Solo All Together

I do not understand artists who get together to paint.

It just doesn’t occur to me that a conversation could be had, jokes told and secrets shared while juggling issues of composition, color harmony, mixing paint and getting all the letters into my signature in the right order.

When I am at my easel I aim to be totally focused, either with what is on the easel, or in conversation with myself, or in wiping the paint off my elbow where I smeared it trying not to get it on my shoulder. ( I was close to getting paint on my shoulder because that’s where the painting was headed after it fell off the easel. That is a story for another day.)  I’ve tried it before. It seems I can either paint or converse somewhat coherently but I simply can’t do both at the same time.

I pace when I paint, talk to myself, wiggle and stagger. I’ve been told I whine and sigh a lot too.  

Now that I think of it, maybe it’s not so much that I would rather work alone but that others would rather not work with me. Either way…

In my world creativity, especially of the painting variety, is a solitary pursuit. 

Saturday I ditched the solo act and joined a whole roomful of amazing people. This was my first meeting with Impact, artists living in Nebraska who have made their mark on a national level.  Impact was created 27 years ago to give the public an opportunity to experience the wide variety of exceptional art created by Nebraska artists through a variety of group shows held across the United States. This is a plates spinning in the air while juggling experience; Impact keeps 4 shows with different themes going at any one time. It’s not for sissies.

To my great delight I was juried in to this group earlier this spring. Holy cow is right.

It was a real honor sitting among these highly accomplished artists. Meetings with creative people can be challenging, but not with this crowd. They are exceptionally professional and personable, on task and focused on the issues at had. It’ll be a perfect balance of solo work and thoughtful networking.

 

©2012 Patricia Scarborough  Bessey's Legacy, pastel, for Impact's Dead or Alive Exhibit

Our first exhibit just wrapped up at Rall Gallery on the Doane College Campus in Crete, Ne. That collection, Impact’s Best, will hang at Mid Plains Community College’s Wrightstone Gallery during the month of October. It’s a gorgeous show. In the meantime, Stuhr Museum in Grand Island, Ne. is hosting “Dead or Alive”, art selections created to honor a notable Nebraskan of each member’s choice. You’ve got until the end of November 4^th to see who and how each artist met this challenge.

©Patricia Scarborough Broken Tree Line 8 x 10 pastel Currently available at Mary Mary Gallery

Also this weekend I’ll be greeting people at The Pour House’s Mary Mary Gallery in Friend, Ne.  during the afternoon.  After so much conversation and elbow-rubbing I’ll be ready to spend time alone again, pondering the deep questions of which blue to use with which yellow to get that elusive green.

And that’s a perfect balance for me.