06/23/2004: "I deserve a beer! (or six)/ Exhibit Opportunity"

music: Kira's Mix
technorati tags: exhausted

Ahhhhg...I have had a very busy day. Besides putting in a full 8 hours at work, I finished my mailing list, printed labels, and put 200 invitations in the post...I even included little personal messages on most of them! Then I picked up my flyers from the gallery where I'm having my show, and walked all over down town in sweltering heat trying to post them on community bulletin boards and in all the little art shops in the main little touristy area down by where the cruise ships dock. Half the people treated me respectfully, but there were a few who rudely turned me down, and one who acted like I had requested to pee in her lobby!

I feel so tired. All I wanted in this world was an ice cold Alaskan Amber...so after my last flyer went up I stopped at the local liquor store to buy a 6-pack and I got *carded*!!! I'm almost 35 years old! I told the guy, "come on, I'm sure you're trying to be nice by carding me but I don't have my license with me, could you cut me some slack..?" And he wouldn't budge, no ID, no beer. Normally I'd be flattered but this time I just felt pissed off and had to drive across the bridge to a store I knew wouldn't card me. Beer never tastes as good as on a really really hot day.

I got so much taken care of today that I can breathe a sigh of relief. Doing my own mailing list ended up being a lot of fun. I sent invites to professors and administrators I know at the university, local galleries as well as galleries I like in Anchorage, plus all of my press releases are sent out...even though I read after the fact that you're supposed to send them out *8* weeks early, (not 1 week early). Oh well, live and learn.

My last stop was to go to the Douglas Cafe which is accross the street from me, to leave a flyer. Having dinner in there were my neighbors that live accross the street from me. I've never really introduced myself to them although we've always said hi in passing. One is the bartender at Louie's, the bar I live next to. The other works for Alaska Brewing Company and they're both friends with Richmond, the owner of the Friendly Planet! Small world. They both are psyched to come to my opening and are going to hang my flyer on the mirror behind the bar. Very cool.

OK, I am going to go drink a beer while taking a cold shower and then lie down in front of a fan. We are having a record heat wave...I guess this is the most days in a row to have temps in the 80s since recorded time. All the Juneauites are walking around covered in sweat and wearing beach gear to work.

One student worker went swimming during his lunch break out at auke lake which is normally very very cold.

Oh yah, I almost forgot. I met a very friendly artist named Mark Vinsel from that artist coop gallery downtown that I had mentioned trying to join awhile ago. He is also doing the Quick Draw thing this weekend and said not to worry about no one bidding on my painting because he did it last summer and said that there is a lot of support for Discovery Alaska and The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council, so people bid on everything (since it's for charity). So that made me feel a lot better. He also has a painter's journal.

He is married to another artist who exhibits at that gallery and they both do printmaking (though he does primarily watercolor with some printmaking combos). I liked their stuff a lot, it made me feel nostalgic for printmaking. It is always such a great feeling to meet another local artist too. I felt bad because their gallery had *a lot* of traffic and I felt like I was monopolizing him when he could have been helping customers...but he was great, gave me the name of the art reviewer for the Juneau Empire and who to call at the public radio station. It's great when artists try to help each other and aren't trying to stab you in the back like in some art communities.

Well, I really need to go cool off... mas luego...

OH YAH! One more thing, and this is *very* cool. As I have mentioned before, nearly all of my best friends live in the DC area, that includes Baltimore MD which is about a 45 min. drive from there. My friend Jenni's mom is a big fan of my work and recently even bought a painting. She just emailed me asking if I'd be interested in having a show at a trendy resturant where she lives in a neighborhood called...Fell's Point, or something like that. She said it was frequented by Yuppies with expendable income (sounds great to me!). Anyway, she said she could get me the show for next summer...the best part is, I could write off the trip to Baltimore as a business expense! And I could see all my friends and by then Jenni and Sean will have a beautiful new little girl and anyway, I think it sounds great. Of course I'll have to ship the paintings which will be a hassle, but I can order the frames and have them sent to Jenni or Rick's house and just finish them up when I get there.

I really hope it works out. If so it will be my very first show outside of Alaska (except for Nebraska that is).

Now, I have to add one final thing. Blogs by their very nature make a person come accross as self-centered. Because this in *my* blog, so I talk about...well, ME! But I would hate to come off like I'm full of myself, because I can say 100% that that is absolutely NOT true. I used to read this one woman's blog religiously (I won't name any names) but after awhile it just sounded like "blah blah blah aren't I great" and "blah blah blah don't you wish you could be like me?" and "blah blah blah if I were any more hip I'd be metallic". I quit reading it because she just seemed to always be bragging about this or that and it made me feel like a major under acheiver. Not that I could even remotely make someone feel like an under acheiver... I just mean to say that if on the rare occasion something really good happens for me (and I know some of you would never agree to show your work in just a resturant) but for me it's pretty cool and I want to write about it here and I hope that it is not seen as tooting my own horn (too horribly anyway). nuf said.