yesterday is finished

yesterday is finished, oil and mixed media, 12×12 inches

You can bet if there is a tree in one of my paintings that it is a self-portrait of some sort. But then again, all of my paintings are reflections of me in some way or another.

Today was a full day of emergency baths, diaper changes, lots of giggles, laundry, making of dinner, and meeting of art buyers to hand over the artwork. I am tired. But at least I know that I’ll sleep well tonight.

I still have my art work up at the Starbucks. The manager asked me to keep my work up longer than we had originally planned. I think though that I will take my work down at the end of this month.

It’s been really great having my artwork up there. At first I thought well, it’s just a coffeeshop, but it’s a good way to get my work up. I didn’t expect the response I got! The thing that has been great about having my work up at the coffeeshop is meeting the people who bought the work and hearing them tell me what it was that touched them. That is a gift.

One of the buyers and I had a lot of in common as it turned out. She is reading teacher working specifically with children with learning disablities and that used to be what I worked in. Maybe something in the painting that she bought spoke to her because of that connection that we share. She also told me that this was the first time she ever bought artwork from a coffeeshop. In her words, “I never do this sort of thing, but I come in here every morning and I loved this painting from the first. And each morning I would come in, I would just stare at it until finally I decided that I just had to have it.”

Her comment got me thinking…having art in a coffeeshop/restaurant/etc. really is the best way to get people to see work. I mean, of all my friends and family I really don’t know too many that actually make going to galleries a regular thing. But everyone gets coffee! And going in to the same coffeeshop every week and seeing that painting, and having it call to you each time you order your latte, well, that doesn’t happen in a gallery.

My goal is have my artwork in galleries. But this experience has opened my eyes to a different way of looking at how art fits into our worlds, into the everyday. And how people may find themselves drawn more to a painting if it is in their everyday. It’ll be interesting to see what I learn from my gallery show that is coming up in October….eeep! Still so much to do.