Great Expectations



Spring Adaptation: Commencement

Sold.

Spring Adaptation: Transition



Sold!

Spring Adaptation: Equilibrium

Sold!

 

 But that's not what this blog post is about.

I've had wonderful opportunities over the last few years to show my work in a variety of venues. After examining my expectations for the last series of exhibits, my take is this:

 

Some days the right buyer – or two or ten – come along, some days they’re off playing miniature golf.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to exhibit quality fine art and to put our best selves forward, the right buyer doesn’t show up.


Quiet Evening 6x8 oil  Still Available at Lux Center for the Arts

Sometimes, even though our presentation is haphazard and our socks are mismatched, they do.

Quiet Morning 6x8 oil  Sold!

 

The results of the last several years of exhibiting have taught me that my expectations have nothing to do with hope or crossed fingers or anybody else’s vibe.  The expectation is on each of us to do the best work we can. To behave as professionally as we can.

It's not about  reading how-to books or waiting to get started just as soon as the kids are grown up or the dishes are done.

 It's about showing up in my creative spaces ready to go and to do the hard grind so that when the time comes, when the right venue calls or the right patron shows up, I'm ready.

It's about believing in my mission. I trust that my work is the best I can do. That trust extends to the belief that someone else, somewhere will make that connection and agree with me. And if I'm ready, that elusive concept of success will happen.

"Specimen" 7x5 oil Waiting for you at Graham Gallery

What do you expect?

Thanks Again

I am still in a turkey-stuffing-mashed potato stupor, so to save us both some agony, I've decided to re-run a Thanksgiving post from several years ago. Interesting that is as relevant today as it was then. Another case of The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same.

Patricia Scarborough 8x10 oil  Early Morning in October 2013

From 2009...

It seems as though the Pilgrims did not, after all, invent Thanksgiving.

Nor did they have pumpin pie, mashed potatoes, or cranberry sauce.

A truely American 'melting pot' of holidays, our current Thanksgiving is a collection of myths and traditions handed down and mingled with other myths and traditions.

It's original purpose? To take time to honor the humble beginnings of our country and to give sincere and humble thanks for what people had after all was said and done. Needless to say, the table was barely cleared and the dishes put away before the holiday was "improved" upon by well meaning politicians and business owners.

It's been a crazy year for so many people. Crazy good, and crazy bad. Slowing down to honor a holiday dedicated to thanks is probably the best kind of holiday to have. It was 200 years ago, and it's a good idea today as well.

Maybe the Pilgrims didn't mash potatoes, and so what if they probably had fish instead of turkey? However we celebrate, whether by gorging on turkey and football games, or by lighting a candle in a darkened corner, we give thanks.

My grateful list is long, and includes you, dear reader.

What does your list include?

Grateful List 2.0

Anyone who spends time online or reading magazines directed at the female population has noticed this trend. Its a good one, far more useful than owning a pile of Beanie Babies or getting a tattoo or wearing jewelry made from Grandma's silverware.

During the rare times I log into Facebook lately I am met with Gratitude Lists. They start with, "I am thankful for..." and list, gosh, just about any kind of positive, almost positive and barely positive items the author can dig up.

I grabbed an O magazine recently (it had been left on a chair I wanted to occupy) and there it was, a tutorial on how to be grateful. Step One, make a list...


And since it's the week of Thanksgiving (remember Thanksgiving? It's that holiday squeezed between Halloween and Shop Til Your Credit Cards Melt) I'll share my list with you today.

Of course there is the fun stuff, like Handsome Husband, Fine Sons, warm socks and pumpkin pie.
There is another list too. We'll call it Grateful List 2.0

I am grateful for

Rejection  It helped make me stronger. Well, okay, it hurt like H-E-Double-Toothpicks and I can still cry if given half a chance, but it did help me recognize a weakness or two. Or three.

Fear - I felt it and did it anyway. Well okay, not fear, like that dream where you're naked in a hallway at your Junior High School and can't find your locker. More like the kind of fear an entrepreneur feels when their toes have left the edge of that cliff.  Or, more honestly the fear of landing after leaving the edge of that cliff.  My landings may not have been beautiful, but there were no broken bones.

Hard Knocks - Well, okay, it's not like I got hit hard enough to leave a mark, but things didn't always go my way. I got pretty good at picking myself up and starting again.

The Grind - Like a good cup of coffee, you don't get there without some grind. At a certain point, like one of Pavlov's dogs, you begin to salivate just a bit when you hear those cogs engage.

How about you?  Is there something beyond that bowl of cherries that you are grateful for?

Tru Fun

Greetings All -

Holy Moley.

As I sit here in mismatched sweats and floppy socks I'm taken back to a moment nearly 7 years ago when Handsome Husband and I pondered my future.
I was, in a word, miserable.

Most likely I sat here in this same chair in the same mismatched sweats. (It takes awhile to get them broken in just the way I like 'em.)  The job I had loved at one time had become a source of frustration. The pipe dream of being a real live artist was becoming less a dream and more of a realization. Time to fish or cut bait as they say.

Fast forward please.



 

I have just wrapped up a run of exhibits and opportunities that were unthinkable that day way back when.

 

At each opportunity I have learned something, and not all of it related to the artwork; how to show up, how to prepare, how to grow thicker skin. How to ask, and how to know when to walk away. Being an artist isn't all smiles, there are some moments of sharp elbows and doubt that would shake the foundations of an NFL lineman.



 

My exhibit at Tru Café in Kearney is one of the fun opportunities. Rick Brown, of the Kearney Daily Hub, wrote a great article here. How cool is that? Yeah, pretty cool. Btw, the exhibit will hang  at Tru the whole month of November. Stop in, have a delicious cuppa or even lunch, and have a look see.

Hang with me and together we'll see where the next 7 years will take me. I'm looking forward to it!