My first Solo Gallery Exhibit!

     Last September I sold a painting at the Penrod Art Fair. It was a large painting called Coneflowers in the Woods, similar to this one but larger than life. 

My customer and I had a delightful conversation about the name Gypsy Rose, and the local history of Marshall Illinois. Turns out Rose was the queen of the band of gypsies that inhabited the area. At one point Rose blessed the area and decreed that no tornado would cause damage to the town. That blessing has held, as there has never been a tornado that has damaged the town.

   Fast forward several weeks. I decided to go to a conference with my ministry, which would be held in Kansas City in February. I registered for the event and booked my reservation at the hotel, then looked at the map and realized that dang it's kind of far. I mean, no problem with a road trip, I am a seasoned solo traveler. But still, this was going to need to be bathed in prayer. 

     One day I got an idea. I thought wow, wouldn't it be great if I could bring more of my paintings to the Gypsy Rose? If she would let me have a show there? Matter of fact, wouldn't it be great if the Gypsy Rose Coffee Shop was on the way to my event in Kansas City? That way I could have an art show included in my road trip. As soon as I got home I checked the map and realized that Marshall, Illinois is indeed right on the way. I went ahead and scoped out the area, and found a cute airbnb in town. Now all I had to do was contact the owner of the coffee shop and tell her my idea!

   That's when I realized I had not gotten her contact information when she bought the painting. Dang. I did find the website for Gypsy Rose, filled out the contact page, described my idea,  and pushed send. 

     Some weeks went by, with me not knowing if my message got through or got lost somewhere in cyberspace. Then one day she called. She said that she had bought a painting from me. I may have totally interrupted her in my excitement, to tell her, "yes, I've been trying to get a hold of you!" 

Turns out she had seen my message, but was unable to retrieve it later. She just happened to find my card at the bottom of her handbag, and called me. When she realized it was me, she said "Oh, so I didn't dream it?"!

    So that's the beginning of what now has become my very first solo exhibition at a gallery. Turns out there's an art gallery two doors down from the coffee shop, and they just happened to have a cancellation for February. So the gallery owner called me, and here we are.

Remember the part about "bathed in prayer"?!

 

I am thrilled, for so many reasons. 

First, January and February are normally down months for me. No shows, just time to clean the studio, work on taxes, start plans on new work. Instead of all that, or I should say, in addition to all that, I have been full-tilt in studio production mode. 

The Gaslight gallery has three rooms and a long hallway, all available for my work. There will be an opening on Thursday evening, and the artwork will remain on display through March 12th. 

      This has been a dream come true for me. To have a reason to show up in the studio every day and make art. 

To finish the unfinished. Frame the unframed. Design new business cards. Update my social media sites. Bring to life new work from little pages of my illustrated journal. It has been quite the investment, not only of my heart, time, money and abilities, but in my own vision of life and my art.  And now I'll start to see the dividends of the investment.

Plus, I'm set. I have enough art pieces for not only this event, but my next several art shows which happen in the Spring. So, no pressure to produce more work, since pressure can tend to take the fun out of it. 

Did I mention that it is all bathed in prayer?

Please join us at the Gaslight Artist Colony on February 23rd for my opening. By the way, Gypsy Rose Coffee will be served!