, polish my bio, create a brochure with my bio and artist statement, get them printed at Kinko's, post my works up to my website so that visitors will have something to look at when they check it out after the show, and oh yeah!- drop the works off at the Studio! And on top of this, I keep having that little voice in my head asking, "What am I going to wear?" Really? That is beyond what I need to be thinking about right now.

I am NOT complaining at all. I am just really excited about the opportunity, and I don't want to muck it all up. Cheers to the few days prior to exhibiting work!

Where to Begin?

Hello!

Welcome to Blank Canvas! This blog is going to catalogue my journey of getting my artwork out into the world. It seems as if I just woke up. During the past few years, I was putting off showing my work because I was waiting for this epiphany of greatness. I didn't want to show my work prematurely and be embarrassed years later when my "masterpieces" began to flow. Several more experienced artists give that advice to young artists, so I followed it, and I followed it well.

Well, I did have an epiphany, but it wasn't exactly what I had been waiting for. I turned 32 a few weeks ago. I am realizing that time is gaining momentum, the last few years in particular have been ridiculously short, and if I didn't get my artwork out there now, when will I? It's too easy to sit back and say, " My work is not good enough yet." Well, forget that! I don't have time for that.

Now, I am finally understanding that if every artist followed this advice, we probably wouldn't have very much to look at. Empty museums, blank billboards, every CD cover would look like the Beatles, "White Album", or Spinal Tap's "Black Album", and there certainly wouldn't be a cheesy poster to stare at on the ceiling of the ob/gyn.

I've made my point, and now it begins...