Rust Belt Market................

Well, I had my first market showing this weekend.  I was so nervous!  It's been a year since I decided to retire from teaching and embark upon an art career.  The year was fraught with ups and downs, including financial adjustments, empty nest syndrome, a house fire, and a total remodel.  Two studios later, I was finally able to spend two solid months creating and finding my creative voice.  Though I've received positive feedback from family, friends, gallery exhibits, and my contemporaries at Loving Mixed Media,  this past weekend was my first public exposure to all I've done. 

The most rewarding part of the whole experience, was the feedback I received from the artisans working the same market.  It was so rewarding to meet other artists who understood me and appreciated my work.  They were encouraging and supportive.  In addition to that, they bought lots of my stuff!  I would say that the public opinion was overwhelmingly positive as well.  I did receive four comments that I took the time to write down because I found them amusing:

• "Oh wow! This stuff is soooo creepy.....but in a sweet way!"
• "Ooooh, this is totally morbid......but cool ...I guess"
• "This all reminds me of Tim Burton and Beetlejuice!"
• "Oh wow!  I'm really creeped out here"

These four comments were definitely in  the minority, so I didn't take offense.  At the end of the second day, a gentleman came and spent a great deal of time looking at everything I had done and then he very quietly came over to me and said, "I really like all of the decisions you've made" and then he walked away!  I thanked him and said that was the nicest thing anyone had ever said to me!  I know he was referring to my art, but it almost felt like a very cosmic affirmation of the decision I had made to pursue art at this point in my life.  It was very cool................

The above piece was sold at the market to a woman celebrating her tenth year free of breast cancer.  She loved the sense of Hope in my piece, what an extraordinary compliment!