Just the other day I was talking about being unsure creatively and that hasn't totally gone away but I am more than pleased to report that my confidence is rising. I have a little bounce in my step and it's hard to keep my pencil away from my sketchbook. I want to get these ideas out. I want to keep trying to get to the best of the new ideas while salvaging the smartest of the stuff that's been hanging around. So what changed in a week?
I recently sold 8 paintings. Each person looked carefully and chose paintings which I was pretty fond of myself (such as Pastoral below). They understood key things about the work and made their own meanings and connotations while patiently listening to me and mine.
And the very fact that folks I am not related to happened upon my work and like it so much that they will make an investment in my paintings...well, it's proof.
Maybe I oughta be doing exactly what I am doing even if I'm not always sure what I'm doing. Maybe I don't have to know.
This is not the first time that smart people have bought my art and (cross your fingers) it won't be the last. But because I don't show with a gallery and because I don't invest the kind of time I used to in marketing my work, it's a real thrill to sell work.
When making (sometimes, not always) the doubts set in. When I walk by the paintings, I worry, do I know what I'm doing? But I love to paint. I like to make the silly things work and I have a lot to get out in those colors and forms. When other people love my work, when they love it enough to buy it, when they love it enough to tell me, when they are inspired and excited to make their own work...dang, it's a great feeling.
So, then, a warm and wonderful thank you to everybody who ever bought a Buffington or a Baldanza or ever gave me an honest compliment. Your words help me push past the doubts and keep me futzing along with these paintings.
And it's about time, too, that I step outside of my little coccoon and start looking more at the art and artists around me. There are some very talented and hardworking painters and potters in this part of the world and I promise to tell you about them. I just have to carve a little time to look and a little time to write about it.
Tonight, though, I'm going to clean and futz and enjoy the high of knowing that my my paintings hang and are about to hang in other people's houses and make some sort of small impact on other people's lives.
That said, there's a practical part of any art sale for me. I get to buy more art supplies...
Glory glory fabriano!
goodnight,
Rachael
