Today, I finally got off my ass, went down to the little Chatham Art Gallery in downtown Pittsboro* that showcases local artists, and dropped off an application.  (It’s only been, what–a year?) I imagine it’d mostly be matted prints that I’d be selling, and they do a lot of racks of little mini-print cards, so if they accept my art, I’ll get to spend an evening playing mat-and-bag. I’ve got a motley collection of originals stuffed in the closet that deserve a chance to see the light of day, too…

I’m hopeful I’ll get in–my problem with Real Galleries is always content. Of course, since these days I can casually say "Why yes, I’m a children’s book illustrator," that buys me a lot of leeway on the frivolity front. (And now I’m being overly bitter–I had one bad application to a gallery with a woman who dismissed half my portfolio, and anything digital, with a brisk "I have no interest in any of this," and now I’m sore at the whole lot, and they mostly don’t deserve it. These people seem very nice, they sell a lot of fun wildlife art, and I suspect I’d fit right in. There’s a really good watercolor artist locally who makes geese and emus look majestic, and that’s not easy to do.)

And on the bright side, I dropped off the application, and the woman flipped through to the prints and said, sounding very surprised, "Oh! Your work is beautiful!" And after I thanked her and was strolling towards the door, "I really mean that!" I laughed, because I’ve been in similar positions**, and I can only imagine the slush that a local-artist-art gallery has to wade through. So that was comforting.

*Quit laughing! We do SO have a downtown!

**God help me, but you frame stuff for people at a frame shop, you get artists preparing for shows, and when one comes in with work that’s actually really good, you find yourself trying to say "Your work is very good!" without it coming out like "And I totally expected it to suck, too!" This can be difficult. 

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