got ahead of myself

When the lady from the Rental Sales Gallery called a couple of weeks ago called, she said "you've been accepted." Those words rang in my ears- it sounded so final. When I took the paintings in, the agent said something about "making the first cut" and "good luck-" that's when I remembered that there are TWO review stages. I hadn't been accepted- I'd made the first cut. My heart sank. I received a message this afternoon that I didn't make the second cut- so, no, I wasn't accepted. Boo.

BUT- I was told that in the first round there was a "significant reduction" in applicants, that they enjoyed my work and think it's "fun," and although they don't think this is the right "venue for my style," they have some suggestions for me of where else to apply. How cool is that? I'll call back on Tuesday for details.

Yeah, I'm disappointed, but it's still a victory to have made the first round, they enjoyed my paintings, and I get referral info. And I can submit in another medium next year- I have linocuts and landscapes.

On etsy this week, someone included one of my landscapes in their treasury- a set of 12 personal picks shared with many people.

so much good stuff

I got word last week that the 5 paintings I submitted to the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery were accepted! I can't get my head around that. A gallery (wow) connected to a museum (a museum!) liked my work enough to say- sure, we'll represent you. WTF? I turn in my paintings tomorrow, and I can't wait to find out how many applied (I saw a STACK when I turned mine in) and how many were accepted. And when the website is going to be updated- with my name and images! Oooh- I need to update my resume:-) There's an event in June for the new artists (there's only one application period a year- lucky I looked into it when I did)- a reception. I hope it's not the weekend we're in Sacramento, or the 2 weekends we'll be in Sun River :-( Fingers Crossed!

The other exciting thing is that I recently had inspiration for a different kind of cityscape. I stumbled upon a game where you build towers & place them in your little city, and I liked the backdrop of the high-in-the-sky towers. I figured that I could add some true skyscrapers in the background of my ghetto hoods. I bought two books on major skyscrapers of gthe world, and checked out another two- one of them is all about the architecture of Portland. I've marked my favorite buildings and will scan/sketch/trace them, and add the Big Pink, The Bank of China, New York lofts, Mexico City insurance buildings, etc. There will be the world- and Portland- in the next series of cities. I haven't figured out how to combine the fore and aft- there will need to be some experiments to find the best execution. Research & sketching is fun :-)

I also got some pictures from the Strongsville Community Theater- I think they did a great job in blowing up a 6x6 inch painting to a 8x8 foot set. They're sending me a DVD of the show, and some of the programs where they gave me a page. I'll scan that when it comes :-)

Now I have to get together some pieces to put up in the bike shop- 4 of the 5 I submitted to the RSG were on the walls at the Recyclery! I want to fill the holes I've left.

now i'm committed

I've been wanting to work more on my garden collage, and tonight I had a good two hours of doing just that. I'd decided that I was satisfied with the whole as a base with texture & interesting little bits that will peek through in the finished product, and the next thing was to hone in on areas that I didn't like, and fix them. All the happy accidents from the base texture layer will be refined. In so doing, I found myself reaching for a piece I'd set aside for the top layer- if I like something enough, it gets put in the top pile. And if I'm grabbing something from the "save for the end" stash, it means I've turned the corner towards finishing. I put in two of those pieces. I'm committed, now.