Note to self

This has been a beautiful, calm December day with temps in the seventies, and a bright sunny blue sky. It is a “work day” for me, so I have been by the river, able to enjoy the great outdoors as long as I can keep an eye on the gallery. There are a few others walking around, and even the often more aloof “transplants” have greeted me with some comment on the lovely day. 

For the past few week a cold has gotten me down a bit. All colds are different and this particular one was all sinus and nasal with a side of listlessness. I didn’t like that. But today! Thanks goodness for today!  My sense of wonder has returned. And it made me realize that is my essence. Not that I need to go on and on about myself, but today I appreciate my sense of wonder. If I didn’t have a sense of who our great God is, I may not have it. But I am amazed at the world and all it contains and seeing how things come together - the rivers and oceans, soil and sand, the creatures who live around it all, the life giving sun and the way it causes the colors of the earth to change from 93 million miles away. Even the fine voice of the singer I am listening to. Infinitely fascinating, and I hope to continue to see my world like that. 

a moment in tonight's sunset

 

Coming to port ILM

 I love it when I catch one of these big container ships coming or going. This one was going, and I learned by looking up the name of the ship, that it is on its way to Savannah. 

Migrating monarchs stop to refuel

What’s up today?

Fall is here, and it is lovely! 

The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday. I have changed the hours from 12-6 to 11-5, but I will probably stay til 6 for a while. Those are my EST and shorter days hours.

I have gone down to the river three times so far on this perfect day. It is spectacular only at sunset, but the rest of the time, there is something else to wonder at, and I am filled with gratitude to be present in nature. I was here last October, so witnessing the cycle of nature is a wonder in itself. 

The pizza place next door opened on Saturday. I am happy for the owners as it took forever. I think I will try it next week. 

It seems that fewer and fewer people come to the gallery. Since talking with strangers is on the top of things I love to do, I wish more people would come in. Also I love making a sale. 

Each Wednesday, it feels like going back to work after a vacation, and I lack motivation. By Saturday I have more a sense of duty and ownership and keep busier at gallery stuff. Today, being Wednesday, besides going to the river and taking pictures, I did a one hour webinar about something new with the company that hosts my website. Then I learned some new things on YouTube, made some reasonable plans, enjoyed my tuna sandwich, brownies and lemonade, read aloud and recorded some things on voice memo, and eventually it became time to close up shop, which is now. Only three more days this week!

A Hard Week

The sale of art in the gallery can leave an empty spot. New art arrives. Old art leaves. Walls become stale to a frequent visitor. These are just some of the reasons to rehang and reorganize the inventory approximately every three months. 

In the past I have paid someone to help, but this time I decided to do it myself. Trying to save a buck! It is really a complicated thing. It involves connecting the various art pieces in some way - angles, color, subject, frame or no frame, size, and then there is the light, natural and from above. What will the artists think?

Getting on the step stool to hammer in a nail way above my head and lifting a heavy painting and hanging it level aren’t easy for me to do. So I did a lot of singing and praying this week as I worked, and inch by inch, it is complete except for the final clean up. 

I did get a sense of accomplishment. And it looks pretty. 

Workshop. Woohoo!

Yesterday I took a day off from my gallery duties so I could attend a workshop with one of my favorite painters. This is the demo painting he did. He knows his stuff! Abstract watercolors. And he is one of the artists in the gallery. Lucky me. 

I painted something

 A week from today I am going to take a class from a very good watercolorist who has his art in my gallery. So I will be ready for the day, I brought some paints to the gallery to warm up and practice, since it has been so long. After playing, I painted three little things, then cut to 5x5ish to fit in some batch frames that have been taking up space in my garage. I gave away two of them, and the third went in the trash. This one went to my bookkeeper when she visited today. I appreciate her so much, and today I appreciate her even more for taking it off my hands. The other one went to the neighbor who was painting with me. It felt good. 

Pigeons going for the leftovers

 

Summer

A beautiful, pink blooming crepe myrtle against a blue sky. 

Cave swallows

A month or so ago lots of birds were excitedly flying back and forth in the covered entrance to the apartments by the gallery. I found they were building a nest and starting a new family. All the birds took part! I took some pix, identified them as cave swallows, and enjoyed learning about them. Now the babies are growing and will soon be out on their own. These pix are the best I could get.

A pretty display of leaves and white flowers.

 

My Studio

Back in Greenville, when much of my free time at home was spent in the back yard studying nature ala Thoreau and looking for tiny interesting things to photograph, I considered that special place to be my studio. Apparently since jumping into the painting wedge of the art circle in Wilmington, I have abandoned the concept of anything other than an actual room to be a studio. During the past week, my gallery and I hosted a plein air event. For strictly plein air painters who paint nature in nature, the outside world where most of their painting is done is their primary studio. 

I have not been posting to this blog because I don't paint much, and I had in mind it would be about painting. However, I consider painting to be a frustrating task put upon me by other people who expect me to paint. And I am not into show and tell. Some folks I know, many of whom are or have been art/painting teachers, immediately want to give feedback or correction upon glancing at an image of some sort, of anyone's, when they are not asked. As I am an emotionally secure person, I endure it kindly when I am the recipient of their knowledge, but it has taught me to appreciate and validate where other people are on their journey. After all, doing arty things should be therapeutic and pleasurable. It isn't life or death. 

So back to square one. Rather than neglecting this blog, I will use it to post something, anything, that I may see in the greater studio of my little world, especially around the Cape Fear River, for as long as I am here in the gallery. Seems like when I go out, there is always something interesting! 

Today along the river, a big cargo ship was either coming or going. I am curious about them, like where they are from, what they carry, if drugs are aboard, who works on the ship and what do they do, how it would be to travel on the high seas and then wind down a comparably narrow river to a port. The stories they could tell!

How to start an art gallery.

When I had the opportunity to open an art gallery, I had no idea of what to do, and I soon found out there was nobody to teach me. 

But here is what I have learned in the past couple of years.

Your mission statement, your business plan, who you expect your customers to be, long term goals are of course good things to have in mind, but also consider these things. 

No two galleries are the same. Each is distinctive. Don’t try to make yours like anyone else’s. Be yourself. 

Do your business right. Make sure you are financially stable enough to handle it. Be responsible to the public and to the artists. Be trustworthy and on good terms with them. Build relationships in the art community and with your frequent visitors. Don’t procrastinate with anything. 

Don’t be overcome by emotions. Don’t take anything personally. 

Have enough knowledge to be able to answer any question about the art and the artist. 

Think of the gallery as your work of art. It must be balanced and cohesive like any single artwork. 

Be pleased when someone comes in to look. You are educating them. 

Don’t fall for money spending traps. There is a lot of promoting you can do that costs nothing. 

Keep things as simple as possible. There is always extra stuff to figure out. 

Get help/advisors because we do not know everything. But don’t let them take away your vision. 

You be you. 

Happy First Birthday to the Gallery. whew . . .

Last year on this day, as some passwords reflect, the Gallery was officially born. I had taken ownership, the wifi was installed, the credit card machine was available, and art was coming in. Big plans were made, but the unseen enemy (covid) was not in agreement. The good news is I have survived, day by day, hour by hour, like most things we must endure. Sometimes it has been ok, even fun, but many days drag by, and ... will they ever end? Because I am an honorable person, I am sticking with it. God has a higher purpose that I cannot see and will probably never know, or else He would not have given it to me. Persistence.