Reaching

I've been busy in the studio lately - getting ready for three art exhibits in the new few months.  I want to show you what I finished last night - but first a little background on it.  I started working on this piece in 2009 and I actually showed it in this form in an art exhibit that summer.

In my gut, I knew it wasn't finished but being a new artist, I didn't have a lot of work to submit to this show so I entered it. When I saw it hanging in the gallery, I knew for sure that it wasn't finished. After the show was over, I brought it home and hung it in my hallway and glanced at it every now and then and thought to myself "one day I'll do something with that".

I've been working on an important art exhibit coming up in June. It's an important exhbit for me because the gallery owners approached me to do a show with one other artist. When a gallery does that, they are impressed with your work and know it will sell. It's a huge validation that I am a real artist. It's both scary and exciting seeing a dream come true - it's a strange and wonderful experience. They requested 10-15 pieces to show so I've been working really hard on gathering ideas, deciding what direction I want to go, and creating the pieces.

Last week I walked by this unfinished piece and immediately saw that it needed a tree and roots. I was scared to work on it again - afraid I would mess it up - but I plunged in and took a chance. I've never done the technique that I knew it would require and I wasn't sure I could pull it off and make it look right. While I worked on it this week, the creativity just flowed freely....and when it was finished there were a whole lot of emotions running through my head. I realized last night that I've been reaching deep inside myself - pushing myself to go beyond what I think I'm capable of - and it's working. Geez! I never thought in a million years..... 

And here is the finished piece.  It's titled "Reaching".  That word kept running through my mind while I was working on it this week and it's very fitting.  I don't know if you can see it, but there's a little bird flying away in the top right corner.  That bird is me - soaring.