Standing by my work at "Come to Your Senses" in the PCPA
Hi folks! A lot has been going on around here which hasn’t left me much time to blog. This year seems to be the year of change, opportunities, and sales. First the change. I am leaving my long term gallery, the Love Art!, due to financial reasons. I’ve loved working with them over the year, and have enjoyed being a part of their wonderful artist family, but I simply can’t afford to stay. This means that at the end of the month I’ll be hunting for another gallery, which can be stressful with all the rejection that comes along with it.
On a happier note I had my first sale at a show during the Big 200 where I sold all four of my pieces before I even got to the reception (yay!). I was also in talks to sell the licensing rights of several of my paintings to Crate a Barrel for a line of art work, but they declined at the end saying they liked my work but already had something similar. That crushing blow was softened when on the exact day I found out Crate and Barrel said no I got the news that all three of those same paintings I was trying to license were sold on Etsy! (My first Etsy sale!) I just shipped off that batch of paintings to it’s new owner yesterday and was feeling good when I realized that I wasn’t excepted into a show I applied for and was excited about. So, it’s been a month of firsts, disappointments, and emotional highs. No wonder I ended up with a migraine last week…
Another big high was the reception for the “Come to Your Senses” show at the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. It was an amazing reception, a beautiful show, and a great crowd of people. Thank you to all my friends and family that showed up to support me, and if you wanted to see the show but were unable to come the show will still be up until the end of March. A HUGE thank you goes to Kelly Williams for curating the show and working so hard to make sure it was fantastic.
I’ve been trying to be more involved in the local arts community this year. I’m now an active member of the International Encaustic Artists Portland chapter and went to my first chapter meeting which was great. There’s nothing quite like potluck, wine, art, and artist shop talk. Last month I also went to my first Portland Urban Sketchers sketch crawl, which was a lot of fun but very cold. It’s been really good to connect to other artists and socialize. Usually I’m so isolated in my little basement studio, so I’m trying to make a change this year and not be such a hermit.
Looks like it’s going to be a busy year!
Peace! Chantel