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| All My Pretty Ponies 19 x 29 Mixed Media Currently on Exhibit at Angel Fire Visitor's Center |
Meraki
A Greek noun meaning the soul, creativity, or love put into something; the essence of yourself which is put into your work.
I have done fairs before. And even an exclusive small exhibit dedicated to my work in the lobby of a framing shop. You learn to not pass up opportunities as an artist in a changing economy. My works are at the Chamber of Commerce in Angel Fire and the Visitor's center. My studio also serves as an exhibit space for my work.
I have never spent almost a year preparing for occupation of a whole gallery with just my work. Fairs are 10 x 10 moving one woman shows and I have in the past done as many as eight in a year. A gallery is just four fair booths. Right? First question was did I have enough work to fill the gallery space. Yes. Second question was did I have enough work to fill the space without gutting my own open studio and the gallery which represents me in Cimarron and my venues around Angel Fire. Perhaps. Third question was would I mount a show acceptable to me.
That is when you stand in the middle of your exhibit space in your studio and stare. Then off to your computer and review your images of every painting in your inventory. Then upstairs to empty the boxes of stored works. Wise to remember that this opportunity has come after only just returning to painting after a two year hiatus. It was my first works after that hiatus which were entered in gallery exhibits that attracted Gallery Main to make the offer. They had no questions about the quality. But I had questions within me. And what artist or performer doesn't. Actors will tell you that stage fright can be used to mount a stellar performance.
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| Sacrifice 36 x 21 Mixed Media Currently on exhibit at Binford-Bell Studio |
I decided while I could mount a respectable exhibit with pieces on hand what I really needed was some magic to hold it together. I needed some larger works to speak for the others. I have now painted 13 such works and have one more just begun. If time a triptych I have dreamed of. There is something almost mystical about painting one painting after another. I understand how Georgia O'Keeffe died with 1000 works in her studio. How Salvador Dali's work plunged in value after his death because of what he had "horded" in his house. How Picasso had rooms full of paintings. Each painting seems to begat another. Which is good because while I have been painting for the show paintings have sold from my studio. Magic happens.
I have done bouts of extended painting before - binges for fairs. I quit fairs for several reasons not the least that I think it damped my creativity. The tendency is to cookie cutter out the subjects you know will sell. Whereas this time I was leaping from one inspiration to the next. Only criteria was they be larger works. I certainly had an ample amount of smaller and medium sized paintings. I was painting these paintings for me. They are of me. Meraki.
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| High Pueblo Dawn Canvas size 28 x 28 Mixed media Currently on exhibit at Binford-Bell Studio |
Now there are just 15 more days. There is inventory and boxing and sending information to the gallery. And more painting. I did after all just begin that one more painting my muse has been whispering about. I have been back to Gallery Main a few times. Sometimes it looks entirely too huge to fill and sometimes too small. Some days I stand in my studio and look at those walls and the paintings on them and wonder what possessed me to commit to this. And other times I will walk into my studio to begin painting for the day and marvel at who it is who has painted all this.
Awesome paintings!! Bordering on psychedelic (for lack of a better word) Good luck with your One Women Show:))
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