of the earth and sky

Yesterday evening I hung 19 paintings up at Irwin’s in Wallingford on 40th Street. I titled my exhibit “Of the Earth and Sky” and it showcases many of my tree paintings. I received “Memory” back in just enough time to include it in with the other tree paintings. That turned out to be great because there was one big wall that needed a big painting. My camera died just when I started to take photos and so I only have this one corner shot, which isn’t even a very good picture to share. I will have to go back and take some more.

While I was hanging the work, a man who had stopped in to get a hot drink took a look as he stirred his drink. I smiled at him as I had a pencil sticking above one ear, a hammer and nail in one hand, and a painting in another.

He looked at me and said, “You like trees, huh?”

I laughed and said, “Yeah, how’d you know?”

We talked for a bit and it turns out he is an arborist and was at a house close by taking a look at one of the trees. He told me that a lot of people have emotional attachment to the trees on their property. He asked me if I would be interested in doing commissions and if so he might send people my way who want to commemmorate their trees. I gave him one of my cards as we shook hands and he said, “this could be a very fortuitous meeting.”

I don’t know if anything will come of it, but it just goes to show me that I never know what will come out of putting my work out there in seemingly random places. If anything, I really need an arborist to come look at three of our trees in our backyard and I didn’t know who to call! Now I have someone to call to tell me what to do with my towering trees that sway very scarily ever since the recent wind storms.