I’d been painting for only six years and had no fan base beyond my family and friends. But I wrote in my Want Book that I would have an art exhibit in a local gallery.
I turned 50 years old in August of 2009.Now while that may not seem like a big deal when you read it - I assure you it was a HUGE deal to me. I couldn't possibly be 50 yet. I hadn't done the things I planned to do by this time! I worried and fretted over it for weeks after my birthday - when was I going to finish that novel if not before 50? What about that Cook Book I was going to write before 50? And how could I be 50 if I hadn't had my first art exhibit yet?!
Then I realized - after watching The Secret (a must see!) that all those things could be done after 50 as well. All I had to do was ask for it - so I wrote in my Want Book that I would have an art exhibit in a local gallery. Now I have only been painting for 6 years or so (that was my first after 40!) and truly have no fan base beyond my family and friends. I had only ever sold two paintings - one to a friend that wanted to say she was the first to buy one of my paintings (bless her) and one in a charity auction. I gave away all but one of my paintings as soon as they were done. Why in the world would I think I deserved to have an exhibit? How in the world did I think I would have one?!
Three weeks later a dear friend and her husband acquired stewardship of a small historical art gallery and studio in Fort Worth (I live in the Dallas area) and she immediately set out to plan her first exhibit...and mine! She called me and asked if I would be part of a Male/Female Contrast Show she had an idea for. Of course I said yes before she fully got the question asked I think - and then I panicked. The show was a week away and I had only one of my approximately 15 paintings in my actual posession. So I jumped on the phone and asked all my friends and family to loan me their paintings, assuring them that I would mark them 'Sold' and get them back to their owners safe and sound; and then I started painting like a madwoman! I completed three pieces for sale at the show. Then I begged my best girlfriends to come and hold me up. I had never shown my work in public before (short of Facebook) and was suddenly a nervous wreck about someone I didn't know looking at it!!
