It seems like I just put it up, but my art show is now over. The month of June went by so quickly! But I think my art got a good run during that time. Not only did my mother come down from Massachusetts to see it, the art was appreciated by many local and out-of-town visitors to the gallery. And best of all, I sold four pieces. Even taking into account the framing expenses and the gallery's commission, this enables me to "break even" with earnings and expenses. In the fine art world, breaking even is success. Somewhere out there may be some one who actually makes a good living at fine arts, but there are probably no more of those people than those who make a living writing fiction. Fortunately I do not write fiction, at least of the novelistic type.

I went to the gallery on a hot, quiet Friday afternoon. The gallery was empty of people except for one person working in the framing area. He works at the store, teaches art, and is also an exhibiting artist and much involved with the Falls Church arts organization. I took my paintings down, stacked them up, and took my documentation cards off the art wall. Then I loaded the framed pieces back into my car and drove home. A couple of generous friends helped me bring the artworks back into my home which is where they are now, stacked vertically against bookcases.

I don't intend to keep most of them. I hope that the proprietors or workers in the businesses that I depicted will want to buy the pictures, for instance the two coffee sisters or the manager of the Exterminator Moderne place. But I will now have to represent myself directly with these pieces. I asked the gallery owner whether, if I sold these outside the gallery, I would still have to pay him a commission. He said of course not, they are now my property and I should not pay him anything if it is out of the gallery.

Another person will now show art at Art and Frame of Falls Church, and I will work on my own projects for the rest of the summer. I am not sad to take down the show, actually I'm a bit relieved, because I don't have to keep checking in on the art to see whether it has sold. I'm just looking forward to having time to do work that does not have to conform to a specific theme or taste other than my own.

Posted at 2:18 am | link