Accepted! Women Over 50 Show!

I never thought I would be so excited to be over 50 until a piece I submitted was accepted as part of a show honoring Women's History month and the art of women artists over 50. Gretchin Lair initially sent me the information about the show at the Utrecht Gallery (thanks, Gretchin) and I had tucked the e-mail away thinking it might be something I would like to do. I started a piece when I was at Sunriver earlier in the month, then, over the past couple of weeks I dabbled at it whenever I had leftover paint on my brush. The deadline was approaching, February 11th, and I pooped the day away. When evening hit, I realized I really did want to submit my piece, so I tackled the canvas, adding paint, scrubbing it away, layering and layering, removing, and layering, grateful I had been playing with it all along. Around 11:30 pm, I snapped some photos and selected the best of the lot, then e-mailed a photo of my submission, just under the deadline wire.

We were gone the past several days and when I finally fired up my computer last night, there was a message waiting from the curator of the show. It started with: "Thank you for submitting work to the Utrecht Gallery for the upcoming March group show. The positive response I received has been wonderful, and many more submissions have come in than I anticipated. Because of this, I've had to limit the number of works I can accept from each person, but am pleased with the variety of artists who will be represented in the show." As I read this paragraph, I was bracing myself for the "Thank you, but . . ." But it never came. Instead, I read on: "That said, I'm happy to tell you that 'Becoming' has been selected for the show." What!!??!! Accepted. My little 10 x 10 acrylic on canvas will be part of the Utrecht Gallery group show. The gallery is located at 1122 NW Everett, in the heart of the Pearl District in Portland. Pinch me.