Philly

We took a trip to Philadelphia last week to meet with the owners of Qbix Gallery. Needless to say, I spent two weeks prior feeling out of my skin preparing for the meeting. Thanks to everyone who prayed for me during the preparation and the trip up.

I suppose we all have preconceived ideas about how things are going to be or how people are going to be in a new situation. It is just our way of being prepared, though our assumptions are usually incorrect. If you read enough books about being a professional artist you will find that ninety percent of them portray gallery owners and the gallery system as awful. The system is often not pro-artist and the owners are often uninformed and they are often artists gone sour. So, having read these statements many times in many resources, I had my hesitations. But when Sharon from Qbix called me and when we finally met all of those preconceptions were quickly dissipated.

I have never met such lovely warm and genuine people. Sharon and her fiance, also named Sharon, took Craig and I to lunch after our meeting. We sat together for over an hour discussing travel, art, movies…..many things. Their philosophy about art and how they run their gallery was a welcome relief from my preconceived ideas.

I came away learning a valuable lesson about my own fears and expectations and the freedom that is availble when I just step out and move forward leaving everything in the hands of God knowing that he has far greater plans and interests than I can comprehend.

Oil paint at disaster

Why pets should not be in the studio…..

Seasons

Craig and I went up to Baltimore to see my friend Janie from Atlanta. She had a gig at Johns Hopkins. Janie has just released her first CD. You can go to her site listed in my links and get yourself a copy. It’s a great CD.

I was thinking today about the many months Janie and I spent before I moved to D.C. sitting for hours in the Starbucks on Alpharetta Highway. It was a cloistering season for plotting, working things out and connecting over our respective mediums as artists. Niether one of us was getting much work done, but that is where we were at that time. That was the season. I remember it as a wonderful gray and overcast season.

Seeing her make so many huge steps since I have moved has been encouraging to me and seeing her last friday night I can see and hear just how far she has come. And now having been approached by a few galleries, changing mediums and moving in the direction of the call I can see how far I myself have come since those days. The season has changed, but I see clearly the necessity of the seasons before and the cycle of growth that is inevitable as we work out our paths with "fear and trembling."