It Takes a Village to Plan a Show

"Coming to Get You!"  Acrylic 6x6"

I don't have a new painting ready to show you, so I am bringing this one forward.  I wanted to do this post to thank some people who helped me get my show together.  I would not have been able to do what I did without them, and for that, I am forever grateful.  I thought including this painting would be appropriate, because this painting "sold" at the show.  Actually, I was not ready to sell it, because I want to try to enter it in a show in March, but I promised it to a wonderful couple.   I didn't know for sure if I would ever be willing to sell this painting, but when the woman told me a beautiful story of how she rescued a lot of ducks, I was very moved and told her she is the perfect person to have this painting!

Now for the thank yous:

Meet Deb

 Deb heard me talking at work about needing a bio and a "sign-up for my newsletter" sheet for the table at my show.  She jumped right in, lifted my bio from my website and turned it into a file I could take to a printer.  She also designed my sign-up sheet for me.  Without Deb's help, I have every confidence that these two tasks would not have been completed, because I was on a FRAMING MARATHON!  Thank you so much, Deb.  You did a fantastic job!

Meet Jim and Sadie

Jim is the Program Director at the Asheville Humane Society.  He invited me to join the show and arranged for me to hang my part of the show on a Thursday night.  We had to meet after 8:30 p.m., because there was a class in the exhibition room until 8:00.  So, Jim met us at 8:30 p.m. and provided so much assistance with arranging my part of the exhibition that I could never thank him enough.  We kept him there till after 11 p.m., and I am sure he had already worked that day.   He told me he was going to go home to take care of his dogs in between working and hanging the show, and I can only imagine how glad Sadie was to see him when he finally was done that night!

My other helper, Cynthia, perhaps has not yet received my email requesting permission to post her photo, so I will wait on the photo and just tell you how much she helped me.  First, two days before the show, Cynthia picked up the bio and sign-up sheet files from Deb, took them to a printer, and figured out exactly what I needed in terms of paper, etc.  Then, she met me and helped me hang the show from 8:30 p.m. till after 11 p.m.  Cynthia was exactly what I needed that night.  She helped me figure out a nice-looking arrangement for the paintings and did all the configuring of where the nails needed to be and all the actual hammering and picture hanging.  All I had to do was hand her hammer, hooks, etc. as she called for them.  Good thing, cause I was exhausted by that point from all the other prep.  If not for Cynthia, my show would never have looked so nice.  Thank you so much, Cynthia!

(Edit 2/13/13:  Here's a photo of Cynthia!):

Finally, I am forever grateful to the Father of My Dogs for all his help with framing and preparation.  Without him, there would have been nothing ready to hang!  Thank you so, so much!

I am still painting and learning just how valuable the daily painting routine is.  I am finding myself a little rusty from taking a few days off.  Back to it...!