Sunday, November 12, 2017

2017 - Heavy





It's been over a year since I've written in here.
Ironically, the last post I wrote was about 2016 as a year.
A much different year than 2017.

The first month of the year, my best friend lost her younger brother to a car accident.
I've never experienced a death so close to me of someone that hadn't lived a full life.
It was ..... heavy.
How do you start a year after something so tragic?

I had an art show at a dance studio in Pittsburgh in March.
The owner was bubbly and enthusiastic, making the experience shine in my memory.
The whole street had an art crawl, and my art was part of it!
How cool.

It has been silent since then.

It started with an artist rut.
I was stuck, not wanting to move forward in my series but lost on what to do.
I was depressed, not able to push myself like I need to be.
My artwork sat, for months, untouched.

Finally in September, I launched myself into my art.
I had an idea I deemed crazy and did it anyway.
It was amazing.
I had a surprising response from friends and family and couldn't stop creating.
Within a month, I had 10 new paintings.
New series, new look, new me.
Here's a snapshot of some of them.



















I got the courage back, and started frantically applying to shows.
I must have applied to over 15 shows this year.
Half of them being juried shows.
I spent over $250 dollars on applications.

My artwork was not accepted to a single one.

2017 is a heavy year.
In all aspects of my life, it seems.
I feel stuck, like a paint brush stuck in dried paint.

2018 will be better.
Right?