The Artworld

This has been a great week for me, I've re connected with a lot of old friends, cleaned out my studio a little bit and my work is on a lot of new walls. I was facing some serious financial trouble and I asked my friend Bill for some advice and he came up with the idea of offering a small amount of work at a low price. I had a group of paintings from 2006-2009, that had been shown a lot and I had already sold a lot from that group as well. They were my first real credible paintings and once I got it down I made a lot of them and I still had a fair amount of them left so I sent out an email offering the smallest ones for a really low price and was flooded with responses. Many people wanted to buy them but a lot of people were just like me, facing economic challenges of their own and could only offer support and encouragement. The responses blew me away. The good wishes and words of encouragement I received were priceless.

Over the last few years I've been thinking a lot about my life and how I am living it, wondering if I've made the right choices and what effect I've had on others. I know I am incredibly lucky to be living the life I am. When I was eight years old I told my parents that when I grow up I'm going to move to New York and be an artist. My dad laughed in my face and told me that was the stupidest thing he's ever heard. he told me that you have to come from a rich family to be an artist and since we were not rich....it just wasn't gonna happen. I had some inkling that it was gonna be a challenge and I got a late start at it, mostly because I was afraid that if I failed I would have no other options.

So I got a job at an advertising agency...it started as a temp job that I got through my friend Linda Simpson. Jane Folds, an impossibly cool ex-beatnick with a jazz musician husband, started offering me a permanent position but I didnt want to take it, finally I relented and joined the 9-5 world. I quickly got promoted with ensuing raises and benefits and six years later I got fired, yup, the best thing that ever happened to me. I was ready to start showing my work so I asked my friend Ellen Birkenblitt if she had any ideas of who might be interested in what I'm doing, she suggested I contact Bill Arning at White Columns and the rest is history..

Well...fast forward to the present and after 7 solo shows, a fantastic collection of art on my walls from trades and the realization that I am living exactly the life I wanted to live. I have to humbly say, Thanks to everyone who has made it possible and the incredible, supportive friends. Honestly, I gotta say the artworld is so full of kind, genuine compassionate people, from the young students I know to the superstars. I feel very lucky to be a part of this community and to be living the life I am living.