I often notice that a lot of botanical artists seem quite shy to show their work. I also fit that picture.
I enjoy solitude and I love painting in my studio eerie
perched above the garage, listening to music. Extremely nice
but not so great if you want to promote your work. Sometimes my shyness, my
uncertainty to believe in that people might like my paintings stops me progressing. I have to really
push myself to move on.
A recent goal that I made myself do was to join a local art group who have a guest
demonstrator every month. I needn’t have been nervous. The group were very kind
and encouraging about my work which helped boost my confidence. I also enjoyed
seeing the demoes of work that are nothing like mine. The group take part every year in a island art tour, something I have wanted to do for ages but somehow never did. Perhaps this year will be a first for me.
And a contact made last year turned into a show this year. Last
year I had approached a wonderful local printing company, Fine
Balance Imaging, to get some scans done. Nancy and Joe are a mother and son team who work in the most
incredible building called Bayview Cash Store, part of a group of historical
buildings. The light in this building is amazing, it’s got huge old beams and
old iron work, all recycled. The printers have these huge machines and print on
metal and fabric as well as traditional surfaces such as paper. Nancy is always
so helpful and ready to listen to an artist’s woes J and to my delight invited me
to be part of this years’ Gratitude Show. This is an annual show that Nancy
& Joe put on for artists who have ordered prints from them. They show their
gratitude by allowing any sales to go completely to the artist, what a wonderful
gift! The prints I have in this show are the baby bok choy, willows, camellia
& daphne, and September Treasures. I chose white for the framing as I felt it would suit most people's décor.
I also recently applied to a prestigious local gallery in a local
town and to my delight I got accepted for the popular garden show that's put on there
every April. The paintings the owner liked and settled on to show were the
beets, pears and roses. She felt that the colors would pop against the white walls of her gallery. But botanical art and the watercolor technique were new to her so I had quite a bit of explaining to do. I found it difficult at first but warmed up to it when I realized she was genuinely interested.
My cards are still selling well at the Flower House Café and I
have decided to continue with them. I will be introducing an Artists Sketchbook
range, images that are little looser and more spontaneous, divided by color.
So already this is an exciting year. Just by making some
small changes in my life I can feel doors opening and new opportunities coming
in. I consider myself extremely lucky. Not only do I now have the time in my
life to paint which gives me huge amounts of joy and centers me, but I get to
meet wonderful people along the way who in turn help me to produce prints, sell
my work etc.
I also intend to enter some exhibits and to attend more
classes with botanical artists that I admire.
My focus for the moment is on the Turk’s Head Squash that I
am finally finishing and I have a few sketches of spring flowers that I managed
to squeeze in recently.
So remember to step out of your box from time to time, you
never know where it may lead. What will you be working on this year?
