I was accepted into an art gallery for the first time! Shelton Rotating Art Gallery is a dream come true. I have been hoping to submit my art there for years.
My dad would send me brochures and forward emails encouraging me to submit art. He started doing that when I was a new music teacher, about 11 years ago. I just didn’t have art that was appropriate, didn’t have time to create something specific for it, and I didn’t really feel qualified enough to write a short bio about myself as an artist.
The Shelton Art Gallery/Civic Center and I go back to when I was in high school.
I grew up playing piano in my Dad’s community swing band, Swing Fever, at the Shelton Civic Center. We played there every year for weddings and fundraisers. Before the gig, after we set up, I’d walk around the brand new nice building with my sister and look at the art.
Across the street, at a retirement home, that’s where I had my first piano recital. Haha my teacher forgot to call me up and I didn’t have to play!
4/5 of my submissions were accepted. They didn’t like the mermaid. Since my dad is on the art board, he did not participate in the voting. He warned me they don’t like boobs. She did have a seaweed strapless top, but I guess that was too much.
Here are the pieces that were accepted:
I am a bit of a perfectionist sometimes so I have some anxiety that these are not in perfect amazing impressive fantastical frames and I’m tempted to spend hundreds of dollars at Ben Franklin getting them professionally framed for this. Highly, highly tempted. I do want this to be amazing. I will probably go there today. Imagine the golden baroque frames that take up a wall... that’s what I picture haha.
I hope to invite people that would want to come and I hope to dress up and then take everyone out to lunch or dinner to celebrate.
Thank you for encouraging me!
My next goal is to participate in the plein air festival (which to me would be like a competition competition I want to win) at Cannon Beach. I know this is egocentrical, but I want to have fun and dress up like a French plein air artist. I already have two different berets and two different striped dresses. When I get a vision, step back!
I hope to practice in Monroe on the sidewalk before just to live my dreams when I drive around that’s what I want to be doing so I just want to do it. I know it’s not normal and it could get me attention I don’t necessarily want but I have this skill and it’s just the weirdest calling. I just really like to be in public and painting because the time flies by. Watch out, I’m crazy and brave enough to follow through. It miiiiight take me 11 years to follow through with a goal. But, by jingo, when I get there, I might blog about it ha:)!
On my way to “Ben Frank-skiis”. They are already hangable I just want them to look boss.
Back! It was $240.00 to get all four done. A deal since one a couple of years ago was $100.00. Well, they’ll look great and I’ll feel proud. I got a cool green 90’s cords color frame for the 11x14 oil paintings and large black matching frames with fancy mats for the charcoal drawings. The piano one has a sliver of purple, I thought appropriate since it is of a piano in Hansee Hall at the university of Washington. The Moai 🗿 charcoal drawing has a textured gray mat that was detail-o-riffic.
I’ll post when they’ll be up as soon as I hear.