Okotoks Art Gallery

My manila SASE was returned to me today*. Yup. Rejected. The form letter stated that they had received 40 submissions and required only 12. I'm OK. It was a last minute submission, and I know that they were more inclined towards paintings rather than drawings...small ones at that. I was glad for the opportunity to update my files.

Dear-Eldest-Son told me he had a friend who had recently submitted a poem to a contest wherein the winners would have their work published. He was very excited when he received a rejection letter. He had great plans to frame, hang, and display proudly this letter. What he received, though, was a sheet that simply listed the names of the winners. That's it. No thank you for submitting; no statement of the number of submissions; no condolence at his loss. Just the list of winners. He was quite upset over this. "Don't worry," said his friends, "Maybe next time you'll get a real rejection letter!"

I suppose I could send him one of mine. I have a considerable stack of them, and I sure don't mind to share the wealth. Yeah, I know....rejection shouldn't be experienced second hand. He'll have to accumulate his own pile.

My favorite rejections are the personal ones--not the standard form letters with my own name slyly inserted in the greeting, but an actual personalized letter that mentions my project by name and states why it has been rejected. And sometimes, some letters even suggest where else I might like to send it.

Yeah, it is good to be rejected like that.

*see post: 17 May 2011

cricket

Ever notice how the "uncomfortable silences" are portrayed on cartoons? There is a scene with a crowd of people, and it is silent except for the cricket in the distance and somebody coughs. That was the response to my paintings at the fundraiser auction.*

I know....I know.....


My reserve bid was much too high. It was actually rather amusing. When the auctioneer stated my opening bid, I heard someone laugh--as in, "Yeah right. Who in their right mind would ever pay.....?"

I learned that small town art auctions are different from large city art auctions.

Perhaps I should rediscover the  miniature. Expand and try my hand at smaller (a.k.a. 'more affordable') art pieces. Suddenly my mind swells with images of grand and wonderful small things ranging from kitch to oh-how-interesting to oh-that's-lovely.

*see previous post

the reply is still in the mail

I haven't yet received a reply from the gallery about my drawing submission. I'm sure the strike at Canada Post isn't helping.*

In the meantime, the Drumheller Health Services is having a fundraiser/art auction into which I have submitted three pieces. The auction is tomorrow. Funds will be directed to the purchase of a Pediatrics Vital Signs monitor. I look forward to attending and meeting more people in this very fine town.

 

Whether my drawings do become an exhibit or not, whether any of my paintings sell at the fundraiser or not, I am and always will be an artist. Whoo-hoo for paint!

*see May 17

do as I say

Hello, Friends,

Did you catch that? "Hello COMMA Friends comma"

My librarian friend pointed out to me that proper English demands that a proper name must be set apart with commas before and after. :-)

Who knew?

Anyway, have a good day.....or, er....cheers!

Ellen (or should I say ,Ellen,)

reply is in the mail

Things worked against me, but I prevailed. Our gallery members were invited to submit show proposals to another gallery--due on May 15.

Moving here has been very disruptive to my art in that I'm still surrounded by towers of boxes in my studio. There seem to be too many things that have superseded the priority of unpacking. We suffered and grieved through three immediate-family deaths since we've moved here, these came on the heels of the deaths of my parents. This also meant closing down the two households of our parents. In the midst of all that, we had two (not our fault) auto accidents.

It's time to redirect energies.

Now is as good a time as any to 'get my feet wet' again and submit. But what? My things are in boxes, so painting up a storm is not likely. But I have drawings: a series of anapormorphic drawings in which the viewer must look through a device (here, a reflective sphere) to reconstitute the image. I seriously doubt the gallery is looking for drawings--that must lay on a table no less--but I wanted to submit anyway.

Hey, at least it forced me to update my CV (which I was certain I had saved on my PC, but apparently didn't--fortunately I remembered I had wrapped plates for our move with my old CV pages, so I had a good reference to rewrite from....once I found that box of plates!). I had to learn how to edit and transfer photos to CD from our new camera, go out and buy large envelopes and presentation folders, and write a project proposal. I then mailed it out in plenty of time; I've done all I can for this right now. Honestly, I'm not expecting anything....but you never know.

Homage to Bodies

It's been one of those days when.....well, you know.....when it feels like your face is stuck to your skull.

I have a cold, and it makes my whole face feel tight.


This reminds me that I went to see the exhibit "Bodies." It was truly amazing. You should go if you haven't seen one yet. They are all over the world.


Thus my Homage to Bodies.

Come have tea with Sam.