This is an incredible journey! It is full of extremes. The joy of putting this show together and the lessons it has taught me about myself has had me span the spectrum of emotions on a daily basis. It is sad to think it is over but Iam relieved it worked out and ready to embrace the next stage of growth. No one can prepare you for the senario’s you haven’t come across yet,, you have to live them out to know them. It hasn’t been all about the paintings, all the time.
So much time of late have been invested in relationship and almost a walking through time. There were people on guest list that I hadn’t seen for many years and they brought with them parts of their present to meet. There were coffee’s shared and lunches had over a walk through the exhibition and a catch up. As rich and wonderful as an opening night is, it makes it difficult, to have a conversation with anyone, for longer than a few minutes. Mainly meeting and greeting. As I have said before, it is akin to a wedding! Those get togethers’ are treasured and I feel fuelled in the sharing. I have still to catch up with some of you one on one. Thank you everyone!
As the months turned into weeks, leading up to the show, I found I started to let go of vulnerability for a while and just got on with what needed to be done. It didn’t always come easy and there were a few moments of definatley feeling out of my comfort zone. It was of great personal development as much as a moving forward with painting.
Relationships went through various stages of support and drain, as life does, undergoing a new alignment. It has been a bit all consuming at times, my family’s great at swimming with the tide! It’s true they really did eat tinned tuna and baked beans, numerous times over the final few weeks and I am grateful for their support. Instead of painting at night for myself, it became putting it all together, to share. That took many more hours in the daylight than painting alone by night. I was running around doing all manor of things I wouldn’t ordinarily do. They were great things but it was at times a juggle! Hopefully I have learned some organisational skills from this experience to make it easier for the next. Things like, freezing pasta sauces in advance, to numbering and edging works fully along the way. They added up to be, along with, wiring the backs for hanging, (thank you Aran!) many days work! The painting color chart reference book turned out to be a real winner and I shall definately remain documenting colors as I go.
I hope to hear how others experienced the night, see which paintings go to whom and which ones get to hang at home again! I have some I have sorely missed!
Speaking of missing, I shall miss Ibraham from the front of house at ‘Chapel’. We shared many a moment over his excellent coffee, I’m thankful for his calming words and cheerful ways. I really enjoyed my dealings with Rachel and Eleanor. They are warm and inviting and been supportive every step of the way. It is a terrific venue. I learned about different hanging systems from Craig and would have liked to have had more time with him but we were always on different floors of the building! There was a lot to do! I hadn’t seen a ladder crane before. It was impressive how he balanced the larger works and hung them off the crane.
All in all, I have had the best time!