Sometimes opportunity knocks and we don't answer.  Or maybe we answer and then quickly close the door.  It seems that we have some preconceived notions about how opportunities might arise.  We think that progress with our art is supposed to come hard, after much effort over long periods of time.

 

We think we have to enter a lot of contests, take a zillion workshops, tell one neighbor or contact a day until we have a 500 person mailing list;  then, maybe we'll sell a few paintings.  I think Julia Cameron, the author of the Artist's Way, is right when she says that this expectation that making progress should tremendously difficult means that we miss the easy chances to make connections and further our careers.  We tend to discount the serendipitous mention a co-worker makes about a place we might exhibit; we think that if it comes so easily, it's probably a dead end or a waste of time.

 

Have you done this?  I was visiting Santa Fe earlier this year on what I had decided was a stealth visit to check out galleries.  I did not feel I had enough of a body of work ready for a portfolio, so I was not going to try to set up any interviews.  With that idea a little too firmly planted in my mind, I strolled into Giacobbe Fritz.  I was the only person there, and as I looked around, the gallerist approached me.  We talked a moment or two about the paintings, and then she said, "Are you an artist?" And I said "No."  This is still unbelievable to me!  Talk about not departing from your script!

 

The other day I got an email from someone at a nearby university offering me a solo show next year. It was not Yale.  I could have dismissed it; thinking, this is too easy, I don't think this is a very big school, nor is it terribly well known.  But this time I decided to consider the opportunity more carefully.   I took a little time to look at the art they are exhibiting now, read more about it, and then decide that this was a nice opportunity I should not discount just because it came so easily.

 

The same day I was sitting a show as a volunteer for a local arts organization.  I brought a book, thinking I'd do research for my blog. But, instead, I learned a lot from the other volunteer.  She had posted the fact that she'd be there on her website, billing it as a "meet the artist" opportunity.  And lo and behold, someone who had seen her work hanging at the local library, came to meet her.  She was interested in buying a painting.  I listened as this artist did a fabulous but low-key job of talking about her work, finding out about the client's interest in the painting, and so on.